Baby Rats!!!!!!!

My rat gave birth to 8 babies. I am not sure hoe to raise these things at all so ... help please! lol

Can I touch or handle the babies so that they grow up to like me?

The mother (and father, who is now in a different cage after attacking me everytime I tried to feed them) hates me. When I got the rats they were already pretty much fully grown. I didn;t really have much of a chance to bound with them before they had babies.

If I touch the babies will the mother kill them?

I had hamsters who ate their babies.

Thanks!!!!!!

Congrats on the babies!!! I would wait a few weeks prior to handling the babies. The mother won't like it and may bite you. Things should cool down after about 2 weeks.
It may have been a good thing to separate the male and the female. Some animals make good parents and share the parenting while others don't. Rats are good parents but I would monitor their behavior if together. It really depends on their temperment. Yours don't sound like they have that right now.
If you do have to move the babies then use rubber gloves. It should reduce the human smell on them.
The bad news I mentioned in the heading. A friend of mine raised rats. She informed me that the female rat is capable of impregnating herself with the same male sperm to up to 2 years. That means that your female rat doesn't have to be around the male to have another batch of babies in the next few months. So don't be surprised if she does have another batch in a year.
Rats can make good pets. However, they do breed too much and can be hard to adopt out. So I hope you enjoy having many rats or friends with many snakes!:rolleyes:

She had 8 babies this first time. I put the malein the different cage because he was attacking my hand everytime I went to put food in their cage.

It kinda stinks that they can keep having babies. I am going off to college and august and wont be able to take them with me. I think I might keep a couple of the babies though, probably the same sex too, so I dont get another batch.

I hope the mother doesn't have another batch right now. I would love to have tuns of rats, but not right now since I wont be home much longer to play with them and give them attention.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Scooby4
Congrats on the babies!!! I would wait a few weeks prior to handling the babies. The mother won't like it and may bite you. Things should cool down after about 2 weeks.
It may have been a good thing to separate the male and the female. Some animals make good parents and share the parenting while others don't. Rats are good parents but I would monitor their behavior if together. It really depends on their temperment. Yours don't sound like they have that right now.
If you do have to move the babies then use rubber gloves. It should reduce the human smell on them.
The bad news I mentioned in the heading. A friend of mine raised rats. She informed me that the female rat is capable of impregnating herself with the same male sperm to up to 2 years. That means that your female rat doesn't have to be around the male to have another batch of babies in the next few months. So don't be surprised if she does have another batch in a year.
Rats can make good pets. However, they do breed too much and can be hard to adopt out. So I hope you enjoy having many rats or friends with many snakes!:rolleyes:

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WOW! This thread has me shaking my head! First off, rats CANNOT impregnate themselves. I don't know where someone heard such a thing. Mother rats can be very protective. It is VERY VERY rare for a mother rat to eat her young. They either need to be sick, malnourished, not producing milk or way way way stressed out. I have owned rats for going on 20 years, and have been an active breeder since 2001. I handle each of my litters since day 1, and have NEVER had a problem with a mother rat cannabalizing her young. I have had a rescue who ate a few babies, but she came from a petstore and was already eaten them when I got there to pick them up, as when she gave birth she was in a cage with about 40 other rats that were dumped.

I would expect her to be agressive, she she probably has not had much socialization with you or anyone else for that matter, and has not yet learned to trust you. My rats let me handle their babies with no problems. At about two weeks, when eyes start to open, the mom should be begging you to take the babies out. You will need to check the babies reguarly to make sure they are being fed. To clean the cage I would take the mom out with some heavy duty gloves and set her somewhere else while you tend to cleaning/checking the babies over.

If you need help placing babies let me know. I know many rat friends across the states! In the meantime, check our my rattery site as it has information that will be helpful to you.

www.RompingRattiesRattery.com

I agree w/ Cass (luckies4me).

If the mother lets you I'd start handling the babies asap.