fattening up my rat

[unknownclown]

Hello :)
I have had a male and female in a tank with each other and have been forced to separate them cause he is a big pig and is eating all the food. She should be pregnant and she just kept getting skinnier and skinnier. I took her out today and realized how skinny she realy is. I was wondering since she is pregnant (most likely) if there is a way to fatten her up quick?

[rattekonigin]

No real way to fatten her up quickly, you could feed her higher fat food, but I don't think it would make the process any faster and it wouldn't be good in the long run. Just make sure she has access to lots of good food and it should take care of itself. If she keeps getting skinnier, there might be some health issues at play...

Also, often times, if the female can't get enough to eat or if she's not physically fit enough to gestate the babies properly, she'll actually resorb the fetuses and they'll never be born (or the litter will be very small)...Just some food for thought there.

[unknownclown]

Cool thanks :)
Shes actually eating more now that he is outta the tank I think he just bullied her into believeing that the food was his. He'd sit on the food dish or wrestle with her about it. He was never realy mean though so it wasnt as noticeable. I think next time Ill pair her up with a smaller male as soon as I think she is fit for it. Shes more a medium sized and the male considerably larger. He is very gentle, which is why I paired them up, but a pig.
I dont think Ill try fattening her the unhealthy way with crap/junk food maybe I'll add more dried beans to her food.
Thanks again :)

[Linds]

Dog food is has a fairly decent fat/protein content, and is nutritionally complete. I've actually switched from commercial feeder rodent diet (<a href="http://www.mazuri.com">Mazuri</a>) to dog food (the cheap brands are best since they have mostly grain fillers in them). With the slightly higher fat and protein content, I find them to grow faster and have a better weight to them... the mice seem to get a little greasy looking, but that's the only downfall I've found. Being omnivores, the little bit of meat in the food is good. If you wanted to keep them on a strictly grain and veggie staple diet, you could offer treats with high protein and higher fat content such as hardboiled eggs :).

[reverendsterlin]

sunflower seeds have a high fat content as do peanuts and rats luv getting the nuts open. Maybe some broccoli to boost her iron.