CRUS Celtic Rose seems to think she can still fit 16 days into her pregnancy.
Wow, can you believe we now have less than a week and the little Marvel babies will arrive. Celtic Rose has gained 68 grams (a little over 2 oz) in 16 days. She is still trying to climb and jump but we imagine by Tuesday she will just be sleeping. We have noticed that 2 of our younger girls have been trying to start fights with her hoping to gain her place in the hierarchy of the mischief. We have quashed that by dividing the DCN into 2 and putting those girls and Aurora on the bottom while leaving Celtic Rose and our veteran mama's (EmmaOreo and Truffles) in the upper level.
In a few days we will take out Truffles, who is the head rattie in the Girl's Sorority. She will do well to keep Aurora, Ariel and Artemis in line! Our objective is to keep the peace among all the mischief for smooth re-introductions after delivery. This will mean that there will be play time with the feisty little girls and Celtic Rose, however it will be short and sweet. We have not decided if EmmaOreo will remain with Celtic Rose through delivery or not. Usually we separate them completely for the first 2 weeks except for play time, that happens during a mama nursing break. After reading so many articles and studies on rats, it seems that their communal living is one that relies on EVERYONE helping everyone. As long as EmmaOreo isn't pregnant we feel that she will just be an asset to the mama. If we notice any possible dangers we will promptly remove her. We are hoping to allow her to be a nurse maid as well as several of our females do this starting at the 2 week introductions.
A fine example of how the ratties help each other. While taking the picture of Celtic Rose cramped in her bear bed above, we did notice EmmaOreo and Truffles collecting all the paper in the cage this morning. They were building a huge nest in the bin we used for their litters. As soon as they stopped, Celtic Rose carefully squeezed out of the bear bed and marched over to the bin and promptly claimed it as her own.
In a few days we will take out Truffles, who is the head rattie in the Girl's Sorority. She will do well to keep Aurora, Ariel and Artemis in line! Our objective is to keep the peace among all the mischief for smooth re-introductions after delivery. This will mean that there will be play time with the feisty little girls and Celtic Rose, however it will be short and sweet. We have not decided if EmmaOreo will remain with Celtic Rose through delivery or not. Usually we separate them completely for the first 2 weeks except for play time, that happens during a mama nursing break. After reading so many articles and studies on rats, it seems that their communal living is one that relies on EVERYONE helping everyone. As long as EmmaOreo isn't pregnant we feel that she will just be an asset to the mama. If we notice any possible dangers we will promptly remove her. We are hoping to allow her to be a nurse maid as well as several of our females do this starting at the 2 week introductions.
A fine example of how the ratties help each other. While taking the picture of Celtic Rose cramped in her bear bed above, we did notice EmmaOreo and Truffles collecting all the paper in the cage this morning. They were building a huge nest in the bin we used for their litters. As soon as they stopped, Celtic Rose carefully squeezed out of the bear bed and marched over to the bin and promptly claimed it as her own.
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