Could my baby rats be pregnant??

[rastarat]

Hey, I'm looking for some advice. We got two girls from the same litter on the 25th of July and were told they were 6 weeks old. On the 30th the breeder messaged saying to bring both back to be sexed because she had found a male in with the girls. We have since gotten 2 more from the same breeder but only today has it occurred to us after reading something that they actually could be pregnant. We didn't even think they were old enough but now we've realised they are.

One of our babies is looking particularly fat and she's fighting with the other girls. Not all the time but enough to notice and she's gone from being a timid shy rat, too quite outgoing and snuggly and constantly wanting to be out of the cage. We thought this was just her becoming settled and the introduction of two new litter mates was the reason she was fighting. After reading about a 5 week old rat being pregnant today we are now questioning whether she isn't just the biggest chubby rat, she could actually pregnant.

So for the more experienced rat owners out there. What is the likely hood that she's pregnant and how can you tell or is there even a way to tell?

Thank you for any advice 🙂.

Tummy pic. By tge date she left the breeder she would be 13 days?

X

No answer I'm afraid, but maybe this post bump will help reveal the rats bump?!?

I dont know wha tp say

Her stomach does look swelled. How old was she when you bought her?

It's possible for rats to start breeding from around 6 weeks old, its highly likely if there was a male in her cage, it certainly looks like a pregnant belly. If she is you may have your work cut out as rats that young don't always have the maturity to look after a litter of babies.
This website is very informative and has a page about a pregnant 5 week old rat:

www.joinrats.com/RatHealth/OOPS/StartHere/

Unfortunately she's more likely to be pregnant than not. You could check for visible nipples? We had an opps litter and the female didn't show at all and it wasn't until the night of our last safe day that she gave birth to 9 babies which we ended up keeping 4 of.

21 days is the usual pregnancy length you could see if she comes into heat before this or starts nest building. Rats come into heat on a weekly basis and if you touch the base of a rat in heats tail she'll vibrate.

Don't buy from that breeder in future she sounds woefully inexperienced and really should have kept the entire litter for a 3 week sort of check to make sure there were no opps litters before selling or giving them away and you can tell a boy rat at 3 weeks old as they're balls are absolutely massive.

Check out the rat rescue network on facebook as they'll be able to put you in touch with a rescue in your area as rat litters are huge and the babies very energetic and you may not be able to deal with them as first time owners. If nothing else you will get help and support from there on raising the babies and finding them good homes when they're old enough to leave at 8 weeks (you'll need to seperate boys from girls at 6 weeks however).

@Rastarat just in case you need any more help you can message me and I'll be happy to advise.

Hi - there's a really good group on FB - I'll pm you the details. They'll be able to help with advice, but for now I'd suggest separating her in another cage as soon as possible.

.. And our group separates from around 5 weeks, just to totally avoid this kind of situation.

I'm confused how a breeder could fail to correctly sex baby rats

Thanks for all the advice. She did say she would take her back if she is pregnant but we've fallen head over heels with her and I can't give her back.

I'm not sure if she is any bigger now. I will join the fb group. Thanks

I'd be reluctant to take her back to this breeder, glad you're keeping her. See you on the group :)

SheRaaargh you're not the only one confused as we could certainly tell our boys at 3 weeks! They seemed to just appear overnight and you can hardly miss them.

Well exactly! Of all animals, rats are some of the more testicular 🐀