So You've Got a Pregnant Rat... Now What? - Weeks Three, Four, and Beyond

It's taken me awhile to have enough time to sit down and write this, because raising baby rats can be hard work! The pregnancy and the first two weeks are honestly the easy part for the human owner. In my last article on the topic of rat pregnancy and birth, I covered some of the nitty-gritty about how to tell if your rat is pregnant, what to do during and after the birth, and about the development of the babies during those first couple weeks. Now that Gertrude, my adopted rat who shortly after coming home with me began showing signs of being "knocked up", and I have finished raising and weaning the litter, I can tell you all about baby rats in their third and fourth weeks of life.

At the end of the second week and the beginning of the third, the baby rats transform from perpetually sleepy to wide awake and ready to go! Their eyes open up, and they venture away from Mom and the nest. They will start nibbling on Mom's food, too, as they gradually spend less and less time nursing. This will be a relief for the mother, but make sure you're putting enough food in so that Mommy doesn't go hungry after those little brats have stolen her dinner! You can still continue to give her some low fat cat food and scrambled egg, and when you do, the babies will probably want to have a nibble as well.

The third week was my favorite time for bonding with and holding the babies. They were active, but not too active, at least not yet. They would sit still long enough for me to pet them, which made it much easier. It's also becomes much easier as the week progresses to tell the boys from the girls. Until this point, the easiest way to tell them apart was to see the nipples on the girls (male rats don't have any nipples). Already as young as three weeks, you can see the "dangly bits" (testicles, folks!) on the boys. They grow up so fast, don't they?

Gertrude looked so exhausted during that fourth and final week with her litter. She's a shy, low-key rat, and to have eleven little rascals crawling all over you and demanding to suckle whenever they feel like it was getting to be a little too much. Sadly, it was very difficult for me to give her much of a break, because at this point Gertrude and I still hadn't been able to spend much one-on-one time together. I was spending so much time with the babies, not to mention my other pets, that it wasn't easy. Because she was getting stressed, I removed Gertrude a day early from the rearing cage. In labs and other mass breeding situations, they will wean the rats as young as three weeks, so this wasn't a problem. Some people prefer to leave the mother and her babies together until five weeks, but for her sake and mine, I felt four was enough.

It was at this point that I "sorted" the babies, too. The seven girls stayed in one cage, and the four boys moved to another cage. Rats can become pregnant or impregnate other rats as young as five weeks old so you must separate the males from their sisters and mothers by that point. Even though at five weeks those rats have a lot of growing yet to do, they can still reproduce. Oh, the mathematics of rat reproduction...

The most difficult part of this process was, as you can imagine, rehoming the babies. It was not just that it was hard to say goodbye to the little cuties, although that was difficult. Honestly, by far the hardest part of this entire process was finding new homes for these babies. Part of the problem was the simple fact that all the babies were white with red eyes. As much as I love the "pink-eyed white", or PEW as the breed is called, they aren't exactly in demand. It's also hard to adopt out two brothers or sisters when the entire litter looks the same. In the end, I was only able to find homes for two of the babies: one girl, and one boy, who really doesn't count because he's the one I kept! I ended up bringing the babies back to the humane society I adopted their mother from, in hopes that they will have better luck adopting them out.

With the babies gone, Gertrude bonded with her new roommates, and little Hamlet (the boy I kept) growing little by little until he's big enough to join his new "big brothers" (he can squeeze through their cage bars now, and they are very big rats so I don't want the little guy to get hurt!), things have at last quieted down. Upon reflection, I can certainly agree with the vast majority of rat owners that breeding rats is not something that just anyone should do. There are plenty of rats out there right now without homes, and accidents can and do happen, so those babies need homes, too!

If I had more time, space, and money, I might not have given up so soon on finding homes for the babies myself, but I had to do what was best for both myself and my current pets. Gertrude did such a great job as a mother, and now I want to spend some time really getting to know her as a pet. I also want to continue working with Hamlet, who I hope will be friendlier than most pet store rats thanks to my handling of the babies early on. I do worry about potential health problems for him in the future, though, because I have no idea who his "father" is. I can only hope he's got good, health genes and will continue to have a healthy disposition.

If you discover one of your rats is pregnant, don't be afraid to ask for help! Do a Google search to find more resources on rat care, and contact a breeder for advice. Ask your local humane society for help rehoming the babies. If you place an ad on Craigslist, be sure to ask for an adoption fee of at least $8 and stress that they are NOT FEEDERS! Also, before the babies are born, be sure you have a local vet who will take exotics just in case there are complications during birth.

Best of luck to you and your Momma Rat!