#Rat care

[indagold-orchid]

Some things I wish I knew when first getting a rat:

You don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a cage. Rat owners get so pissy over getting name brand fancy cages that can survive 12 world wars when you can actually just stack some cheap larger rabbit/guinea pig/ferret cages. I put a $60 dollar cage on top of my fancy ass $200 ferret one and my rats love it. No injuries or spontaneous exploding into smithereens like rat owners think will happen. I line the sides with cloth and it helps a lot.

If you're American, Oxbow is your friend. I used them with my rabbits years ago when I had them and they're great.

DIY decorations are fun but it gets exhausting after a while. If you want to play it safe, just using hides, hammocks and chew toys work!

All natural cages are cool if it's like an aesthetic thing but in reality they rot, get stinky and gross very fast. Very nasty and smelly.

Rats DO NOT like chew toys for cats or dogs. They love paper, wood, cloth, sticks, pumice, etc.

A rat injuring another rat is not by default always aggression. Only time I've seen it happen is either 1) They're sick/in pain, super grumpy and you need to get them to the vet or 2) You're still bonding them and someone got angry because they're still strangers. Best to rule it out both before neutering or seeking other options for aggression.

[ratatism]

made my girls a big dig box today, using a 17 litre tub from home bargains. my mum cut the hole out of the lid which will hopefully prevent them from kicking the substrate all over their cage but knowing my rats, they will find a way to make a huge mess

[smallestbubs]

hi! im thinking about getting rats, is there any advice you could give?

You wanna get more than 1 they need friends for a healthy life.

Girls are more playful and rambunctious than boys, boys are more laid back and chill.

Girls I recommend getting spayed because of their high chance of getting mammary and uterine tumors/cancer. It has to be done less than 5-6 months of age or it won't really help. Boys can get mammary and testicular tumors but it is not as common.

this cage can hold 3, this 5, this 10. When its time to clean I like to use dilute chlorhex. (the link is concentrated, dilute 1-2 capfuls in 16 oz water sprayer.)

for bedding i use a layer of cotton fabric under a layer of fleece, the fleece is soft for their feet and the cotton's absorbable. Then they have hammocks and castles and i use extra cut up fleece as little blankets to put in them.

For food I use oxbow rat food, (there are smaller bags) which can generally be free-fed but sometimes you can get one who eats too much so you have do do maintenance for them. That is their weight in grams divided by 100 times 5. that number would be the amount of oxbow crackers in grams they get a day, which can be split into two feedings. If they need to lose weight just cut the final number in half and feed them that for a couple weeks before going back to maintenance.

They can have most fruits and veggies. for treats i don't use rat treats because they tend to have too much sugar, I just use baby food, so like the mush or puffs just things without too much sugar or sodium. They can't digest lactose very well so little to no dairy products

pretty much any oxbow toy is fine for them, I will also use bird toys with the paper they can shred.

They can be potty trained, I've only been able to get mine to poop in their litter boxes but not pee yet. Just pick up the poops and put them in the box they eventually get the hang of it. I use this potty and this litter. An air purifier is a good thing to have around too, make sure they don't get to the wires.

I do let mine free roam my room when i'm in it, they have cat trees to climb on but the room has to be rat proofed. they will chew on everything, cords, carpet, walls, gotta be prepared to have a few things ruined. they will climb everything to get to a place they haven't been so you have to watch for that. also any little places they might be able to squeeze into. I have a heavy carpet under my door 'cause they can squeeze under and that thing is torn up so much.

Health wise respiratory infections are gonna be your main one, they can get sprains just from climbing and being curious. tumors: mammary, uterine, testicular can all be removed. lung and pituitary cannot. ear infections are rare but can happen those need to be taken care of fast bc they can quickly eat through to the brain an kill the rat. With them chewing on things they're not supposed to they can get abscesses which can resolve on their own, but they can also displace the jaw if they're bad enough and then cause tooth issues, and since their incisors are always growing that may mean frequent tooth trims.

But I think that's about all I got right now.

[ghostofgraywalls]

Seeking advice for elderly rat!!!

Hello guys! I'm just trying to get some opinions. My husband and I have been faced with a difficult problem. Our 3 year old rat has developed another tumor. She's had 2 tumors in the same spot already, and during her last mass removal the vet had to remove some skin. It left a pretty big, itchy scar.

It's been about 4-5 months since her last surgery. We went to the vet about this recent one, and the vet said she would advise against another surgery given our girl's age. She said at this age she's on borrowed time, and she would hate for her to be in pain for 2 weeks post surgery only for her to go a different way. But she also said if we wanted to try the surgery, she would do it because she felt she was in such good health that she's not worried about complications.

About the only difference in our girl's behavior is she's slowing down. She has lost a small bit of weight and she naps more. She also hasn't been as excited about things like her wheat grass, for instance I got her a new one and it's been untouched in her cage for 24 hours. But she is still excited about treats and love from her favorite human, my husband. I also do want to say she is a solo rat, as she is our last rat. When her sister died a year ago we discussed options with the vet and if we should re home her, and we decided it was best for us to keep her and have her out of her cage whenever we were home with her.

Also, if we do the surgery, this would be her fourth surgery in her 3 years. She was spayed two years ago and has had 2 mass removals this year. As of now, we are using miloxicam under the vets orders to help with pain and to slow the tumor growth.

So I guess my question is has anyone else had to deal with giving a rat surgery at such an old age? And even if not, what would you do if it was your rat?

I know at the end of the day it will be our choice, but this choice feels like such a crap shoot. We either accept she will die in a month or so, or risk surgery knowing she could die during recovery or soon after...but she could also easily live a few more months to a year given her good health. I just really don't know what to do here.

[changecomesforyou]

FRESH FOOD DIARY FOR MY RATS

I try to aim for as much organic produce as possible but alas I am disabled and poor, and not all the foods I want to give them for health benefits are available as organic all the time. I always keep my eyes peeled for organic stuff, and always grab it if I see it’s reduced.

I’m feeding: 2 boys who are both 2+ years old and 2 younger girls (probably a year to a year and a half old)

todays finds:

- organic beetroot

- organic mint

- golden kiwi

- organic rocket

- tofu

- bell peppers

- mungbean sprouts

- pureed parsnip baby food! (it was on sale and they love love love pureed pumpkin so i have to try it out) it also has literally no other additives which is hard to find for ratties.

- wholewheat breadrolls I’m gonna cut up into bite size chunks, i’ll leave them on my counter for a day to harden up as I use this for their daily medication and vitamins

Stuff already at home that I’ll mix in: Zucchini, garlic, carrot, parsley and broccoli.

I cut all this up into various shapes (smaller but thicker chunks for my old boy so he can eat it more easily) and sprinkle seeds and grains on top (typically: sesame, flax, wholegrain spelt, popped millet, a small handful of buckwheat, sprinkle of oats, and red lentils for protein if I don’t have tofu on hand).

They get one small bowl of this every evening to supplement their diet (Science Selective Complete Rat Food).

Having rats is not the easiest but preventative care is so so important to try mitigate any future health problems.

[rattyshipss]

Also just incase anybody doesn't know because I had no clue until a bit after I got them but male rats can't have citrus!!! Female rats can but it'll give male rats kidney issues, a bite here and there won't hurt them but they shouldn't have it consistently or a lot

[enigmaticpink]

Hello!! Im not sure if youve made a fallow up post or if this is now irrelevant to you and your blog now or anything but I was scrolling around the rat care tag and saw your post about cages and LOVED it!! Ive always had a deep love for rat and finally im in a space to get some of my own and I was so interested and excited by bio-active enclosures that you mentioned! Do you have any advice or resources about them or more to say about them??

Omg I love that!! Rats really are amazing pets to have, I still into rat husbandry myself

I have to preface this with all my knowledge on bioactive setups is that based on research I've done, and I've done a lot of research but I haven't yet made the switch to bioactive myself but I hope to soon. If you want advice from people who've already gone through the process, the naturalistic and bioactive rat setup group on Facebook is an amazing source of info and advice.

So from my understanding of it, it's best to do with a large cage like a critter nation, with either a custom acrylic base or with one of those home Depot cement mixing tubs in the base. Other large cages may be available that will also work, depending on your location, but this is from the perspective of someone based in the US.

The substrate is usually comprised of a mix of something like coco fiber and top soil, but ofc make sure the top soil is pesticide free and pest free. You want to have a good balance of moisture in the substrate, enough that it's not dry and irritating their respiratory systems, and not too wet to where mold will develop. Turning the substrate over every few days or so, or when you spot clean is really good for preventing mold. Also that brings me to a CUC, you need a CUC for it to be bioactive in the first place. Some clean up crews will actually eat mold, and keep that in check as well. I see people mainly recommend springtails for rats, and also pill bugs, but I hear rats will eat pill bugs, or really any critters over a certain size. Another reason why springtails are good choice, they're mostly small enough to go unbothered by the rats.

You'll need to keep a colony of your cuc of choice and may have to add more to the setup every so often. A large part of a bioactive enclosure is balance, balance between the amount of rats you have and the amount of waste they're outputting, the amount of CUC you have, the amount of soil to coco fiber, amount of moisture.

I hear it can take some trial and error to get it right, and often it won't be 100% bioactive, you will probably still need to spot clean. There is some debate on if you need to change the soil out with a bioactive enclosure, some saying if it's a good enough setup it shouldn't need to be changed and others saying it needs to be changed every six months to a year. I personally don't have the experience to say, but at the very least it's much less upkeep once you getting it going than say changing wood bedding every two weeks, but it can be very expensive to first start up.

Other than that, how often you reconstitute moisture into the substrate will depend on the time of year, your climate and local humidity. People often add other things to the substrate mixture, like peat moss to help the soil retain shape and moisture so your rats can dig and tunnel.

I hope this was helpful!! Again there are groups and pages with people who have hand on experience with this that are also very great resources

[spaceraceart]

au where eggman is some egotistical unethical tech ceo that visits his local coffee shop everyday and harasses the customers and employees, but for some reason the owner is head-over-heels for him and keeps letting him get away with it

[amo-ridere]

Rat Groups

Let the record state is that I'll never own any live rats (I'm happy with my heartbreak free plushies, thank you) but I have to say that a few of the groups listed are some of the worse I've seen.

If you're looking for a advice on pet care, DON'T join the ones below:

This might get updated at some point but those are four of the biggest groups that one shouldn't join. I'll update when I find more.

[inquisitor-apologist]

The idea that some people hate Ezra is so bizarre to me. Like, you hate Jabba the Hutt? You seriously dislike the Emperor’s own nephew? Did Commander Brom Titus hurt you? Why you got a problem with Lando Calrissian? What’d Dev Morgan ever do to you?

[critterbitter]

Language divides and building bridges.

Elesa’s feeling homesick. Emmet, bless his heart, tries to help by infodumping while Ingo frantically runs off to find water (crying is a very dehydrating experience).

((Would you look at that! The kids are picking up kantonese and galarian from each other!))

BONUS:

Heh. Callback.

Want to see more? Here’s the masterpost for submas!

[indagold-orchid]

Hello! I really want to get rats but I work full time and want to travel as well, so I'm nervous about 1) not giving them the attention they deserve and 2) not having someone to watch over them when I am away (usually no lore than 2 weeks of the year). Any advice?

Working full time is okay with rats because they're nocturnal and since rats need friends, having ratty friends helps a lot. You need to free roam them an hour out of the day, so that may or may not work for you.

If you have to travel, usually my experience is if you work with a breeder, they can offer baby sitting? 2 weeks out of an entire year isn't much. It would be different if you're expected to travel a lot. I've taken vacations away from my rats before. I'd say do a lot of research before hand and find a reputable breeder in your area.

[deepberry2882]

Rinds of Parmesan ❤️

[lemon-bomb]

I saw someone say the rat grinders were disappointing as villains because of how easy they’ve been to take down, but as a criticism for d20. But I think the rat grinders being anticlimactic is kind of the point? They didn’t but the work in, they took shortcuts and so they’re not doing well. I personally find them getting their asses beat to be so satisfying. They picked a fight they can’t win so yeah half of them are already dead.

That’s the point.

[teh-abyss]

I think something that gets me about the rat grinders v. Bad kids fight is how THREE of the rat grinders DIED and at no point were any of them trying to get their downed party members back up

It really is the difference between actual friends vs just an adventuring party. The bad kids care about each other, the rat grinders dont

[professorsparklepants]

Me: (clocks in)

Patient: hi I'm here picking up a prescription for a rat.

Me: .... what's the rat's name and date of birth?

Pharmacist: wait is that for the rat?

Coworker: Vet on line 8 calling in a prescription for a rat.

Me: we will have the rat's prescription ready in 15-20 minutes.