Itty Bitty Litter

[ShannonMarie]

One of my females gave birth to her first litter On June 4th. We came home late that night, and when I went in to check on the rats, she had one little baby inside her igloo. She wasn't in labor anymore that I could tell, and the baby was cleaned completely and full of milk. The mama was eager to be picked up, but I assumed she was going to have more babys so I patted her and gave her a kissy and let her be. Yesterday, still no more babies. Today, STILL no more babies.

So I guess she only had one little baby in her belly, lol. We're still watching closely for any distress signs from her in case she has any babies still inside her. But i don't think she does. We didnt know if she was pregnant for sure, because she barely grew a belly at all. But I had my suspicions, so she was in one of our "mommy to be" cages just in case.


Anyone ever had a litter of just one baby?? I havent ever even heard of it. I tried searching for some articles on single litters in rats, but came up with nothing.

Anyways, just wanted to share.

[RodentzRule]

I would take her to the vet for an x-ray, just to be safe. Id be really suprised if that is her only baby but I guess its possible, just not common. Keep us updated

[lilspaz68]

Incredibly rare to just have 1 baby born, and if it was the only surviving foetus then it should also be a huge eeper, which it doesn't sound likely.

More likely is that the other babies were born dead or died soon after and your little momma instinctually "cleaned up" so as to not attract predators.

I hope your wee one does well, does it have a good milkbelly?

[CapriceCritters]

I've had just two before, from a doe that didn't have a very big belly too. If she wasn't big and doesn't seem distressed I personally wouldn't worry too much.

[ShannonMarie]

I don't think she ate any babies. At least we can't find any signs of that. I looked vaguely through the cage the night it was born. But, Like I said, she didn't look pregnant at ALL. I just suspected that she might be because it was around 25 days before that I had put the male in her and her sisters cage. So just in case, I had her prepared in her own cage.



The baby is doing very well, she's a great mom. Baby has a huge milk belly and is really big and strong. Pretty sure its a female, so we will probably keep it. I'm not certain on the sex, because I'm out at the ranch right now for the week, and my husband is keeping an eye on the rats while I'm out. He's not all that great at sexing, last night he told me the baby didn't have privates... lol. Bad eye sight in the dark i guess, LOL.



Alls well so far though, I'll see if I can talk him through taking some pics of mama and baby, otherwise I'll get some pics as soon as I get home! Thanks so much for everyones input.


Oh and the hubby is ready to rush Sookie to the vet if she starts to act weird at all. But everythings fine so far thankfully!

[CrWoodyspets]

My mouse's smallest litter was her third (accidental) and that was five. It is pretty uncommon for them to only have one, but keep in mind, your mouse could have eaten the others if it had more than the one.

[CrWoodyspets]

Post pics cant wait!

[ShannonMarie]

Here's the mama, Sookie.




And her one little baby, who's doing great BTW.










Bad quality, they were taken on my phone. lol.

[lilspaz68]

Hard to tell from the pics but I think you have a wee girly there

[ShannonMarie]

Yea, i'm 95% sure that its a girl. So we will probably keep her. Trying to think of a name, maybe I should wait until we can see what she looks like at least lol. You can see her markings coming in already, hard to see in the picture though. Looks like she will probably be bluish grey like her daddy.


She's so cute though, she just layed perfectly still in my hand for the pic and made little chirping noises and Sookie came running over and rolled her around in my hand and cleaned her bum and then walked away haha. Sooo cute to see them interact, i love that part of having babies around all the time.

[CrWoodyspets]

I wouldn't trust me completly but I say a girl.

[Brighteyed]

that baby looks like it should have the name vanilla. she looks so creamy colored i think it would work. and yeah she does look like a female.

[ShannonMarie]

Yup, its definitely a female. She's 24 days old now, and I just took some pics of her today. We named her Shirley.

[CrWoodyspets]

Awww how cute! Shirley is such a sweet name!

[lilspaz68]

Awww she looks just like my Cleo did! (RIP)

Same light ruby eyes too