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Momma Rat Fostering Wild Rat Babies!

psychoprimate84

psychoprimate84

Awesome!
My black hooded dumb female gave birth to babies about a week and a half ago to 7 pups. She stayed pretty fat even after giving birth and nursed them right away. 2 died, 3 got fed to snakes and so I left 2 for her to keep. Daddy is a hairless, so I seen that one of the babies is going to be a black hooded rex (not sure if dumbo...yet). Both babies look like little chubby pink and black piggies after a week and a half!
Well, on craigslist someone listed 11 free newborn rat pups because momma died. I emailed her to ask about them and it turns out momma was a wild rat that had been in her horse barn but something happened to her so she had 11 hungry babies left behind. My rat only has 2 babies left and plenty of milk for more so I decided to take them in. I figure that since they are just babies and their momma was a very healthy, friendly barn rat (the lady said she fed her treats all the time), it wouldn't do any harm.
Yesterday I went to meet up with the lady and the rat pups.The baby rats look almost like baby squirrels and were sorta wrinkly looking, due to not having eaten anything in 24 hours. I brought momma rat and her 2 piggies with me so as soon as I got the babies and checked them out, momma could nurse them. I looked at them this morning and they don't look so wrinkly. In fact, they are looking chubby already!
I can not wait to see them grow up into wild looking ratties, which are one of my favorite colored rats. I will post up pics for everyone to see. I know its not a good idea to put wild rats into domestic rat colonies but I made an exception for healthy looking babies. Would anyone else have done that same thing?
 
Correction: Not really sure how long the wild babies went without eating before I got them so it was probably more than 24 hours.
 
Here is my rattie group. Momma is Zoie, Daddy is Zeke and the other dumbo rat is Cyclops (got her as a rescue with only one eye). The smaller baby is a wild one and the chubby baby is a black hooded rex rat. I am hoping to get a blue dumbo rat sometime.
See how momma has food, cardboard and some of the dried grass and dried collard greens around her nest? Likes to snack while nursing her young'ins. hehe
 

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I'm surprised your female took in a complete stranger's babies. You still have the potential for parasites in the wild babies through the original mom's milk, so I'm not sure this was a good thing to do, even with the best interests at heart. I hope it works out for you, but be careful.
 
I've had mice raise wild voles a number of times. It's interesting to see.

I was not aware of parasites through milk though.

Anyway, don't be surprised if your wild babies are a bit more skittish than your tame babies.
 
Raties!!!!!!!! ok so ima steal zoie!!! the babies are cute but not as cute as my albino asf pups Jess!!! lol!!
 
Well maybe with your help I will have some albino ASFs too! and of course I can provide some of my rats whenever you need them. Your boas are gonna be big soon enough.
 
I did that once with wild mice. When they got older they displayed wild mouse personalities. By the time the were hopper age they had all escaped. They were not at all calm like domestic mice.
 
Thing is...the lady that gave me the rat pups said their momma was a wild rat that liked being around people. It would come up to her when she was in the barn and she would give her treats. I think their momma was a really smart rat and hopefully the babies will be like that too.
 
Is it possible that the "wild" rat was an escaped domestic? Wait a minute... are the "wild" babies interesting colors? Wild rats are black or tan, with almost no exceptions. The woman could have mistaken the mom of the "wild" babies for a wild rat when it was actually an escapee, or she could have been lying to you from the get go. Wild rats do not come up to people and accept food from their hands.
 
The wild rats are just dark colored. Depending on what species of rat, some are very shy and some can be tame. The Norway Rat, or brown rat, is almost always seen where humans live, especially in urban settings. A lot of people in NYC have told me the rats there will come up to people and are not scared of people at all. A field rat or a black rat is a different story. Just like different rat snakes and king snakes, different species of rats have different temperaments.
I can't expect them all to be tame just like my other ratties, but I am sure they can be just as tame as the squirrel I had. She would nip sometimes, esp concerning food but I understood she is still a wild animal. I am looking forward to some wild ratties because of their colorations. I am pretty sure they have to be tamer than my ASFs, who, as soon as I put my hand in the cage, clamp down on fingers. haha
 
I guess I stand corrected. I guess rats from heavily populated areas would fear humans less than rats in fields/etc.
 
Great job! Putting those baby rats to being useful and not dying for no reason. :D

I'm finding that I have one female who is an overly good mother, too. She ignored her remaining five babies, helped the other female give birth, and hogged the new ones in the new nest until I moved them and the other mother to a separate cage for a while so both could tend to their own litters (especially since the older ones haven't been touched for about three hours).
 
Thats sorta what this one did before she ever even had babies! My first female rat gave birth for the first time, which the babies sort of looked premature. The female cleaned off the babies and such but never really tried nursing them. She looked so skinny too and looked as if something was wrong. Zoie layed on the babies and kept them warm while other rat just rested. Sad thing is that momma died a few days later after giving birth. The babies had to be fed to snakes.
Zoie is such a good momma and nurses these babies almost constantly. Thats why I think that her babies grew so big so quickly and the wild rat babies are growing plump rapidly. Another good thing is that even after she had birth, she was still very plump. Such a great rat to start rat colonies with I think.
 
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