[pseudorocknroll]

One of my mothers friends rat had a liter of (13!) babies. It was overwhelming to her and it was clear the level of care was going down One of the babies was the runt of the litter and her 7 yr old daughter broke it's tail by accident!!! I become overwhelmed with worry about his environment and decided to take the baby since I have lots of room. I called the vet asap and he said he could see us in 3 days, but until then how can I keep him comfortable? Also, how can we get him to trust us? It's day one and although he has a great quarantine cage set up (He has two 8 week old brothers anxiously waiting I'm sure!) and will come up to the bars and say hello he's too scared to come out.

He has a great play area just waiting for him on our couch with lots of love from humans for as long as he desires. Any advice? Should I take HIM out or wait until he's ready? PLEASE HELP

 

[lilspaz68]

He's really too young to be away from his mom right now He'll need help with nutrition, supplementing with baby cereal, ensure, formula if you can get it.

When you say broken what does it look like? Did the skin come off of the tail (degloving) or is there any wounds, or does it have a big bend in it?

is he acting normal besides the tail?

 

[pseudorocknroll]

Mama's dead :/. I completely agree, but after she died the level of care went down really fast because there were are 12 of them. Since I have all of the proper food, some meds (baytril, etc), sterile quarantine cage on hand when I found out we went right over.

He's adorable, but the smallest rat I've ever seen. He's exploring his new cage like a mad man with a normal temperment, but his tail is completely snapped. His tail is really probably barely 2 inches :/

I think he miiiight be younger? I'm not sure. His body is a little smaller than a golf ball then he has a small head. he's never had a drink from a water bottle before. He liked watered down enfamil and ensure. I'll go to the store tomorrow for more supplies. I just feel so terrible about the predicament he's in!
(The other babies were eventually taken in by a small zoo- I found out an hour ago)

 

[lilspaz68]

Mama's dead :/. I completely agree, but after she died the level of care went down really fast because there were are 12 of them. Since I have all of the proper food, some meds (baytril, etc), sterile quarantine cage on hand when I found out we went right over.

He's adorable, but the smallest rat I've ever seen. He's exploring his new cage like a mad man with a normal temperment, but his tail is completely snapped. His tail is really probably barely 2 inches :/

I think he miiiight be younger? I'm not sure. His body is a little smaller than a golf ball then he has a small head. he's never had a drink from a water bottle before. He liked watered down enfamil and ensure. I'll go to the store tomorrow for more supplies. I just feel so terrible about the predicament he's in!
(The other babies were eventually taken in by a small zoo- I found out an hour ago)

A zoo? Ohhh animal food, how very sad

Can you weigh your little boy?

It sounds like a degloving where the skin was stripped off and the rest shrivelled, dried up and fell off...does the end look clean or sore or infected?

Well I will post pics so we can age him....there's key things to look for in wee ones.

Let's see, eyes open later usually on a bigger litter..so in the 14-17 day range, the eyes stay a little squinty for a couple of days...

15 days old (just opened)

17 days

Then the eyes really pop open and they start to zoom (19 days)

this is about the age my fluffy orphan Dilbert arrived (he had been taken from his mom at around 2 weeks and the snake owner said he was too cute and fed him with a syringe, then after 5 days decided he had had enough and posted an ad...if no one took him he was going to let him go "free" in the woods near his house :mad2: He really was a cottonball with legs and eyes...he weighed 31 grams but grew rapidly.

3 weeks old, eyes open, looking a little more like rats

3.5 weeks for Dilbert

4 weeks for Dilbert, testes are descending (he proudly shows them off )

Does this help you age your bubber?