Accidental OOPS Litters

First of all ALWAYS attempt to prevent oops litters.

SEX thoroughly all animals BEFORE putting them together.
I have seen far far too many people who put their rats together and then later on was like oops they are different sexes! This is not well thought out. You should have sexed them before putting them together. Don't trust anyone. Sex them yourself.
Never do playdates. It takes a mere moment for them to mate. It will happen in the blink of an eye, you may not even notice, and you definitely can't stop it.
Always have appropriate cages for your animals. No animals should be able to escape.
You may have one cage of large adult males in a cage with wider bar spacing, because they can't escape but your girls escaped and easily slipped INTO to boys' cage.

But let's say you adopted a pregnant female or an accident happened. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, so what should you do?

Rats are pregnant for around 3 weeks and perhaps a few days. Not very long at all in the grand scheme of things. Thats because rat babies are born hairless, with eyes and ears closed and quite helpless.

Rats generally only start really showing in their last week or even sometimes last few days! This can depend on the individual rat and how many babies she is carrying and how big those babies are.

Her sides will start to expand. If you hold a treat over her head for her to stand up you can usually get a good belly shot.

If you know she is pregnant or think so, move her out of her normal cage. Do not use hammocks or hanging beds. Moms can climb the bars with babies or climb and drop babies.

A BIN CAGE is ideal, but in a pinch, a tank can work, but it is not ideal.

Do not use cloth or paper. Cloth can stick to babies. Fabric is dangerous as they can get trapped under it.

I suggest using wood chips.

You can use a hide if you wish, though she may decide not to use it and just have the babies in the corner of the cage. I do not use hides. I like being able to see the babies easily and my moms never really used them anyways. If your mom is very jumpy/anxious, then use a hide.

Do not give her extra foods or new foods. Do not over feed her. She should have acess to food all the time and you should already be feeding a healthy diet.

Some moms may get hormonal and even bite. This is not ideal. It is NOT normal behavior. It is poor behavior and poor breeding. But it may happen in accidental litters more often. Try not to stress her out if that is the case.

Your rat may give birth anytime day or night. Make sure she is in a quiet part of the house away from chaos.

Ideally you would have an exotic vet on standby just incase something bad happens.

Babies are here

Rats are amazing moms and shouldn't harm their babies or eat them ever. It is very rare for that to happen. Usually, the babies pass away - often from lack of nutrition, and then the mom cleans up the mess by eating the dead. This is nature.

You could have anywhere from 1-20+ babies in a litter. I would generally say around 8 is the norm, but it heavily depends on the line.

Mostly just let mom do her thing.

You can now give her some extra protein. DO NOT feed cat food. You can give some high quality dog food- in small amounts. I like to give chicken breast. Remember everything in moderation. Mother's milk tea can help with milk production, though I've found rats dont love the taste. I may mix it with oatmeal. oats can also help with milk production.

Yes you can handle babies from the start. As I said that won't make mom harm the babies. But if your mom is anxious, it may bother her. I would give her a treat and steal them away and then return them.

You can sex babies from birth, see my sexing page. But it is not super easy without experience. I pick up two babies and compare. Pick up another baby and compare, etc.... when you see the difference it clicks and is easy to see which is which- usually. but no rush to sex them yet! At 10-12 weeks old they will be easy to sex as only girls have nipples.

But it is good to check on the babies to make sure they have milk bands. A milk band is a white line across their belly, which is milk. It should be a nice thick white band. If it isn't, that baby isn't getting milk. If this is the case you might want to try switching out half the babies to give her more time with one or you can even try feeding the baby yourself using a paintbrush and kitten forumula.

See my sexing page. At around 10-12 days you can easily sex them by seeing the nipples. Nipples mean girls, no nipples it is a boy.

At around two weeks old they will open their eyes. This is where it gets more fun! You can take them out away from mom for small periods of time and handle them.

You also want to make sure they can reach the water bottle and food dish. They are unlikely to eat or drink just yet, but they will very soon start trying it out and copying mom. This is important. Do not use a water bowl, as the babies could climb into it and they also should learn how to use the bottle.

As the babies get older, you can take them out more. I recommend a baby safe playpen or using the bathtub. Sit with them, let them climb on you, and get used to touch. You can also use a bonding pouch (they sell many on etsy).

They can eat normal high high-quality rat food and get treats and some extra protein like you gave mom above. DO NOT feed cat food.

You can place babies in a normal cage at around 3.5-4 weeks old. It needs to have bar spacing at 1/2 inch or less!

Separating babies

At 5 weeks old, you need to sex and separate the boys from mom and the girls.

You likely will not be able to see the nipples through the fluffy baby coat. Boys can trick you by sucking their balls up inside. You can still tell, because it looks strange, but it is also easy to miss them if you aren't very focused. So go slow while sexing, hold them like I am in the above photo. Look for the vagina. Double and triple check - you don't want more babies!

The girls can stay with mom, and the boys can either go off alone or, better yet, go with adult males - if your males have good temperament! It is still important for them to be with adults and learn proper rat behavior. Adults will put them in their place, teach them not to bite too hard, and teach them good manners.

When can babies be rehomed?

I would highly suggest rehoming at 8 weeks old. This gives babies a chance to fully grow and mature enough to be brave and adjust well to a new home, and have grown mentally and emotionally too.

As soon as you can, sex them and start posting, looking for homes lined up for the future. Look for local rescues, craiglist, and facebook doesnt allow animal sales but if you find some rehoming groups their are ways around it just follow the group rules.