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One of my girls smells like corn chips, with maybe a hint of grape. The other two almost always smell like pee because their favorite thing to do is sleep on each other and pee the whole time. They're due for a rat bath.
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Nov 27, 2011 23:30
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I think the girls smell like off brand grape soda. People with stinky rats generally don't clean the cage enough or have them living in aquariums with poor ventilation.
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Nov 28, 2011 00:51
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I've never had boy rats who didn't smell at least a little bit musky and/or like their own pee. I've never noticed any odor from girls unless I'm directly mashing my face into them. Which is what rats are for basically, so expect to find yourself doing that often. I've always loved both male and female rats for different reasons; the cuddlyness of boys is awesome but girls bounding all over the place while occasionally coming up to snuffle you and give you tiny rat kisses and search you for treats is adorable too. You could always get a neutered boy and a couple of girls and have your cake and eat it too! 
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Nov 28, 2011 01:05
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One of my haired rats always smells like pee, but the other two just smell a little musky, and my naked boys smell really good to me though I'm not sure what that smell is. I can compare it to clean baby skin -- not a serial killer, I swear.
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Nov 28, 2011 01:42
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Amiss posted:My boys always smelled like tortilla or corn chips.  I guess it depends on whether they like to pee on each other a lot, or maybe how finicky they are grooming themselves. Mine clean themselves constantly. I find their smell non offensive, but I guess some people might not like it. I assume the "corn chips" is the smell of their musk.
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Nov 28, 2011 07:39
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My boy rats piss on each other all day. As they get older and clean themselves less it gets worse and baths get more frequent! Also one of my pushy, angry dominant males gets all buck greasy and gross. Speaking of him... He started a fight and lost an eye, we nearly lost him to the infection but the second round of antibiotics did it. Months later, reintroduction went fine... all was well for a month solid. Then he disemboweled my favorite boy. Luckily I was home to rush him to the vet and euth him. Sorry for the  (spoiler for  )
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Nov 29, 2011 15:25
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Thats horrifying  Why do you think he's like that, is he just a rat jerk?
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Nov 30, 2011 22:39
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No clue. We also have his brother from the same litter who is sweet and cuddly with his cagemates.
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Dec 1, 2011 20:02
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I have a similar situation that I have posted about in the past. One very sweet rat, the other literally tries to kill everyone except his brother. The psycho is neutered too which makes even less sense. He is a lover of people though. Their injured mother was sedated multiple times while unknowingly pregnant... yeah. They have both had some bizarre medical issues. I chalk it all up to that.
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Dec 8, 2011 20:18
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Something maybe more cheerful? http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/rat-empathy/ Have any of you seen this sort of behavior exhibited in your buddies? A rat will help another rat out and even share chocolate with each other.
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Dec 8, 2011 22:24
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My rats have always showed the opposite behaviors, but then again I don't think they've ever been in a situation where one of their cage mates is in extreme distress. They generally don't want to share food with anyone and run away into an obscure area to eat. I try and mimic another rat taking a bite, and they just rotate their body away and take off again when tired of me. I had one of my previous rats, Socks be pretty gentle with my 3 year old rat Remy. Socks was aggressive with him before but all the sudden, he just put up with him in his old age. No fights, no hissy-fits, no aggressive tendencies at all. Socks kept him company for the last couple of weeks of his life.  I suppose that could be considered empathetic.
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Dec 9, 2011 04:54
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I once had two sisters (ones I bred) who did some pretty amazing stuff. One was out playing and had a LARGE HARDCOVER BOOK fall from a shelf and land directly on top of her from a pretty good height when she was about 5 or 6 weeks old. Her head swelled up and looked awful and I was going to euth her, but she was still totally conscious and even eating so I just took her to the vet who basically said "that sure is a brain injury" and couldn't really do much. She actually fully recovered physically, but she was....kind of retarded for the rest of her life. She couldn't jump, and didn't seem to recognize food or even see it unless it was handed to her. It could be an inch from her face, but unless you took it and touched her face with it she didn't get it. Same with water, couldn't find a water bottle to save her life, and I was scared of drinking out of a bowl. Didn't groom herself, or anything. She never seemed to be in any pain, she just...couldn't understand stuff or think of things. Luckily, her sister stepped in and EVERY SINGLE DAY for almost four years she brought her all of her food, helped her find, and then sit up to get water, helped her up and down cage ramps, kept track of her when she was out of her cage and kept her away from stuff she could fall off of, groomed her and kept her perfectly clean, etc. She'd step in and beat the snot out of rats who tried to bully her, too. Really all she did was tend to her and see that she was alright, to the point where she'd get frantic if she was out of her sight. The downsy one died just shy of her 4th bday, and the other immediately stopped eating, declined, and died right after she did. The stuff they did was some of the most  things I've ever seen animals do and some of it still sounds pretty crazy and anthropomorphic, but it def happened. Most of the others I've had have been dicks to each other though
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Dec 9, 2011 05:34
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Holy crap Super that is amazing I haven't had a situation come up where I could see this kind of thing, but I know that my boys are very gentle with my old Basil. His brother spends all his time by his side and the young ones groom him and snuggle up with him at night.
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Dec 9, 2011 22:47
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Superconsndar posted:I once had two sisters (ones I bred) who did some pretty amazing stuff. One was out playing and had a LARGE HARDCOVER BOOK fall from a shelf and land directly on top of her from a pretty good height when she was about 5 or 6 weeks old. Her head swelled up and looked awful and I was going to euth her, but she was still totally conscious and even eating so I just took her to the vet who basically said "that sure is a brain injury" and couldn't really do much. She actually fully recovered physically, but she was....kind of retarded for the rest of her life. She couldn't jump, and didn't seem to recognize food or even see it unless it was handed to her. It could be an inch from her face, but unless you took it and touched her face with it she didn't get it. Same with water, couldn't find a water bottle to save her life, and I was scared of drinking out of a bowl. Didn't groom herself, or anything. She never seemed to be in any pain, she just...couldn't understand stuff or think of things. I had this in mind when I saw this article today. Apparently they've proven that rats do demonstrate empathic behavior and help each other even when they won't get a reward for it.
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Dec 11, 2011 04:04
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c355n4 posted:Have any of you seen this sort of behavior exhibited in your buddies? I see it all the time in my rats but I`ve always thought it was from observing me. One of my rats, Pokie, if I had a pack of biscuits on the table she would always try and butcher it open to pass me one. I`d break off a piece and she would run off with what I gave her. If I gave her a full one she would run to her cagemates with it, but they would all fight over it. I`ve always found that brother or sister rats will run back to each other with large food objects, smaller ones they`re always selfish with. Superconsndar posted:Luckily, her sister stepped in I`ve seen them help out and bring food to immobile rats. Another point would be that whenever really close rats lose a friend, their health drops very very quickly.
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Dec 11, 2011 14:10
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So I am planning to possibly get two rats when I get the chance to go look at some nearby. Is the rat highrise from martin's cages going to be big enough? I'd also like to get some hammocks for them but they seem expensive online so I might try making them.
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Dec 12, 2011 21:19
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I wouldn't buy hammocks simply because my guys love to chew them. They use them too, but they enjoy chewing on them  I just use fleece, safety pin it up and they sleep in that. Or old shirts etc.
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Dec 12, 2011 21:49
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Prototypical posted:I had this in mind when I saw this article today. Apparently they've proven that rats do demonstrate empathic behavior and help each other even when they won't get a reward for it. There's also this older study that deals with generalized reciprocity in rats.
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Dec 15, 2011 23:48
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For hammocks, I just cut up some fabric, warm fabrics for winter and regular for the summer and hang them up from clips. Makes it much cheaper.
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Dec 16, 2011 04:45
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Yeah I've always just used felt or randoM scraps of fabric hung with safety pins.
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Dec 18, 2011 14:41
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Our friends had a giant empty tank sitting in their living room for a long time, long enough that I didn't even notice it anymore. I think it originally held a snake, then a pair of gerbils, but I had never seen anything in it. We went over the other day for a Secret Santa exchange and there was a ratty in it Apparently my friend went to Petsmart as part of her big Black Friday shopping spree and they had a solo rat on mega clearance (<$1 or something crazy). She felt bad for him because he was alone, and pretty much full grown, so she bought him. The husband has had rats before, and he's excited about socializing the little guy. Once he's tamed a little bit they'll look into getting him a cagemate and doing intros. I didn't get any pictures but he's super cute. Fawn hooded, mostly marked around the head and shoulders. Very friendly and inquisitive, but shy about being picked up and held. I cuddled him until he got squirmy, and once I put him back in the cage he hung out and got some scritches.This sort of thing does not help me in my resolve not to get short-lived pets again...
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Dec 18, 2011 23:08
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Just do it, you know you wanna...
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Dec 19, 2011 08:53
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Well, I didn't post pictures for a while and one of my rats exploded I want to save the other two, so I took some pictures for your enjoyment (and their longevity). My rats are nosy. Nosy rats don't take good pictures!   I sometimes lose rats in the couch. Unlike keys and change, they come when called. Mostly.  They also come out of the cage when called, but only to check to see if food is being offered.  This time, success! Time to go for a steal. Everybody wanna be a ferret, but don't nobody wanna stretch like one    Om nom nom. Got to run that yummy off! 
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Dec 19, 2011 09:01
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Adopted two girls yesterday, Lilly and Lucy, from a family who bought them for their young boys and they weren't a good fit. Both about a year old, both scared out of their poor little minds whenever I walk in the room =( Making sure to sit by their cage and leave delicious sweet treats often to try and warm them up so I can take pictures! They came with the massive Martin's cage and all the toys and food and loads of piping to make a play area with. Pretty good Craigslist deal. Edit: Honey and patience got them out and exploring. Lighter one is Lily. Darker one is Lucy. They were named before I got them : Click for SUPERMASSIVE    
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Dec 19, 2011 19:03
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Aww they're sweet. Poor little rats, sounds like they were impulse buys for kids that were too young to handle them. Sounds like they'll have a good home now.
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Dec 20, 2011 12:36
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Delta-Wye posted:
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Dec 21, 2011 09:30
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Hi rat people, I have a question. One of my girls, Razor, has been sneezing a LOT today, like every thirty seconds or so. The sneezes are really loud and wet and kind of squeaky sounding, not like normal rat sneezes at all. Other than that though, she's acting perfectly normally. No gasping or wheezing, no porphyrin stains, no rattling in the chest, and she's alert and active as usual. Could she just have something in her nose or something, or is this something to really worry about? Oh god, please don't be myco... None of the others are sneezing like this. Should I quarantine her?
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Dec 22, 2011 06:12
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Hey there Pessimism All rats have myco - it just affects them differently, some more than others, some earlier than others. Some have to deal with multiple or frequent flareups and end up on medication a lot. I wouldn't worry about it unless it persists longer than a day or so. Keep an eye on her, it could be allergies or like you said, something stuck in her nose. Don't worry too much, if she's having a myco flareup its generally easily treatable. If you can get to a vet (one who knows rats) you'll likely get Baytril. Not sure there's any reason to quarantine her - Anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.
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Dec 22, 2011 07:41
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You might try a humidifier. I don't know about the climate where you live, but we recently turned the heat on for the winter and it made our rats start sneezing due to the dry air. You could always put them in the bathroom while you take a shower and see if their sneezing lessens.
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Dec 22, 2011 08:43
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Thanks for the suggestions, guys! She seems to have stopped sneezing now, so I guess I was just freaking out over nothing. Phew!
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Dec 22, 2011 14:17
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Thats good to hear. Don't forget to post some pictures to reduce risk of RES
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Dec 23, 2011 06:48
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The fur on one of our 2yr old lady rats, Ripley, has slooowly become very coarse and, well, hairy. She also has recently developed a bald, scabby section on her side. I was lucky enough to find a fantastic vet (Champagne at the Carrollton West Pet Hospital in Dallas). She mentioned just offhand that sometimes that odd coarse hairy texture, especially where the guard hairs got a lot longer than the other hairs, could sometimes be a sign that something is wrong with rats. I'd never heard that before, so thought I'd pass it on. Ripley's been on antibiotics for about four days now, and suddenly today I noticed that her fur was way more sleek than it's been for months. The antibiotics seem to be perking her up a little for now, too. Hopefully we'll get results back early next week from the skin samples the vet sent out. It was amazing to have such a wonderful vet take care of her, seriously. I've had various small animals for my entire lifetime and never saw better. She and an assistant were so careful when they examined her and used the tiniest tweezers to get hair samples. They never once used force on her or pinned her down. Ripley only squeaked when the vet was palpating all her innards, but it was brief. I am really relieved that she doesn't have any tumors. I had prepared myself for the worst, since the pair of 'em are two this month. I'm still worried that she'll never get over this scabby bald thing, whatever it is. =( Urgh, in addition to the antibiotics I get to rub a cream on her scabbiness once a day. She better be appreciatin' all this. You know you care for someone when you're willing to rub ointment into their gross sores every day while they rapidly suck their eyeballs in and out at you.
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Dec 24, 2011 01:22
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Squid posted:You know you care for someone when you're willing to rub ointment into their gross sores every day while they rapidly suck their eyeballs in and out at you. Well, at least she enjoys it
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Dec 24, 2011 02:30
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Quick check for advice: my spotty girl Leah has suddenly (the past week or so) started having some front and hind leg weakness. I gave her a yogurt drop tonight and watched her try to pin it to the ground to gnaw at it instead of holding it upright. It's pretty sad. However, she seems to be eating and getting up and around okay, but I'm just wondering if anyone's had a rat with weakness in all limbs to care for and might have any tips? Luna has weakness but only in her back legs, so she's getting around pretty well. I'm worried about Leah eventually not being able to move or clean herself or hold food at all. They're all around 2 so I guess I shouldn't be surprised at these things cropping up, but..
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Dec 24, 2011 07:06
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I have some leftover decorative squash. Do you think it would be cool to give them to the rats raw/whole or should they be in pieces/cooked or just not at all?
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Dec 25, 2011 21:46
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Fraction posted:I'm thinking of getting rats in a year or so's time. I have some questions though Hi Fraction, a little late to reply to your post but as you say you're planning a year in advance maybe it doesn't matter so much! 1. Honeyduke Rats looks like a great breeder - I've read a bit about the Tabi Initiative they are involved with and it sounds very worthwhile and admirable and definitely a plus for you if you want healthy rats! 2. I'm currently using Aubiose for my girls and it's good at keeping the smell down, very good value for money, but I find it a total nightmare for getting EVERYWHERE in my flat. Maybe you know this if you have mice, but if you keep them in a tank (not sure how mice are generally kept!) you may not have noticed. Everytime my girls jump down or up from the cage bottom it sprays everywhere. I have heard great things about ecobed/ecopetbed (cardboard squares basically) and as I'm at the end of my bag of Auboise I'm going to try it. I'm skeptical about cardboard keeping smell down, but everyone I've talked to says it does so fingers crossed! 3. No personal experience but pretty sure that's a good cage. It's huge! Assuming the trays slide out for cleaning - otherwise maybe a bit of a pain! The cage I have (old Ferplast Jenny) is a bit hard to clean and the doors are very small - I've replaced a lot of them myself. From my experience you want something that's easy to clean and that is easy to get into so you can get your rats out easily.4. I've always heard males reccomended as beginner rats but that's more for children, I think, as girls can be so pingy and fast, maybe harder to handle for kids. I think honestly just weigh up the pros and cons and go for what you think you'll like best. I wish my girls were a little cuddlier but you do get cuddly girls. I would say though that before I got them I thought one of the big differences between male and female rats was that girls didn't scent mark/pee dribble all the time and boys did. I have one female rat that does and one that doesn't! So I think that point is moot. I am scared about my girls getting tumours, that is a big worry. The boys I had previously were very healthy until they died of old age, and I've had one UTI with my girls already, but that's maybe just bad luck. 5. I think my girls are fairly odourless, and I don't remember my boys being very smelly, but they were a bit greasier and maybe, as other people have said, slightly 'musky'. If you feed them well and keep the cage clean, they shouldn't smell. My girls only smell if there's been something like a puddle of pee on a shelf and they've been walking through it, or have somehow peed on one another. Or made a big nest and peed in it and slept in it. I feel like owning rats is one big battle against pee to be honest! Seeing as you're in the UK, I would highly highly reccomend signing up to http://www.fancyratsforum.co.uk/ and asking any more questions you have there. They also have a web directory of active breeders on the forum which might be helpful to you, if you decide to 'shop around'. It's a bit more... not sure how to say it, "furbaby"esque than here (lots and lots of references to the rainbow bridge, for example) but the people are very friendly and incredibly helpful, and the community is lively and active so if you post needing help with anything you often get helpful replies astonishingly quickly. Keep us updated with your quest for ratties! Always nice to have more UK rat folks.
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Dec 28, 2011 00:33
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Okay this question is rather  and  but I really need adviceTo start off I have had pet rats for years and have never seen anything like this. When I woke up this morning my living room smelled of death, I noticed a smell last night but figured it was the cats litter box, I was wrong, one of my 2 male rats were dead (no way the cats can get to them). I thought it was strange as he's wasn't even a year old. Upon closer inspection he was torn apart, I wouldn't be able to tell his front from his back if it weren't for the direction of his feet, spinal cord out, head and tail gone and other grossness. They haven't received the greatest attention recently because of the holidays but they had plenty of food and water so the other rat wasn't just hungry. Could the live one now be rabid? He's walking around his cage right now like nothing happened, I don't know what this would look like in a rat. Or could the deceased one have been sick in someway and the other one killed him for that (I never seen this happen either but, maybe?)? Is the one that's still alive just a jerk or was the dead one infected with an alien? I have noticed that they would box (with a squeak here and there) a little more than usual for male rats but until now I have never seen any missing fur or blood drawn. I think there might still be some remains in the cage but right now I'm not sure if I want to go near it as I have never seen this before. If it matters they were not necessarily from the same litter, we moved rather long distance with a single elderly male rat (who is gone now too but for differing reasons, he was just old). We wanted to get him buddies ASAP so didn't go through a breeder and just got these two from a pet store. Also I don't want to leave the current rat alone......but I also don't want to put anything else living in that cage. Any advice would be appreciated! PS: And to not scare anyone away from pet rats, after MANY years this is the first time I've seen this. Edit: We've had these 2 particular ones for about 4 months Second edit: Just reading the 2 posts quoted below from this page, I guess he's just a jerk....but still it's horrifying when I've never seen this before.... Some advice would still be nice though, because I'm still confused because they would constantly sleep ontop of eachother, except for the one time the horrible jerk Leukemia pushed Carcinogen out of the hammock. Should I get 2 more rats to possibly spread out any aggression or just leave him as a lone rat? I'm not sure which is worse, leaving him alone or having him possibly kill another one..... CompactFanny posted:He started a fight and lost an eye, we nearly lost him to the infection but the second round of antibiotics did it. Months later, reintroduction went fine... all was well for a month solid. Then he disemboweled my favorite boy. Luckily I was home to rush him to the vet and euth him. Jin Wicked posted:I have a similar situation that I have posted about in the past. nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 04:15 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 03:44
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If it makes you feel better, its quite possible that he didn't kill his cage mate. Rats tend to try to dispose of dead rats as a way to stop predators from being attracted to the nest. This happens FAR more often than rats violently killing each other, from what I've read, and is quite likely if your living guy had all night with the dead one. Did you hear any screaming, anything like that? Anything unusual? I have heard of rare cases (the ones you quoted) where rats kill each other but honestly its usually just post mortem clean up I would bet on this considering you've never had a problem with violence. For what its worth I've never seen aggression of this type either. Rabies isn't a concern unless your rat was bitten by a wild animal :P I'm sorry about your boy. Unrelated: I also have to post this picture I took this morning. 
Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 05:17 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 04:39
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Big Bug Hug posted:If it makes you feel better, its quite possible that he didn't kill his cage mate. Rats tend to try to dispose of dead rats as a way to stop predators from being attracted to the nest. This happens FAR more often than rats violently killing each other, from what I've read, and is quite likely if your living guy had all night with the dead one. Did you hear any screaming, anything like that? Anything unusual? Yeah came to post basically this. It's unlikely he killed him, he probably died suddenly of something random and the other guy just tried to clean up the mess, it's common. Rabies does not magically manifest because an animal potentially did a dirty thing so no worries on that end. clean the remains out of the cage before the other one stresses further and then get him a new buddy or two. Nothing wrong with reusing the cage, his heart probably just gave out on him. Rats aren't exactly known for their superior health so it could have been any number of things, the vast majority of which are not disease related.
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Dec 29, 2011 05:18
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| # ? May 15, 2024 11:29 |
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Big Bug Hug posted:If it makes you feel better, its quite possible that he didn't kill his cage mate. Rats tend to try to dispose of dead rats as a way to stop predators from being attracted to the nest. This happens FAR more often than rats violently killing each other, from what I've read, and is quite likely if your living guy had all night with the dead one. Did you hear any screaming, anything like that? Anything unusual? Thank you for easing that at least. Before this I've always had some kind of warning that death was impending and would be kinda ocd with checking the cage. When I say they haven't been receiving the greatest attention because of the holidays I mean from 12/24 up until now not the whole month, unless there were no external tumors that were noticeable, he was eating and drinking fine and was energetic as usual. I think that's why I'm still quite shocked. As for the rabies....I have no idea how long it would take for that to set in, 4 months seems a long time to notice symptoms for something such as that but I've never seen an animal with it in person, especially a rat, and who knows where the pet store got them from. I think I will consult the fiancee tonight to decide if I should go to a pet store.....again....so he's not lonely or try to find a breeder. I'd rather deal with a breeder but from experience breeders are hard to deal with unless you are starting "fresh". I tend to start with 2 until one passes. Then I get two ASAP to keep the older one company so he doesn't starve himself Older one dies but the two new ones still have each other until on of them goes Full circle......I really hate short lifespans I have never found a breeder that has any that fits into the times that I need them, and if one does their adoption process is ridiculous. I guess now that I am in Chicago rather than Philly now, I will look tonight to see if there is any type of rat rescue (to adopt a new baby). But If I get impatient for him to have a new buddy I'll probably head to Petsmart within the next couple days.....possibly tomorrow. Thanks you. Edit: Also I didn't notice any screaming, but I also sleep like a brick. nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 05:45 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 05:42
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