quietann

This is the new mama, Clownface, not Jasmine. She had 10 babies on Wednesday and hasn't been terribly enthusiastic about nursing them. She's completely healthy and fine, but not doing the 20 hours per day in the nest that's normal. The babies are growing, but very skinny. So I was thinking about letting Jasmine feed them, because she still has a LOT of milk. But that raises issues about whether to remove them from Clownface entirely, in which case I'd be gambling that Jasmine's milk would last long enough to get them to eating solid food, and also mean weaning Jasmine's clan earlier than would be ideal. Another alternative was to move Clownface and brood into a very small cage so she'd basically have to spend time with them.

So I was weighing this over in my mind all morning, and also cleaning cages. And just as I got to Clownface's cage (which I was going to just tidy, not clean thoroughly), Clownface popped into her nest, and she's been nursing her babies for over an hour now. So this is good, though I'm not getting any cages done because I don't want to disturb her.

BTW -- Jasmine has successfully raised 17 babies! The first ones, two chunky boys from her litter, go to their new home tomorrow. The babies she fostered from Eva are a little smaller and thinner and I plan to leave them with Jasmine for as long as I can.

G-ddamn Rats!