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 Galileo and Copernicus say hello! By the way, how long does it usually take to socialize rats? I've had these guys for about four days now, and they still don't seem to trust me very much. With rare exception, they won't come out of their cage on their own and they draw back when I put my hand in or make the slightest noise. I've only picked them up a couple times, and I've been talking with them and letting them smell me. Does it just take time?
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Mar 6, 2011 02:00
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DorianGravy posted:
Pretty much. I've had mine since january and I was really worried that they were scatty and going to stay that way after I had them for 2 days! After about 2 weeks they got much friendlier and now they just run up to the side of the cage when I come in the room and say hi. You might be doing this already but just in case, every time you go up to the cage bring a little treat for them and make them come and get it from your hand, not through the bars. After a bit they will associate you with good things 
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Mar 6, 2011 02:12
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DorianGravy posted:D'awwwww  So the breeder has been stalling my rats for adoption, saying they weren't quite large enough yet. After a few more emails it turns out that they instead of a skin condition which she is treating and is the real reason she didn't want to adopt them out yet. She thinks its an allergic reaction to aspen bedding, which she admits is rare but can happen sometimes (and apparently more often with hairless rats). Does this trigger any bullshit alarms? Should I be worried in general about this breeder? She says it hasn't happened to her before but will take ~3weeks to clear up. Apparently the whole litter has the problem.
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Mar 6, 2011 04:08
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polyfractal posted:D'awwwww I have never heard of anything like that in my life (admittedly, I have been out of the loop for a while so maybe it is a new thing) and I'd be willing to bet they just have mites or lice and she's treating them for that. I dunno why she'd lie about that though, mites and lice don't necessarily point to poor practices, they're easy to pick up even following the usual precautions. So, it's possible that she's telling the truth and it's some weird new thing, but my intuition is that it's probably just some parasitic thing and not an "allergy" and for whatever reason she was too embarrassed about it to fess up. Edit: You know what, take that with a grain of salt. I've never worked with true hairless and don't know much of anything about what specific problems they're predisposed to and whether or not a skin allergy to certain beddings is a thing. I really should'nt be making assumptions like that. 
Supercondescending fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Mar 6, 2011 |
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Mar 6, 2011 04:19
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Superconsndar posted:I have never heard of anything like that in my life (admittedly, I have been out of the loop for a while so maybe it is a new thing) and I'd be willing to bet they just have mites or lice and she's treating them for that. I dunno why she'd lie about that though, mites and lice don't necessarily point to poor practices, they're easy to pick up even following the usual precautions. Well, they aren't hairless rats so I'm guessing you are right about the mites. To quote her email: "I think it was a reaction to Aspen bedding. I have heard of rats being allergic to it, mostly hairless rats but some haired also". I'd bet she is just embarrassed about the mites/lice. Oh well, I guess I just have to wait until they are better. I'm having a hard time finding other breeders in the area (apparently Boston isn't a popular place for rats?). Unrelated question: I stumbled across one breeder that breeds dwarf rats only. Her site claims that dwarf rats live longer and are less cancer prone. Any truth to this or just one of those things that people like to claim? EDIT: Found my own answer. Seems dwarf rats have less cancer because they lack some important growth hormones, but tend to be out of proportion, suffer congestive heart failure and some lines have megacolon. polyfractal fucked around with this message at 04:38 on Mar 6, 2011 |
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Mar 6, 2011 04:34
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^^^^Edit: Well there you go, I just learned a thing. polyfractal posted:
Dwarf rats were a ~new~ thing when I was into rats and I did hear a lot of people who had them claim those things and right before I stopped breeding I was all set to get some from a breeder friend who had them to play around with because of those claims. From what I've heard they do seem to be longer lived/healthier, but all the evidence I've heard has been anecdotal so do with that what you will. A lot of breeders claim to have "dwarf" rats though who are actually just breeding stunted/hosed up rats, genetic dwarfism is a specific thing so I'd be careful to specifically ask for some proof that you're getting actual dwarfs and not "hey I got really small rats guyz!!!!"
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Mar 6, 2011 04:42
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Hi, I'm posting on behalf of a friend. She had bought two rats about five days ago, a female dumbo and a female hairless rat. She has had them for about a week, feeding them a diet based off of the one on The Rat Club's website and they have just begun getting used to her and being social. Yesterday she found red fluid in the cage, at first we thought it was blood. Examining Lorie (the hairless rat) we noticed it around her eyes and some research pointed us at it possible being porphyrin. She didn't produce anymore of the discharge and this morning she was fine. She just came home from work a few hours ago and has told me that Lorie now seems to be bleeding from her vulva. We are worried this may be a urinary track infection, or worse a tumor. We want to take her to a vet, however the nearest ones in the Baltimore area have an 86$ walk in fee on top of treatment and shes a low income student right now. Guess what I am asking is that is there anything we can do outside the Vet (self medicating, how to check for tumors) and does anyone know a vet in the Maryland area that works with those on low income?
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Mar 9, 2011 04:36
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Enzer posted:Short of learning more about rats than my Vet and telling him what he needs to prescribe, I don't really know. I learned the hard way. I wont think about getting more till I save up about 500 per rat. Insurance may cover them but it never seemed cost effective to me. Red discharge around eyes can be normal after sleeping. Excessive amounts means something is irritating their eyes. Can be a sign of a deep infection but usually is in the nose as well. If thats the case they usually have the same stains on their paws/arms. Stress from rehoming them will also cause this for about the first 2 weeks. Are you sure it's blood? Not really sure how you would find out but try smelling it. Dip it in a q-tip or use your finger. You should know what blood or pee smell like, its pretty much the same sort of smell in rodents. Might be pee with blood in, but both those things are very very bad. Could be cancer, but a tumor you can't see or feel is a tumor you can't treat. Depending on where she got them from, might be a pregnancy. If they're confined to the cage check for babies and blood on a gathered section of bedding. Usually when theyre gonna have babies they pad out every wall or a corner with bedding to make a safe nest. Infections = Antibiotics = a 2 or 3 week course of them so try and get a bulk bottle to save money. Baytril is the most widely used one and relatively simple to administer. You can get a bottle full, they use it to treat pigs, for cheap. measure out the doses carefully. Don't stop treating the day they feel better, stick to it for a week or 2 weeks till its a few days clear. If you don't do a full course then the bacteria will become resistant to the antibiotics. Give them yoghurt to help deal with the loss of gut flora. Honestly I need to see it, get pictures or hit me on AIM if you have a cam set up and I`ll see what advice I can give. Automatically going to a Vet isn't the best option. They should be experienced and confident with rats. Look around for reviews and try to get recommendations from other rat owners in your area. I only know of UK forums and Vets so if you are stateside google something in America and ask there. If you really can't afford it then wait a week and see what happens. This is by far the worst option. If they don't appear to be in pain and behave friendly then that would tell me they're not in pain. If you think they're in pain you have to do something about it. Its not fair on the rats and you shouldn't be keeping them if you ignore their suffering.
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Mar 9, 2011 20:17
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Slidje posted:She actually went to the people she got her from this morning and they are footing the bill with one of the best vets who specialize in exotic pets in the area. It was more just shock to come home and find blood all over the cage (she actually saw the blood drip from out of her vulva, smells like it too). As for the costs concerns, she just had to pay for a private emergency the day before and that messed up her finances for this month, otherwise it should be no problem. Thank you for the information though, shes found a local rescue center and is going to be asking them a lot of questions as well.
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Mar 9, 2011 21:34
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So Copernicus found a new spot which he seems to think is pretty cool: Keep reaching for the stars, Copernicus! Also, a question: I've had my two rats for eight days now, and Galileo sneezes (or coughs?) a lot. It's pretty frequent, and I'm wondering if I should be worried. He otherwise seems pretty much ok - he's a little shyer than Copernicus, but he still eats plenty and seems to breath fine. I read that new rats will sometimes do this when moved to new places, but it's been eight days now and he still sneezes quite a bit.
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Mar 10, 2011 17:47
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DorianGravy posted:eight days Illness will have a variety of symptoms like chest sounds, lathargy and loss of appetite. He might have allergies but don't worry about all that yet.
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Mar 10, 2011 18:15
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DorianGravy posted:Also, a question: I've had my two rats for eight days now, and Galileo sneezes (or coughs?) a lot. Two of my three rats were sneezy for about two weeks after I got them. I have absolutely no idea why rats do this but it's apparently pretty common and nothing to worry about.
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Mar 10, 2011 19:12
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I'm looking at a baby rat that my girlfriend wants to get but I'm worried about megacolon and I really just don't know enough to tell exactly what I'm supposed to be looking for.  Does this little girl look okay or would it be better to find one with a safer looking pattern?
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Mar 13, 2011 20:55
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^^^She's not a high white, so unless her parents were, she's not at risk for megacolon.
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Mar 13, 2011 21:05
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Thank you! I'm really trying hard to learn the basics of breeding to make sure I don't make expensive mistakes when picking out new friends. I'm thinking of trying to train some new rats to swim, has anyone tried that? Any suggestions?
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Mar 13, 2011 22:53
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:I'm thinking of trying to train some new rats to swim, has anyone tried that? Any suggestions? I like this guy on youtube. He has a lot of useful rat videos, mostly for fun but this one is good to bookmark. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7end071b3zA EDIT: This video shows that rats learning how to swim comes naturally. It takes a lot of time and patience to get a rat to be comfortable with water. Give it a try.
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Mar 14, 2011 08:27
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Mongoloid Joe posted:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7end071b3zA Out of interest, people with more rat experience than me, do these rats look like the average size/weight a rat can be? The one who appears first in the video looks really fat to me, but I can't tell whether that's because my girls are still only 6 months old and very active and svelte, so I'm used to seeing comparitively skinny rats. I definitely feed them enough and often (although I tend to leave the food in for a while after they've eaten all the 'good bits' to encourage them to not be so picky and eat the bits they don't like as much - no point feeding a varied mix if they only eat the kibble and pasta!) but they are much sleeker looking than a lot of photos I see of (presumably older) rats. I know being overweight is pretty unhealthy for rats so it's something I'm keen to look out for. How fat is too fat for a rat? A lot of rats seem to tend towards chubby but I don't know whether that's natural or the result of not enough exercise/too much food.
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Mar 15, 2011 22:08
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Mongoloid Joe posted:I like this guy on youtube. He has a lot of useful rat videos, mostly for fun but this one is good to bookmark. Great. Now I have to build a ramp and a water section for my rats to play in. That looks too cool. Perhaps a smidge overweight, I wouldn't say they look really fat. Seems they're likely spoiled and get quite a bit of human food, by my guess.
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Mar 16, 2011 00:05
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Chakattack! posted:Out of interest, people with more rat experience than me, do these rats look like the average size/weight a rat can be? The one who appears first in the video looks really fat to me, but I can't tell whether that's because my girls are still only 6 months old and very active and svelte, so I'm used to seeing comparitively skinny rats. Nope, those rats are actually a much healthier weight than a lot of adult rats I see. Those are males, and yours are females. Females are about 1/2-2/3 the size of adult males and are more "refined" in type, usually. Yours will keep filling out until (and sometimes, even after) their first birthday, but female rats very rarely approach the size of male rats, especially if they're never bred.
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Mar 16, 2011 00:55
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Super, thanks for your reply. I actually had boys before, a long time ago, and remember them being a lot bigger in build. I am really delighted with what nice figures my girls have - not that I'll mind if they turn into squishy lumps somewhere down the line! I love how round and silly they look when they are sitting on their haunches compared to how loooong their bodies get when they are stretching out. I do keep thinking they should be a lot bigger which is probably because of having boy rats first. I also didn't know what age the boys were when I got them and am pretty sure they were full grown, whereas my girls are pretty young I guess, they really do seem teeny tiny sometimes. I think the weight thing is something I'm sensitive about picking up on because I post on a UK rat forum where a lot of the pictures of rats I see seem to be pretty drat overweight, and I do worry that rats are prone to it and don't want my girls to get overweight if it's dangerous and unhealthy for them. Not having girls before (or rats in years) I do worry about not being able to tell down the line that they are getting fat rather than just... normal. Pet owner paranoia!!
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Mar 16, 2011 01:15
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Rats seem to drop weight alarmingly fast when they become ill, especially toward the end of life. I like to keep mine on the plump side. They still have a wheel and get plenty of exercise.
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Mar 16, 2011 06:26
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My girlfriend brought home some trouble! Edit: Arms in picture are my arms, not my girlfriend's arms.
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Mar 17, 2011 17:33
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How do rats cope if you are out of town for the weekend? I basically never, ever travel but something popped up and I have to go out of town two weeks from now. I'd be gone two nights. If you stock the cage with food can they cope for two days? Or is it basically required to have a friend come over and attend to them?
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Mar 17, 2011 17:58
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polyfractal posted:How do rats cope if you are out of town for the weekend? I basically never, ever travel but something popped up and I have to go out of town two weeks from now. I'd be gone two nights. I would advise that if a friend can come over and just check on them and refill their food and water and make sure they haven't hurt themselves that would be best. I wouldn't like to risk leaving them alone completely.
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Mar 17, 2011 18:01
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polyfractal posted:How do rats cope if you are out of town for the weekend? I basically never, ever travel but something popped up and I have to go out of town two weeks from now. I'd be gone two nights. My boyfriend and I just recently went to Chicago for my boyfriend for my birthday. We left Friday afternoon and came back Sunday evening. The rats were fine when we came back. Before we left, I filled their food bowls with fresh veggies, snacks, two water bottles, and lab blocks to last them through the weekend. They like to hoard morsels, so they still had some food leftover when we came home. When we did come home, I immediately washed their veggie bowl and gave them more fresh veggies. A downside to leaving them alone for the weekend is that they need human time. Though they were snuggling together when we arrived, they were dying to get out of the cage. We'll be gone again this coming week, but this time we're having a friend come everyday to feed the rats while we're gone. We're gonna have him come over this weekend so the three can get acquainted
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Mar 17, 2011 21:16
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:My girlfriend brought home some trouble!
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Mar 17, 2011 22:35
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I used to have my own Wrinkles, named Astrid   Fuzzy as a baby  Yes she is upside down climbing down the back of my chair  Her favourite spot, under the duvet next to my PJs and Spot the Dog  I can't find the photos of her when she is older 
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Mar 18, 2011 00:54
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DorianGravy posted:So Copernicus found a new spot which he seems to think is pretty cool: From the makers of TRUCK NUTZ come the new cage craze for rodents - BOTTLE BALLZ
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Mar 19, 2011 04:33
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Dr. Arbitrary posted:My girlfriend brought home some trouble! polyfractal posted:How do rats cope if you are out of town for the weekend? I basically never, ever travel but something popped up and I have to go out of town two weeks from now. I'd be gone two nights.
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Mar 19, 2011 05:42
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Really late update. Lorie is doing fine, turns out she cut her rear end somehow and that's where all the blood was coming from. Got her to a vet and had her checked out, health is all good and she is as happy as can be. Having spent some time with them, I am really wanting a pair of my own. However, I do have a cat (strictly indoor female Bombay) who is not declawed and I have a lot of worries. Flower (the cat's name.. why the foster mother named her, gods know why you'd name a black cat that) is pretty active and we give her free reign of the apartment as she otherwise digs at the carpet in front of the doors and there is no separate room to keep her and rats apart. My big concern is her claws, I can see her swiping at the outside of the cage if they try to scale up the side, now of course I can just be extra vigilant and keep her claws clipped and I've been looking at those claw caps as well. Anyone have any input or have both rats and a cat?
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Mar 19, 2011 07:15
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When I had rats before we had three cats, and never had any problems. Whilst initially interested I think after a few exploratory poking-paws-through-the-bars-and-getting-bitten they lost interest and never really bothered. They were quite young though so maybe part of the growing up and learning stuff experience. Honestly they just didn't really care. When we had canaries though they were absolutely fixated and couldn't get over their fascination, so it wasn't just a 'things in cages are boring' association. I guess it really depends on your individual cat, though.
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Mar 19, 2011 13:39
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Chakattack! posted:Shes turning two coming up soon. The lady I walk dogs for says that a new store has open up nearby, forget the name, but it is not a big chain, and their staff is pretty knowledgeable. What I might do is drop by there today and ask them if I can bring my cat down to see how she reacts to rats. When we first got Flower she used to go crazy at birds and squirrels and get all riled up, now she is just content laying on my bed looking at them lazily.. but I guess you are right, no real way to tell. I'll save up in the meantime and think about it.
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Mar 19, 2011 13:45
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Ages ago I said I was really getting ready to buy rats because I thought I was a shoein for this new job. I didn't end up getting it but now I have actually gotten a nice well paying job and I'm really excited. At least half my housemates have expressed a desire for some form of pet and my landlord is really cruisy about these things (the guy isn't a particularly great landlord but is thrilled so long as we pay the rent on time). I have read that the best rats come from breeders but I'm really struggling to find info on where to locate one. A local pet shop had "handraised" rats for sale, would that be a suitable alternative? Also, what sort of cage should I be looking for? I know there are some posted in the op but I don't have a huge amount of room in my room and I was looking for something more vertical than wide.
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Mar 19, 2011 14:17
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Lord Windy posted:I have read that the best rats come from breeders but I'm really struggling to find info on where to locate one. A local pet shop had "handraised" rats for sale, would that be a suitable alternative? (pardon the temporary cage) 
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Mar 19, 2011 18:07
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Wrinkles is the most popular of our rats on Instagram because she always photographs so well:
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Mar 19, 2011 18:59
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FluidG posted:Who knows what a pet store means by "handraised" but if they are actually hand raised they should be much more interactive than normal. If it helps the owner seems to really like smaller animals. She has her own there whenever I've been there. It's included probably the largest Guinea pigs I have ever seen.
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Mar 20, 2011 00:46
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Lord Windy posted:If it helps the owner seems to really like smaller animals. She has her own there whenever I've been there. It's included probably the largest Guinea pigs I have ever seen. Good rat breeders are incredibly difficult to find, the health of what they produce is debatable, and unless you happen to have one very close to you they may or may not be worth the trouble unless you just HAVE to have a specific color/marking. The "responsible" answer is, if you can't find a breeder, look in to rescue. The "real life" answer is, "you are a beginner and will be best off getting the most well socialized rats you can get your hands on" so I would personally go with the pet store babies if they are in fact as well socialized as they claim. Just don't be under any illusion that their health is in any way guaranteed; they're most likely very randomly bred. Buying pet store rats really isn't as big of a no-no as it is with other species because rats will always exist in pet stores as feeder animals so you're really not ~~~adding to a problem~~~ by getting them. 
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Mar 20, 2011 01:13
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Does the RSPCA or a local pound shelter rats?
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Mar 20, 2011 01:43
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Lord Windy posted:Does the RSPCA or a local pound shelter rats? It's entirely individual to each shelter. In most cases, no, but you can google rat rescues + your zip code, or check on https://www.petfinder.com. Honestly though, if we're talking about your very first rats, I would go with the well socialized babies over rescue rats of unknown background. IF you can find rats in rescue near you and IF they happen to have some that are friendly/well socialized then go for it. Private rescues (if you can find one near you) often have these, but the odd local shelter who takes in rats usually knows nothing about them and improperly houses/feeds them and doesn't handle them much at all. Again, that's fine for experienced rat people but I would take the easier route of getting something already socialized if it's your very first time.
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Mar 20, 2011 01:48
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I think I found something. It's a rat shelter that deals with slot of unwanted litters and re-homing rats. I talked to the lady who runs the shelter and she seems lovely. She is happy to hand over a couple of girls to me when I'm ready to care for them after she has checked where they are going to live/eat etc. Since I don't care about colour it's a pretty good situation. Now just to work out a cage.
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Mar 20, 2011 07:37
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