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Invalid Octopus posted:Haha. Rats. Super, post some pictures of your rats. Buuuuuuuuh okay, the agouti is Stacee and the beige hooded if Jaxx. I am currently not BYBing any rats and have just been BYBing mice because rat genetics are boring for me at this point and everything I have readily available is a walking health problem and bleh. So, it's just them. I've had Stacee for like...6 months and Jaxx I got like a month ago-ish.            quote:Also, what would you call Oswald's markings? Blazed collared? Yeah, blazed cap/striped or collared, same thing.
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Jan 29, 2013 06:27
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 18:15 |
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I have never bothered to cover the flooring of my cages, ever. Rat ladies have screamed about bumblefoot and various foot issues since the dawn of time but I've never had an issue- bumblefoot, in my experience, is more of a problem caused by obesity and sanitation than wire floors. YMMV. v  v
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Jan 29, 2013 06:48
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Fraction posted:
Still brindles and tans, (mostly in satin) though all of the weird c dilutes my blue brindles produced has me interested in playing with those dilutions because of all the cool/weird/funky stuff they make. I'll try to post some pics later when I'm not at work. 
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Jan 29, 2013 14:51
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Just go buy a rat
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Jan 31, 2013 14:03
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STOP REMEMBERING THINGS THAT I SAY
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Jan 31, 2013 14:29
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Fraction posted:
It's true  quote:fyi I still remember the promise of a new rat thread. I'm so butthurt at life because I was so gung-ho about making the new thread. We thought immigration was going to be delayed and I thought I was going to have a few days - weeks of dead time while we waited on our visa, and then like RIGHT AFTER I made that post, life went "OH HI HERE IS YOUR VISA MAKE TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS NOW MOVE INTO HOUSE NOW GET MARRIED NOW GOOOOOOOOOOO" I wanna do the thread so bad but between all of the above and the fact that I might as well live at the office I barely have time to do things like Sleep or Eat Food right now much less carepost waaaah excuses
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Jan 31, 2013 19:00
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Its not just beneficial, keeping rats singly tends to gently caress them up pretty badly in general even if it is not readily apparent to the owner so yeah, 2+ rats.
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Feb 4, 2013 14:02
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I used to teach my rats to jump from a surface to my shoulder, and to climb my legs if I called them. I reserved certain treats that they went nuts for specifically for that purpose, and used it as a way to get them to come to me if they got under/behind/on something and I couldn't get them back. The boys were pretty good about doing it because food, girls often liked to turn it into a game because they wanted me to chase them. Overall though it was pretty useful for finding lost/hiding rats when free ranging, unless they happened to be into something that was more interesting than even the most coveted treats.
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Feb 9, 2013 17:10
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This is not going to be a popular opinion but I usually just throw new rats together and let them sort their poo poo out however they want. I only intervene if someone draws blood or if someone is getting continuously bullied over the course of several days. I have virtually never had to separate anyone doing things that way and when I have it was usually some abnormal circumstance involving Weird Rats and not a normal introduction between non-crazies. There's usually a couple of hours/maybe a day or two of squeaking and drama and scuffling and then everyone settles down. I have never bothered with the whole separate cages/bathtub intros/neutral area deal and the couple of times I tried it out of curiosity it seemed to draw things out and create more drama because they weren't forced to knuckle down and deal with each others' poo poo as quickly as they are when they're just thrown together. Just sayin~
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Feb 14, 2013 02:47
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SlipkPIe posted:So, I'm sure this question has been asked on here before, but I'd be more worried about the cats, unless they're hardcore mousers who kill poo poo all the time. Most of my cat/rat intros have involved rats nipping cat noses, resulting in the cats developing a healthy fear of the rat cage and rats in general.
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Feb 14, 2013 15:17
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Invalid Octopus posted:
Yeah when I stopped breeding in 2006 I was on the list to get a few from a breeder I knew who was working with them. They're apparently longer lived, or were at the time. There are (or at least were) a lot of people who sell lovely undersized rats as "dwarves" though, so I'd grill the breeder pretty hard to make sure the rats you're getting are actually genetically dwarves before I'd try to grab any.
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Feb 20, 2013 01:38
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Ditch the ball, rats don't like them and they're intelligent and social enough for limited free ranging *after* they're socialized. Also get her a same sex buddy asap.
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Feb 21, 2013 05:16
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Fraction posted:
Wait till he molts out, he looks a lil dark for champagne but also a lil light for fawn. It'll be easier to tell after he molts, but I would lean towards fawn.
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Mar 3, 2013 23:23
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Baika posted:They all look like variegated hooded rats to me. I don't think you have to worry about dominant whites in this batch. I only know the high whites are associated with dominant blazed rats but I don't know the other types if there are any. Anyone else know? The rat in the picture that is blazed has a recessive blaze, so it is a "safe" high white. The one with a headspot can't be determined visually but if it's related to the recessively blazed guy, he's fine. The only rat in the picture that is variegated is the blazed one; the rest are all poorly marked hoodeds and barebacks. edit: that said, the one little black hooded dumbo looks kinda runty and bloated. Are all those guys out of the same litter?
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Mar 14, 2013 21:47
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Bash Ironfist posted:So those naked rats- is there a specific name for them? They're just domestic rats with a hairless gene. There are a few genes that cause "true" hairlessness, and generally they are linked to lactation issues in females and weakened immune system, so the majority of "hairless" rats you see in the pet trade are actually extreme double rexes- rats with two copies of the rex gene, which results in offspring that range from rexes with sort-of thin hair, to almost completely hairless.
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Mar 25, 2013 13:46
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She is a very poor fawn, making her appear beige under normal lighting. Her eye color is ruby and she is also a rex (it is just weakly expressed, so she doesn't have actual curls.)
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Apr 13, 2013 01:25
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WELP, I'm now hand raising two baby rats that were given to me whos mother pretty much just stopped lactating for no discernible reason. They're about 10/11 days old and big enough that they will prrrrobably make it. They're both eating well and look like they're gaining weight. One male, one female, a boring black mismarked bareback and a PEW. At least they will be super friendly!!!! I am also picking up one (possibly two) hairless girls from someone on craigslist after work today.  rats
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Apr 23, 2013 19:46
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Olive Bar posted:You better have gotten both. Hairless rats are the best rats! I did! The "someone on craigslist" actually turned out to be a very cool ratguy who used to have an actual rattery in the Chicago area before moving to Savannah to go to SCAD, and then ended up here in Columbus for some reason I dunno why. He was slowly kind of getting out of breeding rats because he had gotten into training/showing/working GSDs and didn't have as much time for them anymore, and these were the last two girls from what is going to be his last litter. He *said* they've been tumor free since 6 gens back and no/minimal myco flareups for 4 gens, and they are both SUPER healthy and friendly and awesome. It has been so long since I have had super socialized breeder rats and they are so fun. I was just going to get one but he offered me both for the price of one because they were literally his last two rats and the other one would have been alone until someone got her, sooo. One is a dumbo and one is standard eared, and they are homozygous DR's so once they lose the last of their baby fuzz they will be hairless. They are about 7 weeks old and they do not yet have names.
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Apr 25, 2013 16:51
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I'll take a bunch when I get home from work.
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Apr 25, 2013 17:20
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So uhhh, I found a merle rat at PETSMART the other day and about poo poo myself after I realized what I was looking a     I also scored his cagemate/possible littermate after I realized he was at least a pearl (and not a mink, like I originally thought) if not a merle (obscured by excessive white markings) himself. Pearl is US mink based and merle is linked to pearl so it's (sort of, depending on context) all the same anyway. I am just flipping out at how cool he was to find at a PETSMART. In light of this, and in light of the two spergily bred DR girls I got a couple days/weeks ago, I decided to just go buck and buy a critter nation                             I have it split into two cages, boys on bottom girls on top. The two double rexes (the girls) I have had for day/weeks and they STILL do not have names. The two merle brothers and the cinnamon (boys- the cinnamon was a feeder that was handed to me but I kept him bcause he has high-white markings) in the bottom also lack names. Gonna use these guys to do my usual black-eyed-white (the cinnamon is a collared, and both the merles have headspots and white chins, and the dumbo double rex female's skin shows a variegated or at least vari-berk pattern so she may be genetically high-white herself) thing, but MORE EXCITINGLY I can now play with merle and play with the whole pearl/merle/lethal HZ pearl thing and I am just excited as all heck to have the opportunity to go buck with rat genetics again. GONNA LEARN THINGS.
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May 7, 2013 06:11
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One of my girls will now fling herself on the bars for treats when you call her name and it is adorb. I have tried other words but I'm pretty sure she knows her name. 
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May 26, 2013 13:58
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Invalid Octopus posted:Liners are the best. Have you tried using binder clips to hold the fleece down around the edges? I haven't, but it seems like a pretty popular technique. How often do liners need to be changed? I'm new to this critter nation and fleece liners poo poo; I've always used normal bedding in rat cages before. I usually clean cages once a week, but with fleece liners, mine reek by the end of the week and tbh I am way too lazy to change them more often and want to go back to pans/bedding. Does anyone know of some decent pans that will fit a CN? I've been looking but I can't find any plastic bins or anything that will fit the dimensions. 
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May 27, 2013 20:27
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Russian Dollies posted:So long story short, we got a baby rat from the local pet store that brought along some friends (lice!). This little guy weighs in at only 49g (0.09 lbs). It seems like Ivermectin would be risky with a rat this small. We really don't want to wait till Monday to go to the vet as we're sure the little one is probably uncomfortable. Are there any decent OTC remedies that we can look at or are we poo poo out of luck until Monday? Just dose it, it'll be fine 
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Jun 9, 2013 03:42
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That cage is waaaaaaaaaaaaay too small for 3 male rats, even if you add levels. They need about double that amount of space, at least.
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Jun 12, 2013 12:50
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RazorBunny posted:How long should I keep the baby separate for quarantine reasons? He's by himself, so I hate to make it too long, but I don't want anybody getting sick either. Honestly, quarantine doesn't matter much unless they're being kept in separate air spaces. I usually just do a couple days to watch for major stuff and then chuck-em together. The super-serious stuff like SDA can be transmitted by them just being in the same house, so it doesn't really matter.
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Jun 29, 2013 14:51
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Yeah you need to separate the mom and babies from your old rat. Feed the mom foods that are high in protein while she is nursing. Start handling the babies right now so they'll be friendly. Separate the males from the females (including their mom) when they are 5 weeks old.
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Jul 3, 2013 13:34
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I bred Belly and Bean (extreme/hairless double rexes) to Hammish (standard merle) about a month ago (I just let them chill with Hammish for like a week, so I can't exactly pinpoint their due dates.) Bean WAS fat, but mysteriously reabsorbed her litter (I have no idea why, the only possibility I can think of is that moving her from her cage to her maternity tank stressed her out a ton, she's a sweet rat but pretty dumb and skittish and doesn't like new things) but Belly is super fat and about to explode. Rat babbies soon.
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Jul 4, 2013 14:32
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Ok so I just walked in the door from work to find Belly FINALLY sitting on a pile of peeps. She had not started labor when I came home during lunch, but she was laying in odd positions and stretching a lot, so I knew it wouldn't be much longer. It looks like she's not finished, so I just peeked for a second and everyone so far looks big and healthy and FAT. I will pull everyone out later tonight when she's finished. I'll be able to tell sex, coat type (at least 25% of the litter should be rex, the rest standard) ear type (if she is carrying dumbo, 25% should be dumbo, the rest standard with some of them carrying dumbo) and eye color. Looks like a big litter for a first time. fake e; Managed to get a good enough look at one of them through the glass to tell that it is a rex, and also a boy. Couldn't tell his ear type from the angle he was sitting though.
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Jul 8, 2013 22:51
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So I finally, after 20 years of ratladying, built a rat rack to streamline the crap out of my obsessive BYBing.   I am officially a horrible person and I would love to show these pics and this post to me, circa 2005. I also picked up these dudes from Petco day before yesterday:  The one on the right is prob the most minimally marked rat I've found in a pet store, so that's cool. I'm more interested in merle-ing than I am in extreme HW's now though. The one on the left is actually more useful to me right now because he's a poor rex and I'm trying to work rexing into everything and it's hard as poo poo to get around here, the last few years. ~~ratz~~
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Nov 4, 2013 02:13
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I used to take yogies and cut them into 1/4ths so they were training treat sized. Cheerios def worked when I ran out though.
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Nov 6, 2013 16:25
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I am super duper allergic to rats and it took about 10 years for me to get that way. Now anywhere they touch me leaves an itchy welt and handling them makes my eyes and nose run.
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Nov 9, 2013 14:54
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Rats take a lot of effort and handling and some experience before they're fun to own.  They don't just bust out ready to walk on a harness and not pee on things, it sounds like you're moving waaaaaaaaaay too fast. For the record I've had rats for almost 20 years now (most of my life!) and if I tried to put a harness on one that would last about 3 seconds and would prob take at least 2 people to accomplish in the first place.
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Nov 19, 2013 03:37
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 18:15 |
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Invalid Octopus posted:I'm sorry dude but maybe if you'd asked if getting a rat harness was a good idea people would have told you it wasn't. If you want to rehome the rats, rehome the rats. Pretty much this. You're expecting your rats to act super socialized and like they've had a bunch of conscious training while also being allergic to them and not being able to contain them. They're not dogs, it takes way more work than the average person is willing to put in (myself included) to get them to the level you seem to expect rats to be at by default. It's cool, just rehome them.
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Nov 19, 2013 03:42
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