Urggghhh pet stores.

My sister got 3 female rats about a week and a half ago from a pet store. They were only 4 weeks old (supposedly born on April 4th). Super adorable, her kids love them, yada yada.

Yesterday we all went to her house for brunch, and my 6 year old nephew says to me "you need to look at my rat! She has a really full belly!" My first thought is that she has megacolon, a really awful and fatal condition... rats with high-white markings are at higher risk of developing it and she, of course, has high-white markings. And being 4 weeks old would be a logical age for her to start showing symptoms. Great.

I get her out of the cage and start looking her over when I realize, this rat does not have megacolon. This rat is very pregnant.


Her husband was ready to drop everything and bring her back to the pet store right then and there, but my sister, as much as she doesn't want rat babies.... really likes this particular rat and doesn't want to lose her. So they're keeping her. They called the pet store and the pet store said "oh, she was probably impregnated by her dad, because he was put in with them." WTF?? Why was he placed with them?! And they said they would take the babies, which is what sealed the deal on them deciding to keep her.

On the bright side. If everything goes well, then that means I get rats again lol. My last one passed away a couple months ago and I wasn't planning on getting more for years.... but eh, if there are babies I will not pass them up haha.

:lol-sign:

Hopefully all goes well! It's kind of a shame about the babies being brought back to the pet store but perhaps your sister will be able to find them homes elsewhere (I mean the ones that you don't take, of course )

When I was.. oh... 9 or so, we went to look at hamsters at a pet store. This particular one was only supposed to have males. I *REALLY* wanted this one hamster.... but the pet store associate showed me this other one that was really cute, and cuddly and "her favourite". So I took that one home, 2 days later went up to see him(her), and saw 12 little pink things. I had named the hamster Logan... I had to change the name Ended up calling her Rogue. (yah, I had a thing about Xmen back then)

We called the pet store, and they were all "oh, we'll take them back, and we'll give you supplies in exchange". I ended up finding them all homes with friends. We were not supposed to keep any... ended up keeping 3 cause I loved them too much XD named them Cloud, Nightcrawler and Wolverine.

Really no point to any of that, other than yah, I'd say try and rehome yourselves first. and yay babies! I want pictures..

That's better than Jasmine, who was bought as a female and then obviously was a male once he matured. He remained Jasmine for his entire life. :lol-sign:

I do wonder if he impregnated any of the females at that store because he was kept in with all the girls.

And I am forever thankful that all of my male rodents have stayed male, and all of my female rodents have stayed female and remained un-impregnated. LOL

But, on another note...when you get your rat babies, you must take pictures. ^^ Rat babies are adorable!

I had a pair of hamsters who had babies too, and I kept them all!

That happened to me when I was a kid with a guinea pig we got from a little pet store. She was supposed to be male but ended up being a pregnant female. Three guinea pigs for the price of one! At three weeks old we had separate her from her two kids because we noticed her trying to drive them away. Turned out her kids were boys and we learned that boys mature around three weeks and try to mate with mom. Lol

I'm definitely going to feel out any other potential homes. Hopefully there wont be many babies since she's young and tiny.

I never had any preggo animals. I would have loved that lol.

If you get rat babies I demand to be able to come over and meet them. Baby ratties are so freaking adorable!

Eeeeeeeee!

The babies were born some time today Head count at the moment is at 6... I'm heading over shortly to see them and maybe I'll be able to snap a pic of their nakedness.

Pdub, you can definitely meet them if I get any.... you know, it'd be even cooler if you took one as well Hint hint.

PFFFFFFTT!!! No. Three are stinky enough Unless I get a surprise CritterNation, no.

Plus I think Ryan would kill me He likes the rats, but they are stinky, lol.

One more couldn't be so bad.

I'm glad it was a small litter, that makes it much more doable. Depending on genders, if I take 2 or 3, and if they keep 1.... it might just be a matter of finding one or two other people who are interested.

And the pet store obviously has the birth dates wrong because there is no way she was only 2 weeks old when she got pregnant lol.

In my cage, yes it could!