BKB4-Litter Day 13

Both boys opened their eyes yesterday & one of the girls (BKB4-4F aka Meg) opened her eyes today. Meg was the little runt too!

Now that their eyes are/starting to open they are much more active. They crawl around & when I go near the cage & start talking they crawl over to see me!

I have pretty much decided to keep all 4 babies. Sticking to my Supernatural theme- the boys being Sam & Dean, one girl being Meg & I think the last girl being Charlie but not 100%.

My boys. I love Deans Tail, the tip is pink!

My Girls:

BKB4-Litter Day 12

I sadly had my camera out of commission & missed days 10 & 11 :( & Day 9 I used my husband's phone and am not very good at it so no really good pics.

Day 12:

Both boys have opened their eyes! I have decided 100% that I am keeping both boys. I am in love, they stole my heart!

BKB4-1M will be named Sam & BKB4-2M will be named Dean. It is a Supernatural thing ❤

And some videos!

One is of Sam giving himself a bath, then one of Sam trying to nurse off the blanket. He must have been starving poor chubby baby.

No pics for a bit

My phone has died a terrible, tragic, sad death out of the blue.

Am I going to go all conspiracy theorist and give verizon the evil eye that it "just so happened to die" right when I could get my new phone...coincidence? Probably but still pfft

My new phone wont get here until tuesday or so.

I have real cameras but I am in the middle of a move so everything is packed.

But the babies are healthy and more adorable then ever. They are not little fuzz butts and my heart literally exploded from cuteness overload this morning checking on them.


Am I going to keep them all.... the possibility is very high at this point!

BKB4-Litter Day 8

The babies refused to cooperate during picture time...they kept crawling all over the place!

I will admit I think I am smitten with these ones. Perhaps the small litter size affected that. I planned on keeping like 2...but we will see!

This is what I dealt with them crawling:

girls being too cute

Baby rat development- week 1

The first week of a baby rats life is full of small changes and not much in the way of excitement after the birth itself!

When babies are first born they are called pinkies. They are born pink, naked and with eyes and ears closed. Healthy babies will be very wiggly and may make loud squeaking sounds.

Around day 3 they will show the first signs of their pigment and you will begin to get your first idea of their markings.

Each day they may darken and grow larger and chubbier. By day 6-7 they are wiggly little things and may crawl off a bit when removed from the nest!

By day 7 their eyes & ears are still closed but they have started to show the first bit of peach fuzz.

For more on baby development check out my page here

Rats as pets

BKB4-Litter Day 5-7

*Picture Heavy

The babies are doing amazingly well. One of the males (bkb4-1M) is alittle chunker. He is so chubby. I just love their big fat bellies. It is probably alot nicer with such a small litter for all of them to get plenty of nums.

Their momma, Khaleesi is an amazing mom. But she is already getting bored lol. She is my most active, intelligent, on the go rat, and sitting still taking care of babies is just too much for her. Poor girl. So I keep getting the pouty face & letting her out to play. Putting a wheel in her cage tomorrow and so far has been threading paper towels through the bars for her to pull inside the cage and tear apart as nesting material. It gives her some stimulation. She is being absolutely sweet and letting me steal her babies away for pictures with no care.

 

Day 5

You can tell the big chunk here. This is my largest boy (on the left) compared to my smallest girl

Day 6

momma

I am going to guess that we have a black capped (bkb4-1M), a blue berkshire (bkb4-2M), a blue bareback (bkb4-3F), and maybe a pew or himi(bkb4-4F)? We will see when they get some furry butts on them lol

How I name my babies

Just for those curious....

I think it is very important and helpful to give every litter & new baby a code name to go by. It helps me to keep track of the parents, the litter, and each specific baby.

Every breeder has their own way of doing it. I got this one off a rat breeder group, someone shared it and said anyone could use it :) I modified it slightly.

You will probably see it often in my posts & labeling pictures.

For example:

BKB4-1M

• The first letter (B) stands for the first initial of the fathers name
• The second letter (K) stands for the Mothers name
• The next letter (B) is code for what # litter it is for the mom- a for first, b for second, etc...
• The first number stands for how many are born into that litter
• The second number is given to each baby. So baby #1, baby #2, etc..
• Then they get a M or F for female or male

So for the example above:
B(father:Blue)K(mom:Khaleesi)B(moms second litter)4(four babies born)-1(baby #1)M(a male)

I only give actual names to the babies I am keeping.

So when you see this gibberish posted for litters that is why :)

BKB4- Litter Day 4

Day 4 of my little babies <3 They are getting their markings and I can't wait to see them with fur!

Head Shots

BKB4-Litter Babies Day 3

How to tell if a baby rat is dumbo eared

Dumbo Rats are the same breed as fancy rats, they are just a different variety with a different type of ear. There are alot of rumors out there about dumbos being larger, gentler, sweeter, etc... but in truth these are nothing more then anecdotal rumors. I imagine it is because the dumbo ears do give rats a sweeter look to their face.

I admit dumbos are my absolute favorite. Their little faces make me melt.

To be a dumbo, rats need to have their ears set low on the sides of their head. The ears are often large and rounded.

Dumbo is a recessive trait. So it can be carried without showing up. In order to breed dumbos you need both parents to carry it.
If both parents are dumbos, u will get a litter of all dumbos.
If you have a dumbo parent & a standard eared parent but the standard eared parent carries dumbo, then you can have like a quarter of your babies be dumbo.
If the standard eared parent does not carry dumbo then all of the babies will be standard eared.

http://www.afrma.org/ratvar.htm#dumbo

In baby rats you can tell if it will be dumbo by checking the angle & location of the ear. If the top of the ear lines up with the middle of the eye, then it is dumbo!

BKB4-Litter Babies, Day 2

The little rittens are on day 2. I am fairly sure we are looking at 2 boys & 2 girls.

July Rat Babies! BKB4-Litter

Proud momma Khaleesi gave birth today to 4 bouncing bundles of kitten joy! 

Welcome to this world little angels!

Proud to say that mom & babies are doing very well.
The new babies are dumbos. Haven't checked sex yet. *Crossing fingers for a mix of genders lol*

Babies will be listed as:
OUAM-BKB4-1
OUAM-BKB4-2
OUAM-BKB4-3
OUAM-BKB4-4