So yesterday my boyfriend and I go to a little pet store in a nearby mall. We originally went in for a lady rat for one of our big boy's. We decided not to though because the conditions were horrible! All cages were very warm, the water low and no food bowls to separate their food from their feces. Also, were mixed gender cages so most likely all were already pregnant.
We ended up leaving with what we thought were two small hopper rats. We were not given the info that hoppers were suppose to be snake food. The staff there gave us no inclination and we are going to be calling our local SPCA because of the animal conditions of ALL the pets we saw.
Back on topic, when we came home we realized two things. One, what we had thought were two boys was actually a male dumbo and a female bareback I believe she's called(when solid one color except tail tip and underbelly) When at the petstore we had tried checking for the genders but we made the mistake of letting the staff check the female, I had checked our little dumbo. Secondly, shes pregnant! Not only that but very obviously so once you realize shes female.
Heres where I am asking for help. I looked up as much as I could, called my "rat expert" for general how to care for her. So we've added more protein to her cage, paper towel shredding and baby washcloths(Though should I remove those?) We noticed shes panting a lot. The cage's location is not hot at all and they huddle together but what is wrong? I know I do not know enough about caring for a pregnant rat, but we hadn't planned to breed the bigger boys until after we had learned what we needed to know. And because she is a hopper that means shes YOUNG which puts her at bigger risk. We will be removing the male dumbo today, we wanted them to have each other since they've been re-rooted and I have to put him in his own little cage until he's bigger.
To anyone who helps, I greatly appreciate your help, you have no idea!
We ended up leaving with what we thought were two small hopper rats. We were not given the info that hoppers were suppose to be snake food. The staff there gave us no inclination and we are going to be calling our local SPCA because of the animal conditions of ALL the pets we saw.
Back on topic, when we came home we realized two things. One, what we had thought were two boys was actually a male dumbo and a female bareback I believe she's called(when solid one color except tail tip and underbelly) When at the petstore we had tried checking for the genders but we made the mistake of letting the staff check the female, I had checked our little dumbo. Secondly, shes pregnant! Not only that but very obviously so once you realize shes female.
Heres where I am asking for help. I looked up as much as I could, called my "rat expert" for general how to care for her. So we've added more protein to her cage, paper towel shredding and baby washcloths(Though should I remove those?) We noticed shes panting a lot. The cage's location is not hot at all and they huddle together but what is wrong? I know I do not know enough about caring for a pregnant rat, but we hadn't planned to breed the bigger boys until after we had learned what we needed to know. And because she is a hopper that means shes YOUNG which puts her at bigger risk. We will be removing the male dumbo today, we wanted them to have each other since they've been re-rooted and I have to put him in his own little cage until he's bigger.
To anyone who helps, I greatly appreciate your help, you have no idea!