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Rat Midwife
#1
I don't have pictures, but I saw a rat giving birth today.(pet rat, not a wild one)
The other female living with her was right there cleaning the babies and helping her. Then she cleaned the female that was giving birth.
I have never seen anything like that. Rats are really special. The more I get to know them the more impressed I am.
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Catherine

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#2
Oh what a lovely thing to be able to watch! You are very lucky. I would have loved to have seen that.

Rats, so I hear, apart from being highly intelligent, are also quite emotional, loyal and loving.

I feel very guilty and sad about once chasing a wild rat out of the house by banging saucepans and scaring it. That happened quite a few years ago, and I could see how scared the rat was. Misty was also trying to catch it but I shut her in another room so she wouldn't get badly bitten around the face. That poor rat...I know I wouldn't have treated it like that nowadays. I would have found another, kinder way.
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#3
Sadly we don't appreciate what fine animals rats are.

Was your wild rat some kind of river rat or was it a big brown one like they have in the city. Those brown ones can be nasty and they are not nice looking. Of course when I accidently caught one I ended up releasing it.

The domestic rats are really interesting. I had no idea that the females would work together so well. They share nursing litters together as a group, so the babies are well cared for. I just had no idea that the girls looked after each other so kindly.
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Catherine

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#4
No it wasn't a water rat, like "Ratty" from Wind in the Willows". It was just an ordinary brown general kind of rat. Quite big. Yes they are a nuisance if they want to come in the house, and I did right to get it out again. And yes, they can transmit Weil's disease to humans, and leptospirosis to dogs. My motive was to make it very scared so it would not ever consider coming back.
I think it must have worked as no rat ever came inside again after that.

But I am so sorry I was so harsh with it. I don't actually dislike them. Live and let live. I'm in the countryside so I accept all the wildlife. I could have got it outside by laying a food trail probably and blocking off all other exits except the front door....never mind. It's in the past now.
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#5
Considering how most people treat rats, you were quite nice. You just scared him so he would not come back. You did that to protect yourself and Misty.

The food trail leading out of the house can back fire. You could have ended up with two rats in the house.
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Catherine

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#6
(05-03-2015, 05:46 PM)Catherine Wrote: I don't have pictures, but I saw a rat giving birth today.(pet rat, not a wild one)
The other female living with her was right there cleaning the babies and helping her. Then she cleaned the female that was giving birth.
I have never seen anything like that. Rats are really special. The more I get to know them the more impressed I am.
Awww..that's so sweet. I had hamsters which are in the same family of rodents. They are really nice creatures.
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#7
Dwarf hamster pairs will help with delivery.
Rodents are sweet. They are loving pets. Certainly a rat who cleans another rat after delivery is a real rat friend. When you have them as a pet, that kind of devotion makes for a loving pet. Heart
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Catherine

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