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nunsexmonkrock posted: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. I understand it can be hard to find babies when you need them. Your guy should be fine for a little while, he might grieve, some rats do get depressed but some don't seem to be affected too much. I've nothing against getting rats from pet stores that keep them in good conditions and treat them well, but stories of some petsmart stores shock me (I'm in Australia and only our small local pet stores tend to sell pets at all), and I know a lot of people mistreat or feed their rats to snakes so I can understand breeders being picky, to a point. Just be careful of petsmart. If your local store keeps them in proper conditions, go for it. Anyway, rambling aside, I think your boy would be fine with new babies, I really think he didn't kill your other guy, but he will be fine for a little while if you need time to find some. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 05:54 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 05:52
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Big Bug Hug posted:I understand it can be hard to find babies when you need them. Your guy should be fine for a little while, he might grieve, some rats do get depressed but some don't seem to be affected too much. Thanks for the encouragement, I think tomorrow I'm going to clean and move things around in his cage to make things more interesting, it needs to be cleaned anyway... I hate loving rats.
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Dec 29, 2011 06:36
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nunsexmonkrock posted:Thanks for the encouragement, I think tomorrow I'm going to clean and move things around in his cage to make things more interesting, it needs to be cleaned anyway... I hate loving rats. I'm so sorry about all this. I can't imagine finding that. I can definitely concur on the last part. So sweet but when there's trouble..  So I'm trying out a wet pellet mash for Leah, the motion-challenged girl I posted about last page. I felt so bad for not thinking earlier that not only could she not hold the pellets, but maybe she didn't have the strength to chew them as well. She ate heartily when I put in a bit of wet mashed pellet tonight as well as a chunk of honeydew that I held for her while she ate. I guess for the future I'll put in a small saucer of mash for her when I put in the blocks for the others. Does anyone have suggestions for water delivery? I don't know if she can drink from the bottles, I haven't seen her do it all day. A normal ceramic water crock would be too high for her to drink from so I was thinking of doing a second saucer of thickened water.. I know there's stuff you can add to water to make it a thicker, almost smoothie-like consistency, I saw it being used for nursing home residents who needed thicker liquids for whatever reason. Does that sound like a good idea? I figure thickening it would keep it from getting splashed all over the place if/when the saucer gets jostled by her cagemates. She seems fine other than having crappy mobility so I want to do all I can to help her out.
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Dec 29, 2011 08:09
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Seems like a good idea to me, the wetted food should help with her hydration as well.  Geriatric rat crew reprazent!Since I'm here I'll put a question to you guys! You might remember my rat, Basil, who has a tumor which has abscessed. Basil is now 2 and a half. He gets around fine and eats, drinks, grooms himself, he chews cardboard and toys and plays in paper bags. He still wants to come out of the cage and licks my fingers. When he's awake he's alert, not lethargic. His fur is thinning on his back and he lays around a lot (though he was always lazy). The tumor is large and quite... gross looking... but he seems happy enough except when one of his cage mates stands on him and hurts him. Its so strange to see a sizeable open wound-like thing on his underside and have him still a fairly happy old rat. He acts pretty much like his brother who is of equal age. In fact, his brother has more hind leg weakness. I've planned all along to euth him when the time comes, but despite this ugly abscessed tumor he seems pretty good. I just checked on it today and its just... getting quite large! What would you guys do? Is it fair to let him keep going with a large wound like that? I don't think it hurts him all the time, just when it gets touched, and I hesitate to put him down when he seems pretty happy otherwise. Argh I hate these decisions. He is a very resilient rat. Here he is, the fawn ratty on the right. His brother Jack on the left. Taken yesterday. 
Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 08:35 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 08:32
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Beluga Smoothie posted:Does anyone have suggestions for water delivery? Baby food is my go-to for rats with these kind of issues. (Also Ensure via syringe feeding.) Very high water content, especially the vegetable varieties, and easy to see it is being consumed. Isolate her from any cagemates when feeding to make sure she gets enough.
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Dec 29, 2011 09:00
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^^^^^This, edited my post because your suggestion is much better.Beluga Smoothie posted:Does anyone have suggestions for water delivery? I don't know if she can drink from the bottles, I haven't seen her do it all day I think this is one of the hardest things to do, especially with other rats present. What worked best for me was removing the sick rat (so the others don't eat/drink everything first, because anything from me is a treat). On a side note with my issues I don't think Leukemia killed Carcinogen anymore, right now he's laying with his head hanging over a ledge, which I only ever see when a rattie looses their friend. Sorry for crappy phone pic but he's definatly depressed about it. He's going to get lot's of attention tomorrow.  Edit: Jin Wicked suggested baby food and is much better than what I suggested. Edit: I edit too much. nunsexmonkrock fucked around with this message at 09:38 on Dec 29, 2011 |
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Dec 29, 2011 09:04
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I've always used a mixture of kitten milk replacement, ensure, pedialyte, and baby food. Also seconding the suggestion of fruits and veg with high water content. Big Bug Hug, if he's still chill and happy and normal, let him hang out with his gross tumor. Once that starts to change, then yeah.
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Dec 29, 2011 12:39
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Thanks for the suggestions, all. I'm definitely going to start separating her for feeding and the baby food sounds like a great idea. I just feel so bad that I didn't think of her maybe having chewing issues before. I have the sinking feeling that she wasn't getting anything to eat but her daily veg and treats for the past few days. No wonder she was listless. Big Bug Hug, if he's happy then just let him keep trucking. I've been asking myself the same thing since Emily has a giant uterine tumor and it definitely looks uncomfortable. Basil sounds like he's very content and you're doing the best he could ask for.
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Dec 29, 2011 21:33
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Trudy had surgery AGAIN yesterday for that injury she got back in September 2010. It was a break in the skin on her neck that got infected and turned into an unhealing abscess and killed the root of one of her teeth. The first surgery didn't actually extract the broken tooth root and it's been creating problems ever since, which we tried to treat with antibiotics and by draining and cleaning the abscess. Tuesday night she started choking and did it again yesterday morning, so we rushed her off to the vet to see what the deal was. She decided that the abscess, which had randomly stopped draining a couple of months ago, had walled up a ton of gunk and was causing Trudy so much pain that she didn't bother to chew her food any more. Luckily they had an opening for surgery and it was a pretty simple extraction process (whyyyyy didn't they just get the thing out the first time they went in there?) and the incision didn't even require stitches. But now she has to sleep in the little travel cage all alone and we can't let her go scooting around the floor as usual since we don't want her wound to possibly end up infected. Poor lonely, bored rat. Before Tuesday we'd never had a rat choke before. Rat heimlich is really scary and no fun.  I actually figured out that she was choking just because she went and laid down while everyone else was eating all the fresh veggies, which has never happened before.
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Dec 29, 2011 22:05
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OK thanks for the advice guys, just wondered if I was being overly selfish but as long as the old boy seems to enjoy rat life I'll let him go, gross tumor or no
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Dec 29, 2011 23:25
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I just had a tumor removed on one of my ratty boys myself. My local vet wanted to charge me $1270 for a 2cm tumor removal. Uhhh  so then my breeder recommended her vet, who was about an hour and a half away from me, but it was worth it. She only charged me $200 for it and let him stay over night for free because she sympathized with my traveling. If there's any NJ rat goons, the much nicer vet was called the Fredon Animal Hospital and I wish she wasn't so far away because she was an amazing vet.I had a biopsy done on it and it was a mammary tumor, which was the first she's ever seen on a male rat, only ever on females. Apparently I have some kind of funky transexual-type rat! Sweet!
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Dec 30, 2011 03:14
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Nice, maybe he is a hermaphrodite? I've heard of hermaphroditic rats! Although I guess it might be the same as how human males can get breast cancer. I opted to not risk surgery for Basil based on his age, his respiratory issues and the fact that it was slow growing. The vet agreed with me. He's still kicking around 5-6 months later so I think it was an ok choice. If he were a younger rat I would have gone for it. My vet has been great with him as well, never treated him like he was "just a rat" but was very gentle and gave him lots of attention. He's even seen him for a free checkup when I go to pick up more Baytril. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Dec 30, 2011 |
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Dec 30, 2011 04:38
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Males also have mammary tissue and can get mammary tumors (although it's not as common), kind of the same way that human dudes can get breast cancer even though they don't really have breasts in the way we think of breasts. He's not a hermaphrodite, just unlucky.
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Dec 30, 2011 06:55
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Well, I have some lovely news. Two days ago, my oldest rat (Buttonwillow) died suddenly. She was pretty old, so I was sad but it wasn't completely unexpected. Today, the second oldest rat (Marsha) died the same way Buttonwillow did. She just kind of slumped over, seemed to lose some control over her motor functions, had some trouble breathing, and eventually died at the vet's office. The vet doesn't know what killed her, but she said it seemed to be neurological, since Marsha was acting pretty dizzy and her pupils were dilated. Now I'm not only grieving for my elder rats, I'm terrified for the younger two. They seem fit as fleas right now, but so did Marsha last night . I wish I knew what was going on, but the vet has no answers and I can't afford a necropsy (400 to 600 dollars!!). All I can think to do right now is watch the little ones like a hawk and spoil them rotten just in case they're about to die  .This sucks so, so much.
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Dec 30, 2011 07:14
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Oh man that would totally suck. Don't lose hope - if your older rats were closely bonded its possible Marsha just gave up after she lost her cagemate Its not uncommon - I half expect my Jack to go soon after Basil does.I would just clean and disinfect the cage and hope for the best. I'm sure your little ones will be ok.
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Dec 30, 2011 09:08
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Big Bug Hug posted:Oh man that would totally suck. I hope so. They're fine as of this morning. I am giving them so many treats and hugs.
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Dec 30, 2011 14:31
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Bophf posted:I just had a tumor removed on one of my ratty boys myself. My local vet wanted to charge me $1270 for a 2cm tumor removal. Uhhh My oldest living rat had to a mammary tumor that had to be removed when he was around 2. 6-8 months later it came back and by that time he had lost body weight even with the mass still growing. I talked with two vets at the time and both did not want to risk with surgery, so he lived with it until he died at 3 years. It was sad to watch him with the cluster of tumors growing on his side and it made me feel terrible, but he managed, ate and drank like a pig and still moved around despite that and his back legs being very weak. I will not get my rats from that breeder again, knowing that there are weird issues that in the lines. He and his brother developed eye issues as well, and none of the rats I got from other places had those issues. Rat picture time. She keeps him warm. 
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Dec 30, 2011 16:44
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I feel like sometimes the pet store rats can be healthier, because they are born into very tough living conditions, and the runts and weaker pups do not survive. In the breeder's setting the weaker ones still survive to adulthood. That's just my thought on it.
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Dec 30, 2011 18:09
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I have nothing against a pet store that keeps their rats in reasonable living conditions (sexes separated, not too crowded or dirty) My first three were pet store rats, and at 2.5 years old two of them are still here. edit: Holy crap Baika your avatar cracks me up. 
Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Dec 31, 2011 |
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Dec 31, 2011 03:11
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Mulder is going to be PTS on Sunday. He has a huge lump in his belly that's sucking all the nutrition he's getting right out of him. He is super boney. He is still fairly comfortable but I don't think he's got more than a week left before that changes. He was at the vet's office less than a week ago to have his teeth trimmed. He's a 2 year old shorter faced rat (his dad had some teeth issues in his old age too) and his teeth aren't crooked or anything, just don't meet perfectly anymore. He didn't have this mass (or it wasn't evident) at that point but was thin and I've been having trouble keeping the weight on him for about a month. I took him out to his breeder yesterday because she needed Badger for her breeding program and I figured she could see Mulder's teeth. I know it's stupid but when I picked him up yesterday morning I thought he'd just had a big breakfast. My breeder noticed right away that he had a mass. She is super experienced and I trust her more than most "exotic" vets. She works in conjunction with RADIL (University of Missouri's Research and Diagnostic Laboratory) to understand the cause of death for each of the rats she breeds as well as writing and managing the Rat Guide. She performs all of the necropsies herself. Her kitchen is like some kind of awesome rat-sized Frankenstein's lab. I will also be having her euthanize Mulder, she does a far better job than any vet I've seen by giving them a subcutaneous drug first that gives them a high and slowly lets them fall asleep while eating ice cream and cuddling. It's only after they're out that they get stuck in the belly. I feel incredibly guilty for not noticing how big and deep the mass is and that it wasn't just a full tummy. Mulder is so sweet he breaks you heart. He is the rat that I like to just hang out with on the couch with, he's happy to curl up on a lap or in an armpit and sleep for a few hours. He has crap vision because of his red eyes but he loves to watch me and just look up at me while we're cuddling. I've never met a rat quite so chill and awesome. Although frankly he's not the most intelligent rat in the world. I will miss him SO much. He could have another week or a little more but I'm travelling out of state on Monday until the 12th, I can't take the chance that he'll crash while someone else is looking after him. The last rat I lost choked due to an esophageal tumor while being watched by a friend and it wasn't fair to my friend or to him. I won't put Mulder through it too I also think said friend will refuse to watch my rats again if another dies on her watch. So tonight I'm giving him Kahlua and ice cream while we chill by the TV. I figure it can't hurt him in the long run, and it may help with any discomfort he's feeling. I took this shot of him last night while he took a nap in my laundry. I woke him up with the flash. One of the best rats ever. 
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Dec 31, 2011 04:47
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SuperTwo posted:Mulder is going to be PTS on Sunday. He has a huge lump in his belly that's sucking all the nutrition he's getting right out of him. He is super boney. He is still fairly comfortable but I don't think he's got more than a week left before that changes. I'm so sorry to hear. You sound like a fantastic owner and your breeder sounds great too. He looks like a sweet boy and I'm sure he'll delight in the Kahlua and ice cream.
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Jan 1, 2012 00:52
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Sorry Super, its really a sucky situation. You are really lucky to have a breeder who can do a better, more humane euth than a lot of vets will do for a rat. I know its still very hard though I've been thinking and think I might try to swing buying a smallish, one level cage to use as a ratty retirement home. Basil is still happy but gets stood on by the young'uns, and Jack is a bit wobbly on his back legs and has fallen off the shelves a couple of times. I think they might be happier with a little space to themselves. They're very attached to each other and I can stick the cage in some place where they can be close to me and come out onto the bed or something when they want. Anyone else done this for their geriatric rats?
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Jan 1, 2012 02:35
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Thanks, there's some good news. His breeder's not sure at this point whether it's time to PTS. She's going to re-assess him tomorrow and decide. She might watch him and his cagemate for me while I'm away, treat him with heavy antibiotics and get an x-ray done to see what's up. It could be an internal abscess or potentially not interfering with his organs too badly in which case it might be operable. She works with a vet that is really experienced in rat surgery. Since he's 2 now I don't think I really want to go that route but I would hate to do a PTS, then open him up and find out it was an abscess that might have responded to antibiotics.
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Jan 1, 2012 03:53
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SuperTwo posted:Thanks, there's some good news. His breeder's not sure at this point whether it's time to PTS. She's going to re-assess him tomorrow and decide. She might watch him and his cagemate for me while I'm away, treat him with heavy antibiotics and get an x-ray done to see what's up. It could be an internal abscess or potentially not interfering with his organs too badly in which case it might be operable. She works with a vet that is really experienced in rat surgery. Since he's 2 now I don't think I really want to go that route but I would hate to do a PTS, then open him up and find out it was an abscess that might have responded to antibiotics. I hope he responds well to the antibiotics! Having to euthanize is just the worst feeling. Good luck!
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Jan 1, 2012 05:21
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That is good news, I hope its something treatable, and it will be good to know for sure.
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Jan 1, 2012 07:26
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Mulder and his cagemate Zeppelin are staying with the breeder. She's actually looking after all my rats while I'm gone and it has nothing to do with me actually going on vacation, just worked out that the girl she wanted to breed went into heat and Mulder developed a lump at the same time. The prognosis isn't good. There's a really good chance that he'll deteriorate while I'm gone and I won't be with him in the end. On the other hand he's currently active, happy, eating and pooping. Neither of us were comfortable putting him down yet. She's completely in love with him and is pretty much going to set up the couch for him and give him free-run all day while pumping him full of steroids and antibiotics and just seeing what happens. He's getting spoiled rotten in a way I haven't been able to do because of the cats and terriers that would enjoy eating him. I don't allow the rats near my face much because of my allergies but he's now able to kiss lips, groom hair, investigate noses and pick teeth(  ). I don't have to worry about him suffering while the sitter isn't there because the breeder works from home. I don't have to worry about the right time coming and him having to wait over an hour in the car to see her or the nearest trusted rat vet who isn't near as humane. There were no good answers to the situation but this was the best answer.
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Jan 2, 2012 05:36
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Rat goons: I know this is a long shot, but do any of you guys know of anyone with a youngish female rat for adoption within an hour or so of central Georgia/West Alabama? (Columbus/Phenix City/Auburn area p much.) My dad just called, and his wife's daughter bought a pair of "female" rats from a really crappy pet store and one turned out to be male. She returned that one but they didn't have any more females, and now she's pissed off at pet stores and wants one from not-a-pet-store. She volunteers at a wildlife rescue and I don't really know her but AFAIK she's always taken good care of her pets and it sounds like she knows the basics of rat care. My dad called to see if I had any females, but I fed off all but my 2 fav males and haven't bred anything in almost a year. He asked if I would find one for her since I "know about rats" and stuff, so I thought I'd ask you goons on the off chance that there's anyone in the area with anything. If not I'm just gonna go dig through feeder bins until I find something young/friendly/hopefully not pregnant. All the chain stores around here only have males so that limits me to heinous mom and pop stores with mixed sex feeder tanks, and I'd rather not hand her something pregnant, sick, and unsocialized as her first rat.
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Jan 2, 2012 19:29
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If one was male, I'd encourage her to give it a couple of weeks in case her remaining female is pregnant by her roomate. Then she'll have LOTS of rats!
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Jan 2, 2012 21:26
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^^It's like 3/4 weeks old, it's really too young to even be fully weaned I mean yeah heats have occured at 4 weeks but it's not likely
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Jan 2, 2012 21:56
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Superconsndar posted:^^It's like 3/4 weeks old, it's really too young to even be fully weaned Depending on how lovely the pet store is, they could actually be 6-7 weeks old but just crappily fed and undersized too. We see a lot of those, unfortunately.
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Jan 3, 2012 01:34
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In undernourished babies there's various developmental issues going on and you can pretty well tell the difference between a 4 week old and a stunted 6 week old after you've seen a billion of them.
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Jan 3, 2012 03:13
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Check craigslist for the area, you'll usually find someone looking to give theirs away.
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Jan 3, 2012 04:17
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Yeah I've been looking, I've got 2 weeks before they'll be in town and she wants to pick up whatever I find for her then. I'll wait till the last minute before going the desperate pet store route.
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Jan 3, 2012 05:14
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Spartacus has somehow gotten a large open wound on his neck. Its clean and not bleeding at all and he's acting normal so who knows how long its been there. I separated the old rats out to their own cage yesterday, and I suspect it was one of them that did it, as the reason for separation was Sparky was beating them up a bit. Anyway, anyone know what a vet does for this? It needs stitches, or staples, or something. Bandages? edit: Well holy crap, this morning I made the vet appointment, then examined Spartacus and hes somehow managed to close it up and it looks really good. Uh, should I still take him to the vet? I have Baytril here I can give him if infection is the only concern. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 23:21 on Jan 3, 2012 |
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Jan 3, 2012 12:33
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Chakattack! posted: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! Awesome, and that's definitely a good thing! Obviously I have to apply to be on their waiting-for-rats list though, and it's a pretty extensive questionnare thing I'll need to fill in Chakattack! posted: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! Yeah the mice are in a tank on aubiose. I'll have to see just how deep the tray is at the bottom of whatever cage I get, and see whether I want to go aubiose or cardboard squares (I visited my friend, who has four male rats, on their cleaning day and although the smell was obviously strong it wasn't overwhelming or gross). Chakattack! posted:3. No personal experience but pretty sure that's a good cage. It's huge! My friend who had the cage has since discovered that the doors, apparently, suck. The tray doesn't slide out either so you have to squish yourself in there basically. So I'm looking at things like the Liberta Rodent Happy House, which I think would be a nice size for 2-3 ratties? It has huge big doors that open properly and lots of little ones for treat givin' too. The inside cage dimensions are 133cm tall, 50cm wide and 80cm long. I kind of love that cage Chakattack! posted: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. Is the dribbling pee with males a Really Big Deal? I'm really tempted for getting a good chance of cuddly, lazy boyrats but I don't want streams of piss all over me. I've got mice now and have had rodents before and they've peed a little and its fine buuuut I don't know how much male rats generally pee on you. Chakattack! posted: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! One of my friends has had a lot of rats, and swears that hers (both males and females) start to smell really bad once they hit a few months old. I did visit her not so long ago, and got to smell her rats literally the day after they'd been cleaned. They did smell pretty gross, but I don't know if that was them (as she says they themselves smell horrible) or the cage. I assume it's a food/substrate problem, but apparently they've tried a bunch of different foods, from pellets to homemade, and they've tried different substrates, so I dunno. Chakattack! posted: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. Heh, already joined there a month or two ago. I haven't been that active there though yet. I also got a list of UK members of the NRFS, so I've been looking around too.
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Jan 3, 2012 12:48
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Fraction posted:Is the dribbling pee with males a Really Big Deal? I'm really tempted for getting a good chance of cuddly, lazy boyrats but I don't want streams of piss all over me. I've got mice now and have had rodents before and they've peed a little and its fine buuuut I don't know how much male rats generally pee on you. I don't get why some people say they smell, at all. I use recycled newspaper pellets and very rarely notice a smell, its really good at absorbing everything. My rats don't smell like anything bad when I pick them up and sniff them. They smell warm and sometimes like doritos I'm not feeding them anything super special, just a decent mix I buy. Perhaps your friend's cage isn't well ventilated?
Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 08:15 on Jan 4, 2012 |
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Jan 4, 2012 08:05
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Big Bug Hug posted:If you aren't a neat freak, I highly doubt the peeing will bother you. When they are young they tend to mark a bit(edit: by marking, I mean leaving a trail of droplets) as well as have some accidents - like when keeping them in your shirt for an hour to get them used to you - but they grow out of it for the most part. Usually my older rats, when they do pee outside the cage, its a couple of drops on the couch or something. They never really pee on me. Well it doesn't bother me when the mice pee (and poop of course) on me, so if it's similar to that I wouldn't be too concerned. Just gotta keep tissue handy  Nice to know yours grew out of it generally though!I'm not sure about her cage really. It's a barred cage I know that, but she's upgraded size since I went down there so I dunno what it's like now. Two of my other friends have rats, and the rats themselves don't really smell either. My mice don't really smell at all either - only their tank does, on cleaning day. Thanks for your help btw guys 
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Jan 4, 2012 11:09
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Big Bug Hug posted:If you aren't a neat freak, I highly doubt the peeing will bother you. When they are young they tend to mark a bit(edit: by marking, I mean leaving a trail of droplets) as well as have some accidents - like when keeping them in your shirt for an hour to get them used to you - but they grow out of it for the most part. Usually my older rats, when they do pee outside the cage, its a couple of drops on the couch or something. They never really pee on me. Rat piss stinks, and unless you clean them daily they will have some level of smell. It may be mild, but it will be noticeable to people who don't have rats. They're not as smelly as male mice or hamsters, but they have an odor.
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Jan 4, 2012 12:36
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Males' piss seems a lot stronger to me than females'. Also doesn't help that they piss directly on each other quite a lot. One of my old dudes just shits and pisses right in his hammock and wallows in it. 
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Jan 4, 2012 12:39
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Superconsndar posted:Rat piss stinks, and unless you clean them daily they will have some level of smell. It may be mild, but it will be noticeable to people who don't have rats. They're not as smelly as male mice or hamsters, but they have an odor. I've had syrian hamsters before and not been bothered by them either. Is the problem that rats just pee on each other constantly or something? If it makes a difference I'd probably do daily spot cleaning once I get 'em litter trained.
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Jan 4, 2012 14:15
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