vaginal bleeding in pet rat

Question
Hi, I contacted you about 4 days ago asking about the vaginal bleeding in our adopted rat. The bleeding stopped and she was right as rain. Then on Wed. night we were getting ready for our usual training session and I heard a really funny squeaking sound. Lo and behold, she had 2 babies! So I assume the bleeding earlier in the week was related. There were only 2 babies and almost no blood this time. She is still very skittish of us and now even more aggressive since she is protecting babies. What do I feed her - she is not coming out of the igloo very often and I am worried about her nutritional status. Also, how do we go about continuing our trust training with her and trying to tame the babies? I counted on the calendar from the day we adopted her from the shelter. She bled on day 19 and had the 2 babies the night of the 22nd day. Also, the shelter had the males and females separated so I have no idea how she got pregnant (and the rats had been at the shelter since June when they were raided out of a home). There were wild rats we saw - could they have mated with her through the bars? Is 2 babies a normal litter size? Also, I had a friend over today that has had pet rats before and also had babies and she remarked at how large the babies were. Not having anything for comparison I don't know. They are pink, hairless, and have closed eyes but they are about 2-2 1/2 inches long. Thanks for the advice. Bethany

Answer
Interesting. I was thinking "pregnant" as well but since I was under the impression she had no contact with the males I  I had that happen once with a rescue *well two females at once) I rescued Mother and daughter and a week later, daughter had 7 babies and a few days after that, mother had FIFTEEN! I kept them all which let me tell you...that is why I am where I am today. After raising over 23 rats, anyone would be considered an expert!  LOL!

First things first:
I do have to say this because of what I represent, but I still think it is a good idea to get checked by the vet and heres why: Her litter was small. There IS a small chance that there were more babies that were still born and she took care of them herself but there is also a small chance there are still babies inside of her that died and were not passed. The bleeding she had...since I wasnt there to see the amount, I can tell you that bleeding like that a few days before giving birth can mean trouble, from problems from the placenta to alot of other things. If you dont want to follow up with a vet to be on the safe side, at least keep a very close on the mother and make sure she is ok and nursing the babies and acting normal herself. The survival of those two ratlets depend on the mother and if she should die, the babies will too.





A litter size is normally 12, but it varies. It can be 1 baby, it can be up to 22 babies. IF she indeed had just two babies growing inside of her they had more room to grow which would be why they were bigger than normal but they sound about right 2 inches or so.
You need to get your hands on those babies for starters. The mother will NOT kill them if you handle them. In fact you need to handle them in order to socialize them or they will be scared to death of people for their entire lives which is why alot of petstore rats are so shy and scared...lack of proper socialization.  You must inspect the baby to see if they are being fed. What you need to do is turn the baby belly up and look at their tummy. You will literally see through the transparent skin and should see what is called "milk band"   You will see the milk filling their tummies.
The best time is to do it when you notice she is feeding them.  If you don't see this, get back to me ASAP!
Also, you need to increase the nursing mothers protein. You can offer her soy milk and also kitten food (dry) a good brand, not generic. I am in a major hurry right now, going to the vet with my rat that had to have his eye removed 2 months ago and now the socket is swollen and despite the antibiotics I started him on two days ago, he still needs to be seen by the vet but he is improving) but I wanted to at least touch base with you now so you had an idea of what lies ahead for you and the new ratlets.  Eventually you will need to see what sex they are.  Males can get mom pregnant as young as 4.5 to 5 weeks old (and sister too!) so we need to see if any male babies are out of the two. Also, as far as getting the rat pregnant through the bars? Although I have heard reports of this, I do not know anyone personally that has had this happen but again, people all say they have had it happen so I would say there is a chance.  On the other hand, someone may have simply made a mistake sexing the rats and had a male in there. Some males, when scared, will draw their testicles up into their scrotum thanks to an open inguinal canal, so this can fool a novice rat keeper into thinking they have a female.  Also, the wild rats would not think twice of mating with a domestic  rat and you will have wild hybrid mix, which are AWESOME rats. I raised a wonder wild rat that I trained (she was a terror of a baby, bit me to pieces!) but turned out to be awesome and lived close to her 4th birthday (I think I told you that!) Anyhow, I have a few links for you that will outline about babies and how to tell their sex and blah blah blah that should hold you till I get back from the vet.
Meanwhile, I am going to talk to my vet about your rat and her bleeding episode before she had the babies and how she only produced just 2 because I have never seen a litter that small unless the others did not survive. If that is the case, mom took care of the babies that did not survive herself and this is why you think she only had 2. She may have delivered more.  I would double check though.
Please write back for a follow up and keep me posted!

This site shows the white milk band you will be looking for!
http://firstrats.tripod.com/litters/id79.htm

Soon as I return I will provide you with more links and tell you more about what to feed the mother etc....hang in there and congRATS !

Sandra