after the babies

Question
I think this is a small simple question.But,I'm thinking about breeding my rat and I have been researching all about that but I need to kwnow something that is very important to me.After my rat has her babies, will she go back to her normal, hyper, fun loving self who loves to run around and begs you to let her out of her cage? She's just like a very petite puppy!

Answer
Well, first let me address the whole situation.

Is your rat pedigreed/from a breeder, with a known medical and behavioral history? If not, I don't recommend breeding her. There could be a lot of things in her background that you don't know about - including chronic respiratory illness, behavioral issues in the male heritage of her line, cancer, megacolon, etc.. Even though your little girl seems very beautiful and very healthy now, unless you know her family history, you really can't know for sure if she'll remain that way.

Do you understand the risks, and can you accept the consequences of pregnancy and labor? Although I've only seen it happen a handful of times, things can, do, and will go wrong -- that includes such minor things like aggression during pregnancy, labor and delivery all the way up to babies stuck in the birth canal, failure to nurse the litter, non-lactation, hemmoraging, secondary infections and even death. Are you willing to lose your rattie if something happens? It's pretty scary stuff.

Most of my does retain their loving, wonderful personalities although I have had some notable exceptions. I had one doe develop severe aggression problems during her pregnancy and it only got worse as she raised the litter. To this day, I still can't handle her. She had always been a little sketchy but never anything as bad as she has become. This, too, is a side effect. Hormones play a huge part in a doe's life.

Good luck with whatever you decide.