I’ve been hand feeding a baby rat that got seperated from its mommy. It’s been with me since Saturday. I’m using baby bird formula and feeding it with my finger and I let it lick it but it takes so long and it’s really messy. It ends up drenched with formula. Any ideas on how to make a small baby bottle for it to suck on? The ones from the pet store are too big.
Syringes are too big as well. They don’t stock the really small ones in the pharmacy in town.
Edward
Comments
You could try using a needless syringe and instead of a needle, put in a small rubber tube?
You could go to the link I have below and scroll all the way down. It’ll have rejected joey supplies. It should work fine for a little rat. You might even be able to find the supplies to make one at Wal-Mart or something.
buy a doll that comed with one or get one of your sister and make sure its sucks all i can think of
You can usually get syringes from the pharmacy, obviously without needles. That’s how I fed my cat water when she had a urinary tract infection. Just make sure you press down slowly or it’ll spurt everywhere.
too big? should be the same, like hamster or something. look again.
or you could wet a towel with some milk.
Ask a vet if they know a good place to get REALLY SMALL syringes, or thay might even stock them!
When I hand raise wild orphans, I usually either dip a piece of cloth int he warm formula (they’ll suck on it)
or, you can purchase very small orphan-teets from most vets/wildlife rehabbers.
Or, as others have mentioned, a tiny syrringe, be careful not to squirt too much at once.
Now, when he is older, you can either release him (as he is not domesticated, he will adjust to the wild). If thats your intention, don’t handle him too much.
But, you knwo what? There are so many wild rats in the world. I have known of many people who have found hand-raised wild rats to be just as lovely as domestic ones (how on earth did they get domesticated in the first place, Jack Black the rat-catcher fell in love with a litter of babies one of his captured females had, started to breed the odd-coloured ones and sold them to 1800s nobility. The rat was a pet of the aristocratic!)
Thats beside the point-
He could make a wonderful baby, or, consult a wildlife rehabber baout releasing him when he is older.
First off you should switch your formula to human soy powdered formula. Human milk is the most like a rat’s milk.
I would contact a wildlife rescue/rehab centre, they get tiny wee babies in all the time and should be able to help you out or point you in the right direction. After that you can ask at an exotic vets clinic.
How old is this wee one? Eyes not open yet? (Under 14-16 days), eyes just cracked open (15-18 days), eyes wide open (16 days onward). As soon as those eyes are open you can start offering solids and baby should be able to eat things on its own.
Depending on the age (you said licking off your finger so not a tiny eeper that suckles off of a syringe) you should get the smallest syringe or eye dropper you can and just let the baby lick it off of there, at least its contained. Baby feeding always takes a looong time.
If he licks it off your fingers have you tried letting him lick it from a bowl?
