Every now and then I scan the local ad websites (and the ones for the capital city an hour or so away) and I just came across someone looking to rehome her two rat girls because she 'doesn't have time for them.' I couldn't help myself but to send her a note educating her on the proper cage for her pets... or at least to tell the person that eventually takes them.

This cage is so pathetic. If I had more room and could get to her town (over two hours away), I would take them.

Hi I am new to this community and a new rat mommy. I have two female rats right now, there is  Lyra the hairless and Pan the dumbo.

Right now I have them in a cage fit for two rats, but I want to make it bigger for possibly a third rat. I really don't feel like buying one, instead I wanted to try to modifiy the cage I already have to fit a new rat. I have been reading alot about people making cages out of bird cages and thought, why not use one of my many un-used bird (last bird passed away in 2005 :( )cages for the project.

The problem I am having is figuring out which cage to use, that isnt going to make cleaning a hassle and how to even go about modifying the old cage. Under the cut I have some pictures with my cage and the other two cages in question.

( To the pics.... )

(I am incredibly childish. :P)

I received a birthday present yesterday! For my rugrats.

My family bought me a running ball - you all know the ones, you stick the pet in and they're supposed to run around and enjoy themselves?

Yeah. I know that the chances of convincing the boys to use it are pretty much nil, but has ANYONE had any luck with these balls? I tried explaining it to my family, but they went *shrug* and said "it's just a rat!" and that if they didn't like it immediately, that you force them in it for long enough and they eventually would. *headdesk*

It's a LARGE ball - I'm guessing the largest they could find. I tried introducing the ball to the boys, they'd climb in and climb out and I'd rock it a bit with the lid off so they could get out.

But am I seriously just wasting my time? I remember seeing a post about making it into a hanging habitat here - I may wind up doing that.

When I get a new cage.

Which I've been told that I WILL be getting as a Christmas present. I just hope they actually consult me beforehand. My family doesn't understand appropriate rat care. I did tell them to buy me a large cage that's at least 3+ levels and showed them some pictures.

We shall see! My boys would LOVE LOVE LOVE a new cage. Then they could get five million more hammocks that they refuse to use now that it's warm outside (can't say I blame them, but it IS frustrating since they squabble over other sleeping areas).

So, the other day I was walking around the park. I live right behind a nice community park, and love to take walks there. As I was walking, I saw a man walking what looked like teensy dogs. Curious, I walked toward him, only to find out they weren't dogs.
It was two ferrets, and a rabbit. I didn't think you could walk these animals very much. (I have seen ferret leashes, though. And a neighbor of mine has a rabbit that they take on walks. The thing gets waaay excited if you pull out her leash, and loves to amble down the sidewalk, eating grass. XD ) 
And that got me thinking, can you walk rats? Would they enjoy that? I am completely unsure about this. I don't think I would ever walk a rat, but... do you know anyone who has?
The man's three animals seemed pretty okay about it. They were just ambling along at a very slow pace, just like any little teensy dog would do.
But it was cuter than walking a dog. XD 

Khasi seems to be in a bit of pain(her hair's a bit puffed up) so I asked the vet(not my usual one) to give me some pain killer, he reluctantly gave me some metacam, saying it wasn't licensed for rats, and she was acting the picture of perfect health,I don't think he believed anything is wrong with her, I suspect a stroke and I don't think she has long left but she's not ready to go get, so I want to make her comfortable.

I've never used metacam before so I don't know how it works, he said to give only 1 drop per day, but she seems to be in a bit of pain at the moment and I gave her some last night so can't give her any more?
Is it really that long lasting?

Thanks

This has probably been posted before but I can't find anything.
I'm trying to renovate my old superpet cage as it's a bit rusty but I love it, it's turning into a bigger job than I first thought and it's rare now in the UK so I doubt I could get a replacement.

So what are the current favourite cages in the UK?

( Background story )

SO today we noticed that Pumpkin's ears are white and in all honesty (this sounds terrible) I hadn't noticed before. They may have been white for a while. He's a PEW so is fairly pale anyway, but my boyfriend and I couldn't work out if they'd always been this pale. We looked through some old photos and his ears used to be pink. I can only assume they have gradually got paler as I spend so much time with him, more than any of my others at the moment, and haven't noticed a change!

Is this something to be worried about? Could it just be his iron levels are low with the abscess bleeding on and off? What can I do? Thank you

I myself am unable to take nice pics of my rats. My hands shake, not all of my boys will sit still and my camera doesn't always enjoy life. So while I was on an archaeological excursion in Sweden, the rat sitter prepared a suprise for me. A mutual friend took pics of my lads.
( You can find them behind the cut )

heyo :-D Does anyone else out there use this- http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

My ratties really seem to love it- in addition to their lab blocks :-D


also---- what's the verdict of giving ratties cherries? (Obviously with pits out :-D ) or pears...?

I just got my Critter Nation yesterday and since we always have people asking about them, I decided to take some assembly pictures so people can see what to expect. It only took me a half hour.

Forgive the bareness of the cage for decorating, I'm still sorting out what I want to go in there and if I want to bother with fleece on the liners.

I hope to get my two new baby ratties tomorrow! When I do, I'll do another pic dump of everyone exploring the new cage. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21867035@N04/sets/72157621186952953/

About a month ago I posted about my new teenaged rat Daisy. I got a lot of feedback from the community and wanted to do an update now that everything has calmed down and is going smoothly.

A few days after I posted I got a call from a man I had contacted who couldn't take his six month old white and tan rat to his new apartment. So we got Fern, a friendly but lazy girl with a strangely short tail and an all-consuming love of strawberries. After quarantine we introduced them and after a few scuffles they started to get along so well that we thought keeping them together in a smaller cage was better then having them seperate. About a week after that, we got a new roommate with a huge four-storey cage and another female rat, this one a very skittish hairless named Shiver. We planned to move them in together, but were a little anxious since Shiver had a cage-mate before who she wound up biting and attacking. But we spread some vanilla on their fur and introduced them in a large cardboard box, hoping that the neutral territory and scent mask would help. It did. After a tense few hours, they all settled down and started to get along. It's been a couple of weeks, and they're all doing just fine together. Daisy and Shiver sleep in the run-about-ball hanging in the top of their cage together, or huddle up in their rat house. Fern isn't quite as social as the two of them, but she still gets along with them and spends most of her time sleeping or conspiring to steal their treats (she is greedy guts big time). A happy ending then, which is nice because it seemed like a lost cause for a while there.

I do have a couple questions though.  Although Daisy and Shiver get along really well, sometimes Shiver will jump on Daisy and knock her down, making Daisy squeak loudly.  I've checked them both out, and neither seem to have any marks.  Usually they get up and then stand beside each other, swaying from side to side until one runs off to another corner of the cage.  Is this normal for them?  Will they start fighting more if I don't do something?

Also, Fern's previous owner told me she had a respiratory infection that scarred her lungs when she was young, which is why she has labored breathing sometimes.  Lately, her breathing has gotten a little heavier and she has gotten a lot lazier, but still walks around her cage and skitters around during free roam time.  Should I be worried?  I'm planning on taking her to the vet on Tuesday for a check up, and I've been giving her a grapefruit supplement in her water to strengthen her immune system but I'm still a little concerned about her wheeziness. 

 Does anyone's rats watch TV with them?

This morning, I found Gibbs watching wrestling with my fiancee and he was watching it pretty intensely! I just hope Gibbs doesn't decide to recreate some of the moves on his cage-mate, DiNozzo.

What type of things do your rats like to play with? I give mine a lot of wooden chew toys from petco and such but they seem to have zero interest in anything that isn't food. At first they also seemed to enjoy destroying hammocks (we went through two in two days), but they've stopped doing that, too.

It is growing back quite nicely. It's even alligned with the other one so it doesn't look like Malocclusion will be an issue. She is eating fine and living the good life. I am definitely a happy rat mommy. Time to clean their cage. I'm so excited to get my FN!!! Hopefully it will be here next week.

I finally found a breeder in my area that has dumbo eared babies! They wont be ready for 3-4 weeks, but i'm going to meet up with the girl in a week or two and meet the babies. Its all perfect timing too. I'll have my new cage and whatnot by then!

I had to share my excitement with people that understand. :D

Watermelon was a huge success. All of the girls loved it. I didn't give them any rind though. Is it safe for them? I know it doesn't say it on the forbidden list, but I just want to make sure.

I have other fruits for them to try later. I also got another bag of frozen peas for fishing. I did try canned peas and liked that they sank so the girls would have to work more for their treat... but the peas just muddled up the water and made it yucky too fast so I am going back to frozen.

Has anyone ever heard of or used HealX Booster with their rats? According to their website, it's a red palm fruit oil that contains omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids. I brought Dr. Zoidberg to the vet today for a myco flair up, and aside from a long course of Baytril + probiotics, he also gave me HealX Booster to give once a day as well as a preventitive tool, and said it's safe to feed everyone in my mischief (out of 6 rats, Zoidberg is the only one who shows signs of respiratory illness) as an immune system booster. The vet said it's not yet standard treatment for respiratory illness, but that there is peer reviewed articles out there saying it tends to boost their immune system.

This is Zoidberg's first round of antibiotics. In the past she's only had Metacam for inflammation because she was only sporadically noisy, but that was from a different vet at the same clinic. It's a longer round of antibiotics than I've experienced in the past with other respiratory illness prone rats, but I hope it works. She's giving me a dirty look right now from the cage, which is a little out of character for her.

I got a package from straydogstarbck today! :D :D :D



Merry and Pippin phone danglies! They are the cutest things ever. They even have itty bitty feets! My phone is delightfully ratty now - the screen doesn't photograph well, but my background picture is this photo of Merry and Pippin.

I miss my boys so, so much. :(

I really, really miss having rats. As long as I live with mum, I can't have any. I'm considering moving out in about a years' time, though. First thing I'll do is get a handful of ratlets! I think I want 3 or 4 this time around. <3