Rat Crew - Where your heart grows four legs and then warms itself with its own piss

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Rat Crew - Where your heart grows four legs and then warms itself with its own piss

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daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

O ye rat folke.

Thought I'd ask a question here since I don't think many rat or mice people really go to the generic rodent thread. I have four mice, and I want to spoil the little shits. There isn't much in the way of 'mice love these' treat lists online, but there's a load for rats. Obviously rats and mice are different, but is what is safe for rats safe for mice, too?

Specifically, do you guys think the following would be okay for my mice?

- Eggs (hardboiled or softboiled), cooled and in the shell.
- Bull pizzles.
- Dried tripe.
- Small bones (raw or cooked?).
- Nylabone chews.
- Toast.
- Peanut butter.
- Pasta.
- Crickets.
- Mealworms (live or dead?).
- Other insects?

I would recommend not giving rats or mice peanut butter unless it's spread on a cracker or something very thinly. Rats don't have a way to throw up, and peanut butter is very sticky and can get stuck in their throats.

Insects are iffy. Mice don't need as much protein as rats do, and insects can fight back. Plus, if you give them wild-caught insects, you have no idea what the insects got into, which you are then feeding your mice. It's not worth the risk, I don't think.

Everything else is good. Bones are fine, rats and mice will nibble them clean and then crack them to get at the delicious, delicious marrow inside.

# ¿ Oct 10, 2011 15:58

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:09

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Big Bug Hug posted:

Thats good to hear, Toyotadon.

NEWS FLASH

Someone in Australia caught rat bite fever. First time I've ever heard of it happening here in the years I've owned rats. So the news reports that its maybe possible incidences might increase now that more people are owning rats! No kidding... but now people are freaking out.
http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=720255&vId&fb_source=message
Yes, I think this is a slow news week.

Wash your hands after petting/playing with your rats. Don't let them poke around in your mouth, and in general, try to keep your face away from them (I'm guilty of this, but there's a difference between an occasional belly nuzzle vs plastering them with kisses). If you're sharing food, don't feed them from the same hand you're eating with. It's just common sense.

I very rarely let my rats near my face because, well, they (and you!) can be mini plague vectors, and there's always the chance that one might get spooked and bite you. Trust me, you don't want a rat bite anywhere on/near your face.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2012 23:13

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

I just got The Sickest Rat

[snip]

He's about 7-8 weeks old, he looks bigger in the pictures because he's all hunched and puffed up. I am naming him Bagheera.

That's awesome of the pet store employees, even if he is "just" a $3 rat to the managers. Good choice of names, madam. I approve. :golfclap:

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 04:11

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Big Bug Hug posted:

Well, fingers crossed for you and Patti. Let us know what they say. I admit a tumor is probably the most likely candidate, but that sucks

Anyway since I mentioned it, here are some rats with suspected vestibular balance disorder. They were born in the same litter and are perfectly healthy otherwise. I never heard of a rat with this until I read about these guys (on an Aussie forum) http://youtu.be/Kmi0O-56pnc

There's a pretty big difference between this and being slightly off balance though!

Wobbly Rat Syndrome :3:

Although it does make me cringe when they full-on ram their nose into things.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 17:40

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

There's not even a size difference. The difference between a "feeder" rat and a "fancy" rat is the label on the tank they're in. The PEW or black hooded in the feeder tank could easily be a littermate of the ~blue rex dumbo~ in the "fancy" rat tank.

There's only a size difference insofar as the labelling on the tank goes (and therefore price). "Small" "fancy" rats are usually either female or very young, and probably $5 or less. "Large" "fancy" rats are usually the older males WITH GIGANTIC BALLS :3:

and $8 or so. "Feeder" rats are what, $1 each, I don't know, but they're usually pink-eyed whites that nobody wants because PEWs are "creepy".

THEY'RE ALL THE SAME drat RAT.

Just pick the ones that seem healthiest and, if you're looking for females, make sure the morons in the pet shop don't have a young small-balled male rat in the same tank, like mine did. :rolleyes:

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 19:29

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Bear Rape posted:

Haha, that's pretty much what I did, but I figured I'd ask.
e: Not reading, so just older males tend to be bigger?

Yeah, the bigger rats are likely older rats (or fat/sick, doubtful). The really big rats are almost guaranteed to be male.

edit: Don't do a GIS for "rat size". You get (admittedly, highly useful) :nms:

charts of dead feeder mice/rats compared by size instead of the cute little baby ratlings vs. their older brothers that you intended to search for

edit2: And some really weird pictures. O.o

edit3: Found some appropriate pictures, finally. Of course, size is relative, but here's how the pet stores would price them:

Small Rat (aka female or 8ish weeks old):

Medium Rat (aka a couple months old, or fully grown female):

Large Rat (aka adult, fully grown male):

Extra Large Sewer Rat (probably not sold in your pet store. If they are, run the gently caress away):

daggerdragon fucked around with this message at 21:24 on Mar 5, 2012

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 21:14

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Beluga Smoothie posted:

Not going to lie, I'd love to snuggle a giant rat like those sewer ones if they were tame & clean. So much rat. :3

Gambian Pouch Rat - lookit dat rat :3:

# ¿ Mar 5, 2012 22:28

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

NaDy posted:

Yes, but have you thought about SIX rats?

Seriously though I love rats and want more all the time. I think when mine finally go and I get more i'll have to get four.

I've had eight at once. Y'all are rat noobs. :colbert:

Nothing like a furry horde crawling all over you on the couch while watching TV :3:

I wouldn't recommend this, though, unless you have a massive cage and can let them out for plenty of free time. 8 boys fit in my Ruud cage just fine, but space was a little cramped. Not that it mattered, because in the mornings I'd find 7 of them piled on top of each other in one hammock (they had three available, mind you) and the ADHD one off puttering about in the lower levels :rolleyes:

# ¿ Mar 26, 2012 21:57

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

I've had 50+ at once. Pretty sure the official count when I stopped being a ratlady/breeding was 48.

What now.

Crazy breeding ratlady doesn't count :colbert:

How many of those were pets?

Big Bug Hug posted:

Three rats worked well for me until I lost one, then bought two home to bolster the cage numbers. (They will keep each other company on the ride home and introducing them together will be easier!) The number has been 4 since.

Though at first I had all 4 in a cage. Then the two little ones grew... ok. My first two rats were pet store rats and I didn't realise they were SMALL. The little ones I bought from a breeder suddenly grew to (what I considered)MASSIVE proportions. There's not as much room in that cage as I thought, now. Oh well, they all love eachother.

Giant freakin' rat

P.S: How big is big for a male rat? The boy pictured above is 8 inches long not counting his tail. Everyone who sees him says "holy crap". But then most people around here have never seen a pet rat.

Boys can get big. Very, very big. I've had one boy that took two hands to hold all his body length, and his cagemate was a tiny little runty girl-like thing (but very definitely male, can't miss those balls), so your mileage can vary.

# ¿ Mar 27, 2012 16:25

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Mongoloid Joe posted:

We got a cat! We named him Marty, and he's the sweetest thing ever! But I want to know, how we should go about introducing him to the rats? When we brought him home, Kobe and Pau smelled something was up. It's been about a week, and they are both still terrified of Marty when he walks in the room.

We haven't taken the girls out of their cage for an introduction, but is it possible for cats and rats to live in harmony like rainbows, butterflies, and stickers?? Joking aside, how have you guys introduced new species to rats, and how long will it take for them to be comfortable in the same room? How long until they can have friendly supervised playtime (if that's possible at all?)? I love my ratties terribly, and have a newfound love for the new catte as well, I just don't want to have to give up one or the other. Any tips?

As a side note, Marty likes to rub his face on the rat's cage (as I'm sure cats like to do on all objects), and shows no intention of pawing or attacking the critters inside, but then again, it could be too soon to tell.

Cat: Leave cat be. Cat will investigate rat cage on its own. Cat will probably try to stick paws in cage, with expected results. Cat will only do it once. Cat goes back to staring at the cage at a safe distance. If rats are let out for free-roam, cat will retreat to a safe (probably high) place and :catstare:

until you put the rats back in the cage.

Dog: Plop rats on lazy-rear end dog. Dog gives rats a half-assed lick, then goes back to sleep.

Disclaimer: worked for my dog and cats, might not work for yours.

No matter what, never ever ever leave your free-roaming rats unsupervised, especially more so with another species in the same room or within easy access, no matter how friendly they are with each other.

# ¿ Apr 5, 2012 22:22

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Lord Windy posted:

Bailey decided she was queen of the watermelon and has taken to standing on it

You put a whole watermelon in the cage?!

# ¿ Apr 15, 2012 01:20

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Lord Windy posted:

LOL no

It was a slice, I could see they ate some of it when I removed it this morning, so that's a plus

I was going to demand pics of whole watermelon in rat cage. :<

# ¿ Apr 15, 2012 03:35

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Toyotadon posted:

I love catching my girls snuggling. They're such good buddies!

Lately Charlie (on the left) has been chasing Edith (on the right) around and trying to mount her. Has anyone else noticed this kind of behavior with girls? My boyfriend got them from an acquaintance-of-an-aquaintance with whom we don't really have contact, so we're not sure if they're spayed or not.

They're probably not spayed. Females humping is a dominance display. Leave them be unless they're drawing blood or freaking out the "submissive" rat.

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 16:01

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

It can be a dominance display, but more often they do it when they're in heat because girl rats are sluts

Well, that too, but I'm not advocating breaking out the Q-Tips for rats. :aaaaa:

# ¿ Apr 19, 2012 17:41

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Super, I thought the RUUD was the biggest Martin's they had? :confused:

I have the RUUD. 8 rats fit in it just fine. Just make sure you put lots of hammocks and hidey-holes in it.

Although, like super said, it was a pain in the rear end to clean UNLESS you had a power washer. If you have one of those, take it outside, blast it clean, let it dry, put it back in. It's like a rat cage dishwasher!

# ¿ Apr 29, 2012 17:32

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

RazorBunny posted:

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.

I should probably get back to making those again. Need a sewing machine...

# ¿ May 11, 2012 18:52

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

RazorBunny posted:

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!

This is a problem? :colbert:

# ¿ May 17, 2012 16:26

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Atmus posted:

Is there a reason not to use denim or other non-fleece fabrics for rat hammocks or tunnels or whatever?

Not a one. Just make sure it's not heavily dyed, or you might end up with blue/purple rat faces... :tinfoil:

# ¿ Jun 11, 2012 01:41

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Amiss posted:

Relevant to our interests

Anyone ever had something like that happen?

I haven't, but I have two friends who refused to come over when I did have rats because even though I told them I would leave the rats in their cage, "they could still bite through the bars!" :rolleyes:

# ¿ Jun 20, 2012 21:56

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

question: should i feed my mice to my dogs so i can get rats right now, y/n

YES

Or you can just wait a year or so and they'll die naturally and you'll have rats to console you.

# ¿ Aug 29, 2012 16:35

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

Ps you have rats right, post pictures of them _{so that it isn't just me being a ratlady itt}

After the last batch of 8, not anymore

I just couldn't handle them dying every other month, and the last one left just slowly degenerated and it was horrible to watch. It's really hard on you, because they just don't live long enough.

I'll happily go coo at the rats up for adoption by Lollypop (huge humane society in the Rochester area) every time I'm near the Petsmart, though...

# ¿ Aug 29, 2012 17:25

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Pew! Pew! posted:

Hey guys, I just got a book called "The Proper Care of FANCY RATS" circa 1994, anyone interested in hearing some excerpts from it? It's pretty hilarious.

With such quotes as

And

BOW BEFORE ME, BABY RAT/S. I AM THE ALPHA RAT.

Any mention of alpha rolling your more troublesome rats?

# ¿ Sep 18, 2012 21:31

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

quote:

pee on your rats

That's disgusting.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2012 22:36

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

Are rats just waaaaay more popular as pets in America or something? I've literally never, ever seen a listing for them in any of the shelters or RSPCAs anywhere within about a two hour circle of me. The only place I've seen rats listed for adoption is through a couple of NFRS breeders' websites, when they've taken in unwanted rats to place them.

It seems like you guys can walk into basically any shelter and get rats.

We can. We have a huge pet overpopulation here, not just rats. Walk into any shelter and there's loads of cats and dogs, and frequently if you go to the bigger shelters (Lollypop Farms in upstate NY, for example), you can rescue rats, snakes, ferrets, rabbits, hedgehogs, pigs, horses, and I saw a cow there once.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2012 19:31

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

Ivermectin horse wormer paste, scrape a drop the size of a grain of rice behind their teeth once a week for 3 weeks. That's what most ratterys/people with a large number of rats do because lol@ taking them all to the vet.

Alternatively, you can do what I did and put said drop on a Cheerio/yogurt drop/rat crack du jour and watch and make sure they at least eat most of it. The downside is that they'll probably get it all over themselves, but then they'll groom it off their fur, and the end result is the same.

Didn't I write up a whole FAQ about this for Skutter for this thread?

e: Hurr, yes, it's in the first post of this thread. Look for "HOW TO CURE YOUR INFESTATION".

# ¿ Oct 4, 2012 17:40

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Pew! Pew! posted:

Then I decided to rescue...ish....a male rat. Basically my friend didn't want him.

He's a double rex dumbo ~~scrotum~~

No, no, "scrotum" is the correct terminology for that kind of rat, especially more so if it's male. :lol:

# ¿ Oct 11, 2012 20:36

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

RE: BEWs: yeah, all of the problems listed there can be waltzed right around by working with a different set of spotting genes. Way to go ratladies.

You should be culling anything not initially messed up "late," post-weaning, when that first telltale early onset myco flareup rears its head at about 6-12 weeks. After that, you'll get the post-6 month wheezing starting to set in, at which point you cull again. At that point your still healthy females can have their first litter. Hold males that don't develop respiratory problems until a year, which will give time for aggression issues to arise, and then you can breed them. Cull healthy but "redundant" rats at this age too, IF you do not have room to house them and monitor their health. This is where I started when I started actually breeding for health and I weeded out a whole lot of the bad poo poo that way.

For rat breeders to breed the volume of litters they would need to produce to actually improve health and temperament, culling is absolutely necessary. Yes, you have to let some of the good ones go early but the alternative (fewer litters) impedes progress almost to a standstill.

Is there a reason you don't try to adopt them out? Just too many of them?

# ¿ Oct 15, 2012 23:51

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

If someone is breeding mice for X reason they very likely do not want to see them being eaten alive by snakes or left to rot in a kids bedroom. They generally prefer to cull numbers down to manageable sizes, and so long as its done humanely I have no problem with that.

Speaking of snakes, can you sell/give away culled mice/rats to snake owners?

# ¿ Oct 16, 2012 16:10

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Fraction posted:

Speaking of new varieties, do you Americans have marten rats there? I find them strangely fascinating/gorgeous.

Dear god, that's a nightmare rat coloring for me. I don't even like PEW's.

No thanks.

# ¿ Oct 22, 2012 16:43

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Pew Pew! - That sucks, but I do think you're doing the right thing.

My boyfriend linked this to me: Rat diving underwater in search of peas

While cute and interesting, would the water in their ears be detrimental to their health or can they shake the water out?

# ¿ Oct 31, 2012 19:49

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Mice are just smaller, dumber, more antisocial rats! :haw:

I'd like to see better organization of the OP. Information just seems randomly placed with no categories, or anything.

Toys are a good idea, maybe in an "enrichment" section? Sure, anybody can plunk in a plastic igloo, but what toys and treats-stuffed-in-empty-toilet-paper-tube are really going to make your cage pop for your rats?

# ¿ Nov 6, 2012 18:18

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

ANYWAY, I'll make the new updated thread tomorrow. I got rat pics and a buttload of mouse litters to post.

Don't forget to link it here for us lazy bitches, please and thank you.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2012 04:54

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Superconsndar posted:

The lice are species specific and wont spread to you, and yup, ivermectin 1-2 times a week for 3 weeks is pretty standard.

Maybe if you'd get around to making a new thread you could use my information on self-dosing with ivermectin. :> Totally just a hint.

# ¿ Jan 11, 2013 23:41

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Chakattack! posted:

Rat rage! Had to post somewhere people would understand. Just came home to find I must have hung my nice new wool-cashmere winter coat up too close to the rat cage (they live in the hall, by the coat-rack) and they've ripped a corner of it off! My nice coat! I'm an idiot and it's not their fault but I'm so frustrated right now. Have moved rat cage significantly further away from the coat rack and rescued the purloined strip of winter coat which is no doubt unsalvageable but damned if they're going to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.

Up til this point my rats have never destroyed anything of worth. Little buggers. What have your rats destroyed?

Camera cords. Wires and cables. M:tG cards. Homework, no, seriously. Good thing I could print another copy because I seriously doubt "my rats ate my homework" would go over well...

# ¿ Jan 22, 2013 17:58

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Slidje posted:

I want to put my face in there so bad

Get in line, mister. :colbert:

# ¿ Jan 26, 2013 19:16

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

ApexAftermath posted:

Thanks. That is the kind of advice I am looking for. I like doing things correctly, but so often PI gets so rigid with the "you must absolutely do things this way" and it just simply isn't always 100% like that.

EDIT:

Success!

We try to give you "best practices" advice. Whether or not we're pots calling kettles black is a whole 'nother thing.

# ¿ Feb 14, 2013 06:00

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Saw this on I Can Haz Cheezburger :3:

# ¿ Feb 22, 2013 02:56

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Boco_T posted:

This is me, this is everyone in this thread: http://gawker.com/5989431

quote:

She "huffs" one, and it smells good, apparently. It smells like nachos.

What, normal people don't bury their faces in their pets' fur? :downs:

Dunno about nachos, but my rats always smelled like Fritos.

# ¿ Mar 8, 2013 17:12

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

dustbin posted:

Does anyone have experience moving with rats?

I'm moving from Montana to Nevada in a month and hoping to do it all in one trip with the rats in my car. I decided to keep them because two of them are close to two years old, and the younger one is missing part of his tail so I'm not sure who else would want old or mangled rats. Plus, I'm not sure how I'd smuggle them into a hotel.

Reactions, thoughts, ideas, tips, things to avoid?

Bring them in the car, they'll spend most of the time sleeping. Make sure they have food and water at regular intervals. You could smuggle them into a less-observed motel pretty easily, just make sure you don't leave them there alone when housekeeping could find them.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2013 00:29

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# ¿ May 15, 2024 03:09

daggerdragon: Jan 22, 2006; My titan engine can kick your titan engine's ass.

Invalid Octopus posted:

I've been out of the country since April 26 and won't get home until May 13 and bf is refusing to take rat pix. Or it might just be because I took the camera and phone cameras aren't the best for squirming rodents. Breeder just moved, so haven't gotten updated pix of ~the babies~ yet either . BUT she posted this picture of some BEW rexes a couple days ago and it is too cute not to share. I miss my ratsies

Okay, I just went EEEEEEE and *grabbyhands* at my screen. The dog lifted his head to glare at me for waking him up from his nap, and my fianc� gave me a O.o look.

EEEEEE *grabbyhands* :neckbeard:

# ¿ May 7, 2013 00:25

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Pet Island > Rat Crew - Where your heart grows four legs and then warms itself with its own piss

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