# Pregnant rats from pets at home. Advice needed!



## ClydeBalls (Jul 21, 2012)

My cousin bought a pair of female rats from pets at home just under 2 weeks ago. She's noticed one getting rounder over the last few days but put it down to the high protein diet and excessive amounts of treats. Today, however, she came home today to 10 babies. She had no idea what to do, I've advised her as best I can and she seems to have calmed down a bit now. Is there anything pets at home will do to help? Are they obliged to provide extra food and cages if they sold a pregnant rat? And if so, who do we go to to complain?

Hope somebody can help!


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## eightball (Jan 1, 2011)

Hello, if the "for sale female rats" didnt state the females was pregnant and they are pregnant then id imagine that pets at home are legally obliged to do something about it, even if they wasnt legally obliged they probably would do something anyway, whether that means exchange or provide for the young etc

Just go in and explain the situation, im sure they will sort something out regardless : victory:


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## sharpshootertom (Jul 12, 2012)

ClydeBalls said:


> And if so, who do we go to to complain?


charming, how about you go in on a positive note and _ask_ if they can help first of all. if they refuse, then complain all guns blazing.

sometimes going in a just moaning and complaining gets you know where fast.

on a more positive note, [email protected] as a company should be able to help out in any way they can. whether it's with advice, food etc etc...


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## selina20 (May 28, 2008)

Also im not sure you can completely complain to pets at home it was more than likely their suppliers that had them together too long


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## ClydeBalls (Jul 21, 2012)

@eightball , thanks for that, will be going in on Friday to see what they have to say - hopefully it's good news and they can help my cousin!

@sharpshootertom - no offence, I understand where you're coming from but I think she has good reason to complain considering she bought 2 rats and ended up with 12 and simply cannot afford to buy 2 extra cages and extra food for all of them. It was hardly easy on her to come home and find babies in the cage. She's not intending to go in shouting and screaming and making a fuss, but buying 8 week old rats with one being pregnant is more than enough reason to complain, not just for her but for the rat too considering how young and small she is and the possibility that her sister might be pregnant too.

@Selina - they still shouldn't be selling rats who are pregnant. I understand they are a pet shop who need to move 'stock' on as quickly as possible, but there should be a quarantine period or something for them. Looking through other threads, she's not by far the only person this had happened to and if my cousin is anything to go by, it is a real shock for anyone it does happen to. They are still the point of sale for the rats, so I assume they would be the people to complain to.


Hopefully our trip on Friday will prove fruitful.will be going in with a positive attitude and hopefully something positive will come out of it!


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## sharpshootertom (Jul 12, 2012)

ClydeBalls said:


> @sharpshootertom - no offence, I understand where you're coming from but I think she has good reason to complain considering she bought 2 rats and ended up with 12 and simply cannot afford to buy 2 extra cages and extra food for all of them. It was hardly easy on her to come home and find babies in the cage. She's not intending to go in shouting and screaming and making a fuss, but buying 8 week old rats with one being pregnant is more than enough reason to complain, not just for her but for the rat too considering how young and small she is and the possibility that her sister might be pregnant too.


fair enough mate, i see your point. any way [email protected] can have the babies off you when they can leave their mother? (don't know a lot about rodents, just feed them to things :blush: ) but in the mean time, if they can't have the babies off you for that reason is it worth seeing if [email protected] can supply extra food etc etc and whatever else might be needed?


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## x Sarah x (Nov 16, 2007)

Just be prepared, i know people that have gone to them after purchasing pregnant hamsters and they refused to do ANYTHING.

Afterall you could have had a litter from any rat that you bought from anywhere and be trying to get free stuff out of them, or offload a bunch of baby rats to them when it has nowt even to do with them... unless you can prove those exact rats came from that exact store of course... just saying.


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## fantapants (Jan 4, 2008)

Their rats come from rodent farms that supply frozen food, and PAH really don't give a crap if your rat had babies. They are quite possibly the worst place ever to buy from. They will take the rat and babies back and then give you another and sell the offspring on when they are old enough but that's about it.


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## ClydeBalls (Jul 21, 2012)

@sharpshootertom - I think she doesn't want to return the babies in case they just end up in the adoption section or get sold on, she'd rather rehome them privately, though she'll still need extra food for when they're weaned and extra cages to separate them at 4 weeks old. I only feed babies to things so I know where you're coming from! Just wanted to see if anyone else has had the same experience and had any advice  

@Sarah - yeah I see where your coming from, though the lady who dealt with my cousin still knows and recognises her and the rats sold to us and seemed to care that the rats were going to a good home so hopefully she'll be able to help. She isn't trying to offload the babies out anything, just wants some help when they're older.

@fantapants - faire enough, from threads on here people have got more than that out of them. It would seem that if ask else fails, she should email head office and keep on at them.


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## BlackRose (Jul 8, 2007)

I doubt she will be buying anymore anytime soon from a pet shop anyway but tell her never to buy from pisces pets in Newport if she ever goes there which she probably wont lol.

We had two older babies from there and they were both pregnant! Got some gorgeous little ones out of it that were sweet as anything and glad in a way it happened, but the pet shop would not help out at all and I'd have a feeling they would've been snake food anyway had they taken them. Their main trade animal wise there are reptiles etc.


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## xXFooFooLaFluffXx (Aug 4, 2007)

agree with fantapants, [email protected] should only sell equipment cos most dont have a clue when it comes to animals


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## Disillusioned (Jan 3, 2012)

This is why animals should never be purchased from [email protected] in my opinion. There are some brilliant breeders on here who handle their ratty babies so you get a lovely natured pet rather than a nervous, nippy pregnant one lol.
I doubt the pet shop will do anything, when this happened to me I ended up with 9 babies and the pet shop told me they will happily take them when they are old enough but that's it. I bet they would! 9 babies for free and sell them at £10 each!
I kept the boys, my mum kept the girls in the end.

If I was you I would just advertise on here for anyone who wants baby rats, then at 5 weeks pair them up and give them lovely new homes (unless you want to keep them that is) Good deed done by you without [email protected] making more money from them!

Hope your little girl rat is ok after having all them babies! You must admit they are adorable when tiny lol. Good luck


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## Jay84 (Aug 11, 2010)

Seriously? I don't really see what the problem is. If you buy rodents from a pet shop then you should be prepared for an unexpected pregnancy. You don't know where they've come from or whether sexes have been mixed. 

If your cousin can't afford the extra food then maybe she shouldn't have got 2 rats in the first place. Food is VERY cheap compared to vet bills if her rats were to get sick etc........


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