[luvboyrats]

Okay, today marks four weeks of age for my little accidental litter, so I separated everyone out last night! No more accidental litters at my house:nono:

So last night we were separating them. I have a really big cage that's going to be for my mommy and the two original ratties I got to go with her and for now the baby girls are in there with them. Then I was dividing the males between the two smaller cages I had. Of course there are quite a few to house because our Mommy got all for of them all the way to the weaning stage! I just can't praise Miss Lila enough!

Well I was checking their little butts because it had been a while since I had gone through all of them and just a couple of days ago I noticed some of their boy parts were becoming a bit more noticeable. I was wrong by the way. I originally thought more of them would turn out to be boys, but I had 8 girls.

Anyway, I was down to my last rattie baby, turning it over, and it squeezed out of my hand like a bar of soap and hit the ground running. Of course our dog Mischa had to get into the mix. Mischa plays with the bigger rats and is never at all aggressive, but she's terribly curious and was trying to play with the little guy, so he ran, we lost track of him. He is now loose in my house somewhere! We stayed up for hours looking for the little guy (or girl I didn't get to look before it split!) We have put one of the extra carry cages we have in front of the last spot we saw it, full of food, thinking, when it calmed down it might seek food and the security of the cage. We're also watching the area around mommy's new cage closely because we figure the little guy might look for her. My husband is home during the days now so he's keeping an eye out. I was thinking about getting a humane trap after I get off work and baiting it with yogies. We know it's still alive and moving around because this morning we found tiny rattie evidence in sever non rat-inhabited areas. I'm worried about what will happen if we don't find it fast enough though. We have the landlady skip our unit when it's time for pest control and all that because of our various kids, but I'm sure there are traps and poisons in other units though.

Anyone else have any tips for how I can find and catch this kid quickly!

 

[lilspaz68]

4 weeks is actually early to separate the boys from the females of the family. did you put the boys in with adults or on their own? At this age, males could easily kill a baby, with one bite to the back of the neck. Some are great with them but even the nicest can surprise you.

As for baby boy, get right down on the floor and listen for him...make sure you have water out as he can dehydrate. I would advise a havahart trap baited with food and water if nothing else works. At least at 4 weeks he's weaned.

 

[luvboyrats]

No, I don't have any adult males. My mommy rattie was rescued already accidentally pregnant. So my little boys are just in with other little boys.

My girls aren't really being exposed to adult rats either. All I have is their mommy and two juvenile females that are only about 4 or 5 weeks older than they are, so no one's getting thrown in with big meanies or anything.

Baiting the humane trap with water and food was pretty much my plan, but I didn't think about dehydration. I'll have my husband put down some water in the mean time. Thanks for the advice!

 

[luvboyrats]

Okay so let me finish the saga of the missing rattie. First of all, we went to three stores and couldn't find a humane trap small enough that we could be sure a 4 week old rat would trigger it or couldn't get out through the gaps of the cage. So we took a small travel cage we weren't using and made sure there was lots of food and water in it and placed it about midway between the last place he was seen and his mommy's cage. My theory was if I had been chased by a dog and had to hide and fend for myself, I would definitely want my mommy! So we knew he was okay because we kept finding rattie evidence if you get my drift and the pellets in the travel cage we set up kept disappearing one or two at a time. But the little toot was smart! He never moved when we were around to see or hear him! So yesterday morning I was up earlier than usual because I have a sinus infection and couldn't sleep for the stuffiness. I went into the living room for a bit before I started getting ready for work, and there's our missing little rattie, frozen still on top of mommy's cage, hoping I won't notice him. He just stayed there while I picked him up. I held him until he calmed down a bit and then put him in with the other boys. He doesn't seem to have gotten into anything or hurt himself because as of today he's still climbing playing eating and drinking just like the others. So we're back up to 8 girls, and 6 boys! I love happy endings!
But I like rats better once they're over 8 weeks old and stop trying to give me so many heart attacks!!:yikes:

 

[jamesReid]

What a great story.. i think maybe I will adopt him!!!

 

[luvboyrats]

It can be arranged! He is certainly very crafty! If you are interested in adopting boys I would pick him and our gray hooded male with a stripe. He has a thin but almost perfect stripe down his back and he's the cuddliest most outgoing boy so far. The escapee is also a gray hood but instead of having a broken hood or stripe he just has one big blob in the middle of his back, like someone dropped paint on him. I'll try and get pics of those two specifically tonight. It's so hard! The only working camera I have left is just too darn slow to catch these monsters. I have about a hundred pictures of little gray and white lightening bolts!

 

[Storyseeker]

I'm so excited to meet these little stinkers!