File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
Soup /an/

I bought a pet female rat a week or so ago, and I'm pretty sure it's pregnant.

Hair is starting to receed by the nipples, and she's getting fucking huge.

What should I do? No way in hell can I handle 6 other rats.

Also, what about the actual birth? Do I just sit back and let it happen? anything I should do to help?

I just dont know what to do with the babies :(

Pic unrelated
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Eat them raw.

Pic related.
>> Anonymous
>>267042
Rofl, I think I'll pass on that one.

Is it illegal to throw baby rats away? or do they just not care about animal cruelty when it comes to rats?
>> Anonymous
Sell them as snake food (ferret food etc)

Maybe there will be dead babies. After the birth check to see if there are, remove them. Then just kinda leave them alone for a day. After that give the mommy rat some fresh bedding stuff. Look up what kind of mixture you should make for the rat mommy to help with the lactating/feeding.

After about 5-6 weeks they can be weaned from the mother. Try craigslist but if you really care about them NOT being snake food then make sure to do a full interview, you can check some decent shelters too.
>> Anonymous
>>267042

Fucking retarded Japanese culture.
>> Anonymous
Just sit back and let it happen. When they are old enough, offer them up on Craigslist.
>> Anonymous
>>267044

>do they just not care about animal cruelty when it comes to rats?

Of course nobody cares about animal cruelty to rats (or insects/any other tiny creatures) What the fuck is this world coming to? Humans have killed animals for thousands of years, for food or because they are annoying/destructive. Pest animals like insects/rats/mice etc have always been killed by humans. Only the last few decades have people started to bitch about "animal rights". Come on, people have to good lives/too little to do so they make up fictional problems just to have something to complain about.
>> Anonymous
>>267052

I'm okay for killing rats, I just dont want to get caught somehow and get 5 years.
>> Anonymous
>>267052

Broadly speaking, there are two approaches to the issue. The animal welfare position holds that there is nothing inherently wrong with using animals for human purposes, such as food, clothing, entertainment, and research, but that it should be done in a humane way that reduces unnecessary suffering. Animal rights theorists criticize this position, arguing that the words "unnecessary" and "humane" are subject to widely differing interpretations, and that the only way to ensure protection for animals is to end their status as property, and to ensure that they are never used as commodities.

(^from wikipedia)

The first one sounds good to me so long as it applies only to intelligent animals (mammals have more emotions than arthropods), and throwing away baby rats would violate that.
>> Anonymous
>>267058

If it has come to this, then America is surely a fucked up place.

Are you saying you cannot even KILL unwanted pets? I always thought it was common to kill unwanted kitties, puppies etc. Surely rats should be ok.

I only thought the animal cruelty applied to TORTURING animals for no reason. Eg. sadisctic/ for fun. And even killing another persons animal you would be charged for destruction of property? IMO animal cruelty have nothing to do with killing animals as long as you do it without causing unnecessary pain. They do it all the time in the food industry and to sick animals. (For instance, IMO, it's normal to kill a sick dog, to take him out of his misery)

If i am wrong and laws are indeed different in America, then enjoy your fucked up laws.
>> Anonymous
>>267060

then again newborn rats aren't probably aren't that conscious and might slip by on the intelligent/capable of suffering rule so I dunno
>> Anonymous
>>267060

>mammals have more emotions than arthropods

Wait a second here.. do we even know any other mammal than humans that have "emotions"?

Animals can feel pain/pleasure in the moment, but do they have abstract thoughts like sadness?
I doubt it, and i doubt any scientist can tell either.
>> Anonymous
>>267068

it's an iffy area but it's safe to say that with larger brain power comes more feelings/emotions/sentience etc
>> Robbox
>>267065
It depends entirely on where you are the most I think. Some places are more heavily populated by people who like to go all PETA on people who even think of hunting, using animal products, whatever.

Though I despise PETA and their despicable tactics, I'm of the crowd that feels while it's perfectly fine to hunt, fish, eat meat, and so forth that you should do so with a minimal amount of violence or outright cruelty.

However killing unwanted pets is very much animal cruelty. In America at least, there are places you can drop them off where they at least have a chance of being adopted and if that fails they are put down gently. If I ever seen anyone killing pets because they don't want them, I will gladly beat the ever-loving piss out of them.
>> Anonymous
If you have no problem killing rats, then why do you have them as pets?

You're all assholes.
>> Anonymous
well, mouse traps arent illegal, and they can sure kill a mouse, hows that for thoughts
>> Anonymous
if you want to be humane, you could always make a 'gas chamber' like people will do to put down rats/mice and give to their snakes.

just google up co2 gas chamber for rats/mice or something along those lines or i think fauna.net has a forum with how-tos to make one.

you may want the mother to raise them up a bit and let them get bigger so it would be easier to kill them. also, why not keep one or two females to keep mom company? everyone knows rats should have atleast one other cagemate.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
A gas chamber you say?
T-That's marvelous!

Cheap, effective and humane, I knew i could trust you with this Herr Himler. Let the operation begin at once.

>Jawohl mein Führer!
>> Anonymous
Google up some info on caring for mothers with baby rats, don't get too grossed out if she eats a stillborn (rats instinctively eat their dead as a survival mechanic - if they leave em to rot the smell attracts predators), keep at least one or two females with the mother (takes about the same effort to care for 2-3 rats as it does for one), adopt them out at 5-6 weeks, using craigslist and/or rat forums - on the rat forums it'd be helpful to post early with what your litter is so you have adoptees lined up when they wean. It might be helpful to specify on such a forum that the female was pregnant when you got it and aren't one of the irresponsible owners who accidentally or purposefully bred their pet rats.