|
You can mix peanut butter with plain yogurt to thin it down, I do it sometimes to fill my dog's Kong. Much less risk of choking.
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2011 16:50
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 00:49 |
|
|
I usually just gave mine peanut butter flavored dog biscuits tbh.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 10, 2011 19:48
|
|
|
Nope, that's pretty much a thing rats do.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2011 18:51
|
|
|
Huh, I always thought it was an expected behavior, every rodent of any species that I've ever owned did it. Mice, rats, hamsters, all loved to tuck their food away into a corner, whether they lived alone or in a pair/group.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2011 23:00
|
|
|
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...
|
|
#
¿
Dec 18, 2011 23:08
|
|
|
My friend is coming over on Sunday and I'm going to give her the giant ball that I bought for my boys (they never liked it) to see if he wants to run in it. They have three cats, two dogs, and a baby, so she was reluctant to let the rat have out-of-cage time unprotected. Even if he takes to the ball he'll still be supervised, of course, but she was hoping it would provide another layer of protection for him so she can let him roam around in the kitchen while she's cooking and such. I hope he wants to use it, I know some rats like them and it's super cute, mine just never did.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2012 00:10
|
|
|
I'd say it's too big for that, but Timmy has a HUGE cage. I'll definitely mention it to them.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2012 03:07
|
|
|
Does Oliver groom the cat? One of my boys was in love with our cat and would groom his fur, even though the cat wanted nothing to do with it.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 26, 2012 04:29
|
|
|
I think I'm allergic to rat urine as well. I'm allergic to a lot of things, though... On top of keeping them clean, you might also consider picking up some antihistamine ointment. I usually mix it 50/50 with hand lotion to thin it out and just rub it into my skin, it stops the itching right away.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 7, 2012 04:14
|
|
|
Trained rats were actually the reason I got my boys - the Virginia Science Museum had a demonstration room upstairs that had rats who had been taught how to play basketball. If they got the ball in the correct hoop for their "team" they got a treat, and had gradually been taught to grab the ball back and forth in order to score. It was fascinating and adorable. Apparently girls are easier to train for that sort of thing than boys, according to the guy doing the demo. But I imagine a motivated male rat could be taught all sorts of things.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 20, 2012 19:35
|
|
|
daggerdragon posted:I was going to demand pics of whole watermelon in rat cage. :< You can get mini watermelons that aren't much bigger than a softball, that might be fun to put in there
|
|
#
¿
Apr 15, 2012 04:55
|
|
|
kitty-go-meow posted:One of our older girls is a tumor machine and we've decided to just monitor her quality of life since the vet agreed that she's a bit old for surgery (2 years and some change). She's still doing fine hopping, getting around the cage, and hoarding food, but we've noticed that she's started licking and scratching one of her tumors enough that there's a little raw spot on it. We trimmed her back nails but she still licks. Is there any way of keeping her from doing this or is it just one of those things that happens with rats? I think somebody on PI had a rat that was licking a surgical incision and they ended up cutting the leg part off a tube sock to make a little snug shirt thing for the rat. If the tumor is on her abdomen that might work for her?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 16, 2012 17:04
|
|
|
Don't tell my husband, but I've pretty much decided that once we're done with Husker's cancer treatments and our savings account has recovered a bit, I am getting more rats.  I want to get one of the Critter Nation cages, probably the smaller one but maaaaayyybe the two-story model, and three or four males. It's certainly not done and dusted, but I've been going back and forth with myself for so long, and I think I've finally decided that I want to get back into rats. So, yay! It does occur to me that after spending a shitload of money on a pet with cancer, I'd be setting myself up to potentially spend a shitload of money on even more pets with cancer 
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2012 05:15
|
|
|
Jin Wicked posted:I have the double Critter Nation, and keep three to six rats. I absolutely love it. I still have two stupid Super Pet cages from my old guys, so if somebody needed to be separated I could use one of those. I think the single CN cage will be what I end up with. Man, I was pissed about those cages. The guy who sold me the rats told me the little crappy starter cage would be fine for two rats, and that they wouldn't get much bigger. Yeah loving right, those rats tripled in size. And of course since I had spent a fair chunk of money on the first cage I couldn't afford a really good upgrade, so I wound up with an only slightly larger lovely Super Pet cage. I wish I had found PI before I got my first pair of rats. Unfortunately I will probably be stuck buying pet store rats again. The rescues around here almost never have any, and I don't see the point in buying breeder rats when they aren't really that much healthier or tamer than the feeders.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 18, 2012 05:38
|
|
|
Can we get a repost of Super's rat diet that doesn't require archives to view? Super, I vaguely recall that you based part of your rat diet on dog kibble. Do you think I could use either Husker's Wellness Core or the cats' Solid Gold Indigo Moon as a base? Not having to buy a third brand of kibble would be awesome. I was at Petco earlier this morning and there was a huge sleepy rat pile and I had the sudden urge to take them all. I wonder if the readers of my food blog would be weirded out by a post about cooking dinner for rodents...
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2012 17:44
|
|
|
I guess I remembered wrong, I thought there was dry dog food in there somewhere.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 19, 2012 23:08
|
|
|
I did feed the Blue Buffalo bars to van Buren for the last few months of his life, but I was actually thinking of kibble. I don't think I'll bother with dog food if the stuff I keep on hand now isn't going to work. Most likely they would get their animal protein from whatever I'm serving the people in the house. We eat a pretty balanced array of meat, poultry, and fish ourselves, and lots of veggies, so they would probably eat fairly well just from trimmings and leftovers. We don't eat a lot of carbs ourselves, but I always have a pretty wide variety in the pantry for when I do want to serve a carb-heavy food, so I don't think I would need to change my shopping list too much - just might have to buy grains more often than I do now. Might toss in a dog kibble or two as a treat here and there, or a smidge of the cats' stinky wet food. We also tend to have a lot of cooked bones around the house, and since I can't give them to Husker, and I can only make so much soup stock, I'm sure a few will find their way into the rat cage. VB used to go apeshit when I brought home a couple of pork rib bones from a barbecue place. Don't worry about me in terms of specifics, once I've got my head around the basics of what they need, I shouldn't have any issues. I'm as much of a geek about people nutrition as you are about animal nutrition, so it's not a big deal to apply that to them. I think I was operating under the assumption that they needed a higher protein content than they do, so I'm adjusting my thinking accordingly. It's all an intellectual exercise at the moment, but I'm one of those people who likes to chew things over in my head for a long time before I actually do it.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 20, 2012 15:51
|
|
|
Ugh now that I've decided I want to have rats again it is ten times harder to be patient and wait to get them...
|
|
#
¿
Apr 25, 2012 00:08
|
|
|
I don't know if rats can taste sweet, but they certainly seem to have a sweet tooth.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2012 14:35
|
|
|
I think the rat urine smell is less offensive than the mouse urine smell, but I know my father for example thought van Buren was really stinky when he visited me (cage had been cleaned that day, and VB was his usual boy-musk self). This sounds a little weird, but maybe you could take her to a pet store and ask them to pull out the rat tank and let her take a sniff to see if it bothers her? My personal experience is that rats' bodies are a little stronger-smelling, but their urine bothers me less. Male mouse urine is pretty gross.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 27, 2012 15:06
|
|
|
Today my husband and I debated whether it was funny or stupid to get four rats and name them after Ninja Turtles but not have a Splinter. Guys, I think he's on board
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2012 16:46
|
|
|
Bear Rape posted:Now I have pretty plain names in comparison, but themed names are seriously awesome. Our cats Leela and Nibbler agree with you  My kid wanted me to get three and name them Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. He's leaving for the Marines later this month, though, so he doesn't get a vote. I've been paying a lot of Mass Effect lately, so it's tempting to do ME themed names.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2012 17:42
|
|
|
Bear Rape posted:The ferret penthouse looks like less of a pain in the rear end than the RUUD, that's for sure. Has anyone ever used the Rat Skyscraper (R-695)? Or I could always go with Midwest Critter since I'm not planning on having a huge amount of rats. And if I find a little gimpy one it can be Joker... I was thinking Mordin, Garrus, Wrex, and Legion
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2012 17:57
|
|
I'm just saying this because I recently finished Mass Effect 2 and want to name my boyfriend's turtles Wrex and Garrus since they don't have official names yet.
|
Hubby is vetoing Legion. He says Garrus, Wrex, Joker, Mordin  These are the things married couples argue about when they're both geeks.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 29, 2012 18:33
|
|
|
What do you guys use in the litter tray? My last pair weren't litter trained (I didn't know anything about it until they were much older) and just lived on CareFresh and poo poo wherever they pleased. I'd like to go for more of the arrangement Invalid Octopus has in the pics, with fleece and a designated litter box.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 30, 2012 19:37
|
|
|
Cool! After it was discussed in another thread, I was thinking this might be a good one to switch to for our cats. Would be awesome to use the same litter for everybody.
|
|
#
¿
May 3, 2012 02:33
|
|
|
So hey guys, I have a surprise for you over in Random Nonsense...
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2012 01:49
|
|
|
They're so soft I know it's cuz they're babies, and that will go away, but I love their velvety fur so much. They're not entirely happy to be held, but they're not trying to get away either, so we'll see. I put half an ear of roasted corn in there and a piece of tomato - just throwing whatever I've got at them for the moment, I'll go shopping later today - and they weren't interested in the tomato, but they stripped the corn clean.
|
|
#
¿
May 5, 2012 15:17
|
|
|
FelicityGS posted:They look so soft and adorable They're all solid dark brown (not black or agouti, as far as I can tell) and have white bellies. Their bellies aren't uniformly white, though, they have different shapes, which is probably how I'm going to be able to tell them apart eventually. I'll work on getting some more pics for ya  Edit: Photos ahoy! One of them sleeps like this: Somewhere I have a VERY similar picture of Atahualpa and van Buren... So far I seem to have two brave and one shy. Here are the bellies of the two bold ones: I think the one on the left is the darkest of the three, the other two are both a little lighter in color. I don't know enough about rat coloring to say exactly what these guys would be called. Cute, I guess! Somebody fucked around with this message at 12:15 on May 6, 2012 |
|
#
¿
May 5, 2012 23:14
|
|
|
Superconsndar posted:Two of them are blacks (just poor/rusted blacks) and one is an agouti. They are all berkshires. Ah, ok. One of the blacks is finitely darker than the other, then. Most of the berkshires I've seen had a lot more coverage on the tummy. These guys' bellies remind me a little of Nibbler's, actually. Speaking of which, the cats were curious about what was on the table, so I picked each of them up and held them by the cage. The rats were curious, but the cats were like "Oh, gently caress this poo poo" and wanted to get away. Edit - my brother-in-law picked out a little tub of salad garnish stuff that he thought the rats would like. It looks like it falls squarely in the "yummy junk food" category: quote:Dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, sesame sticks, slivered almonds, raw pepitas RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 01:38 on May 6, 2012 |
|
#
¿
May 6, 2012 00:40
|
|
|
Hey folks, Khelmar had to remove my images, but I will resize them and repost them as soon as I'm back at my computer (tablet doesn't cooperate so well for that). Also, I think the agouti is going to be Garrus, because he is the bravest. I actually carried him outside with me to open the gate for Husker, and he was totally fine. Then he wandered around the table where the cage is sitting while I petted the other guys. He's also the only one who will take food from me yet. I'm going to have to get that new cage sooner rather than later, because the only good place for the food bowl in this cage is on top of the hide hut. I put down a second dish with cooked beans and they immediately buried it in CareFresh. Originally there was a bowl that sat in the shelf unit, but I've lost the bowl and none of my dishes fit in the slot. My son was kind of jealous of them last night, I was cooking up a big pot of plain beans to divide up and freeze and the smell was making him hungry. I ordered him a pizza and all was forgiven.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2012 18:04
|
|
|
Invalid Octopus posted:If you just add an l, m, or s to the end of an imgur pic (before the .jpg), it will resize the picture automatically. They were on my personal hosting.
|
|
#
¿
May 6, 2012 19:45
|
|
|
I went ahead and ordered the Critter Nation cage, along with a litter pan and a Wodent Wheel. These guys certainly don't need all that space yet, but the little SuperPet cage is just pathetic. Plus I have GOT to get them off the CareFresh. Having that stuff in my house is deadly.
|
|
#
¿
May 7, 2012 22:54
|
|
|
Well, we've figured out which one gets which name. The agouti is Garrus, and the fairly chill black with two white "stripes" on the edge of his belly is Mordin, and the one who leapt off my arm and ended up taking us on a merry chase around the box of dog toys is Joker. It was quite an adventure. Hopefully he wasn't too freaked out, he's already the shyest/squirmiest of the babies. Garrus and Mordin both had successful calm shoulder hangout time with my husband and me, and until he decided to make the death-defying leap Joker was okay with sitting on my shoulder for a little while as well. So, overall, I think it was progress, even if we had a mad scramble at the end.
|
|
#
¿
May 9, 2012 02:20
|
|
|
The box says "Platinum gray hammertone finish," whatever that means. Mine arrived yesterday. We haven't assembled it yet - I ordered some of the premade shelf and ramp covers because I don't have time to make anything atm, and I'm waiting for them to arrive before I move the boys. Husker was very upset yesterday when some of the beef trimmings I cut off our steaks last night went into the rat cage instead of to him. They also got one of the cooked bones after we were done, and much crunching was heard.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2012 15:58
|
|
|
Invalid Octopus posted:I've only had one rat who tried to chew the cage at all, and she mostly focused on the plastic pan. I know she chewed on the bars a bit, but I couldn't tell you where – there aren't any visible marks at all. Razorbunny, you go set that cage up and take some pictures already! The ramp covers and such should arrive in the next couple of days, and we'll set it up then. Their wheel is due to arrive on Wednesday. Daggerdragon sent me an awesome fleece tunnel and some hammocks for PISSmas several years ago, and I only ever used one of the hammocks, but I have no idea where the other pieces are If I can locate them, they'll go up in the new cage. I also have a better water bottle somewhere in our storage room.The boys are very sneaky, by the way. I'm working from home and I haven't heard them move, but when I went to look someone had grabbed one of the frozen strawberries I put in the dish this morning. Sneaky sneaky.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2012 16:46
|
|
|
daggerdragon posted:I should probably get back to making those again. Need a sewing machine... They were very cool. The tunnel was a bit big for the cage the old pair was in, but should fit nicely in the Critter Nation cage. I just wish I knew where it was! The storage room is kind of my husband's domain, so I'll ask him to venture in there and search for it. Oh, and he pretends to still be mad at me for bringing them home, but today he had to go buy cat litter and he came home with a bag of yogurt drops for them. He's so full of poo poo. RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 11, 2012 |
|
#
¿
May 11, 2012 19:09
|
|
|
All the old rat accessories were located! And our mail carrier brought us the shelf and floor covers! I went to pick up some rat-appropriate litter and the fellas assembled the cage while I was gone. The rats are having a blast roaming around. So far they haven't used the ramp at all, just climbed straight up the bars. They love their fleece tunnel Hubby promised to get some good photos of the setup so far, with the decent camera - our family room is very dark, so it's hard for me to get good pictures with my little point and shoot. Once the wheel arrives we'll fit that in somewhere and see if they take to it. Also, they've figured out that the corner litter box doesn't fit snugly to the corner, so if they want to be left alone they crawl behind it
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2012 22:12
|
|
|
Here's the new cage setup. I may swap the food area with the litter box, as they seem to like going in the back corner up on the shelf. They aren't using their hide hut very much at all, they seem to prefer their tunnel. Thank God that fleece tunnel is washable, they drag all their food in there. I pulled out a wet handful of green pea skins and chewed-up spinach leaves a few minutes ago. They're not eating very much of the grain I put in there, but they're all over the fresh foods. They love shell-on peanuts more than anything. I hid a couple in the little chew log thing and they had a blast reaching in there and pulling them out. Hopefully when their wheel gets here they will use it. Atahualpa and van Buren never showed any interest in the wheel, but then again, the wheel I had for them was really lovely.  
|
|
#
¿
May 13, 2012 20:23
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 17, 2024 00:49 |
|
|
We're doing supervised run-around-on-the-bed time with the boys, one at a time so we can avoid any mishaps. I really need to get a shower and go to work but my husband keeps bringing me rats!
|
|
#
¿
May 17, 2012 13:20
|
|