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Explosions! posted:Thankfully, I found some one to watch my boys while I was gone. Now I have until November to find a smaller cage so they can come home with me over Thanksgiving and Christmas. AHA. You're the one who was asking about carriers! Check these out-- Quality Cages are, in fact, quality cages. And they ship worldwide!
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Aug 14, 2010 10:36
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Good lord I feel like I'm preparing for a baby. So since my rats (a pair) will be ready for me to collect them from the breeder in a week I've been buying their stuff. This is all stuff I've read about needing and I just want to run it past you guys, to see if I've gotten anything horribly wrong or have forgotten something vital. Your input is welcomed!  Click here for the full 900x586 image. I completely understand that for toys and stuff the rats would be happy with even a rag on a stick but I couldn't resist buying some of these things.  There are some things I know I haven't gotten yet, which include: - A CAGE no not really, it will arrive on Monday and it's a Savic Freddy 2 - Litter for poopin' (I want to check what kind the breeder uses so my rats don't have to adapt to a new one) - Litter tray of sorts (will probably buy a corner one, I need to see in person how big the cage is so I can judge it properly) - Substrate (the breeder I am buying from uses shredded cardboard, and that's something I can easily buy closer to the time of arrival) - A second hide Okay, so these things are what I do have: - Wooly bedding. Obviously this one bag won't be enough, but I want to make sure this kind of bedding is alright. I've checked it all over and it doesn't seem to have any sort of little fibres or loops that could get caught on a rat's toes. A store near me sells a bunch of different beddings so I'll be able to pick up anything you might suggest as superior, probably. - A base rat food! (Beaphar XtraVital) It's high protein stuff, so I've read, which would be beneficial to young rats right? I'll change it for a lower protein base when the rats are older so they don't become fatties. Obviously this is only a base food and I'll supplement it with various fruit and veg etc as need be. - Tennis ball on a rope which is actually a dog toy, but I thought I could hang it up in the cage so rats could climb it. I was considering cutting a small hole in the tennis ball itself and using it to hide food in for a bit of enrichment, how does that sound? - Fleece-lined hammock. Will probably get a second one just in case a rat wants to chill on its own and the first hammock is occupied. - Large and small water bottle. Smaller water bottle will contain water that has vitamins and calcivet added, larger bottle will be just water on its own. I was planning on adding the vits and stuff to the small water bottle 5 days a week because I read somewhere that 7 days a week may be a bit too much. Also if they knock one of the bottles down at least they have a spare. - Treat ball for a bit of enrichment! - Vitamins and calcivet (which is a calcium supplement if it's unknown outside the UK) - Stupid bright orange dumbell which will probably be too heavy for the rats to pick up but damnit my money was burning a hole in my pocket - Veggie basket that has a bell on the bottom of it. I bet that bell won't be on there long! ring a ling a ling a ding a ring - Heavy rat bowl that (hopefully) can't be tipped over. Will be getting a second one so I can put dry food in one and wet food in another. - Rope toy intended for birds, but I assume it's okay for rats too? - Awesome igloo hide thing! I need a second hide that is a bit smaller but I'm not sure what kind to get. Phew. Okay so did I miss anything? Are any of the things I've bought sub-par? Anything horrendously wrong and I should feel terrible about it? Oh I read somewhere that it's better not to give tap water to rats to drink. I live in the UK so I think what's added to our water is a bit different from the US. Am I better off giving them bottled water? Good lord I'm so excited to get these rats you have no idea. I've been looking at videos of rats on youtube all day, bruxing and boggling (holy poo poo are they cute when they do that), swimming, doing tricks etc etc and I just can't wait to be involved with all this.
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Aug 14, 2010 21:34
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You're pretty well researched, I think you'll be good.  Its pretty cute how excited you are (I dont blame you, baby rats are awesome)Word of advice - your ratties will eventually destroy those hammocks and I wouldn't spend money on more - I make mine out of super cheap polar fleece or old clothes, then I don't care when they get "renovated". I tend to give mine cardboard boxes to destroy too in favor or plastic igloos. Don't overwhelm the little ones with too much stuff as soon as they get in! They look set to be spoiled little happy rats though. They will probably enjoy the rope toys and things they can destroy. edit: Oh - I tried having two water bottles and they only EVER drank from the highest one. I just put the vitamins in every second time I change the water or so and it seems to work ok for me (I'm not very precise) Is that true about tap water? o_O I give it to mine - but I'm in Australia. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Aug 15, 2010 |
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Aug 15, 2010 03:02
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I'm a little worried about one of my girls. She is usually first out the cage and first to the treats but tonight she wouldn't come out of her cage. I eventually picked her up and she quietly sat in my lap which is also unusual for her. I checked her over, her breathing is fine, no wounds, her feet look great, no lumps or anything internal and she didn't make any pained sound when I picked her up or palpated her. Maybe she was just feeling quiet but I'm worried. 
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Aug 15, 2010 04:05
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dog days are over posted:SUPER PREPARATION TIME I think you are going to be a great rat owner.
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Aug 16, 2010 01:23
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Amiss posted:I think you are going to be a great rat owner. Oh wow thank you. That means a lot, I've been so anxious about getting things right. (just under a week to go!)
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Aug 16, 2010 14:17
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So, I'm weaning this litter early for their mom's sake. She's done such an awesome job with them and pays so much attention to them that they're huge for their age and are already out of the nest and almost exclusively eating solids except when they all decide to mob her and pin her down to nurse. Ideally they'd nurse for another week at least, but they're all so huge and taking so much out of her that no matter how much she eats she simply can't keep up with them and they're really, really taking a toll on her. I'm putting her in her own cage for a while to recover; and in a week or two her two daughters that I'm keeping will join her. The babies are getting access to adult food and supplemented with a KMR/baby cereal mixture. I'll probably put the mom in to nurse them and spend some time with them once or twice a day, because they are VERY young to wean and I wouldn't do it if I wasn't concerned about how much weight the mother has lost. She just really needs a break. I've had to do this a few times before, sometimes babies just grow really fast and moms can't keep up. Anyway, here's some pics of them from today:      
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Aug 16, 2010 19:28
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Superconsndar posted:baby ratties Argh so cute! They all opened their little eyes! How old are they when they turn into food? I've never heard of people growing rodents specifically to feed their snakes or whatever before, it's interesting!
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Aug 16, 2010 21:28
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Sorry to ask this, I'm just genuinely curious.. put in spoiler tags since it seems polite, it's about feeder rats. What's generally the normal method of killing the rats? It just occurred to me that I have no real idea.  And that first pic is super cute.
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Aug 16, 2010 21:54
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lol welp here is a bunch of spoilered text killerwhat posted:
They're euthanized at different ages depending on what people need them for. (Different sized reptiles need different sized rodents etc.) My dogs eat raw and I try to include as much whole prey as possible so these are dog food, and will be done at 6-8 weeks. I want them slightly larger than large adult mice, for a variety of reasons- one being that that's pretty much the perfect size for my flat-faced Boston to eat with little difficulty, another being that after maturity males get really musky and the dogs don't like them, and another being space issues. Also, my method of euthanasia is risky and less humane on larger rats. dog days are over posted:Sorry to ask this, I'm just genuinely curious.. put in spoiler tags since it seems polite, it's about feeder rats. Most large feeder rodent producers use CO2 chambers, and I've made homemade CO2 chambers in the past, but now I use cervical dislocation and it's very quick and humane and over instantly.
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Aug 16, 2010 22:24
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they're so adorable and i guess soon to be delicious :-) wish i could make rat babies but i dunno what id do with so many rats <___< edit: cancer is kewl eig fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Aug 17, 2010 |
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Aug 17, 2010 01:35
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eig posted:they're so adorable and i guess soon to be delicious :-) wish i could make rat babies but i dunno what id do with so many rats <___< Me too. Superconsndar I envy you greatly, and I think you need to spare a couple of those babies and send them to me.
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Aug 17, 2010 01:44
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I hope I don't derail the cuteness with my question, but I just got a rat and I let him roam around on my desk while I watched him. But I've seen the speed of a rat bite (very sad story) and I'm worried he might strike my cords before I get a chance to grab him. So my question is: do any of you know a way to teach him not to chew cords or how I can tell if he will try? I'm not about to let him roam free around the house or anything, but I'd like to let him scamper about on my desk without worry of him eating my cords suddenly. Or am I just being over-worried? Here's pics of him being snuggly: 
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Aug 17, 2010 06:52
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Never seen a rat chomp down super fast on something inanimate. Mine always tend to roam around doing exploratory (soft) nibbles and its easy to catch them. But my guys have never shown an interest in chewing cords either (in fact the only thing they've damaged while out is cloth). Maybe others' do?
Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 10:47 on Aug 17, 2010 |
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Aug 17, 2010 10:43
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i have a ton of cords behind my tv and such which my rat ladies love to go behind (because theyre evil) but they have yet to actually chew any of those cords. one did however chew an ipod cord that was chillin on my couch but that thing is pretty thin :-/
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Aug 17, 2010 14:23
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Mine will chew anything with a rubber texture. Pencil erasers are some kind of delicacy 
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Aug 17, 2010 17:33
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Alright, cool, so I guess I am just over-worried then, thanks.
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Aug 17, 2010 20:38
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I have two ratty girls. One is normal sized and the other is fat. I feed them a homemade mix and they get frequent exercise. However, the fat one is quite shy and usually just lurks under my bed when I bring them out of their cage. They get non-mix food too, mainly things like peas, carrot and lettuce, but they do get the occasional bits of meat and bread. My question is, how can I get the fat one lose weight?
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Aug 17, 2010 22:30
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Haha, looking over the babies today, looks like 2 of them may molt out to be siamese. VERY RARE AND THE FRIENDLIEST BREED OF RAT GUYZ 
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Aug 17, 2010 22:57
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So originally I was getting just a pair of does, but then I thought 'WHAT IF ONE DIES AND THE OTHER IS LONELY?' Also I wanted another rat because why not. Breeder sent me a pic of my gals;  No cases of megacolon in these british rats' lines, and they are purely pets and will never be bred or shown. They're cute as a button and I can't wait to get them on Friday. The breeder is bringing them here so she can check out where they'll be living, and I'll be checking the girls over for any problems but all going well I'll have three new friends to chew my stuff soon. The 'lil paint-face looking up is Treguna, the black butt-sniffer is Mekoides and you might expect the other roan to be Trecorum maybe if you get the reference, but my housemate insists she be called Peanut so there we go. e: by the way thanks Superconsndar for the answer, I learned a new term and everything!
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Aug 18, 2010 00:45
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They are absolutely lovely. As much as I bitch about breeding for color, a mega-colon free black-eyed-white is secretly my dream rat and something I've never had, so I do love safe high whites. Good luck with them.
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Aug 18, 2010 01:03
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dog days are over posted:So originally I was getting just a pair of does, but then I thought 'WHAT IF ONE DIES AND THE OTHER IS LONELY?' So I noticed there were a lot of warnings on the first post of solitary rats. How bad for the rat is it to be alone?
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Aug 18, 2010 06:47
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Superconsndar posted:lol welp here is a bunch of spoilered text No offense, but it seems really awful to post pictures of your adorable baby rats then talk about how you kill them. I know it was spoilered text but still. It makes me sad to see how cute they are and know they're going to be eaten.
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Aug 18, 2010 10:29
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Superconsndar posted:Haha, looking over the babies today, looks like 2 of them may molt out to be siamese. VERY RARE AND THE FRIENDLIEST BREED OF RAT GUYZ I have a siamese... but my black hooded or whatever he is seems to be a lot friendlier. Linus generally just hides under pillows and blankets :-( Though sometimes he does sometimes come out to get pet :-D
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Aug 18, 2010 11:26
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Shadow0 posted:So I noticed there were a lot of warnings on the first post of solitary rats. How bad for the rat is it to be alone? From what I understand, very bad. They're very social animals and no matter how much time you spend with a lone rat you just can't give them the kind of attention and affection another rat can give them. You just cannot possibly be a substitute, and a lone rat will be nervous and lonely. There are exceptions to every rule and a lone rat might not look like it's bored/nervous/lonely, but there really is no reason not to get at least two rats and they'll be much happier for it. I think personally that if the cost of another rat is what makes someone not want to get a pair, they should really think whether they can afford a rat at all. Robot Girlfriend posted:No offense, but it seems really awful to post pictures of your adorable baby rats then talk about how you kill them. I know it was spoilered text but still. It makes me sad to see how cute they are and know they're going to be eaten. It's honestly not a whole lot different from the pack of bacon in your fridge. That's from a pig that was raised to be killed for food, and piglets are pretty drat cute. Her rats are being bred with care and attention, seem to be given everything they could want or need, and then at the end of their time they're very humanely killed for their purpose. I don't understand why people have such a huge problem with feeder rats when they're so obviously well cared for. I bet Superconsndar's rats have a better life than the ones that get bought from pet shops.
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Aug 18, 2010 13:12
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Robot Girlfriend posted:No offense, but it seems really awful to post pictures of your adorable baby rats then talk about how you kill them. I know it was spoilered text but still. It makes me sad to see how cute they are and know they're going to be eaten. Uh I just answered questions people asked, I didn't post pictures of dead rats. I am specifically raising my own rats because I don't like the way large suppliers produce them. I don't have the means to raise all of my dog's food myself, but this is one very large part of their diet (probably 3/4 of the whole prey that they get are rats) I CAN control the production of and raising rats so that they get a decent diet that isn't comprised of lovely blocks (therefore passing said lovely diet onto my dogs when they eat them) aren't housed in poorly ventilated overcrowded bins, bred and rebred so that they're constantly pregnant until they die, never handled, never given anything to play with, never given proper nesting material- is important to me. I love rats, I've had them my entire life and there was a time when I thought the concept of ~omg feeders~ was repulsive, and I spent years breeding ~responsibly~ and doing rescue so I get the aversion to seeing cute baby pictures when you know they're going to end up food, but by doing this I'm ensuring that the food my dogs get had a good, happy life, and a humane death. I think it would be very safe to say that my feeder rats have better lives than most pet rats in the world. This is how feeder rodents are commercialy raised and housed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UndW7_Gc_kM I would rather not contribute to this if I can help it.
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Aug 18, 2010 15:45
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Superconsndar posted:This is how feeder rodents are commercialy raised and housed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UndW7_Gc_kM  Horrendous! e: Wow he supplies rats for pet shops too. Never buy pet shop rats. 
Build-a-Boar fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Aug 18, 2010 |
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Aug 18, 2010 16:07
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Superconsndar posted:Uh I just answered questions people asked, I didn't post pictures of dead rats. I am specifically raising my own rats because I don't like the way large suppliers produce them. I don't have the means to raise all of my dog's food myself, but this is one very large part of their diet (probably 3/4 of the whole prey that they get are rats) I CAN control the production of and raising rats so that they get a decent diet that isn't comprised of lovely blocks (therefore passing said lovely diet onto my dogs when they eat them) aren't housed in poorly ventilated overcrowded bins, bred and rebred so that they're constantly pregnant until they die, never handled, never given anything to play with, never given proper nesting material- is important to me. Ok, that makes sense, and I really don't have any problem at all with what you're doing, It is in fact much better than buying them from a commercial supplier. I didn't mean to offend you. It sounds like you really are doing the right thing. Please forgive my previous ignorance, and accept my apology.
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Aug 18, 2010 19:31
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dog days are over posted:From what I understand, very bad. They're very social animals and no matter how much time you spend with a lone rat you just can't give them the kind of attention and affection another rat can give them. You just cannot possibly be a substitute, and a lone rat will be nervous and lonely. There are exceptions to every rule and a lone rat might not look like it's bored/nervous/lonely, but there really is no reason not to get at least two rats and they'll be much happier for it. I think personally that if the cost of another rat is what makes someone not want to get a pair, they should really think whether they can afford a rat at all. Well, like the above person, the rat's mother was raised for food, but it gave birth and my friend was trying to get rid of them, so I took one since I had a place for him. I suppose I'll see if I can get him/her (I just look underneath and I should be able to tell, right? Haven't tried) a buddy. It's not much more work to take care of two, right?
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Aug 18, 2010 23:48
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Shadow0 posted:Well, like the above person, the rat's mother was raised for food, but it gave birth and my friend was trying to get rid of them, so I took one since I had a place for him. I suppose I'll see if I can get him/her (I just look underneath and I should be able to tell, right? Haven't tried) a buddy. It's not much more work to take care of two, right? 2 rats are definitely no more work than one. Just make absolutely sure it's the same sex as your current one.
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Aug 19, 2010 00:30
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Shadow0 posted:I suppose I'll see if I can get him/her (I just look underneath and I should be able to tell, right? Haven't tried) a buddy. Male rats have absolutely enormous balls so it's very easy to sex them. 
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Aug 19, 2010 00:33
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Superconsndar posted:2 rats are definitely no more work than one. Just make absolutely sure it's the same sex as your current one. Together they are also way more happy and playful with you than just one rat would be.
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Aug 19, 2010 01:54
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Dr. Spaceman posted:Together they are also way more happy and playful with you than just one rat would be. My current one is only a few months old, if I get her a playmate from a pet store, will they be ok together? The title post said something about young rats getting murdered. Do I need to worry about this?
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Aug 19, 2010 02:37
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Do it while they are young and if you follow the guidelines people have posted in this thread on introducing rats, you'll be fine I had no problems introducing a baby to my 4-month old rats. Do it carefully is all.
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Aug 19, 2010 10:44
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The younger the rats are the easier it is to introduce them to new cage-mates, so do it sooner rather than later. Make sure they're the same sex (like I said, males have honkin' great gonads) and introduce them carefully, on neutral ground. What I mean by this is put your old and new rat together somewhere away from the cage, like on a sofa or something. This is so your first rat won't think the new one is an intruder if you just throw it into the cage. Do these neutral-ground meetings a few times over the course of a few days if you can. The rats are quite likely to fight when they meet but it's more 'scuffling' that proper fighting, they just need to assess which is the stronger and more dominant one and then they will accept their roles. A lot of people go by the rule of 'no blood, no problem' regarding fighting rats so just let them wrestle it out if they need to but step in if things are vicious enough to draw blood. This is only ONE method of doing introductions so don't take it all as gospel, read through the thread and look up introductions on google and decide for yourself what'll work best.
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Aug 19, 2010 15:06
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dog days are over posted:The younger the rats are the easier it is to introduce them to new cage-mates, How young are store-bought ones, usually? Will one of those work?
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Aug 19, 2010 18:45
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Shadow0 posted:How young are store-bought ones, usually? Will one of those work? I'm pretty sure this varies. I have seen some tiny ones in our local Petsmart, but equally, they will sit there until they get sold. So then you're looking at some fully grown ones! I'd say ask the assistants, but lets face it most of them don't know their arse from their elbow!
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Aug 19, 2010 19:18
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Pickle Chops posted:I'm pretty sure this varies. I have seen some tiny ones in our local Petsmart, but equally, they will sit there until they get sold. So then you're looking at some fully grown ones! Yeah I don't think asking the staff will help much. If they don't know the age of the rats they may lie, too. You could look at a bunch of pictures or videos of baby rats and get an idea of what size they are at a particular age so you can age them better when you see them. The bonus to this solution is that you get to look at adorable young rats. If you can get a rat from a breeder they'll know the rat's age down to the day, but that's assuming you're lucky and there's a breeder local to you with a litter ready and with one unreserved.
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Aug 19, 2010 20:54
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Photo dump! David going for an adventure.  Austin getting in the rubbish.  David thinking about getting on the washing.  Ah yes, Pants!  Zebra print was his favourite.  Gordon, digging for treasure.  TREASURE! 
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Aug 19, 2010 21:10
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| # ? May 16, 2024 02:43 |
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Our outgoing dumbo rat Trudy just figured out a few days ago that she could jump off of the couch and go PTing around the floor, so that's all she's interested in doing now while the other two sleep on the couch like good rats. She's been mostly running around the general living room area so it's fine, and she particularly likes, for whatever reason, hanging out in the ball of rat cage lining fabrics under the cage. Luckily she hasn't figured out that the height of the cage on the tiny table it's sitting on is basically the same as the couch, so for now at least we can still leave the cage door open so the other rats can climb up and, what else, sleep on top of the cage or behind it instead of in it. Wrinkles gets along fine with Trudy and Joan now, although she does tend to annoy them sometimes when they are sleeping. I think at this point I've seen all of them turn each of the others over and groom each other. They never had more than a few mild scuffles, and they never drew blood. Wrinkles lived on top of the dinner table for about two days but after that they were fine in the cage together. This is what Wrinkles looks like:
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Aug 19, 2010 22:22
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