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Development of Babies |
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Here is the first of our baby pages - we'll begin with pictures from the Lilith x Jack litter born 2/19/04, pictures of the parents and the first few days of the litter, and continue with baby pictures on another page. Hopefully this will be informational for you. |
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Here is the happy couple - Jack and Lilith. I had a terrible time getting the two of them to stay in frame together! I tried bribing them with treats, but they'd just turn their backs on each other, or run off to hide to eat - finally I threw my camera strap into frame and they both started playing with it and I snapped away. Lilith is a chocolate standard-eared dumbo carrier who also carries beige and red-eyed dilution. Jack is obviously a beige dumbo. I expected the litter to be about 50% dumbo, hoped for about 25% beige, 25% chocolate, 25% black and 25% buff. What I ended up with was much different . . . |
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Lilith would be so upset if she knew I posted this picture, so I'll have to keep her away from the computer . . . :-) This picture was taken about 24 hours before she had her babies. As you see, she was looking mighty . . . umm . . . pregnant. She started showing early, though - at about 10 days - which is unusual for a rat. Often rats won't start really showing until about 5 days before they are due. But not always - I had a rescue I brought in a few months after this litter who was showing ENORMOUSLY at closer to 8 days, so it is hard to tell. |
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I took this picture about 6 hours after they were born - obviously Lilith didn't have a problem with me handling her babies. Another interesting thing with this litter is that I had her sister Jezebel with her at all times throughout the breeding and pregnancy (except, obviously, when Lilith was actually with Jack at night). You may not be able to get a count since they are all piled up, but we ended up with 6 babies, 5 of which, I could tell at this point were dumbos and 5 of which were males. I could not tell yet what their colors were. |
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I took this picture when they were about 12 hours old - only 6 hours later. LOOK AT HOW MUCH THEY HAVE ALREADY GROWN!!! Isn't it amazing!?!? And you can already seem some pigment forming - I could tell at this point, and tell from their eyes, that three were going to have dark eyes, and three light eyes, so I figured that I had three light colored babies and three dark. I still didn't know beige, buff, black or chocolate proportions and wouldn't find that out until they got their hair at 8 days of age. (the dark ones were all chocolate and the light ones were all beige, just so you know LOL) |
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One day old - 24 hours - just 12 hours after that last photo. Look at the size difference AGAIN. Baby rats grow at such an astronomical rate, it's the most amazing thing to watch. They develop rapidly as well - by this point, as you can see, their pigmentation is coming in much more, and their ears are starting to be more defined. By the 3rd day, their ears will start to separate from their heads, and as I mentioned, by the 8th day, their hair will come in. By the 14th day, their eyes will open and then, oh boy, watch out world! By 4 weeks they will be weaned and by 5 weeks, the boys will need to be separated from their mother. |
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As you can see, by two days I'm starting to have trouble fitting them all onto my hand, even with one of them digging underneath of its siblings! They're starting to get more active and moving around a lot - these were fairly quiet babies, as babies go, but baby rats are pretty noisy compared to adults - you hear a lot more squeaking from them than you will from an adult rat. |
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And, to conclude this page, here they are at 5 days. As you can see, the first five days of a baby rat's life sees an amazing growth rate and development. It is truly astounding. If you check out my baby rat page (go back to my home page - just hit "back" on your browser) and click to "Babies" you can look at some of the baby pictures from Maria's litter and see some from older pups. If you have any questions about raising rat pups, drop me an e-mail - I'll be happy to help. And if you WANT any rats, let me know - I sometimes have some available, or know someone who does. |
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I didn't get a picture on day 3 for some reason - here they are on day 4 and, as you can see, I'm having to spread my fingers and pile them on top of one another to get them to all stay put on my hand now. Their markings are becoming very obvious, also, and if I wasn't sure that five of them were dumbos before, I would be certain now - take a look at that hooded one on top - now THOSE, my friends, are dumbo ears (and I'm pretty sure that's Girard, although it could be Mark - I'd have to see the face . . . four of these babies went back to Mary Wilson, who gave me their mother, Lilith - the two beige dumbo boys, one of the chocolate hooded dumbo boys and the solid black standard eared boy). |
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