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killerwhat posted:So how do I tell if my rats are having fun? We've had them for 3 weeks now, and they're definitely better at being handled.  Especially if they're taking treats outside the cage.What I would do is, pick up rat, give treat, release rat. That way they get used to being picked up. Letting them run over you, climb in your shirt etc helps too, but it sounds like they are doing well.
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Jun 30, 2012 11:07
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killerwhat posted:So how do I tell if my rats are having fun? When they stop peeing on everything. Rats will mark areas they don't know or want to feel safe in. When that settles down they will interact with you and other cage mates to play and fight. Basically when they know the limits of their environment and when they feel safe in it.
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Jun 30, 2012 13:08
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Slidje posted:When they stop peeing on everything. This is true to a degree, but both my boys love to walk over people hands and pee in the exact same spot every time. But I think they just like peeing, they boggle all the time and literally have the best life. I'm jealous of them sometimes. 
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Jun 30, 2012 14:16
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Hi Rat Thread, I have a rat that's acting weirdly and as it's Sunday morning and there's no vets open in my area I wanted to get some opinions / advice. I've had my rat, Pixel, for about 4 months so I guess he's about 6 or 7 months old? Normally I feed him every morning - a mix of lab blocks, seed mix and fresh vegies - and when I open his cage to feed him he runs around madly then scurries over and buries his head in the food bowl and stuffs his face. This morning he didn't get out of his rat sleeping pouch and when I offered him a sunflower seed he took it very half-heartedly and fumbled with it before putting it in his mouth. I took him out of his sleeping pouch and he sat in his food bowl and ate a bit but he seemed very distracted and kept sniffing the air and turning away from his food. After a few minutes he went back into his pouch. I offered him some broccoli and he chewed it a bit and then just put it down. When I take him out of his pouch he's very alert, runs up and down my arms and will accept food but he seems distracted and a bit disoriented. He's not sneezing or wheezing and he hasn't dropped any weight overnight. There's been no obvious changes except he's not interested in food and seems weirdly distracted. I'm about to clean his cage thoroughly and give him a clean sleeping pouch but I was wondering why a rat might behave like this? If he's still being weird tomorrow morning I'll take him to my local vet but I'm stressing out and I know that the people in this thread will be able to give me some good advice.
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Jul 1, 2012 01:41
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I can't really give you a definitive answer on what's going on with him, but just so you know, you shouldn't be feeding the seed mix. As an occasional treat, they're not an issue, but give him them regularly and he'll probably end up overweight. Is he the only rat you have? If he is, read the last couple pages of this thread. If he's not, is his cagemate acting any differently at all?
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Jul 1, 2012 02:08
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Doublepostin' itt. I know some of you people have stupid songs you sing to your pets. Our main one goes "rats doin' rat things that they do, they do rat things oh yeaaah!!!". Here are some rats doin' rat things:         
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Jul 1, 2012 04:31
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That bubble hammock think is freaking awesome, where did you get it? It has been a sad month in my home for rats. This morning I lost Talbot. Whatever happened was quick at least, I heard nothing last night and I woke up this morning to wake him up, but he was gone. He was bouncing around yesterday and begging for treats like nothing was wrong. He will be missed dearly. I get some solice from the fact that he got a bunch if rat cookies yesterday.
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Jul 1, 2012 22:04
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It's the Critter Space Pod. I'm pretty sure I've posted about it before, because the rats just love it. Seems like there's always at least one napping in it. My condolences on the loss of Talbot – it sounds like you gave him a good life and he was a happy rat.
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Jul 1, 2012 22:14
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Oh no, not Talbot! It sounds like he went peacefully though, which is what I hope for all my rats. That sucks though.cyberia posted:Hi Rat Thread, I have a rat that's acting weirdly and as it's Sunday morning and there's no vets open in my area I wanted to get some opinions / advice. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 01:37 on Jul 2, 2012 |
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Jul 2, 2012 01:35
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My rats do the distracted sniffy thing anytime I have a window open or bring them outside; it's big and loud and smells funny out there 
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Jul 2, 2012 06:42
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Invalid Octopus posted:Doublepostin' itt. Unfortunately yes. "It's fun getting into trouble!" -from the old trouble boardgame commercials "Hi little rat cats!" "Hi rats and hi cats" I only say/sing these things around my spouse and maybe my little brother who adores them.
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Jul 3, 2012 16:08
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I got my first rats this morning. I got two females and a sweet critter nation cage. I was gonna give them a couple days to take in the new house/master but I couldn't keep my hands off and outside of a little skittishness being picked up, they are all about running around on my hands and lap and shoulders. I have a hammock and a little chewable house and a little ball/stick toy but I am looking to get them some more entertaining toys. Bird toys should pretty much all be ok to give them sans anything obviously potentially toxic, right? Say hi to Scuba and Waffles.
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Jul 3, 2012 22:44
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Aww, they look a bit like Folly and Gypsy when I brought them home as babies . Bird toys are fine, though you'll want to avoid anything that's a bird food toy, as it'll probably have seeds and seeds are too fatty for rats. Bird stuff is actually great for rats, since it all tends to clip to cage walls, and rats love climbing on wall stuff!
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Jul 3, 2012 23:00
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I have a question for anyone who has spade rats: Is it normal for the rat to get huge afterward? One of my rats had an abscess, so when I took her in to get it removed I also had her spade. In the months afterward she got much bigger, no changes to behavior though, and I haven't changed her diet at all.
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Jul 4, 2012 06:38
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Enter Char posted:I have a question for anyone who has spade rats: Is it normal for the rat to get huge afterward? One of my rats had an abscess, so when I took her in to get it removed I also had her spade. In the months afterward she got much bigger, no changes to behavior though, and I haven't changed her diet at all. Yeah, spading a rat would most likely cause drastic changes to their overall structure.
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Jul 4, 2012 13:23
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Enter Char posted:spade rats 
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Jul 5, 2012 01:24
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drat you English and your homophones!  Anyway, here are my rats:  Lilly, the spayed one (pictured here without shovel).  And a blurry picture of Muffin.
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Jul 5, 2012 04:17
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So I am about to move and since I'll be resetting up my girl's cage in the process, I've decided to change up a few things. Mostly I want to stop using carefresh litter, while it is a very nice litter, it does inevitably somehow get all over the house between cage cleanings (think its getting kicked out the sides of the cage when my girls haul rear end and then my cat rolls around in it  ), is fleece the preferred material for lining a cage? Do you do a single or double layer? Whats the recommended cleaning for fabric liners, once a week and with hand washing? Are there any soaps that will be safe to use on it?This move will also be good for them since we are moving out of the hot as hell third story apartment into a small house with a much better AC. I'm also glad I kept their old small cage, will be good for them to sit in while we move and I get their critter nation cage set up again (god drat that thing is huge). I just hope they wont be to upset about all the moving. 
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Jul 5, 2012 20:03
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Hah, I know I've posted a ton about my fleece liners in this thread, but oh well! Two layers of fleece works the best, with clips at the corners to hold it in place (since you have a CN, you'll want a fifth clip back and centre as well). For cleaning, I shake it out and wash it as I would anything else in the machine with just regular detergent. For four rats, the cage generally gets cleaned every four days or so. If you have especially tidy rats, or just not very many, you might be fine with every week. Rats are adaptable, I'm sure they won't be bothered by the moving at all, but they'll definitely be thrilled in the big new cage!
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Jul 5, 2012 20:09
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Awesome, thanks for the input, I thought I remember someone talking about their cage liners, love the set up you got going and hope to have something just a nice soon.
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Jul 5, 2012 20:37
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No problem! Protip: buy more fleece than you think you need. Even though mine are lasting pretty long now, they do fall apart eventually.
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Jul 5, 2012 21:37
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The good thing is fleece and felt are cheap as hell compared to carefresh.
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Jul 6, 2012 06:15
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I'm gonna go the fleece route once I run out of carefresh. The constant cleaning up of little bits they knock out is enough already. If the pan in my critter nation cage was taller it wouldn't be near as big of a problem but I don't want to play the international shipping game.
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Jul 6, 2012 19:08
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Just use the carefresh in the litterbox? That's what I do.
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Jul 6, 2012 19:26
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Invalid Octopus posted:Just use the carefresh in the litterbox? That's what I do. I've been trying this. Unfortunately my girls have decided the litter box is, and shall forever be, the dining room. They poop everywhere else, and take their food and treats into the litter box to eat.  silly little creatures.
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Jul 6, 2012 20:58
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Yeaaah mine do that too. Thankfully, switching to a litterbox with a grate over the litter made a huge difference in how much they toss around. This is the one I have:
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Jul 6, 2012 21:07
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New rat toys!  The box is apparently for nesting parakeets, but Angie crawled in right as bf was asking if they'd fit .   edit: question, looking to get an outdoor hutch for the ratsies for nice weather, they're all made for rabbits, what bar spacing is appropriate? edit 2: specifically, is 2.5cm too big? Invalid Octopus fucked around with this message at 22:25 on Jul 7, 2012 |
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Jul 7, 2012 22:02
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That is 1 inch. I would be wary since mine aren't mature yet and could squeeze through for sure but some larger adult males would probably be ok-ish.
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Jul 8, 2012 00:03
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Goons tell me I'm taking good care of my rats  I got two young females from the humane society, they get along fine. But one of them doesn't seem to have any interest in hanging out with me or the boyfriend. Right now the younger one Peaches is hanging out on my lap as I type, but as soon as I am not actively holding Rosie she'll climb off the couch and go explore somewhere else. I think she hates me The only way I can seem to get her to want to hang out with me is if I have a spoonful of babyfood or yogurt or something. If I don't actively have a bribe, she's not interested. Ben has a way of getting her to bond by just standing in the middle of the room with nothing she can easily climb on being within reach, so she's forced to hang out with him. She's bad at climbing on clothes so this works pretty well. Is this alright? I've never had rats that didn't want to hang out all the time. Is it cool for me to let a new-ish (2-3 weeks) rat explore my rat-proof house? I usually let my rats wander wherever they want, but I've never had rats that got bored of me so fast and wanted to go to greener pastures of the house 
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Jul 8, 2012 15:10
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She's a young, female rat. Females are generally more inquisitive than males; afaik it's pretty common for them to prefer to go exploring than to sit and get cuddles. I wouldn't let a rat roam in a room I wasn't in/couldn't directly supervise, though. Something could fall on her, or she could spook and hide and give you great trouble in finding her again. If you want her to be more social, I'd suggest letting her into a basic, relatively furniture-free room, and reward heavily for choosing to hang out with you. It might feel like bribery, but it'll help her associate you with good, tasty things.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:29
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My rat Evie was exactly like that, and she never really changed despite how much time I spent with her or how many tasty treats she got hanging out with me, so brace yourself for the possibility you have a rat who just doesn't care about people that much. If I had her out she'd always want to be doing her own thing and sometimes would hang out or crawl over me, but didn't really like to be picked up or have interaction forced on her. Sometimes when she'd been out for a long time, she'd actively come and see what I was doing and hang out a bit, but that was about the extent of it. Her sister was an absolute love and adored spending time with her people. I just accepted it as part of her personality and learned to love her anyway. Even if she wasn't a people rat, she was still an interesting little lady with her own quirky personality and funny little habits. I'm sure your girl is the same.
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Jul 8, 2012 15:49
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The house is pretty much one big room with very little furniture so it's pretty rat safe. There's no holes or tunnels and all the doors are very low to the ground, not even the wormiest rat could squeeze under. I'm definitely going to restrict her access though because I'm jealous about how everything on the floor is more interesting than me. < >I've seen little pet corrals at the store for kids, I thought about trying something like that. It's basically a little fence that you set up around your animal area. My biggest concern with this is that it looks like it's only about 8" tall, which seems really easy to climb over. If bribery is the best option, that's fine. I'm just new to little girl rats so her behavior is spooky to me. When is a good time to start harness training them? Rosie is 5-6 months and Peaches is about 3-4 from what the humane society could figure out. All of my rats in the past came with me into town fairly often so I harness-trained them for whenever it seemed necessary. I haven't taken these rats anywhere yet, but I do intend to in the future. Should I wait until Rosie is more interested in me to start harness training her? Or should I not even try to push that on her? I'm okay with leaving Rosie at home if she's not interested in people, I'd rather not risk her nipping someone. I do feel bad though because my old rats loved going into town and letting them walk outside was good for filing down their little claws. Sorry I'm asking so many questions!! My past rats I adopted when they were older so they weren't so rambunctious. It's scary! 
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Jul 8, 2012 16:00
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I definitely think she'd climb over an 8" gate, seeing as ALL of my female rats were able to scale an 18" rabbit pen. Keeping female rats contained is a bit of a chore! I socialize mine by putting them in my jacket sleeves and just leaving them there. Eventually they just got used to hanging out, but now when I open the cage they immediately try to launch into my sleeves. 
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Jul 8, 2012 16:36
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^^^ Sleeve rats are the BEST.roads posted:I've seen little pet corrals at the store for kids, I thought about trying something like that. It's basically a little fence that you set up around your animal area. My biggest concern with this is that it looks like it's only about 8" tall, which seems really easy to climb over. Maybe look for small animal playpens like these: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14629 http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=6265 The 1" bar spacing on those two could be a bit wide for squirmy young rats, so you might try looking for something with better spacing online or at your local pet store. Or you could do what I did and MacGyver a solid playpen out of cardboard, duct tape, and huge binder clips. It was really easy to fold up and tuck under the couch when not in use. I never left my boys unsupervised, and they weren't especially enterprising anyway, so I wasn't worried about them chewing their way out through the cardboard. Just don't underestimate how high a rat can jump! Those playpen toppers could prove handy, if your girls are especially nimble. That said, even if you do get a great playpen, it's always a good idea to keep an eye on them while they're in there, just in case they get any ideas. 
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Jul 10, 2012 10:06
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Look what Dabbo did (Angie and Folly)
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Jul 10, 2012 14:09
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Recently gone from a mouse (and I suppose rat) phobia because I was living in a flat that was infested to going out with a girl who has pet rats and falling completely in love with them. We're thinking about getting them a bigger cage and introducing some kiddies to them. I've seen a lot of good cages recommended in these threads but most of them are very hard to get in the UK. Any UK-specific recommendations? This is Gary and Arnold anyway.  They're both just over a year old now, picked up from a local breeder in South-East London. Both came from the same nest and both were kind of outsiders. Arnold (on the right) was the runt, Gary didn't seemed to be getting teased as well. But they get on really well with another. Arnold hides a lot, unless you have food on you. They both absolutely love beer.  
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Jul 11, 2012 19:50
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That second picture makes them look sinister. They are definately up to something.
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Jul 12, 2012 00:07
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Yeah, that's definitely a >:3 face if I've ever seen one. My smaller dumbo makes that face before she steals food from another rat.
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Jul 12, 2012 01:24
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sweek0 posted:I've seen a lot of good cages recommended in these threads but most of them are very hard to get in the UK. Any UK-specific recommendations? Do you have a limit for cost and for size? There are lots of very nice cages that we have access to here. My friend has had a Liberta Explorer; I really love the look of the supremely-tall Liberta Happy House; and I have an Aurora 450 waiting in my basement for when I get rats (  ).
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Jul 12, 2012 10:53
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Fraction posted:Do you have a limit for cost and for size? Liberta Happy House looks really good actually. I was thinking about a hundred quid but this seems so much better than the alternatives out there that it's probably worth going for a little more.
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Jul 12, 2012 11:41
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