Very Young Pregnant Rat?

Question

I have a very young pregnant rat, she is at least six weeks old because she is preggo, but she is most certainly not 4 months old. My main question is, will she hurt the babies with her sharp nails? She is turbo charged and I can't cut her nails when she wiggles so much, I don't want to hurt her. I am just afraid that she will dice them with those things. She is very small and if she is able to have her litter with minimal problems, I don't want the babies to get sliced by her talons. Does anyone have nail trimming or filing tricks for very energetic rats?

Answer 1

I have a very yound rat with sharp nails. They are careful and will not hurt them.

Answer 2

You could try placing a small brick under her water bottle, so she'll need to climb onto the brick when she's thirsty.  The rough surface will help mama rat wear down those talons.  We get pretty good results with a small log propped under our girls' lower ramp.  Whatever you use, make sure there it's clean & doesn't have bugs, pesticides etc.on it-- we get our logs & climbing branches @ the pet store.

In any case, mama is unlikely to hurt the pups with her nails.  Good luck!

Answer 3

never heard of trimming thier nails,my kids have had many critters.the main thing would be the mother eating them,we had some hamsters before that ate the top of another one head,you could see the brain.that was terrifying for the girls.

Answer 4

Well my friends young petshop rat had 5 babies OK, whats the deal with the nails, all ratties have sharp nails, they all have babies, and all rat moms look after their babies, never ever heard of a mommy rat dicing their babies, they only scratch & bite when fighting, but she won't be doing that to her babies, I personally would leave them alone, you could put a brick stone under water bottle this is what I do, keeps nails blunt, make sure theres a shelf or hammock over it, so she doesn't fall and land on it,,

Answer 5

no, don't trim the nails yourself.  If you make a mistake it will bleed like CRAZY!  Later, you can buy something to help FILE her nails.  I used to take mine for walks on the concrete.  I've also heard of placing a brick in the cage.  Whenever your rat jumps on the brick to get out of the cage, it files their nails.  Sounded weird to me too, but I know of people who have done it.  I would leave her alone for now, she will be a good mommy but needs some space.  I also bought a rat from a pet store, a week later I had six more!  She never ate her babies or anything like that!  Just remember that once she gives birth, give her and babies some space for a while.  In a couple weeks, you can start handling them more.  Good luck!

Answer 6

Wodent wheel makes a wheel that has an insert that trims their nails as they run in it.  You're not supposed to leave it in the cage for more then so many hours, though.

Rats are really careful with their babies, and will even carry them and drag them around without a scratch.

Are you sure she's pregnant?  It's possible in rats as young as 6 weeks, but often as they grow they can get little bellies, too.  Getting pregnant that young (While possible) is actually kind of rare.  Typically the body will miscarry or absorb the litter before they're due.