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I've been ratless for about a year after my last two had a series of strokes (at least, that's my guess.) Figured I was ready for more, so I just picked this girl up from the pet store. She was incredibly friendly and brave, and was willing to eat out of my hand within an hour of getting to her new home. Unfortunately, all the other friendly babies at the store were male, so I'm holding off on getting her a companion for the moment. Also unfortunately, I don't think the breeder who sold the babies to the store took very good care of them, because she's kind of sniffly and I'm thinking she may have myco.  Oh well, I'm impressed enough by her demeanor that I'll just deal with it as best I can if it doesn't clear up. I'll post more pics tomorrow.
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Feb 12, 2015 05:02
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I've honestly only had one rat (out of... a bunch over ~3 decades) who didn't beg to come out.  Sometimes it took a while for them to come around, though.My photo's broken? Erm... Sorry about that. Shows up fine here, but I'll try flickr this time. Hopefully this will work better.  20150211_221657 by ben_templeton, on Flickr I've decided on the name Myia (after the ancient greek philosopher because I'm a terribly pretentious git.)  20150213_191804 by ben_templeton, on Flickr There she is in her new home. She spent the last three nights there alone.  She's quite tiny.  20150213_162939 by ben_templeton, on Flickr But very brave!  20150213_162933 by ben_templeton, on Flickr She actually was eating out of people's hands within an hour of getting home!  10888349_10155180193750293_2537579065112967970_n by ben_templeton, on Flickr  Myia 1 by ben_templeton, on Flickr But I picked up a companion for her today!   20150214_150534 by ben_templeton, on Flickr She's a teeny bit older and not as brave, but she's still sweet. I'm probably going to name her Damo. (Again, pretentious git.)  20150214_150502 by ben_templeton, on Flickr As soon as Damo got into the cage, Myia was ecstatic! Hopping and bouncing all over the place, trying to get Damo to play.  20150214_150430 by ben_templeton, on Flickr Damo was more interested in exploring her new surroundings, though. But I'm sure they'll get along well once she's settled.  20150214_150425 by ben_templeton, on FlickrI'm pretty content right now. They're going to cost me a ton in vet bills (they always do  ), but I've got the money already set aside so it won't be a hardship.Did those photos show up fine, I hope?
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Feb 14, 2015 20:46
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My condolences, but at least he went out being loved. That's a lot more than most rats get in this world.
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Mar 9, 2015 14:10
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So, Damo is pretty weird. Whenever I have her out playing, she's nigh-constantly working her jaw and tongue. It's not bruxing, since her teeth aren't grinding together, it's just opening and closing her mouth while running her tongue between her teeth. Her teeth seem fine, and I can't find any health problems that would explain it. I've had a lot of rats over the years, but this is the first time any of them have had a habit (?) like this. Maybe she's just kinda dumb? I dunno.
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Mar 12, 2015 03:19
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Yeah, haven't noticed her doing it in the cage yet.
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Mar 12, 2015 20:55
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So, I'm hearing that the rat has been rescued, and is now in the possession of veterinarians. Apparently the gun was an unarmed paintball gun, and it was all something of a publicity stunt to make people more aware of drone attacks. The rat was never at risk, thankfully. Hopefully he'll find a good home.
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Mar 18, 2015 03:48
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Sorry, can't give a link that isn't in German. My understanding is that a U.S. based rat-lovers group got in touch with PETA's German wing, which in turn got in touch with the authorities and things snowballed from there. I don't read German, so I'm operating under the assumption that the amateur translation that I saw of this page is accurate. It says that a veterinarian examined the rat and found it to be in decent health, and that the rat is currently safe. Beyond that I can't really say, I'm just glad that this story seems to have a happy ending.
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Mar 20, 2015 03:30
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My condolences. Rat life spans are awful.
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Mar 24, 2015 14:53
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It was World Rat Day today. To celebrate, I shared my dinner with the girls.  Damo did most of the sharing. Myia was all antisocial and spent most of her play time hiding in the recliner. I made sure she got some chicken, though.
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Apr 5, 2015 01:54
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I've had solitary rats before, which works if it's the right kind of rat - the sort that just doesn't like other rats. If you're sure that's the case, then it should be fine as long as you (or someone) can continue giving him lots of attention. I'm sorry that you've lost Jasper, but at least he went peacefully.
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Apr 9, 2015 16:10
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They're adorable! Do you have names yet?
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Apr 12, 2015 18:57
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I'm sure this thread would have been fine to ask questions in. Big posts aren't that big a deal, there have been plenty of them from the start of the thread. So, have any of you fellow rat lovers ever seen this video? Some scientists wanted to find out how close the domesticated variety of rat is to their wild cousins, instinct-wise, so they released 50 lab rats into an enclosed outdoor area and followed their progress as they established a colony. It's pretty interesting! I've noticed a lot of rat lovers frequently make excuses for their pets, along the lines of "Oh, well, they're domesticated - it's very different than wild rats." I've been guilty of this myself, in the past. Since seeing this, though, I can't really do that anymore since they're much closer than I'd thought.
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May 20, 2015 17:31
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They're completely adorable, Invalid Octopus! Do you have names in mind? I hope they take to their new home well! I once mixed a male with a female, and had to keep them separate until his balls were removed. Unfortunately, my vet refused to perform the operation until a certain age (I'm not sure, but IIRC it was something silly like 4 or 5 months). They were both pretty lonely during the wait, particularly the female who was in mourning for her litter mate, who died unexpectedly during cancer surgery.  I ended up lying about his age to get him through the procedure early. Luckily he was big for his age so it was plausible.
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May 27, 2015 02:32
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Dyna's gorgeous! Yeah, some rats just don't take to people. I had a pair of males like that, they were okay when they were babies, then when they got a bit older they just became absurdly anxious around everyone. They eventually got over it to a certain extent, but that was a year plus into their lives. Luckily, in my experience that's pretty rare in rats, and even among the ones that are they can learn to get better. One of the friendliest, cuddliest rats I've ever interacted with was abused by his original owner before being adopted by my ex-girlfriend, so when she got him he'd just want to be left alone in his cage and he'd try to bite anyone who got close. With some hand feeding and a great deal of patience, he eventually learned to trust people and even became a friendly, fun-loving rat for the remainder of his life (though he was still pretty territorial about the couch, at least when it came to her pet cat).
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Jun 1, 2015 00:17
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There's not much you can do yourself, no. With some luck, a vet can prescribe antibiotics that can treat the symptoms and even make them go away for a while, but nothing can actually cure the condition. That's the bad news, sorry. The good news is that in its earlier stages it's not particularly uncomfortable for the rat. If it's just started, then it's probably still pretty mild, and will likely come and go depending on the rat's overall level of health and stress. Even with this disease, a rat can live a long and fulfilling life - even untreated, it likely won't become debilitating until a more advanced age. It's also easier to treat if caught early, though again it can never be completely cured so you should fully expect it to reappear eventually. Good luck! (And don't feel too bad - you did nothing wrong, a very large number of rats contract the disease at some point in their life.)
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Jun 22, 2015 01:39
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I love it when introductions go well. I really wish I could get rats with roan/husky coats - I think it's a gorgeous pattern, but there's none available in this part of the world.
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Jun 23, 2015 03:03
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Yeah, I'd just go ahead and ask anyway. I don't think it would be a big deal to most breeders.
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Jul 3, 2015 02:05
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Most rats are pretty sweet, it comes naturally to them. They can be brats sometimes too, though. Had an issue yesterday where one of my girls tried to get away from me when I had her playing in the backyard. She tried to get under the neighbours' bushes, and actually hid from me when I went to get her. I think she thought it was a game, based on how she acted when I finally caught her (plenty happy).  A panicky 30-40 seconds, that was.
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Jul 4, 2015 15:12
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22 Eargesplitten posted:Our one that died recently wasn't very affectionate. It was nearly blind, though, whatever it's called when they have red eyes. We got them from a family who couldn't take care of them anymore. I think one was the boy's and one was the girl's. So one probably got more attention than the other, too. Albinos are sometimes more nervous than the baseline due to their near-blindness (and their other senses are dulled compared to normal rats, as well), so the world can seem extra scary and mysterious to them. This can be made worse if they're ignored or abused by their owners. Even then, though, in my experience most of them can be turned around. So! I accidentally left a package of yogurt drops on the top of my girls' cage.  They chewed a hole in the bottom, all sneaky-like, to pull out the yogurt drops while leaving the bag looking more-or-less intact. Only noticed it tonight. I have no idea how long the little gluttons been gorging themselves on yogurt, but I couldn't find any of them stashed away anywhere, so they must have eaten them all. Rats.
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Jul 5, 2015 02:52
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Rats aren't hamsters, they don't really need a ball when they're out playing and they have a lot more fun exploring without one.
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Jul 10, 2015 02:21
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I've always given my rats the full run of at least one room during playtime - whether that's an office, a bedroom, or the living room. If you give them a treat whenever they go back into the cage after playtime, they'll tend not to make themselves scarce when playtime is over. Right now, my girls get about a third of the house - the living room, entryway, and a couple of hallways, all of which are either rat proofed or don't really have anyplace they can get lost in. I block off rat unfriendly rooms (like the kitchen) with a baby gate in the door frame leading to the rest of the house.
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Jul 11, 2015 02:17
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Zlocista posted:My wife and I are planning our trip to visit our families for the winter, which involves a 3 hour flight each way from large airports. Is there any good way of taking our rats with us/shipping them for a reasonable price? The alternative is to find someone who can watch our rats during the break, which seems like what we might have to do, but it'd be nice to not have to ask that of friends. I've heard horror stories about shipping animals, rats in particular. Not something I'd want to do, personally. I did once take one of my rats on the plane in a cat carrier to get from one side of the country to the other (the carrier counted as my carry-on), but you'll want to call the airline ahead of time to find out their policies on such matters. I hardly ever travel by air, so I don't know how viable this these days.
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Sep 11, 2015 03:56
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A male rat, iirc, should be getting around 100 nutrient rich calories a day. Active rats need a lot of water, between 20 and 50 ml per day. Good luck, I know how hard it can be. If he has no quality of life, it's probably time for your vet to put him down.
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Sep 23, 2015 17:20
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Get two instead.
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Oct 2, 2015 21:48
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Good, they'll both be much happier and healthier that way. Thanks for taking our advice.
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Oct 4, 2015 15:20
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That will happen sometimes when they play rough. By itself, sores aren't worth worrying about. If they don't go away in a timely fashion, however, scabs and sores can be a sign of mites (or another type of parasitic infestation). In that case, it's worth taking them to the vet for treatment.
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Feb 15, 2016 00:53
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That really sucks. I've had a lot of rats over the years, but only limited experience with chronic biters because they're pretty rare. I'll share that experience, and what I remember of the research I did at the time to deal with the problem, but I can't make any promises of how useful it's going to be. A girlfriend of mine once adopted a biter from an acquaintance. The poor thing had been kept like a goldfish in a small glass cage with no companionship, regular playtime, or even much interaction with people. She'd never had rats before, but she was determined to turn his life around so I helped her how I could. The key here was patience. At first, he didn't even want to leave the cage we got him, and if we tried to reach in to interact with him he'd give a brief warning that he was going to bite - and then he'd follow through on that warning, pretty hard. We had to earn his trust literally inch by inch, as we would lure him out of his cage with treats and slowly get him used to the idea of our hands as the bearers of food. Sometimes the process of just getting him to take a single treat would take over an hour. Patience was key, really. Vinnie (that was his name) was a fear biter, which is usually the reason rats bite people. You say that your rats have bitten you for no reason, but you're probably mistaken - rats are smart enough that they don't bite out of instinct like some other small animals, when they bite it's absolutely a conscious choice. (Aggressive rats do exist, but they're even more rare than fear biters are.) Using gloves or a towel to help interact with your rats, to protect you while you get them used to the idea of positive interactions with people, can help a lot with the process - at the very least, they'll make *you* less nervous. When biting does occur, try to figure out any commonalities in the situation that provoked the biting and work from there to earn the rats' trust. Particularly if it's a fear response, you also need to show the rats that their biting does NOT work, and that they ARE going to be handled whether they like it or not. Rats use survival strategies that work, and if they learn that biting just plain doesn't work, they'll look for other methods of coping with difficult situations. Are your rats males or females? Bucks in their first year will sometimes (again, super rare) be more territorial than normal thanks to hormonal issues. This can make them reluctant to accept you as their alpha, and attempt to put you in your place through biting when you try to show dominance over them (picking them up, btw, is absolutely a show of dominance.) This sort of problem is usually dealt with the same way as I've outlined above, though if you want to get them fixed that can speed up the process. It probably doesn't need to be said, but you also shouldn't let other people handle your rats until the biting problem is dealt with, at least not without a very clear warning. I hope this is helpful on some level. Good luck!
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Mar 25, 2016 10:04
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I honestly haven't seen a rat that young walk like that. It might just be caution or eccentricity (one of my current girls nigh-constantly chews the air for no apparent reason), or like you said it could be nerve damage. Not much to be done in the latter case save make her cage area more comfortable for her. It also might just clear up in time, hard to say. All I can say with absolute certainty is that she's adorable! (I know that's not very helpful, sorry.)
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Apr 26, 2016 07:37
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Being a rat owner is living a life full of heartache. Rat personalities are vibrant and (usually) wonderful, but with burning so brightly they also burn short. It kinda comes with the territory, and eventually you learn to deal. It's to be expected that this thread would be full of lament and anguish at lost friends, since lamenting is part of dealing. Ahem. Rat pics. Here's the most recent one of the alpha of my pair of girls, Myia. She's being shy because it's still morning.  And here she is with her sister/cousin/something (pretty sure they're related, anyway) Damo. Damo is kind of dumb. She also has a tendency to grow tumours, which has cost me more than I care to think about to remove over the course of two surgeries. But then I see her derp and I just can't stay mad.   We recently had an uncharacteristically nice day so I took them outside to play for a bit. Here's one pic of Myia just sort of chilling as she took in her surroundings (staying close to me for safety, of course.)  They share their play area (a living room) with a rabbit. They don't really interact, though occasionally one of my girls will get curious and run up to sniff the rabbit through the bars of his cage. Sometimes they'll tease him if they think I'm not looking. I should try to get a pic of that sometime. Anyway, here's Myia playing on one of the rabbit's toys, the ownership of which she strongly disputes.  I can't believe they're already almost a year and a half old. They're still plenty exhausting, though.
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Apr 30, 2016 05:39
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I've definitely never heard of anything like that, it sounds strange.
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Aug 12, 2016 17:05
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D'awww! 
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Aug 26, 2016 21:56
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CompactFanny posted:Had to say goodbye to my ~2 year old girl Max this morning. She had a brain tumor. Now I'm just extremely sad and it's hard because none of my friends and family understand how I could have pet rats in the first place Yeah, people can be lovely this way with arbitrary divisions between "animal" and "vermin." If nothing else, the posters in this thread understand your pain. I don't know if it will help, but last time I lost one of mine I came across this article and I found reading it somewhat cathartic: http://www.oprah.com/relationships/how-a-hong-kong-alley-rat-changed-one-couples-life Maybe it will help you a bit, too?
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Oct 15, 2016 21:01
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Obliterati posted:So uh I got a couple girls out of a pet store last week and today I discovered why one of them is so fat! She's not fat, she just was pregnant. So now I have something like ten rats. I've done the basic reading so I know about seperating the sexes etc. but are there less obvious things I should know? My two don't seem very well socialised yet. Never bred rats myself, so all I can do is link you to some basic info on the subject.
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Nov 16, 2016 05:37
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I shared turkey with my girls... last month, during the proper Canadian holiday. 
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Nov 26, 2016 03:16
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Nah, they'll be fine. Sometimes rats in the wild will use ammonia to act as a heating system for their nests, and honestly if rat pee was dangerous I would have died a long time ago.
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Nov 26, 2016 19:27
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I just got one of my girls back from the vet after her third mass removal. This little brat has cost me so much money  She'll be two in a couple months, so I was tempted to just ignore it since it didn't seem to be painful or anything, but this one was growing so aggressively I just couldn't not do anything about it. I've decided that rats are more expensive than dogs, when you consider vet bills.* * Some breeds with chronic health problems excepted. Kuule hain nussivan posted:Same happened to us. She got really weak really quickly, and couldn't eat or drink anymore, so we had her put down. I've done it a few times, and never had any problem. Older rats (particularly females, but males too for the most part) tend to be incredibly patient with young rats. You'll want to watch their first introduction just to be careful, but 99% chance they'll be best buds within the hour.
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Dec 15, 2016 20:58
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I've wanted a gambian pouched rat for some time now - basically ever since I discovered their existence. Unfortunately, Canada banned the sale, breeding, and importation of them years ago after a monkeypox outbreak in Florida. More recently (say, 2010ish) they lifted the first two bans, but not the third... And the ban lasted long enough that any pouched rats had died out by then, so while it's technically legal to own one here, it's impossible to find one for sale (or at all.) There are breeders in the UK, though.
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Dec 22, 2016 08:03
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They're very cute. How did it come to be that your husband's parents are taking care of them?
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Dec 23, 2016 18:25
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Magic Hate Ball posted:They were originally his, but he had to move to a place with a no-pets policy. So they don't get any significant playtime outside the cage? That makes me very sad.
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Dec 24, 2016 00:58
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Some scratches are normal as they're adjusting (particularly with bald rats like her). Just keep them clean and keep an eye on them for infections, otherwise I wouldn't worry too much about them. Her lethargy is of more concern, based on your description - it sounds like she might not really feel at ease in her home yet? Has she been showing any other signs of stress? It may just take her some more time to adjust to her new surroundings. In my experience, trimming a rat's nails is a two-person job, they're way too squirmy otherwise. Have you considered putting some rocks/bricks in their cage? When placed in the right spots so they'll walk on them a lot (I have one right in front of the water bottle) it can make nail-trimming sessions a lot less frequent.* Note that this depends on the individual rat's behaviour so results may vary, but it's worth a shot. I'm not sure what to advise regarding getting Pipis to warm up to you, other than keep trying. She's probably still getting used to all the changes in her life. That takes some rats longer than others, and as long as she's still affectionate and interested in interacting with you once she's outside then it's probably just a matter of time.
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Feb 1, 2017 18:24
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