[Nimbus]

I was at a friend house the other day and her brother had come to vist her from college. He was doing a project on rats and he had three, they were all in horrible living conditions and were flea infested. They were never socailized properly and they smelled super bad. One was accually losing his fur(probably from lack of vitamens and minerals, and the fkleas probably didnt help). I immedianly snatched the cage from his hands and told him i would report him if he didnt give them to me(little did he know i was going to report him anyway) so he gave them to me and i immediantly brought them to my office to examine them(im a vet, but i ussually do not work on my own animals, i have another lady who does it and she is great). The two male were in to bad of shape and i tried everything i could but i decided to humanly euthenize them to put them out of their misery(there was no possible way they could have pulled through) I do not like to give up but in this case they were better off. Anyway the female is still here and she seems to be pulling through very well. She was really dehydrated but has come through that. I removed a tumor from her back leg and she is doing well with that. I do not have THAT much experiance with rats so i would hope some of you with more experiance with this particular animal could help me. When ever i try to pick her up to check on her she bites at me, almost like she was a wild rat. And she isnt eating. Is there anyway i can make her food more apealing to her. She should be able to eat by now! and she was being starved by this man so she should be eating like a pig. Is there anyway i can get her to stop biting at me, i really want her to be able to be adopted out to a nice family sometime, but if that doesnt happen because of her aggression i dont know what ill do! I know to socailize her i have to play with her and love her but that doesnt seem to be working. please help. Im sorry i wrote a novel but i hope you will read anyway!I also forgot to mention, she has givin birth to multiple litters and the guy would take the baby ratties and drown them! HOw horrible!

 

[Nimbus]

I also have the flea situation under control!

 

[Formula86]

I don't know about rats, but I just wanted to tell you how wonderful you are to help those ratties! :heart:

Have you tried calling up an exotic vet? They might know more.

Btw, if you are having trouble handling her, you can always wear some gloves when you are socialize her.

 

[Nimbus]

Thank you! At first i didnt want to use gloves so that she could get used to my scent, But i will have to until she gets more used to me! I will try to find an exotic vet, might be a little hard to find around here though..lol

 

[VanillaRat]

What part of Newfoundland are you in?
There is an exotic vet in Mount Pearl.

Anyway offer her baby food,like the fruit or veggie ones.That should get her appetite back.When I had rats that wouldn't or couldn't eat,I offered them baby food.That way they still get some nutrients.

She is biting probably out of fear or because she was so neglected.
Let her get used to your voice and scent.

 

[mtmaughan]

Talking to her is a great way to help her get used to you. Put an old t-shirt in the cage if you have one to spare. Wear it first so it smells like you. Offer her lots of yummy foods. Rats are very smart, it won't take her long to realize that you are a source of good things.

 

[rat freak]

Ya she is probably just scared! Hopefully she will get accustomed to people and become more friendly.

 

[CaliforniaGirl]

Shes probably pregnant again. Good thing you took the poor rats away from that awful guy.

 

[mulder]

definitley talk to her. maybe dont force beign physical with her just yet. her cage is her safe spot and i'm sure she's scared right now. talk to her a lot, leave her in her cage, offer her treats. sit by her cage, talk to her and leave your hand in her cage. it'll be kinda boring but it'll do mounds of help for her. it'll def take her time to get used to you but you're a wonderful person and eventually she'll sense that.

 

[Nimbus]

thanks alot guys! ill try it all!

 

[Mousey]

It takes time with some ratties I got splinter a few months ago and he just now started too take treats from my hand, time and patience is all it really takes.

 

[laydeerodentzz]

If I were you I'd make her cage warm and snug so she feels right at home, do all the things people have mentioned above and sooner or later she is bound to approach your hand and anyway I bet it wont be long before she starts to want attention like most ratties. One other thing- if she is pregnant again, she might just be protecting herself and if all the other babies were taken away and drowned or something horrible like that, then what if she turns away her new litter, let us know if she is pregnant.Good luck!!

 

[Vixsyn]

Taming rats.

Open the cage door and sit near it and don't pay attention to her. Read or something, and she'll come out on her own. And if she doesn't, try leaving a trail of yogurt drops torwards you. (Ratties love those.)

Leave some cooked chicken bones in the cage. Mine love them a lot. (and they're good for their teeth!)

Once she starts working her way out of the cage (curiosity will get the best of her) you can begin socializing, but don't make quick movements. Hopefully this helped you. :]

Best of luck!

P.S
Try reading a book when you're ignoring her because she'll wonder what you're doing and if you're lucky, she'll come up to you and sniff it. And digest literature! (hopefully it's an old book LOL)

 

[Nimbus]

haha thanks! And she is pregnant. But i dont know if i should be happy or not because of it. Im afraid she wont be able to handle havign babies because she is still recovering from surgeries and everything else! I will try to find them all great homes where they will be loved unconditionaly Do you think she will be able to take care of babies in her condition?

 

[SugarLovesRats]

Just wondering at this point would it be more risky for her to have the babies or an emergency spay? How far along is she, any idea? When was her last surgery is she healed? Do you think she could make it through a spay? If she could then that would prob be best at this point but I wouldn't suggest it if she is still healing. Then again you probablly thought about this already your the vet not me LOL. Anyway all I know for sure is your doing an excellent job with her, you've done so much for her. I'm sure she will come around soon enough. I imagine it's just very hard for her to trust right now. Once she realizes that you are the bearer of all good things, I'm sure she'll be fine! Best of Luck to you it's wonderful what your doing for her!

 

[Nimbus]

Thank you I have thought about an emergency spay but im not sure how she'll do with another surgery so quickly! Also she is about two weeks along in her pregnancy. But she is doing pretty well now and i think she may be able to deliver her babies without to much risk, im just worried about how she will take care of them. I may hand raise them. I think she may eat them because of the stress so im going to get them out of there as soon as possible. Also, reading a book while leaving her cage door open worked! She became very curious and climbed out on her own, i can now take her out of her cage and play with her on the couch! I didnt think she would warm up to me so quickly! Thank you all for responding

 

[mulder]

*squee* i'm glad she came out to see you!! yay for ratty bonding!! congrats

 

[luvboyrats]

I'm glad she's doing well. With rats, curiosity almost always wins out in the end. Also, remember she may just be a little moody because of the pregnancy. Many kind loving female rats go through fearful bitey stages during pregnancy.

I wouldn't worry too much about her eating the babies or pull the babies out immediately. Female rats are actually less likely to do that than female mice. Just make sure you're giving her lots of extra protein right now. My pregnant female is on a diet of mazuri lab blocks which I leave in there all the time, plus about 3 or 4 puppy sized milk bones a day. I also give 1-2 tablespoons of canned puppy food once a week. I'd be willing to bet if you feed her extra protein, give her loads of nesting material (some kind of nesting box plus paper towels, fleece, etc) and only handle her for short periods to keep her from being too stressed, she'll probably do fine with the babies. And they're always better off with their mommy if that will work, so just do your best and watch her with the babies before you decide anything.

Also if she takes care of most of the litter but just eats one or two of the babies, don't freak out. As I said earlier, rats don't usually eat babies due to stress or aggression, if they do it at all it's usually because the baby is dead or dying and instinct tells them to recycle the protein while they're nursing and to get rid of the body before it can draw predators to the nest.

 

[Nimbus]

thank you.. i will keep all of that in mind. Every body has been such a great help!

 

[SugarLovesRats]

Does she have a cagemate? If not she should, a cagemate would most likely help momma out play nanny and all. Good Luck!