Talk about a girl who’s come a long way.  Samantha was raised in a snake food bin, completely oblivious to the human touch.  Mixed with boys and girls, it would have been impossible for her to not be impregnated.  When I first brought her home, she was a frightened, skinny girl who would squeal at the slightest touch.  Gradually I would pet her everyday.  I would pick her up to her dismay and sit her in my lap. I’d scratch her behind the ears and on the back and once she settled in, she’d really like it.   Soon she wasn’t squealing so much when I’d pick her up.  After a while, she wasn’t squealing at all. And eventually, she’d come to me.  Now she loves to be pet.  A good long scratch behind the ears is about her favorite thing.  A lover of treats and humans, Samantha has went from snake food to a super pet, one that I’ve become pretty attached to.

When I first brought her home, I knew there was a chance she’d be pregnant, but there was no evidence of it. As it turns out, she must have been impregnated the day I picked her up.  Slowly she started putting on weight and I wasn’t sure if it was because for the first time in her life she was eating well, or because she was carrying.  Well, she was carrying.

The last few days, as she got plumper and plumper, I knew for sure she was pregnant, but I didn’t see any evidence of nest building or anything that would suggest that she knew she was in that way.  From previous experiences with pregnant rodents, the mother will usually set a space up, a nest of some form, that she will deliver and keep her babies in.

Samantha wasn’t doing anything like that.  She was just her normal self. Running and playing, begging for treats, wanting to get pet.  But I knew she was pregnant and I wanted to get her ready.  I moved her (and Swirl and the others) out of the white rabbit/rat cage and into my long ferret cage that I moved out of the my room where my regular rats are.  I set it up with fresh bedding and other stuff to make her comfortable.  The cage is a lot longer than the one she was in and the bars have less space between them so any babies that try to get out at some point won’t be able to.

Once I had the cage set up, Samantha, Swirl and the others were really loving it.  There was more space and places to climb.  It is a great cage and I’ve never had a rat that didn’t like it.  I put a couple dishes of food in it and they all seemed to be scarfing it down, despite the fact there other cage had plenty of food.

But still, Samantha wasn’t setting up any area for giving birth in. Maybe not all expecting mothers do that, I figured.  Maybe she’ll just get up one morning and spit out her babies.  Well, today when I got up, I heard some ripping.  I went to the cage and there was Samantha, setting up as big a nest as you can imagine.  She had taken ALL of the newspaper I use to line the cage with under the bedding, pulled it out, ripped it up and created a huge nest almost as high as the cage, taking up about a third of it.  There is a corner pirch attached high in the cage just above where Samantha was working.  All the other rats had climbed to it and sat, watching down at Samantha as she work.

But still no babies.  She was just getting ready.  She didn’t even see my face looking in right up against the cage, watching her work furiously as she was getting everything just right.  Finally when the others noticed I was looking in, they scampered down to see if I had any treats, which alerted Samantha that I was there.  No on in that group likes treats more than her so she stopped her work and immediately clammed up against the wire to see if I had treats.  I went and got some cheese and dispersed it.  After she was done, she went right back to work on her nest.

Later in the day, she slept but was still as plump as a pumpkin. And Samantha sleeps like no rat ever has.  She sleeps as sound as a rock. The other rats are climbing all over her and she's just lying there as if nothing was happening. If I didn't see her stomach rising with her breathing, I'd think she was dead.  But she wasn't. She just sleeps like I wish I could.  Finally, she wakes to see me and thinks I've got treats, so of course, I've got to get crackers or something.

When I went to bed, she was still plump and ready to pop. I got up a couple times during the night and still no babies. But when I woke up in the morning, I heard those familiar squeaks.  I knew that finally Samantha had her litter.  I checked up on her just to see how she was doing, but didn't want to disturb her.  Everything seemed fine. I felt it best to let her be with her babies for a while before I try to actually look at them and her.

Later in the day I let the rats out and Samantha was the first one out. I guess her first day of motherhood was exhausting because she couldn't wait to get out and run and stretch.   I got a good look at the babies and did a head count five times to make sure I was counting correctly.  Twelve.  Yikes. Twelve more babies for me to find homes for. I've still got six at this writing that I'm trying to find homes for. But they all looked good so far. I quickly checked each one to see if any had died and they all seemed okay.   Samantha on the other hand was so glad to be out.  She enjoyed a lot of corn and peas, then wrestled with her roommates all over.  She came for some ear scratching a couple times but over all, just moved around a lot.  She didn't mind me poking at her babies at all which I'm sure wouldn't be the case had she had them a day after I brought her here. But she trusts me a lot.