After the Stork Has Come and Gone or The Babies Are Here, Mom is Fine, Now What?
Q:
Should I change my mom rat’s diet while she’s nursing?
A: Mom rats appreciate all the protein they can get while nursing, so continue
supplementing her with light cat food or things like scrambled eggs, soy
baby formula and other higher protein goodies. It’s also very important
that mom always have water in her bottle as nursing really can dehydrate
her fast and she’s likely to consume more water than before – so
keep an eye on the level in her bottle!
Q: When will the babies get their fur in?
A: Baby rats start growing
in fur during the first week. They should be pretty fully covered by
two weeks of age. If you have babies with curly fur in the litter, they
may go a bit bald around 4 - 6 weeks of age as they shed their baby fur and
grow in more adult fur. Do not administer Rogaine to them - they will grow
it back. If they do not, they may be genetically hairless, so feel free to
start knitting little rat sweaters or concocting tiny toupees.
Q: When do baby rats open their eyes?
A: Baby rats open their
eyes around two weeks of age or so. They’ll
often begin as just a thin crack in the eyelid and sometimes one eye will
open before the other.
Q: When can I begin handling and socializing the babies?
A: You can start handling
the babies in their first week. You may want to resist the temptation
to handle the newborn pinkies much during the first
few days to let mum settle in and feel comfortable in her new role as nurturer
and protector. Do not feel offended if mom rat is nippy with you if you
try to pick up or touch the babies in the first week or two. Her maternal
instinct
to protect the babies is just kicking in. By the time their eyes are open
and they are moving around independently, she should be pretty comfortable
with you handling her precious progeny. Some mothers also have no desire
to nip from the beginning – a few of my does have allowed me to stroke
the newborns while they nursed and one of my favorite girls of all time would
literally lift the babies by the scruff in her mouth and hand them to me.
If mom is feeling nippy, you may want to wait until she is off the nest to
eat or to come out of the cage for playtime to handle the babies so as not
to stress mom and end up with a box of band-aids on your hands. Look at it
this way if you do end up being nipped – blood has a lot of protein
in, which nursing moms need.
Q: When will the babies start weaning and is there anything I should
do to help that process?
A: The babies begin weaning
in their third week or so. You may see them taking experimental nips at
the solid food in mom’s dish. You can start giving
them a mushy weaning mixture of soy baby formula or kitten weaning formula
mixed with baby cereal. It should be soupy like runny cream of wheat at first.
The babies will likely bathe in it the first few days it is introduced to
them, not unlike human babies trying to learn to eat big people food. It’s
both icky and totally adorable (again, see weaning human babies.) Babies
should be fully weaned by five weeks of age and you should separate them
by gender by the time they reach six weeks of age.