Rat spaying question...

We adopted a female rat from the shelter that was supposed to have been
spayed as a lab rat for a (medical or veterinary?) school. She does have
a scar on her underside.
  
We put her in with our un-neutered male and they would show no signs
of any mating activity until lately. The male is now mounting her and
trying to mate, At first she's squeak and fight him off, but yesterday I
noticed she seemed to flatten and slightly raise her hind-quarters and
seem to accommodate him.(??)
  
So I'm wondering what is going on. When a class uses rats to practice
spaying, do they always accomplish the task? And why would it have taken
a couple months for this activity to begin? Please post or e-mail us
direct ANY information.
Thanks.

DAGR Director wrote:
> We adopted a female rat from the shelter that was supposed to have been
> spayed as a lab rat for a (medical or veterinary?) school. She does have
> a scar on her underside.
>
> We put her in with our un-neutered male and they would show no signs
> of any mating activity until lately. The male is now mounting her and
> trying to mate, At first she's squeak and fight him off, but yesterday I
> noticed she seemed to flatten and slightly raise her hind-quarters and
> seem to accommodate him.(??)
>
> So I'm wondering what is going on. When a class uses rats to practice
> spaying, do they always accomplish the task? And why would it have taken
> a couple months for this activity to begin? Please post or e-mail us
> direct ANY information.
> Thanks.
>

How old was she when you got her?

It could be one of two things..

1. It could just be simple domination behaviour. Though from your
description, it doesn't sound like it.

2. Or it could be mating behaviour. In 3 weeks time, you'll know for
sure if she gives birth or not.
However, possible signs that she maybe pregnant include a change in
personality (some females can get a bit aggressive when pregnant/rearing
their babies), weight gain, and nesting behaviour.

It is possible for a 'spayed' female rat to get pregnant. Its rare, but
it happens. There are two (iirc) ways a female can be spayed. The first
way is the ovaries are removed, but the uterus is left intact. The
second way is that the ovaries and uterus are removed.

Now, if she was spayed the later way, then pretty much, she can't get
pregnant.
If just her ovaries were removed, there is a very remote possibility. On
one of the rat lists I am on, a young lass got her rats spayed, and the
vet accidentally left one of the ovaries behind. So she lets her rats
play with a male, and 3 weeks later she had babies.

I'd contact the humane society and see if you can get information on
what procedure was done on your girl. If she was used for practice
spaying, its quite possible that one ovary was left behind.

As for why it took a couple of months for it happen.. if she was just
spayed before you adopted her, its possible that it has taken that long
for her body to ready itself for reproduction again. (did that make
sense?). Having your insides cut open and bits taken out does stress the
body :)

Then again, when I got my two girls done a few years back, that night
after the operation, they were tearing around the house.. it was a case
of 'operation? what operation?'.

I hope that makes sense..

Zoe