ok i've just been given a pair of pet ''male'' rats that a mate couldn't look after anymore.
The thing is 1 of them is giving birth so obviously there not both male.
I've removed the male & put him in an empty cage i had lying around.
The thing is untill now the only rats iv'e ever had are dead frozen 1's for my snakes. So i'm pretty much clueless.
The female started giving birth about 2.30 pm & looks to have finished but she has only had 2 babies.
She has cleaned them up & is eating/drinking & is tending to them all the time except to eat/drink.
They are approx 5 months old.
Is it normal for such a small litter?
thanks for help/advice!

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360 gamer tag:storm python

1.0.0 albino burmese python.
1.0.0 bci.
1.1.0 yellow annaconda.
1.1.0 choc banded cali king.
2.0.0 jungle carpet python.
0.0.1 western hognose

becasue she is young it can be normal for a small litter i know of a rat that only had one baby when accidently bred at an early age. give her time and space, she may go back into labour but whatever you do dont disturb her unless shes looking like she needs a vet
good luck

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LOL thanks i was sh#tting bricks.
She seems fine thank god.

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360 gamer tag:storm python

1.0.0 albino burmese python.
1.0.0 bci.
1.1.0 yellow annaconda.
1.1.0 choc banded cali king.
2.0.0 jungle carpet python.
0.0.1 western hognose

As has been said, it may well just be that she's still fairly young and not stopped growing herself. Did you watch as each baby came out? As it is possible that she had some stillborns, but 'disposed' of them before you counted up.

Just be sure to provide mum with lots of soft, easy to eat high protein food (especially as the kids start to wean, they'll need soft foods to get started on!).

Things to include in the diet in addition to the 'normal' stuff would be a variety of things, along the lines of fresh greens (curly kale is perfect), Naturediet Puppy food, Scrambed egg (or eggfood - the stuff you get for birds) etc. etc. This is an excellent site with a great food guide - Shunamite rats Feeding for reproduction and growth

In the past when I fostered mums with litters, I followed the diet in the above website and they all grew up to be nice chunky rats

It's truly amazing to see the difference in size when you compare babies who have been reared on a good diet to those of a similar age in pet shops, who've likely just been reared on a 'standard' diet.

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