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I've been thinking about getting rats for over a year now, and I have a couple questions for you experts. First of all, I live in shared accommodation and one of my housemates has a gerbil that is kept in the living room, which is where I'd want to put my rats. I'm wondering if the presence of a gerbil will bother the rats? The living room is quite small so I doubt I'd be able to keep them out of sight of each other. Also despite what my housemate has told me the gerbil is prooobably male (or has a cracking pair of balls for a girl), if that makes a difference. Secondly.. I've never kept rats before (in fact, I've never had a pet before at all) and I'm not sure the best way to get the rats. From what I've read rats will probably be easier to socialise when bought from a breeder and are young, but is getting a young rat a good idea for a first-time rat owner? Would it be better if I got an older rat, or would they be more likely to be difficult to socialise? I'm a little unsure of buying rats from a breeder because I feel rather guilty knowing there may be rats in shelters that need homes, but since I'm a novice at this maybe getting a rescue rat is a bad idea.  I also can't seem to find a decent breeder in my area (Middlesbrough, England) and I can't drive, so that limits me a bit. Any brits here know a good breeder in the area? I've seen a few ads for rat breeders but I'm a horrible judgemental person and their bad websites make me very wary of them.
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Aug 3, 2010 00:05
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Currently trying to shop for a rat cage for two rats and I keep finding ones with wire or (what I assume is) pine shelves. Pine's obviously out of the question but are wire shelves also a no-go in case of bumblefoot? I really can't seem to find affordable cages with shelves that aren't wire. I'm in the UK so any US site recommendations are no good I'm afraid.  Also I'm wondering if cages should be bought new. I've seen some second-hand cages but I'm curious if those would smell of the previous rat inhabitants even after careful cleaning and if that might worry my future rats. Rats rats rats!
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Aug 5, 2010 22:45
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Thanks for the answers about bumblefoot/second-hand cage. I've bought a second-hand savic freddy 2 which looks awesome and seems a good size for a pair of rats. The seller is an avid rat owner herself and said she has given it a good clean already, but I'll clean it again when it arrives just to be on the safe side. Talking to a couple breeders and one has two litters of roan dumbos:  Click here for the full 800x812 image. Gawwwd I can't wait, look at them 
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Aug 8, 2010 03:12
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Superconsndar posted:Hope they've got mega-colon free lines, those dominant blazes are horrifying. What do you mean?
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Aug 8, 2010 19:15
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Thanks for the info! From what I can see she works only with UK rats, but I've emailed her to ask all the same.
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Aug 8, 2010 19:46
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Good lord I feel like I'm preparing for a baby. So since my rats (a pair) will be ready for me to collect them from the breeder in a week I've been buying their stuff. This is all stuff I've read about needing and I just want to run it past you guys, to see if I've gotten anything horribly wrong or have forgotten something vital. Your input is welcomed!  Click here for the full 900x586 image. I completely understand that for toys and stuff the rats would be happy with even a rag on a stick but I couldn't resist buying some of these things. There are some things I know I haven't gotten yet, which include: - A CAGE no not really, it will arrive on Monday and it's a Savic Freddy 2 - Litter for poopin' (I want to check what kind the breeder uses so my rats don't have to adapt to a new one) - Litter tray of sorts (will probably buy a corner one, I need to see in person how big the cage is so I can judge it properly) - Substrate (the breeder I am buying from uses shredded cardboard, and that's something I can easily buy closer to the time of arrival) - A second hide Okay, so these things are what I do have: - Wooly bedding. Obviously this one bag won't be enough, but I want to make sure this kind of bedding is alright. I've checked it all over and it doesn't seem to have any sort of little fibres or loops that could get caught on a rat's toes. A store near me sells a bunch of different beddings so I'll be able to pick up anything you might suggest as superior, probably. - A base rat food! (Beaphar XtraVital) It's high protein stuff, so I've read, which would be beneficial to young rats right? I'll change it for a lower protein base when the rats are older so they don't become fatties. Obviously this is only a base food and I'll supplement it with various fruit and veg etc as need be. - Tennis ball on a rope which is actually a dog toy, but I thought I could hang it up in the cage so rats could climb it. I was considering cutting a small hole in the tennis ball itself and using it to hide food in for a bit of enrichment, how does that sound? - Fleece-lined hammock. Will probably get a second one just in case a rat wants to chill on its own and the first hammock is occupied. - Large and small water bottle. Smaller water bottle will contain water that has vitamins and calcivet added, larger bottle will be just water on its own. I was planning on adding the vits and stuff to the small water bottle 5 days a week because I read somewhere that 7 days a week may be a bit too much. Also if they knock one of the bottles down at least they have a spare. - Treat ball for a bit of enrichment! - Vitamins and calcivet (which is a calcium supplement if it's unknown outside the UK) - Stupid bright orange dumbell which will probably be too heavy for the rats to pick up but damnit my money was burning a hole in my pocket - Veggie basket that has a bell on the bottom of it. I bet that bell won't be on there long! ring a ling a ling a ding a ring - Heavy rat bowl that (hopefully) can't be tipped over. Will be getting a second one so I can put dry food in one and wet food in another. - Rope toy intended for birds, but I assume it's okay for rats too? - Awesome igloo hide thing! I need a second hide that is a bit smaller but I'm not sure what kind to get. Phew. Okay so did I miss anything? Are any of the things I've bought sub-par? Anything horrendously wrong and I should feel terrible about it? Oh I read somewhere that it's better not to give tap water to rats to drink. I live in the UK so I think what's added to our water is a bit different from the US. Am I better off giving them bottled water? Good lord I'm so excited to get these rats you have no idea. I've been looking at videos of rats on youtube all day, bruxing and boggling (holy poo poo are they cute when they do that), swimming, doing tricks etc etc and I just can't wait to be involved with all this.
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Aug 14, 2010 21:34
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Amiss posted:I think you are going to be a great rat owner. Oh wow thank you. That means a lot, I've been so anxious about getting things right. (just under a week to go!)
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Aug 16, 2010 14:17
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Sorry to ask this, I'm just genuinely curious.. put in spoiler tags since it seems polite, it's about feeder rats. What's generally the normal method of killing the rats? It just occurred to me that I have no real idea. And that first pic is super cute.
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Aug 16, 2010 21:54
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So originally I was getting just a pair of does, but then I thought 'WHAT IF ONE DIES AND THE OTHER IS LONELY?'  Also I wanted another rat because why not. Breeder sent me a pic of my gals;  No cases of megacolon in these british rats' lines, and they are purely pets and will never be bred or shown. They're cute as a button and I can't wait to get them on Friday. The breeder is bringing them here so she can check out where they'll be living, and I'll be checking the girls over for any problems but all going well I'll have three new friends to chew my stuff soon. The 'lil paint-face looking up is Treguna, the black butt-sniffer is Mekoides and you might expect the other roan to be Trecorum maybe if you get the reference, but my housemate insists she be called Peanut so there we go. e: by the way thanks Superconsndar for the answer, I learned a new term and everything!
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Aug 18, 2010 00:45
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Shadow0 posted:So I noticed there were a lot of warnings on the first post of solitary rats. How bad for the rat is it to be alone? From what I understand, very bad. They're very social animals and no matter how much time you spend with a lone rat you just can't give them the kind of attention and affection another rat can give them. You just cannot possibly be a substitute, and a lone rat will be nervous and lonely. There are exceptions to every rule and a lone rat might not look like it's bored/nervous/lonely, but there really is no reason not to get at least two rats and they'll be much happier for it. I think personally that if the cost of another rat is what makes someone not want to get a pair, they should really think whether they can afford a rat at all. Robot Girlfriend posted:No offense, but it seems really awful to post pictures of your adorable baby rats then talk about how you kill them. I know it was spoilered text but still. It makes me sad to see how cute they are and know they're going to be eaten. It's honestly not a whole lot different from the pack of bacon in your fridge. That's from a pig that was raised to be killed for food, and piglets are pretty drat cute. Her rats are being bred with care and attention, seem to be given everything they could want or need, and then at the end of their time they're very humanely killed for their purpose. I don't understand why people have such a huge problem with feeder rats when they're so obviously well cared for. I bet Superconsndar's rats have a better life than the ones that get bought from pet shops.
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Aug 18, 2010 13:12
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Superconsndar posted:This is how feeder rodents are commercialy raised and housed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UndW7_Gc_kM  Horrendous! e: Wow he supplies rats for pet shops too. Never buy pet shop rats.
Build-a-Boar fucked around with this message at 16:35 on Aug 18, 2010 |
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Aug 18, 2010 16:07
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Shadow0 posted:I suppose I'll see if I can get him/her (I just look underneath and I should be able to tell, right? Haven't tried) a buddy. Male rats have absolutely enormous balls so it's very easy to sex them. 
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Aug 19, 2010 00:33
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The younger the rats are the easier it is to introduce them to new cage-mates, so do it sooner rather than later. Make sure they're the same sex (like I said, males have honkin' great gonads) and introduce them carefully, on neutral ground. What I mean by this is put your old and new rat together somewhere away from the cage, like on a sofa or something. This is so your first rat won't think the new one is an intruder if you just throw it into the cage. Do these neutral-ground meetings a few times over the course of a few days if you can. The rats are quite likely to fight when they meet but it's more 'scuffling' that proper fighting, they just need to assess which is the stronger and more dominant one and then they will accept their roles. A lot of people go by the rule of 'no blood, no problem' regarding fighting rats so just let them wrestle it out if they need to but step in if things are vicious enough to draw blood. This is only ONE method of doing introductions so don't take it all as gospel, read through the thread and look up introductions on google and decide for yourself what'll work best.
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Aug 19, 2010 15:06
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Pickle Chops posted:I'm pretty sure this varies. I have seen some tiny ones in our local Petsmart, but equally, they will sit there until they get sold. So then you're looking at some fully grown ones! Yeah I don't think asking the staff will help much. If they don't know the age of the rats they may lie, too. You could look at a bunch of pictures or videos of baby rats and get an idea of what size they are at a particular age so you can age them better when you see them. The bonus to this solution is that you get to look at adorable young rats. If you can get a rat from a breeder they'll know the rat's age down to the day, but that's assuming you're lucky and there's a breeder local to you with a litter ready and with one unreserved.
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Aug 19, 2010 20:54
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Hiya Chakattack! My rats are from a breeder in Stillington, Stockton. Apparently the north of England is a good place for breeders/rescuers and the North East Rat Society (NERS) can help put you contact with them - http://www.neratsociety.co.uk/looking.html Breeder list - http://www.neratsociety.co.uk/breeders.html Pet shop rats aren't likely to be well socialised at all and may be carrying an illness that the pet shop owners just don't have time to identify or treat, so definitely go with a breeder or rescue if you can. Also, my three girls arrived about 20 minutes ago aaaa they are adorable, I'm leaving them alone so they can chill out and explore their cage but it's killing me being in a different room from them! Pictures later when they've calmed down from the excitement, I can still hear them pinging around the cage like mad things. I got to meet their mum too and she was beautiful.
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Aug 20, 2010 14:35
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Working on socialising my three girls a little at a time, today they had adventure time on my bed and explored it all, along with me and my housemate. Koides is okay with being picked up and likes shoulder rides, Guna is a bit more shy but can be picked up with a bit of effort, but Peanut is by far the most nervous. She explored but was quick to retreat under my leg () if I moved my hands too fast. I've tried tempting them over to me with yoghurt which I've been told by multiple people that will win a rat's heart, but only Koides seems to care about it. She's licked it off the spoon and then later my fingers, but Guna and Peanut aren't interested when it's offered to them. I've never heard of rats refusing treats!
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Aug 22, 2010 16:05
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Hey so it turns out taking pictures of young energetic rats is hard! Here's Guna in my sleeve;  I think I made a mistake in encouraging them to go down my sleeves because as soon as I reach out for them that's immediately where they zoom to.  Also the honour of 'First Rat to Pee on Me' goes to GUNA! Congratulations Guna! Also yaay Chakattack, glad to hear your news! I can't comment on the tumours thing because these are my first but I can definitely attest to the energy of girls @_@
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Aug 26, 2010 02:33
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4cbC1BoCPc Just a video of my three girls (although you only get to see two since one was hiding in a sleeve) Sorry the quality isn't great, guess my camera is kinda crappy! They've already taken to litter training pretty well, I bring their litter tray out of the cage and put it nearby when they're out playing and they head off to use it when the need arises, so I'm kind of amazed that I've only been peed on once so far. No poop either!
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Aug 28, 2010 22:10
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I went through a process of accepting the death of my rats even before I got them, I have issues dealing with death and I knew that I was going to have to endure three deaths in a short time. I know and accept my girls are going to die, but I also know that I have a fair bit of power in deciding when as I can see if they're suffering and end it. If they die naturally, well I know they'll have died after a life of absolute love and luxury and in the company of their sisters, knowing there's this huge moving thing somewhere near them that they trust enough to run to when they're feeling scared. They are all spoiled absolutely rotten and they want for nothing. A happy comfortable life and painless peaceful death is my promise to them and my thanks for them just being themselves.
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Oct 1, 2010 15:59
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redjenova posted:Can anyone give me an overview? Very inquisitive toddler that fits in your palm. (having pet rats owns)
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Oct 13, 2010 17:05
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This thread needs more pics damnit This 'hammock' is a child's knitted hat that I hung from the roof of the cage for them to chill in since I had to wash one of their hammocks and didn't have a spare. They're used to having their hammock pointing in the direction of the TV, so when I put this hat in facing the other direction they corrected it by putting a hole in it so they could still look at the TV. And then when the hat became popular enough that two rats wanted to be in it at a time, they chewed another viewing window so two could look at the TV at once. I think that story there sums up why I love these guys. .. looking adorable helps, too.  Click here for the full 800x600 image. 
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Oct 16, 2010 14:34
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Blackish Sheep posted:I really want Nox to be happy in her new home and not be terrified of being handled. How do I get her comfortable with me? I know nothing about mice but I assume it can't really hurt to try what works with rats? My girls were skittish at first but as they're from a breeder and were used to regular handling it didn't take long to calm them down. First of all I'd slowly put my hand in the cage and make a fist (to protect myself from potential bites) and let them come inspect and sniff after cowering for a bit. I don't know if mice have the same curiousity drive as rats do so that method might not do anything for them, they may just cower until you go away. I also used a bit of forced socialisation, in that I removed everything they could hide in so they had no option but to be exposed for a little while. Then I started putting dabs of fruity yoghurt on my fingers, because it's a treat that they couldn't grab and run away with, so they were forced to stay near my hand if they wanted the treat. Don't try to pet the nervous mouse or anything yet, movement will scare her so just get her used to your hand being there and being the bearer of a nice treat that they get only from your fingers and nowhere else. Try to get into the habit of bringing a little treat with you every time you pass their cage and give it to them by hand, don't just drop it in there with them. Also make sure you don't give them any food through the bars, always open the cage, otherwise they'll assume that fingers poked through bars are food and nip. First thing any guest at my house does is stick fingers through the bars to pet the rats so it's a good thing they don't associate that with food! I guess the general idea is that you associate your hands with nice things. Do you free-range the mice? I don't know if people do that. By free-range I mean do they get time out of their cage to play around? If so (and you probably do this already if that's the case), when playtime is over put them back in the cage yourself rather than letting them wander back in on their own. This way they associate your hands with safety as you are putting them back in their home. Uhhm what else.. oh, when she's feeling a bit less skittish around you (and it could take a while since she's a pet shop mouse), during free-range time (assuming you have it) just pick her up and hold her for a bit every now and then, then put her back down. Do this a few times every playtime so she gets used to it, and when you put her back down maybe give her a little treat if she hasn't struggled or something. You said that it's 'nearly impossible to catch her', which sounds to me like you're chasing her with your hands trying to get ahold of her. This is going to scare the bejesus out of her so try not to pick her up at all until you've gotten her confidently taking treats from your fingers. You want her to come to your hands willingly so you don't have to trigger her prey animal fear chasing her around trying to grab her. Sorry for the wall of text, these are pretty much the methods I used and like I said I'm not entirely sure how they'd work with mice. Those are some super cute meeces and I hope you manage to get Nox a bit more confident.
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Oct 22, 2010 20:56
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I had no idea that hats would turn out to be such popular hammocks for my rats, they really do like them and they're ridiculously cheap for me too. I can pick up hats like this: for £1 each. I have a few stashed that I intend to sew a bit of fleece into to make it a bit warmer for the winter, and so far they're really excellent replacements when I'm washing their proper hammocks. I also bought them a hammock on eBay which is like 4 tube hammocks that connect to make a kinda chamber, and wow they adore it. I picked it up because I thought a proper enclosed hammock would be nice for them for winter, and it gets their seal of approval because they pretty much live in the rat bunker now. If they're feeling a bit too warm they half hang out of the tunnels or sleep on top of it. I got a little corner hammock at the same time as this one and they've already added holes and ripped up some fleece they didn't approve of on that one, but the rat bunker is still pristine because they love it.
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Oct 24, 2010 17:23
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Smee posted:Last year however, we decided to try our hand at breeding. We had a giant ferret cage left over from two sugar gliders that passed away, and it really was just about as easy as 'put boy and girl in cage and wait'. Once the girl shat out squirmy little pink things (9 of them!), we just separated the male (not sure if rats actually eat their young, but its better to be safe) and let momma do her thing until the rittens were naturally weaned off, then put all the females into the ferret cage and the 2 boys off in their own little kingdom. Why did you get into rat breeding and what research did you do beforehand? Because there's a couple erm.. red flags to me in what you say and I'm not even a breeder.
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Oct 27, 2010 11:36
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Am I just weird or does anybody else find it really funny when their rats are in heat? One of mine was in heat the other night and I kept poking her on the rump so she'd do her jumpy little dance. Then I cupped her with my hand and she did her mating posture, skittered away and then came dancing back over and over. I thought it was funny as hell and since she kept coming back to me repeatedly I guess she liked it, otherwise I wouldn't have done it. ..did I just masturbate my rat? 
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Nov 10, 2010 16:33
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Skizzles posted:Also, it seems like fancy rats are the popular choice. Beyond that, I only know of Dumbo rats. What's the difference between these two? 'Fancy' is just a term applied to the keeping/breeding/appreciation etc of domestic animals, so 'fancy rat' just means pet rat. 'Dumbo' is just a variety of the same species (pretty much all fancy rats are Rattus norvegicus) but with ears that are placed lower on the head, as opposed to top-eared rats. As far as I know it's a purely aesthetic thing, they're not different 'breeds' and behave no differently from each other.
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Nov 15, 2010 06:25
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Shadow0 posted:I feel like that's a quick way to making her really afraid/upset of me so I'm kind of reluctant to try that... :/ I really don't think rats will hold a grudge for very long if you've had to do something a bit mean to them a couple times, especially if you fuss them afterward. Medicate them, pet them and give them some kind of treat and they won't be too bothered. My rats have to put up with a mammary check daily and I know for a fact that one of them absolutely HATES it, she'll struggle madly to get away from me because she hates being held still. She doesn't hold a grudge against me though and she doesn't avoid me, she puts up with it because I'll fuss her afterwards. Maybe it helps that I do it at a random time rather than a set time every day?
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Dec 2, 2010 16:02
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Angelwolf posted:I'm just a little worried that they'll get too cold not sleeping in their little hut or in the bedding. I'm in the UK and it's really quite cold right now - it's been snowing a fair bit too. However, I woke up this morning and Rosaline was sleeping on top of the bedding which I guess is a bit better than just on sawdust. I imagine that if they ARE feeling cold they'll start using their hut or making nests with the bedding, but maybe right now they're not cold enough to feel the need. None of my rats were ever interested in any kind of bedding I gave them and were quite happy just to sleep on the hammocks, but since it has started getting colder they love to take shredded kitchen roll off me and make nests with it. They just didn't feel the need to do it earlier, I suppose. I also gave them some scraps of fleece tonight but they're not really sure what to do with it. I stuffed it into one of their hammocks and they'll either leave it there, or Guna will push it out like she usually does when I try to do some housework for her. :p
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Dec 3, 2010 23:27
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Superconsndar posted:I've been allergic to rats for as long as I remember. I break out in itchy hives wherever they touch me and they make my eyes water. I've always just kinda dealt with it. Yep same here, except I didn't notice until I got them. I get very sneezy sometimes too so I take antihistamines to help with it. I don't have a bad reaction every single time I handle them, which is a bit weird. I just time when I handle them so my reaction is as limited as possible and they still get good quality time with me. I've had the same reaction before with a cat and this is after a lifetime of never being affected by pet hair. I dunno if I'm still allergic to cats though because I haven't had contact with any for years. But yeah, you can be allergic to rats and still have no real problems keeping them as pets as long as you don't mind being a bit sniffly sometimes and taking antihistamines.
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Dec 16, 2010 17:44
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Rats are so dumb uuggh. One of mine was in such a rush to get the BEST PIECE OF PASTA AAAA when I put their food out that she managed to choke, at 3 in the morning. I didn't notice until I picked her up and saw she was foaming at the mouth, which kinda made me panic and rush off to google 'the gently caress is wrong with my rat'. I let her sit on her own and try to work it out, which was incredibly worrying because it's not fun watching your rat drool and drag her face across the floor and generally look unbelievably miserable. I kept watching her for an hour, scared she might start to turn blue and then I'd have to give her some kind of ratty heimlich. Went to get her some water, came back and she was immediately looking much brighter and made grabby hands at me for cuddles. Put her back in the cage and she made a bee-line back for the food, then went to bed. Will she ever understand the terror she caused me? No. drat her.
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Feb 13, 2011 00:58
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Sometimes I give my rats cat food in gravy as a treat, and it's cute watching them try to grab the gravy and lick their paws. Well they decided that method was too inefficient, so they started using their cardboard substrate. They'd take squares of cardboard, drop it in the gravy, leave it to absorb it, then take the card out and lick the gravy off it. Then we had a sudden cardboard shortage so I had them on shredded paper for a while, and they couldn't use cardboard on the gravy anymore. So they came up with a NEW trick, which was to drop a small ball into the bowl and slowly turn it, licking the gravy off it as it turned. Obviously they didn't PLAN that, but the fact that they just sort of noticed it was a good method of getting gravy without dirtying their dainty little paws makes me kinda sometimes
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Mar 2, 2011 19:57
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DorianGravy posted:Also, a question: I've had my two rats for eight days now, and Galileo sneezes (or coughs?) a lot. Two of my three rats were sneezy for about two weeks after I got them. I have absolutely no idea why rats do this but it's apparently pretty common and nothing to worry about.
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Mar 10, 2011 19:12
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polyfractal posted:Should I routinely collect the lab blocks my girls hide and put them back in the food bowl? Or just let them continue to hoard them in their various locations? If yours are anything like mine, not long after you've finished they will look at you like you're stupid and dutifully re-hide everything.
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Mar 24, 2011 00:29
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sadus posted:Must... fit... more! Oh my god I freakin' love rats, look at how ridiculous they are.
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May 17, 2011 00:20
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