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Talk of free range makes me feel bad that mine don't get out more. If I take them out of the cage somewhere they run for about 5-10 minutes then hide on me, so the only way they'll range & explore and enjoy themselves is if they get to come directly out of the cage in the living room. This means my older dog has to be locked upstairs, as de will scratch the door otherwise, and it seems really harsh to lock a 13 y/o dog in a freezing room. In summer they'll get out more. There is only five of them in a cage made for like 12 rats and they get at least an hour a day to cuddle/sleep on me so they don't have it too bad.
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Feb 22, 2013 10:32
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Fraction posted:Talk of free range makes me feel bad that mine don't get out more. If I take them out of the cage somewhere they run for about 5-10 minutes then hide on me, so the only way they'll range & explore and enjoy themselves is if they get to come directly out of the cage in the living room. This means my older dog has to be locked upstairs, as de will scratch the door otherwise, and it seems really harsh to lock a 13 y/o dog in a freezing room. In summer they'll get out more. I wouldn't worry. My boys would be happy to lay around in the cage all day. I practically have to force them to come out for exercise. They have a huge cage and they think that's enough for them, I guess. Except Finn, who constantly begs to come out. He would live on the couch with me if he could. Anyway, my point is I'm sure your guys are happy. They have heaps of room. An hour a day of snuggles is OK, and like you said, its just til summer 
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Feb 22, 2013 17:06
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My boys will usually wander around the bathroom until they settle down in one of their box forts I leave out for them, or if I happen to not have a box around they will usually go back to the cage and put themselves away after 30-35 minutes being out. Sorry the box is so gross. It was cage cleaning day and I had their box out of their cage before throwing it out. If it's been there for months I would probably have a vet look at it. Scabs like his will usually go away on their own after a week. One of my hairless rats had a strange fungal-infection looking mark on his leg which didn't go away for weeks. At first I thought it was a injury, so we cleaned the wound daily. After a week we tried anti-fungal creams in case if it was a fungal-based infection. Week later it didn't go away. So I took him into the vet to have it examined and we found out it could be cancerous, so we had it surgically removed. I am not saying that your case could be cancerous, but it would be a good idea to just have it checked and treated anyway. Let us know what you find out if you decide to take this route.
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Feb 22, 2013 19:52
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We have a bar-chewing problem. The girls have learned that we dont like the godawful bar-chewing noise, so they wait until the lights are out, then gnaw on the bars. They have plenty of other things to chew on -- wood toys, cardboard tubes, tennis balls, a palm-leaf piñata full of treats... but they want to chew on the bars. Due to current circumstances, the cage is in our bedroom, so we are a captive audience for this nightly symphony. Any tips on how to get them to knock it off?
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Feb 23, 2013 10:00
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Not The Platypus posted:We have a bar-chewing problem. Mine used to do this as a "we're bored, play with us!" thing. You could try seeing if that's what they want, but otherwise I didn't have any luck getting them to stop 
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Feb 23, 2013 15:34
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My friend's rat Eve got PTS today. She developed a tumor behind her eye (friend noticed it and her distress yesterday), which made her unable to eat without pain. Adam is on her own - she's ~two years old, has cataracts, and is pretty aggressive because of her inability to see [fully]. I don't think she'd take well to more rats, plus my friend doesn't want any more girls.   Eve was my little buddy, and pretty much the reason I got my rats.
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Feb 23, 2013 15:41
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Beowulf posted:Mine used to do this as a "we're bored, play with us!" thing. You could try seeing if that's what they want, but otherwise I didn't have any luck getting them to stop Yeah, they wait until the lights are out, then do it ALL NIGHT.
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Feb 23, 2013 16:10
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Not The Platypus posted:We have a bar-chewing problem. Stick one of these in their cage.
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Feb 23, 2013 18:13
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I'm trying out something to see if I can get less mess being kicked out of the cage.   Hopefully they (e.g. Alice and Pandora) don't chew it to pieces.  Pippin and Stumpy  Box o rats
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Feb 23, 2013 22:23
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I gave my mices an egg carton a few days ago and I walked in today to find they completely shredded it, and there was a soft snow of cardboard stuff covering everything. They must have liked it.  I tend to give them used cardboard packaging and they drag all their toilet rolls inside it, make a small exit hole at the back and then live inside that for the next few days.
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Feb 24, 2013 04:01
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Luna update: In the week that we've had her, I've noticed that her coat has become noticeably softer. Is this due to better nutrition? She's much less shy and doesn't mind leaving her cage every so often now, but man, our older two girls have spoiled us. They apparently potty-trained themselves (as in they only do their business in the cage and not when they're out with us), so we forgot that most rats have no problem with voluntary incontinence.
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Feb 24, 2013 22:01
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6-Ethyl Bearcat posted:I gave my mices an egg carton a few days ago and I walked in today to find they completely shredded it, and there was a soft snow of cardboard stuff covering everything. They must have liked it. Something I used to do for my girl mice was put a couple of treats, such as mealworms or nuts, in the bottom of the egg carton, and stuff it full of tissue. There would be shredded tissue everywhere, a shredded egg box, and happy mice. I tried it with Wheatley and he didn't understand how to chew a thing so he never got in the egg box.
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Feb 24, 2013 23:05
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Oswald decided to go for more of a punk rock look and get his ear pierced. 
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Feb 25, 2013 05:12
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Poor baby! What happnened?
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Feb 25, 2013 05:42
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Not The Platypus posted:Poor baby! What happnened? I didn't see the event, but I have my eye on a certain Moomin. Moo ended up with a marble-sized cyst on his neck last week (it went down in a day or two, so he didn't see the vet), so I guess they're even. They get along like aces – constantly napping with each other and cuddling, but they're also boys and wrestle all the time. I really don't think either is out to damage, but they've both got sharp claws! Neuter date is the end of April, which can't come soon enough, though.
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Feb 25, 2013 05:46
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I'm looking to get a pair of rats in the next month or so, my first set, so I'm preparing to order cages, food, toys, etc. before I get the furry little guys. I'm looking at a number of the cages on this site and was wondering if the R-680 or R-685 would be big enough for two, it's hard to tell from the pictures. It's not a big deal for me to upgrade to the 695 or 699, it'd just require some redecoration in the room where I plan to put the cage. Man I'm excited, I've wanted rats since I was in high school, just never had the chance between apartments that had stupid high pet fees and not being home enough.
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Feb 26, 2013 18:45
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KariOhki posted:I'm looking to get a pair of rats in the next month or so, my first set, so I'm preparing to order cages, food, toys, etc. before I get the furry little guys. I'm looking at a number of the cages on this site and was wondering if the R-680 or R-685 would be big enough for two, it's hard to tell from the pictures. It's not a big deal for me to upgrade to the 695 or 699, it'd just require some redecoration in the room where I plan to put the cage. Either of those can comfortably hold up to 3 rats.
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Feb 26, 2013 18:51
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Is that square mesh on those cages? That can be hellish to clean 
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Feb 26, 2013 19:05
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KariOhki posted:I'm looking at a number of the cages on this site and was wondering if the R-680 or R-685 would be big enough for two, it's hard to tell from the pictures. It's not a big deal for me to upgrade to the 695 or 699, it'd just require some redecoration in the room where I plan to put the cage.
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Feb 26, 2013 19:19
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Fraction posted:Is that square mesh on those cages? That can be hellish to clean A hose fixes this problem in ten minutes. I just take the cage into the back yard and spray it down once a week. Of course, this doesn't work if you don't have a hose or some place to attach it to.
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Feb 26, 2013 21:38
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I can't even imagine trying to get my cage outdoors - but it's the same size as me, my arms don't go all around it, and there's steps down into my yard. V V I'm lucky in that my girls don't really pee on their toys/cage bars though.
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Feb 26, 2013 22:07
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Hey, everybody! I brought home my two 8 week old male rats home 3 days ago and I have a couple of questions. I got them from a reputable pet shop (they socialize all their animals but they don't play with the baby rats everyday). My rats are very, very skittish, and even though they let us pet them when they freeze, they won't let us hold them. We never try to grab them, and when they start frantically running around we leave them alone. On the first day they did not leave their igloo. However, now they explore when we take out their igloo but they run away from our hands. They try to escape the cage, but run away as soon as we block them. I let them smell my hands and offer them raisins and cereal which they only eat after I've left. I've also been feeding them red beans and salmon. Today I put banana baby food on a butter knife and let them sniff it. They licked every part of the knife except the part with food on it, so I covered two raisins and two pieces of cereal with the baby food and left it in their food dish. My question is, is this normal? I don't what I should be expecting or doing to gain their trust. For the most part, I leave them alone in my empty bedroom. I don't ever spend time in there except to grab clothes and see them, so I'm wondering if I should move my bed in there and start sleeping next to them every night (something I was planning on getting around to eventually).
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Feb 27, 2013 20:51
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Ghost Party posted:Hey, everybody! I brought home my two 8 week old male rats home 3 days ago and I have a couple of questions. I got them from a reputable pet shop (they socialize all their animals but they don't play with the baby rats everyday). My rats are very, very skittish, and even though they let us pet them when they freeze, they won't let us hold them. We never try to grab them, and when they start frantically running around we leave them alone. Okay so: Your rats aren't 'letting you pet them' when they freeze. They're so scared that they are just freezing up. Don't worry though - it's pretty much something every new rat will do (especially pet shop rats). You should start grabbing them and putting them on you. Get a loose hoodie or a dressing gown, shove a rat in there, and do something for half an hour. You don't need to keep your hands on them; they just gotta stay on your body. Putting them in your clothes is a good way of getting them used to you/your smell, and keeps them contained without scaring them too much. After ~20 minutes they will noticeably calm down. What are you feeding them apart from treats? Straight grains, a homemade mixture with grains, lab blocks, etc? It's very common for rats not to eat in your presence/take food from you until they're more used to you. Don't leave them alone. That's basically the worst thing you can do to get them used to you. Can you put them somewhere where you spend a majority of time? My rats live in my living room, for example; I spend basically all of my free time in there. If you leave them alone and only come in occasionally, they'll just learn to run and hide when you come in.
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Feb 27, 2013 21:00
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Fraction posted:Okay so: Thanks for the fast reply! So with some effort I grabbed both of them and they're now calmly in my hoodie pocket. I'm feeding them a rat food mix I bought from the pet store. I know this isn't the best thing to feed them, so next month I'm going to buy some ingredients and make my own rat mix. At the moment I don't have the money to consistently buy them lab blocks, but as soon as I have that money I will start getting those. I do have the money to buy the stuff to make any of suebee's mixes (which are generally recommended?). I'm going to start spending all my time in their room, as well.
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Feb 27, 2013 22:29
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Ghost Party posted:Thanks for the fast reply! So with some effort I grabbed both of them and they're now calmly in my hoodie pocket. I'm feeding them a rat food mix I bought from the pet store. I know this isn't the best thing to feed them, so next month I'm going to buy some ingredients and make my own rat mix. At the moment I don't have the money to consistently buy them lab blocks, but as soon as I have that money I will start getting those. I do have the money to buy the stuff to make any of suebee's mixes (which are generally recommended?). I'm going to start spending all my time in their room, as well. That's good! It takes them a while to get used to you, but the whole 'just handfeed treats and gently pet and eventually maybe they'll trust you' thing takes a whole lot longer. It's also often not really applicable to pet shop rats, for whom humans = big scary terrifying things. Many won't overcome that fear just because you're holding food for them.Rat food mix is fine as a temporary thing; it sounded like you were just feeding "human" food only. My bad!  I can't help on the Suebee's front - my rats just get varying grains, a different grain each day, veg every day or every other day, and protein couple times a week. (They're gonna get hardboiled eggs tomorrow )Glad to hear you're going to spend more time with them! Rats are really sociable creatures.
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Feb 27, 2013 23:21
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I tried feeding a Suebee's mix with lab blocks. They eat the good stuff and hide the blocks in case of desperate starvation I guess, usually under my bed, where I find them in little piles.
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Feb 28, 2013 00:43
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Ratty photodump! Two of my girls, Pandora (roan) and Chell (black self):      Pippin (roan) & Stumpy (siamese):     Bonus video of Stumpy. Fraction fucked around with this message at 01:38 on Feb 28, 2013 |
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Feb 28, 2013 01:22
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Fraction posted:Bonus video of Stumpy. Stumpy is so hardcore!  What an awesome rat.
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Feb 28, 2013 05:22
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You say that but the stumpy leg remnants that she has (she's got some part of her leg in there) move and twitch when she's trying to wriggle out my hand and oh god stop it stumpy i can feel your stump
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Feb 28, 2013 09:38
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Hi, again! Sorry I have some more questions. Whenever I put them in my hoodie pocket now they try really hard to escape. The only way I can keep them in there is if I close one of the holes and constantly grab and put them back inside as they come out. Also I used to have one room where they can run around freely and they explore close to their cage and dash back inside. I've been grabbing them and trying to keep them on me as much as possible but I can only hold them for a few seconds. Will this help them get used to me or is there something else I should be doing? Sorry for all the dumb questions, I just want to make sure I'm doing the right things so I can enjoy my little buddies. E: And would it be safe to put them on my bed? My bed is super high up (a large bed frame and two mattresses stacked) and I read online that they won't try to jump off but I've held them on the couch and it felt like they were going to try. I just moved and this is the only place where I can let them run around without a million hiding spots. Ghost Party fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Mar 1, 2013 |
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Mar 1, 2013 02:33
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Ghost Party posted:Hi, again! Sorry I have some more questions. Whenever I put them in my hoodie pocket now they try really hard to escape. The only way I can keep them in there is if I close one of the holes and constantly grab and put them back inside as they come out. Also I used to have one room where they can run around freely and they explore close to their cage and dash back inside. I've been grabbing them and trying to keep them on me as much as possible but I can only hold them for a few seconds. Will this help them get used to me or is there something else I should be doing? Some rats will try to jump, but most won't. Are they boys or girls? Boys are much lazier! I've had boy rats for 5 years and not once has any of them jumped off my bed. Hopefully someone with girls can weigh in. Sounds like they are gaining confidence and want to explore more. If you sit with them on a couch or bed with a blanket over you, they will probably just want to run around and play under the blanket. Its a great way to help them get used to you. Also, baby rats are tiny and fast. They will calm down a bit in time and be easier to catch! Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Mar 1, 2013 |
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Mar 1, 2013 05:42
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Ghost Party posted:Hi, again! Sorry I have some more questions. Whenever I put them in my hoodie pocket now they try really hard to escape. The only way I can keep them in there is if I close one of the holes and constantly grab and put them back inside as they come out. Also I used to have one room where they can run around freely and they explore close to their cage and dash back inside. I've been grabbing them and trying to keep them on me as much as possible but I can only hold them for a few seconds. Will this help them get used to me or is there something else I should be doing? Were you letting new, unsocialised rats free roam? What exactly is the current setup? Rats go in your hoodie - but where are you, what are you doing? Standing, sitting? I have a 'rat chair', which is very comfortable and high enough that my girls won't try jumping off of it. The lowest part is probably 1.5-2ft off the ground. It's also my gaming chair; so I sit on it and my rats run around for 5-10 minutes then curl up on me. Putting them on the bed should be fine, but make sure the room is rat proofed first; just in case they jump. I had to spend 10 minutes trying to lure Pandora out from under the couch the other day. She was comfortable enough to eat food under it, and she doesn't usually eat out of the cage  If your rats are crazy runaways, try putting them in your hoodie and standing up. (Actually in the hoodie too, not just the pocket.) Or put them on your shoulder and putter around. That way they won't have any option but to stay on you, if not in your clothes. I've found with my more active girls if I try constantly to stop them doing something (e.g. Moxxi no you may not run up the cage and harass Pippin and Stumpy, and Pandora no you must stay in my dressing gown) they'll just try to do it more. Lady rats tend to be pretty determined!
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Mar 1, 2013 10:53
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Haha. That's absolutely true of some rats, even boys! If you shoo them away from somewhere, they will try every angle and approach to get to it.
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Mar 1, 2013 16:01
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Truth. Amelia is convinced that the area behind the computer is some sort of wonderland.
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Mar 1, 2013 16:26
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Fraction posted:If your rats are crazy runaways, try putting them in your hoodie and standing up. (Actually in the hoodie too, not just the pocket.) Or put them on your shoulder and putter around. That way they won't have any option but to stay on you, if not in your clothes. Our rats will climb out of my clothes and charge straight down, hoping to climb low enough (my knees?) to jump onto the floor before I stop them  .
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Mar 1, 2013 17:18
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Two days ago I lived in a room which was pretty much empty and there was no where they could hide so I left their cage door open and let them go in and out as they pleased. However, the place I'm living at now has way too much furniture and millions of places they could hide, as well as my dog who would definitely hunt them down if they were just running around the house. When I'm holding them around him he's curious about them, but not violent. It doesn't really matter how high up I am, they both always try to jump. The jump from my bed to the floor would definitely hurt them (I'm 4'10 and I have to do a running jump to get on my bed) and there isn't any place where I could just let them roam without making sure they weren't trying to do suicide jumps or hide everywhere. I'm assuming that if I keep handling them for a couple 15ish second periods multiple times throughout the day and they get larger this will all be much easier for me?
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Mar 1, 2013 20:01
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They might become less likely to explore since you have boys, and they often grow up to be lazy. But its down to the individual rat too. Can you isolate your dog in part of the house for half an hour when you want to handle them? Maybe set up a little playpen in a corner and sit with them?
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Mar 2, 2013 03:32
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Boys are basically all litter trained, woo! As you can see, however, they have a habit of immediately dumping out their grains whenever they get fed. BOYS.           
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Mar 3, 2013 04:02
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I'm about to combust with rage here. My rats were staying with my boyfriends family while we went on holiday, and today I got them back... 2/3. One is lost in their house. He's been lost for a week and they chickened out and didn't tell me. Apparently rather than calling me for advice they decided to just chase him down while yelling at him to come back and surprise! It didn't work and he's gone wild. They have an outside dog, a very capable cattle dog. So if he leaves the house he's almost certainly toast. Now I'm off to buy a loving humane trap to try and catch my own rat. It doesn't help that half way through the holiday they threw out the food I gave them, which apparently hatched some weevils. Fair enough, but rather than asking me what they should feed them instead they put them on an all-weetbix diet. What the gently caress. A 5 minute google search for 'rat diet' or something would have told them better. The cage is caked in diarrhea, the rats themselves look pretty terrible. This happens whenever they go off the pellets, because these rats in particular are delicate blossoms with terrible digestion. Short of actually killing them I can't imagine how this would have gone worse. I was only gone for 2 weeks! The most annoying part was that they asked for them, because they 'love rats' and the mum has had rats before.
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Mar 3, 2013 06:37
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^^^ Urgh, that sucks so much Springly. I hope you get your rat back safely!Ghost Party posted:Two days ago I lived in a room which was pretty much empty and there was no where they could hide so I left their cage door open and let them go in and out as they pleased. However, the place I'm living at now has way too much furniture and millions of places they could hide, as well as my dog who would definitely hunt them down if they were just running around the house. When I'm holding them around him he's curious about them, but not violent. I can't really figure why you're having so much trouble with them, to be honest. If you stand with them on you, what do they do? If they're jumpers, then yeah don't put them on something they could jump off of and hurt themselves; just force them to stay on you for 20 minute periods. 15 seconds several times a day really isn't going to do much in the way of socialising them. e: Could I get a colour check on this lil guy?  I'm guessing champagne or fawn hooded. Fraction fucked around with this message at 20:41 on Mar 3, 2013 |
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Mar 3, 2013 10:52
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