Wow Awesome experience!

luvboyrats · #1 03-30-2008, 04:14 PM

Our little girl Genie went into labor about 8:00 last night. She actually began delivering late this morning around 11:00. She's so sweet and comfortable with us she let us watch the whole thing. I even got to see a couple of them gape and take their first breath! It was so awesome. She is a first time mommy and she still ended up with a decent sized litter of 11, All were born kicking and squealing, and the entire delivery took about 30 mins. She's been a great mommy too. I checked after we got back from church and lunch, and they all have milk bands!

The whole thing couldn't have gone more smoothly, and how lucky am I to get to witness the whole thing! We're terribly excited.

mulder · #2 03-30-2008, 04:50 PM

yay babies!!! congrats! that's so exciting, i can't wait to see pictures. i'm glad she's being such a calm and great mommy

BrokenEclipse · #3 03-30-2008, 04:57 PM

A yay! Glad to hear it went as smoothly as my litter! WOW! So we both have litters at the same age! They're 1 day apart! HAHA! And wow, 11! I have 13 (: im so excited to watch them grow! What were the colors of the parents? (:
HEHE! How long until you can hold the babies? Eclipse (my rat) is 110% comfortable with me opening the nest to take a peek!

clairebee1 · #4 03-30-2008, 06:09 PM

Congrats

can't wait to see pics
i havnt seen that many new born rodents before

hope everythings going good x

SugarLovesRats · #5 03-30-2008, 06:55 PM

Maybe I have you confused but you rescued Genie already pregnant right? I'm just asking because that means you must not have had her long and that is awesome that she is already so comfortable with you! It's great too she is being such a good mommy! Congrats to you and Genie, I have taken in many pregnant mommies and it is wonderful when everything goes smoothly and you get to watch the little eapers grow up! Well anyway either way that is great, even if you have had her for awile. Good Luck I hope everything keeps going so well, give genie lots of lovin from me!!

luvboyrats · #6 03-30-2008, 07:12 PM

That is correct, we got Genie on the 8th of this month already pregnant, and she has just taken right to us. She let me pick her up and cuddle her and then check the babies for milk bands and everything, such a sweetie! She's just awesome.

Genie is a black and white berkshire, since we don't know which male rat was the daddy, the other genes in this litter are anyone's guess.

They're so little. We tried to take pics, but they didn't show up well on our crumby camera, so I'm gonna try and borrow my dad's camera again. They're just big pink jelly beans with legs!

SugarLovesRats · #7 03-30-2008, 09:23 PM

That's great that means the babies will be able to be handled often so they will be totally hand tame when it's time to find homes. With such a great mommy I'm sure they will be sweethearts! I can't WAIT to see pics!

laydeerodentzz · #8 03-31-2008, 06:24 AM

Awww OMG I'm so happy for you and Genie of corse lol! Well congrats anywho and I'm sure they'll be te purfect babies! I really want to experiance babies,but there are not any people around where I live interested

Hope everything goes well for you tho hehe!!

luvboyrats · #9 03-31-2008, 09:30 AM

Yes I think they will be very well socialized. I've checked all their milk bands a couple of times now, and also pulled them off of eachother so that I could count and make sure that everyone's still doing well, so on a small level they're already being handled.

On a less positive note, they are already irritating Genie, I opened the tank this morning to put in more food and water, and she literally jumped on my shoulder, she needed some away time from the hungry little jellybeans! She's doing great though, they must be feeding constantly because this morning they were all already noticeably bigger, are they supposed to grow that fast?

mulder · #10 03-31-2008, 09:35 AM

awww she's a great mommy! i dont know how fast they're supposed to grow, but they're growing which is great! make sure to give her extra protein while shes nursing. if you think they're stressing her out, maybe give her more spurts of out-of-cage time? best wishes for the pinkies!

luvboyrats · #11 03-31-2008, 10:03 AM

Well that's what I was wondering about! Genie is definitely an out of cage rat. In fact we've been through 3 cages with her because we can't keep her in one, she wants to be out and about, and even in labor spent some time climbing and trying to escape, so I'd love to give her out of cage time.

But is it really healthy to get her out of the cage much right now? I mean with the litter so new and totally hairless? Don't they get cold/scared etc? If everyone thinks it would be okay, I'd love to because I certainly think it would be good for her.

luvboyrats · #12 03-31-2008, 10:06 AM

And oh yes, she's getting extra protein! She's eating like crazy. We give her mazuri rat blocks, fresh and dried fruit, milk bone puppy biscuits, and the occasional tblsp of canned puppy food. Also about a week ago we bought a syringe and a can of KMR just in case we had to hand feed the babies. Well we didn't want to waste it and we found that mommy enjoys KMR very much! So yes, eating all the time, eating everything!

mulder · #13 03-31-2008, 10:08 AM

that's good she's eating lots. when i mentioned out of cage time, i didn't htink about if it would stress out the babies. but really, i know in my heart she's gotta be with her babies, i was meaning more....5 minutes at a time, not really out and running around, just go say hello for a few minutes, multiple times, you know?

SugarLovesRats · #14 03-31-2008, 01:06 PM

First off, you will be amazed at just how fast they can grow!! Sounds like they are doing great. Yes it's safe for mommy to have out of cage time. She can afford more than 5 minutes or so, I don't know that there is a magic time that is safe but mom needs time to relax too. The babies will be fine while genie gets some loving in or has some free rome time. If you truly feel it's necasary you could always put a heating pad (on the lowest setting) underneath the tank if she is in an aquarium for the moment but that is usually not even necasary. The last litter I helped raise was Wynnie's (alot like genie's story adopted already very pregnant but she was a great mommy) I let her out of the cage two to three times a day for 20 to 30 minutes and babies were just fine. Wynnie just needed some "chill time"! I mean really can you imagine having 11 hungry babies on you 24\7! I do not envy them! Also just thought I'd mention Wynnie really enjoyed boiled chicken breast while she was pregnant and nursing. Last but not least....I am going through pic withdrawl! Seriously borrow a camera I don't care I want yittle pink eapers piccies!!!

luvboyrats · #15 03-31-2008, 01:36 PM

I'm going to get my dad's camera tonight. I really hope he'll let me keep it for a while. They're growing and changing so quickly, I'd love to be able to document it in stages. Oh I wish wish wish I had a video camera when they were born! Genie was so awesome, she did everything right and she gave us the best view of it all! We saw everything from the little guys poking out, to her pulling them out, to them taking their first breath, to her cleaning them and adding them to the nest. It was awesome! I wish I could have shared it with everyone who's ever woken up to just find a new litter.

Thanks for the advice. I'll start taking her out more. I know she's just dying to get some away time!

Babies