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I agree with the nefarious judgement. Though that is one innocent little smile... The hairless just look so soft and peach-fuzzy  I've never gotten to pet one, is that how they feel?pyriphlegethon, its entirely possible its the pet store you're allergic to, it would be strange to have such a strong reaction to a specific rat. Fingers crossed for you, he's a cutie. You should probably call him Itchy or something though. Wiley is growing up to be a really pretty boy and very sweet   Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Oct 5, 2011 |
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Oct 5, 2011 00:29
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| # ? May 16, 2024 03:46 |
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Saw this on Senor GIF:
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Oct 6, 2011 21:45
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This is the original video: http://youtu.be/8Po1pKEcG_o
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Oct 6, 2011 23:59
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The cops showed up. Office Wrinkles  Officer Trudy  Officer Joan 
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Oct 7, 2011 00:48
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You're a strange person
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Oct 7, 2011 01:06
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I love you. People always call me weird with my rats, no, there are others like me. People who HAVE to dress up their rats. ULTIMATE EDIT: I connected my rat cages after lots of socializing with all of the boys! It is easy to remove, and my arm fits in there for cleaning. The tube even comes out, and I can close the cage doors without having to remove the plastic barrier.  
Olive Bar fucked around with this message at 09:37 on Oct 7, 2011 |
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Oct 7, 2011 05:48
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my little baby is worrying me so much! First I was allergic to him (which seems to have completely cleared up, but my partner is noticing it too), and then i noticed some scabs on his back, and now he's sneezing like crazy! He's such a little sweetheart, I'll be way bummed if he gets sick.
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Oct 8, 2011 13:52
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pyriphlegethon posted:my little baby is worrying me so much! First I was allergic to him (which seems to have completely cleared up, but my partner is noticing it too), and then i noticed some scabs on his back, and now he's sneezing like crazy! He's such a little sweetheart, I'll be way bummed if he gets sick. He probably has mites and a respiratory infection. Take him to the vet and get some ivermectin and antibiotics, and he should be right as rain very quickly. Don't let it get worse.
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Oct 9, 2011 02:51
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Yeah get him to a vet. You got him from a pet store, and they often do not keep their rats in very healthy conditions 
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Oct 9, 2011 04:48
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O ye rat folke. Thought I'd ask a question here since I don't think many rat or mice people really go to the generic rodent thread. I have four mice, and I want to spoil the little shits. There isn't much in the way of 'mice love these' treat lists online, but there's a load for rats. Obviously rats and mice are different, but is what is safe for rats safe for mice, too? Specifically, do you guys think the following would be okay for my mice? - Eggs (hardboiled or softboiled), cooled and in the shell. - Bull pizzles. - Dried tripe. - Small bones (raw or cooked?). - Nylabone chews. - Toast. - Peanut butter. - Pasta. - Crickets. - Mealworms (live or dead?). - Other insects?
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Oct 9, 2011 16:48
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Fraction posted:O ye rat folke. Mice are less predatory than rats, need lower protein levels, and while they are omnivorous in that they CAN subsist off of anything, they generally eat very little animal protein when given a choice. So yeah, just about any treat that works for rats also works for mice, I just wouldn't give them as much protein and try to keep it moooooooostly plant based.
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Oct 9, 2011 17:02
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Fraction posted:O ye rat folke. I would recommend not giving rats or mice peanut butter unless it's spread on a cracker or something very thinly. Rats don't have a way to throw up, and peanut butter is very sticky and can get stuck in their throats. Insects are iffy. Mice don't need as much protein as rats do, and insects can fight back. Plus, if you give them wild-caught insects, you have no idea what the insects got into, which you are then feeding your mice. It's not worth the risk, I don't think. Everything else is good. Bones are fine, rats and mice will nibble them clean and then crack them to get at the delicious, delicious marrow inside.
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Oct 10, 2011 15:58
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Thanks guys! Wasn't so sure on the peanut butter really - I saw it recommended a few times but the thickness/stickiness of it worried me a little. The insects I'll be giving occasionally are all going to be store bought. Since they are pretty small and as you have said mice aren't as naturally predatory as rats, it'll be dead insects (dried mealworms for now, possibly dead crickets as a very occasional treat). I wouldn't feed anything I caught and killed myself.
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Oct 10, 2011 16:01
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You can mix peanut butter with plain yogurt to thin it down, I do it sometimes to fill my dog's Kong. Much less risk of choking.
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Oct 10, 2011 16:50
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pyriphlegethon posted:my little baby is worrying me so much! First I was allergic to him (which seems to have completely cleared up, but my partner is noticing it too), and then i noticed some scabs on his back, and now he's sneezing like crazy! He's such a little sweetheart, I'll be way bummed if he gets sick. You probably aren`t allergic to him, it`s gonna be skin flakes and insect/lice eggs that are decaying and coming off his body. Might be the bedding they kept him in. It was already posted but if hes from a pet shop then he IS sick, and if he doesn`t have mites/lice i`ll be astounded. You really need to have a quarantine period before you introduce rats to the rest of your colony. One sick rat can wipe them all out. Start treatments for parasites and respiratory illness immediately. Fraction posted:- Eggs (hardboiled or softboiled), cooled and in the shell. You can give them a whole egg if you want but crack them a little first and then watch the chaos. Bones, yes but crack them open with pliers. Chicken bones are the best due to the lovely soft marrow. Lamb bones are good if there some small amounts of meat left but don`t crack these open. Theyre much sharper than chicken bones. Toast is great but every rodent i`ve had is a fussy eater, they only ate the buttered side. Chew it up first and roll it into a ball for them. Pasta is very soft and I`ve never had a problem giving it to rats or mice. Peanut butter, no. They love it but its very sticky and VERY fattening. When I gave tiny amounts to my mice over a week they visibly got fatter at the end of those 7 days. That isn`t to say dont give them stuff they like. I gave my two treats all the time. They don`t live very long, even in comparison to rats so I didn`t have mine for long. Weigh the risks and benefits for yourself. If they`re getting towards the end of their lives go nuts (pun intended  )All you really need to worry about though is: quote:3.06 Are there any foods I _shouldn't_ feed my mice? Sunflower seeds are probably the best treat for a rodent, but careful cos they`re very fattening.
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Oct 10, 2011 19:17
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Honestly my preferred peanut butter delivery method is on the fingers. Pretty easy to keep them down to just licking that way. But yeah, pretty infrequently.
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Oct 10, 2011 19:47
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I usually just gave mine peanut butter flavored dog biscuits tbh.
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Oct 10, 2011 19:48
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One of the nicest things (maybe at least because I'm a treat-pushover) about rats is that you can make pretty much anything a treat though.
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Oct 10, 2011 20:05
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Yeah, the other night: Oh boy! Broccoli!!
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Oct 10, 2011 22:54
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I went with some Rodent Society (of NSW Australia) people to do a PetBarn display today to educate people about rats and mice as pets. Rats aren't really common pets here yet so lots of people have never really seen one up close. There were lots of women who walked by with disgusted looks (lol) and lots of kids who were happy to pet the ratties. It was really nice to see some people come up curiously and ask questions. Everyone who came to look was completely won over by the rats. Most of them were a local breeder's rats who were beautiful, as many different colors and varieties as she could show off, all so friendly and cuddly. I brought my young boys along as well, for their first public outing. Wiley was a little shy but Spartacus spent all day trying to jump on peoples' shoulders. Someone would pet him and he would be like "Hey new friend lets go for a ride!" Which was just hilarious and surprising. He spent some time riding around on the shoulder of one of the rat ladies, and a lot of time trying to get to the girl rats. What a playa. 
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Oct 23, 2011 11:19
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This just popped up on my Instagram, from user @brittanykinz of her rat "Winston the plumpkin"
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Oct 30, 2011 04:43
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My roommate is moving out and leaving his two rats. I am very displeased, I have enough on my plate, and soon I will have more cleaning poo poo up on my plate. I think I will re-home them, as I soon won't have the attention to pay to them to be healthy and happy. I can't really tell him I don't want his rats because I feel like it would bother him if I said no to them. If there are any Ohio/Michigan goons who want two rats, contact me 
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Nov 2, 2011 18:52
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Boco_T posted:This just popped up on my Instagram, from user @brittanykinz of her rat "Winston the plumpkin" That's ridiculously The fact that he looks mortified makes it even better
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Nov 2, 2011 19:31
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So cute. Mine wouldn't stay in any kind of costume like that, I know it, they'd just be pulling it off and getting back to teabagging each other. Raaaaaats.
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Nov 3, 2011 19:06
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The awful creatures have started moving their food from their bowl to their wooden hut (it's upside down with taut fleece at the top so that they don't chew up the liner underneath it). Anything I could do to curb this behavior? It's annoying to have to feel around in the hut to see if they're actually starving or just faking it.
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Nov 6, 2011 18:17
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Nope, that's pretty much a thing rats do.
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Nov 6, 2011 18:51
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Our Wrinkles has had an infection for a while that's had her slowly bleeding out from her genitals. The antibiotics did seem to help for a while, but she's still bleeding and I can't imagine that she'll be able to last that way forever. She seems really weak but she does come out of the cage and play and is still eating treats and lots of baby food. Whenever she decides to stop eating we'll probably take her to the vet to be put down. Our vet was very sorry that there's no such thing as a rat blood transfusion.  She's about 21 months old at this point, so she's had a pretty nice long life for a rat.What do you do with your rat when they die? We live in an apartment complex so I don't think we can just go bury her in the woods by our apartment or anything. I dunno if I can handle getting more rats after all three of our girls die.
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Nov 6, 2011 19:12
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RazorBunny posted:Nope, that's pretty much a thing rats do. It's new behavior and none of the previous rats I've owned have done it. I blame the little one for teaching the others bad habits.
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Nov 6, 2011 19:27
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squidtarts posted:What do you do with your rat when they die? We live in an apartment complex so I don't think we can just go bury her in the woods by our apartment or anything. If you have her euthanized, the vet can take the body and have her mass-cremated for a fee. It was like $40 to do that with our Rory, but I couldn't stomach bringing him home and bagging him for the dumpster. You can also have a private cremation for more, where you get the ashes back. It's hard to think about but it's basically the same concept as if someone caught a wild rat in a rat trap and tossed the body in the garbage. re: food hoarding, if you are feeding lab blocks you can put them in a bird suet feeder and make them work at it to get pieces out. This stops a lot of it. If you are feeding a mix the best thing you can do is keep the dish full all the time so they don't feel the need to hoard. Probably they are just hiding it from each other, there's not much you can do about that. Unfortunately they probably will pee on it and not eat it and then it is wasted. 
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Nov 6, 2011 21:28
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CompactFanny posted:re: food hoarding, if you are feeding lab blocks you can put them in a bird suet feeder and make them work at it to get pieces out. This stops a lot of it. If you are feeding a mix the best thing you can do is keep the dish full all the time so they don't feel the need to hoard. Probably they are just hiding it from each other, there's not much you can do about that. Unfortunately they probably will pee on it and not eat it and then it is wasted. Excellent, this is what I was looking for. I'll definitely give the feeder a shot when I can next pick one up.
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Nov 6, 2011 22:56
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Huh, I always thought it was an expected behavior, every rodent of any species that I've ever owned did it. Mice, rats, hamsters, all loved to tuck their food away into a corner, whether they lived alone or in a pair/group.
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Nov 6, 2011 23:00
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Geez, I'm lucky mine are hiding stuff on top of one of the hammocks lately, they don't do as much peeing up there.
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Nov 6, 2011 23:20
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RazorBunny posted:Huh, I always thought it was an expected behavior, every rodent of any species that I've ever owned did it. Mice, rats, hamsters, all loved to tuck their food away into a corner, whether they lived alone or in a pair/group. It's only been an issue for maybe a month or two. Before the three I've had now, I've had maybe 6 rats over my life, and these guys didn't start it up until pretty recently. They're also the ones I've been the best owner for, though, so it might be related to lab blocks? I've been lazy about filling up their wall granary with supplementary food, so I'll keep on top of that until I can get the suet feeder. Also uncovered the place they'd been hoarding it so that they're less inclined to put it there. In unrelated news, we just picked up a THIRTY pound bag of Harlan so the little fuckers have no reason to be hoarding at all. Ninja edit: I just remembered that they sometimes hid high-value food like dried sweet potato or w/e, it's the lab blocks that's new.
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Nov 7, 2011 00:32
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If I had to eat lab blocks I'd cram em in a corner toocompact fanny posted:If you are feeding a mix the best thing you can do is keep the dish full all the time so they don't feel the need to hoard. That's a good way to teach them that they can get away with only picking out the "good" bits and leaving the rest, though. I wouldn't do it. So, I built a big outdoor rat hutch. It looks like crap because I have no idea how to build things, but they love it. Their cage had been relegated to the garage (move back in with your parents = follow parent's rules, what can I say  ) so now they spend the days out here while I'm at work, come inside and free range for a few hours when I get home, and then go back in their old cage in the garage at night. The open part that's enclosed with wire has a dirt bottom (I buried wire about 8 inches deep beneath it so they can't dig out) and they have an awesome time burrowing in it. I usually put about 6 inches or so of a mixture of wheat straw and timothy hay for extra burrowing fun. A couple times a week I throw a handful of mealworms or dried fruit in there so they can ~forage~ and they have a great time.                         Rat Land
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Nov 7, 2011 05:49
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Superconsndar posted:If I had to eat lab blocks I'd cram em in a corner too They have other food than rat blocks (fresh fruit/veg/oats/cereal/dried fruit/nuts/etc), it's just the blocks they care to store away. Rat Land is adorable
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Nov 7, 2011 05:57
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Its funny, even though they have other food they're probably trying to convince you that the lab blocks are all gone and they need something tastier in their place? I know when my guys pick out all the good bits out of the mix I use, they dig in their bowl and throw all the ordinary bits out everywhere. I'm too much of a softie to do anything about this.
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Nov 7, 2011 06:05
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Big Bug Hug posted:Its funny, even though they have other food they're probably trying to convince you that the lab blocks are all gone and they need something tastier in their place? I know when my guys pick out all the good bits out of the mix I use, they dig in their bowl and throw all the ordinary bits out everywhere. . It's mostly the youngest who likes to hide the food... It's actually pretty cute, the last time I filled their bowl up I hung around and moved any blocks back to the bowl after she hid them, so that while she was making her trip back to the bowl, I was moving the block back. Never caught on, poor thing. It's abuse, really.
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Nov 7, 2011 18:42
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She's just securing her share of the food! Or trying for more, like when you give out treats one each, and then the first one pops up having put the food at his feet, and tries to convince you he didn't get any
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Nov 8, 2011 10:34
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All of my girls have been hoarders, haha. I love watching them scurry up and down the shelves hiding the blocks away, they're always so focused on it. It's very serious rat business. I appreciate it now though because my oldest girl is getting weak in the hind legs and doesn't always have the strength to get up the ramps to the food dish, so the food her sisters hoard at the bottom of the cage is always there for her along with the water bottles. I feel bad when I see her having trouble getting around but from what I've read from the RMCA and other places, there isn't much to do about increasing or preserving leg strength. She still trucks around okay though. Big Bug Hug posted:She's just securing her share of the food! Or trying for more, like when you give out treats one each, and then the first one pops up having put the food at his feet, and tries to convince you he didn't get any This drives me bonkers! Or even worse, they'll take the treat, stash it, and then try to steal someone else's treat. Greedy little things.
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Nov 11, 2011 07:07
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Every now and then I end up filling my rats food dish with rat blocks, and the next morning it's nearly empty. No way two rats can finish that much food over night. And of course I find the rest of the missing portions tucked away in the corner of their house (that they never even sleep in). Or whenever they are out for play time, I end up finding stray half eaten blocks under the bed, in the bathroom behind the door, on the side of the couch...or they decide to eat and leave their blocks in their litter tray.  Very serious rat business indeed.
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Nov 12, 2011 21:06
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