LITTER GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Litter Growth and Development

As the Litter Grows... The litters grows very quickly, there's no doubt, and at about two weeks old, all of the babies will have their eyes and ears open. Do not try to force their eyes open. At about three weeks all the babies will be hopping around the cage with their mother. At this time you will have to give mother and children several cups of food a day, because now the litter will begin to eat solid pellets. Remember, they do whatever the mother does. You need to feed them enough so that they are never out of food. You want these babies to be big and healthy. As the litter gets older, they will not feed off of their mother anymore, but they still have allot to learn from their mother. If you have your animals on water bottles which I strongly advise, you need to add another water bottle onto the cage. Don't worry about the babies not knowing how to use the bottle, they learn very quickly from their mother and try to do anything she does. Just make sure you put the bottle low enough for the babies to reach. At about 1 1/2 to 2 months, the babies will be ready to wean. I usually wait until 2 months, because the longer they are with their mother, the better. There's not much to say in this section, but the things I did say are very important. On to Weaning!