They are all very timid, but I think they will warm up to us quickly. Could be typical rat rearranging the furniture. I am going to weigh her every day to see if she puts on any weight. But I did steal a quick look at her tummy and I can see some tiny nipples (something I have never seen on our past girls). This morning, when I fed breakfast to the rats (mixed veggies and banana today), I noticed that Lilly had pulled as much paper towel as she could from the cage bottom and stuffed it into her igloo. It is hard to believe she might be pregnant.
#RATROPOLIS PATCH NOTES PATCH#
There was a small hole drilled into the bottom that I have to patch up before I can move her in. The person who pulled them for me was kind enough to give me a tank with a screen lid to be used as a maternity cage if necessary. They are likely high whites and thus carry a megacolon risk. I took this picture without flash to try to bring out the color a little bit. The other two boys facing the camera are a lighter color that was described to me as a "soft oatmeal wheaten color." Their markings, I have been told, are capped stripe. The boy on the far right facing away from the camera is a silver fawn hooded. If not, they can live separately in their own DCNs. If they can be successfully introduced to the other rats, we could make it a Quad. I am thinking about ordering another Dual Critter Nation for Lilly and her boys. I can't wait to get her spayed and put her back with her boys. I will check again in 4 to 5 days to see if the signs of heat recur, just to make sure I have this right. So now I plan to move her to another cage - one with more space and fun things to do. I would always worry about the rats that found new homes: Were they taken care of? Were they getting necessary vet care? Did they get attention? Did they have rattie friends throughout their life and a good cage and diet? Add to that the potential megacolon risks from high white markings, and it is a welcome relief to be reasonably certain there will be no more babies in Lilly's future. As interesting as raising a litter may be and as cute as the babies may be, it would have been quite a challenge to raise all of those rats (we already doubled the number of rats in our house when we took Lilly and her boys) and to find them all good homes. And the signs were quite obvious to me, so I am fairly certain Lilly is not pregnant.
I am no expert (never having had an intact female before), but I believe these are all signs of heat. When I looked at her lady parts, her vaginal opening appeared very "open." I even think I saw her ears vibrate at least once. I was massaging her hips and every time I did that, she would friskily hop away. Good news! Yesterday, I believe I witnessed signs of Lilly being in heat. I have been checking Lilly every evening for signs of going into heat - as an indication that she may not be pregnant. We chose to adopt her anyway and put her on pregnancy watch. When a volunteer went to pull her from the shelter, she discovered that the shelter staff had put Lilly back in the cage with her sons - a situation that was likely going to lead to pregnancy. As you may recall, we adopted Lilly (and her three boys) almost a week ago.
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