How do you know a rat is pregy

[pimpin_posey]

I have 3 rats. 1 male. 2 females. i was curious how i know they are preg. how long is the gestation period. how long does ti take to have fuzzys. should i re-house them so sum1 doesnt eat sum1 else?

 

[crashergs]

if you have 2 females in 1 tank, sometimes the females will start taking away others babies and care for them... i used to care for rats as pets, its kinda hard to tell if they are preg, usually a couple of days prior to pregnancy, their bellies are larger and also their nipples get larger, it takes typically about a month after intercourse for babies to pop out


I do not recommend housing 2 females together during pregnancy as I stated above, sometimes the other female will snatch all the other moms babies and this can lead to most of the babies dying as the mother cannot produce enough milk for a hugeeee litter (which typically they do have).

Also ive experienced a very very bad scenario, it almost broke my heart, i left 2 mothers in because i never had any ill effects other than mom stealing babies, but about a year later, a different pair of moms, one actually killed all the other babies, ALL OF THEM, it was nasty! blood everywhere, and all over the rats mouth and face, pieces of babies, i couldnt believe it!

if you want to take the chance, then go for it... but be warned, its a very nasty experience if you do go through it..

also you must keep the babies with mom for about 4 weeks, or until their eyes open unless you want to hand feed them every day evening and night.

also for substrate, use news paper as the flooring, and alot of paper towels, she will shred the paper towels to her liking, all you do it just stuff it in there, and she will do the rest, hope this helps you.

and get ready for the smell thats why i got rid of them, their cages must be cleaned minimum every 2 days. the urine stinks