Roof Rat Babies, Life Stages & Rescue

When should I start handling and socializing babies?

We begin around three weeks. We wait that long on purpose, we’re selectively breeding for tameness, and we want to be sure the ones we keep are genuinely, genetically tame, not just heavily handled.

I found a litter of baby rats, what should I do?

1. Keep them warm and safe. Pinkies are hairless and cannot regulate their temperature. Put them together in a box with a clean soft cloth, cover it leaving an air gap, and keep them near body temperature with a thermostatically controlled heating pad or by holding the box close to you.
2. Feed them. Goat milk or, ideally, a replacement formula such as Fox Valley Day One 32/40 from an eye dropper or syringe with a mini-nipple. Feed every 3 hours, day and night, and gently stimulate them to pee and poop after each feeding. Our YouTube channel has videos demonstrating feeding and care of rescued litters.
3. Don’t panic. Contact us anytime, day or night, with questions.

I found an orphaned baby rat. Can I keep it as a pet or should I release it?

Yes, you can generally keep it as a pet as long as it is tame, and it was still very young when you found it.

If it’s eyes were still closed and it had little fur when you found it, it is very likely that it will view you as a friend when it grows up, and unlikely it will have any parasites (internal or external.)  As with any animal in the wild, once it has fur there is the chance it could have external parasites, and once it is no longer protected by antibodies from it’s mother and her milk, and starts eating solid food, it can be exposed to internal parasites, viruses and etc.  As a general rule of thumb, the dividing line is around the time it’s eyes open.

If it’s eyes were already open when you found it, it is not totally hopeless, but you should probably have it checked by a vet.  At that age, it should be able to easily escape (and it will normally want to) unless it has some injury or illness.  After you treat the underlying issues, then you can evaluate what to do based on it’s behaviour.

Once it’s eyes are open, and both you and the rat will need to decide its future.  Mostly the rat will decide:  If it seems to want to run away, then find someplace to release it safely.  You will both be happier.

But, if it seems to like being with you, doesn’t seem fearful, accepts handling and isn’t trying to escape, then you should consider keeping it as a pet.  It will probably live a longer, happier life with you than in the wild and, besides, it has developed feelings for you at this point.  Rats are intelligent and social animals.  Although they are small and their lives are sadly all too short, they are capable of love and friendship just like us, and if your rat has developed an emotional bond with you, turning it out into the wild to fend for itself would seem, well, inhuman.  So, if your rat loves you (and you’ll know if it does), my heartfelt advice is to love and care for it for the rest of it life if at all possible.

If you need a friend for it, and you are driving distance of Orlando, let me know!

I rescued a baby rat, how long does it need milk and care?

Until it’s eating solid food on its own and reliably going to the bathroom unaided. If you can’t keep it, or it isn’t friendly, get it to an exotics vet or a wildlife rescue.

I have a rat I cannot care for. Can you help?

We are not an animal shelter or rescue, so we cannot take in or rehome rats that did not originally come from us. A web search for a local animal shelter or small-animal rescue is usually the best place to start.

If your rat did come from us, we will help you rehome it. Bring us the rat along with its cage and supplies, and we will match it with a family that will love and care for it.

I found an orphaned baby roof rat, what do I feed it?

Give puppy formula made from goat’s milk, for as long as it wants it. It is a better choice here than kitten milk. Softening rat food with a little apple juice or milk makes it more likely to start eating solids. Honestly, a mother raises babies far better than we can, ours are all mom-raised, so if there’s any way to leave it with its mom, do. If you can’t keep it, get it to an exotics vet or a wildlife rescue. (If you must hand-feed: rat milk runs roughly 36–38% protein and 45–48% fat with only ~9–10% lactose. Those are proportions of the milk solids, not of whole milk: they add to more than 90%, and milk as fed is mostly water. Rat milk is about 31 to 32 percent solids as it comes out, and these figures come from studies on Norway rats, not roof rats. That makes a high-protein kitten formula look like the obvious match on paper. In practice it is not the safest one. Undissolved protein and undigested carbohydrate both raise the risk of bloat, and bloat is the number one cause of death in rescued babies, ahead of aspiration and then dehydration. Calories from fat are safer than calories from protein or carbohydrate, as long as growth and development are still supported, and the extra fat stores help a baby hold its own temperature. Whey dissolves more easily than casein, so a low-casein formula, or one that redissolves properly, is the safer pick. Pre-dissolved milk avoids the problem altogether but risks waste and spoilage. Goat’s milk is especially good here for its medium-chain fats. Never cow’s milk.)

If a hand-fed baby bloats, this is what the breeder does, in his words: “If you suspect bloat, then you should immediately switch him to rehydration fluid (eg. Gatorade, Pedialyte) with Tylosin. Prior to giving the liquid, give him a Roof Rat sized dose of probiotic gel (eg. Probios), and Simethicone suspension intended for human babies (eg. Little Remedies Gas Relief.)” The full account, including why each part of that works, is on his own page: Roof Rat Health: Common Issues & What to Do.

Two more things the breeder says about hand-feeding, in his own words:

Fortunately, it is relatively easy to increase the fat content of your formula: add some heavy whipping cream to it. Preferably the UHT kind, so it is sterile. For smaller babies that don’t seem to be gaining weight, 5-10% is plenty. Larger babies could benefit from a bit more. If the baby is already thriving, no need to add cream, and if the cream seems to cause some digestive upset, reduce the amount or withhold it.

If you happen to live in Europe, Beaphar Lactol Small Animal Milk is really great because it is very low in lactose and made entirely using Whey.

In the USA, you can easily get Fox Valley Day One Formula 20/50 (which is what I used to use.) It is high in fat, but a little low in protein. And, unfortunately, it is higher in lactose and casein then Beaphar. It’s probably OK for most babies, but the risk of bloat is higher so you will need to be especially careful about other aspects you can control, such as cleanliness and portion control. You can order Beaphar Lactol Small Animal Milk from Amazon UK but shipping will take forever so if you think you might rescue some babies in the future, order it now and store it.

How old are roof rats when they can have babies?

Females can have their first litter by about 3 months, though they keep growing a little until 4 months. The first two litters tend to be the largest, sometimes up to 12 babies but usually 6 to 8, then fertility declines. Males are potentially capable of siring offspring at 3 to 4 months. Not all of them are very good at it, or even try very hard for that matter, especially when they are still immature and lack self confidence. There does not seem to be an age limit on healthy male fertility.