Babies on the way & a little renovation - Paw Talk

ShannonMarie · #1 06-26-2009, 11:07 PM

I'm so excited, I had to post about this.

Just confirmed that 3 more of my females are pregnant! So that will be 5 litters coming up in the next few weeks. Two girls are heavily pregnant, should be due anytime in the next few days, maybe even tonight. One is due in 5 days, and the other 2 are due in 8 days. They all have nests built in their "pregnancy homes" out of the full box of tissues they were each given, lol. So fun to watch them pull a tissue out one by one and take it in their hide box, and then once the tissue box is empty they decide that would make a better nest. So they move it all back in lol.

And also, we are finally starting on our project of turning the closet into a giant cage for our girls. The boys already have a huge custom built cage that is 8ft x 4ft x 5ft. So the girls cage will be 9ft x 8ft x 10ft.

We are completely covering all walls in the closet so that there is no chewing holes in the walls and escaping or anything like that. We have one major chewer, she has destroyed 4 cages with plastic bottoms already, each within one night of being in the cage, lol.

Does anyone else build their own cages?

xx Angelica<3 · #2 06-27-2009, 12:18 AM

How many rats will you have now?

CrWoodyspets · #3 06-27-2009, 01:05 AM

I am sure that they will love the huge cage that you are building! How exactly do you rat proof the walls?

bokuza · #4 06-27-2009, 02:06 AM

Not sure if can but id love to see photos of the girls pregnant. Ive always wondered how big some females get. I know dwarfs can get HUGE but Ive snever seen rats.

Anyway keep us informed!
As soon as my boy get better and isnt contagious im seriously considering finding Siamese.

Craig Thatcher · #5 06-27-2009, 04:11 AM

I have recently built a cage, and have drawn plans for a bigger one, but nothing like on the scale you are doing, I just read your post....WOW, huge!!! But I bet you have quite a few Ratties. Want more friends, but my wife has put her foot down :-( Congratulations by the way, sounds like you are going to be busy very soon, good luck!!!

Craig Thatcher · #6 06-27-2009, 04:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrWoodyspets


	I am sure that they will love the huge cage that you are building! How exactly do you rat proof the walls?

Metal sheet is generally the accepted method of rat proofing, but what I did with my custom cage is I have built it so that I can replace parts as they get chewed, fortunately, my girls don't seem to be chewing, they have loads of other stuff to work on, I do have some metal sheet to stop them getting at the sealant I used to stop liquids from seeping....

ShannonMarie · #7 06-27-2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xx Angelica<3


	How many rats will you have now?

Well, depending on the size of the litters... we just had a girl have one single baby a few weeks ago so we never know what we're getting haha. We have 76 rats at the moment. Hoping to get some large litters from these girls.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CrWoodyspets


	I am sure that they will love the huge cage that you are building! How exactly do you rat proof the walls?

Like Craig said, metal sheeting works wonders. We're using a thin sheet of tin to cover the floor, and we decided to make the cage about a quarter inch from the walls and just use 1/4" x 1/4" hole wire to make the whole cage, so they can climb around the whole thing instead of just the front and I'll have more areas to hang hammocks and toys from. And it will be close enough to the wall that we can screw the shelves and levels straight into the wall to make them super sturdy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bokuza


	Not sure if can but id love to see photos of the girls pregnant. Ive always wondered how big some females get. I know dwarfs can get HUGE but Ive snever seen rats. Anyway keep us informed! As soon as my boy get better and isnt contagious im seriously considering finding Siamese.

Sure, i'll go take a few pics of the girls that are super fat right now and post them in a minute.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Craig Thatcher


	I have recently built a cage, and have drawn plans for a bigger one, but nothing like on the scale you are doing, I just read your post....WOW, huge!!! But I bet you have quite a few Ratties. Want more friends, but my wife has put her foot down :-( Congratulations by the way, sounds like you are going to be busy very soon, good luck!!!

I'm always pretty busy here with all the animals. And yea, we do have quite a few rats. Most of the reason we have so many females pregnant at once is for snake food, but out of the 76 rats we have, 42 are just my pets, and the rest are for breeding, as well as my pets. We have several large boas that need to eat too.

Although I would keep all the ratties if I could.

ShannonMarie · #8 06-27-2009, 05:36 PM

Here's some pics of 3 of the girls.

These 2 are due any day now:

And this girl is due in a few days.

Craig Thatcher · #9 06-27-2009, 06:02 PM

Awesome!!!

bokuza · #10 06-27-2009, 07:31 PM

BLIMPS! haa thanks. I want to kiss their tummies.

canadiancritter · #11 06-27-2009, 08:57 PM

Oh they look so pokeable

ShannonMarie · #12 06-27-2009, 11:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bokuza


	BLIMPS! haa thanks. I want to kiss their tummies.

Haha, I always kiss their tummies and talk to the babies, husband thinks I'm crazy but I caught him doing it earlier tonight, LOL.
And yea, they are like blimps, I keep going and checking on them every hour just in case they go into labor, but nothing yet. *fingers crossed*

Quote:

Originally Posted by canadiancritter


	Oh they look so pokeable

Haha I know.
I am super gentle when i pick them up when they're that heavily pregnant and careful not to put much pressure on their bellies so the little ones aren't uncomfortable lol

---

The girl in the first picture is so sweet, she was kissing my thumb the whole time I was holding her, and she didnt want to go back in her cage.

Poor thing, I hope she does better this time around with her babies. It will be her second litter, her first litter went less than perfect... She had 13 babies and only 4 survived.

bokuza · #13 06-28-2009, 12:19 AM

GOD THOSE TUMMIES ARE SO CUTE. XC

Oh, well as a first time mom, 14 kids is way too much.
Right now I have a dwarf breeding pair expecting soon too!
Its the mothers first time and im hoping she can handle it, luckily the father I set her up with is well seasoned and a gentleman.

He waited a month before he *cough* stepped up to the plate.

ShannonMarie · #14 06-28-2009, 12:31 AM

Oh congrats! I hope you can post pics when they are born, I'm curious to see how small the babies are!

"A well seasoned gentleman"... That made me laugh so hard! I wish my boys were like that, they get straight to the point... I had one female get pregnant and had 12 babies after (and i mean literally) 5 seconds of being in with the boy! He was way too agressive when I put them together and she was crying, so I snatched her out... 3 1/2 weeks later she had kids haha! Maybe it's a rat thing.... but my boy Clyde only has one thing on his mind.

bokuza · #15 06-28-2009, 06:42 PM

Mm yeah. Ive had a few boys like that!
Herz has always been a gentleman. Plus hes grown calm and accepting in his older age. Hes actually my buffer for new hamster joining the herd. Hes so kind that he can get along with ANY personality. Thats why i put him in with his current mate Ramen, shes a fired up little girl. Herz in the only male who can deal with her. The rest of them just run from her and get into heated battles.

Ill of course post some pictures. Wouldnt dream of not doing it XD.
They are...jelly beans. For real.