Help me care for rescued baby rats

Because we breed rats, people often ask us to help rescue babies that they find after killing the mother.  Even though it's a lot of work, we always say yes, because the alternative is that they will dump them someplace, and these babies will inevitably starve or die from hypothermia.

Just over a week ago, we took in a litter of 10 rescued baby rats.  When we got them, their eyes were closed and their ears folded.  But they wanted to live and as we fed them goat by hand every 2 hours around the clock, they grew stronger.  

Watch a video of us feeding them:


We even listed them for adoption on our blog:

Blog about rescued baby rats 

Unfortunately, yesterday, while my daughter was feeding one of them, it fell.  And, lacking any real world experience, it quickly ran away and hid inside of our leather, reclining sofa.  We tried several times to coax it out, but it was hidden inside the machinery.  I felt that my only option was to disassemble the sofa and locate it.


Unfortunately, the sofa is ruined.  Here is what is left.  The garbage company is going to haul it away next Friday.


My adult rats often used to sit with me on it and run and play.  You can see a video here of our rat, Penny, who recently lost her little, spending time with my wife on that sofa.

Raising orphaned wild babies is very different than raising domesticated babies which still have their mothers to care for them.  These babies are tiny, but very fast and agile, and are hyper-alert to any sound or sudden movement.  They don't realize that we are their only hope for survival, so if they leap or fall, they can be very hard to retrieve.  And we need to feed them several times a day, even when we are exhausted or sleepy.  It is all too easy for them to escape.

Our experiences rescuing orphaned baby rats taught us a lot.  We invested in better cages, furniture, tents,, and other equipment to keep them safe and healthy.  We continue to purchase consumables, such as syringes substitute rat milk powder, nipples, clothes, litter, rat food, and medicine.  We would also like to be able to take our rescue babies to the vet, to insure that they are as healthy as possible.  This was and continues to be a huge investment for us financially, and  personally.

But it has all been worth it.   We have raised some amazing little rats.  We have already released many into the wild in wildlife areas where wild rats are already known to live.  And some of the most tame ones, we decided to keep in our household as members of our family.

Roofy is one of those rats.  When we first got her, she was just a pinky, with hardly any hair, and so tiny, emaciated that we were sure she wouldn't make it.   She was so dehydrated  that she was a bit wrinkled like raisin.  But, she was a fighter, and, amazingly, she kept feeding well and grew stronger every day.  There were setbacks, of course: at one point, her belly grew bloated, and we had to feed her diluted formula and I spent a lot of time with my finger on her tiny belly, trying to help her digestive system normalize.  It worked.  She lived.  And I think she always remembered how hard we fought for her and her bond with us has been intense and unbreakable.

Roofy is an amazing little miracle and every moment that she shares with us is truly a gift.

I'd like to thank all of you who have donated to this gofundme, because you have helped make Roofy's story, and many others, possible.  And I'd like to share with you a few recent photos and videos we have taken of Roofy




It's really darn cute how playful she is.  Can you believe this little love bug was born to wild parents?

Did you really think only cats played with strings?


Again, thank you in advance for your continued support.

Brian, Roofy and all the rats at ocdumbos.