I have absolutely no idea what is in those yogurt treats for rats...

But I think it might be an addictive substance.

NO other food snack results in my fingers being clawed at, and almost being bitten.

But I'll admit, watching them eat a treat is really cute.

Teehee. :) Pictures some day soon.

Question for the owners here. I got a scale to weigh my rats. They don't sit still on it really well, but irrelevant. But does anyone know how much (realistically/ideally) a rat should weigh?

My boys are about 2-3 months, and 3-4 months old. (I have two rats).

They look really healthy, but skinny compared to other rats I've seen. But maybe that's an age thing?

Hello. :) I thought I'd introduce my five girl rats since this is my first post here.


( onwards! )

Two questions.

1) If a good but porous bedding is stored next to an open bag of pine bedding, would the phenols from pine get transferred into the other bedding? I'm thinking it would, but I'd like confirmation from someone with more experience with these types of bedding.

2) The foster rat I have is a territorial biter. I'm working on systematic desensitization and counterconditioning, but can anyone think of other ways to get him to stop biting anything that comes in his igloo? If I can't get him to stop biting, he'll be euthanized.

Currently, we're having a bit of a mini-heatwave. It's pretty uncomfy, because it's so humid and generally just not very nice to be in - even with the windows open and a fan on.
Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had any ingenious suggestions for helping my ratties stay comfy in the heat. :(. I can't imagine they're enjoying it. At the moment, they're just chilled out in the shadiest part of the cage. (the cage is in no way in direct sunlight, but there is a much smaller cage on top of it, thus one corner is a little darker, and that's where they're all laid out XD).

Currently, my fan catches the cage but isn't on very strong, in case they found it overpowering. I have tried to get them to fish for peas out of a bowl of water, but they're either playing silly or just plain uninterested. :(.

I could try bathing them, but two of my ratties are very new, and I don't want to make them hate me already, haha. :).

So, how'd you keep your ratties cool?

Finally, a pic post!

These are the three boys I adopted about 2 weeks ago, from the St. Louis to Houston rattie-train!

Prepare to "awwwwwww".  I am totally in love with these guys. 

(btw, I noticed the cage looks a little small in the pics, but it's not, really.  I used the cage-calculator thing, and it said it could comfortably house 3 adults, and my guys are still young.  They have a bigger cage in my spare bedroom, but Im a little concerned about the bar-spacing on it for such small guys.  Maybe when they're older...)

I forgot to ask this in my last post, but...have you all ever used one of those "run-about" balls with your rats?  

I bought one, because my son was determined that they needed one, but they seem REALLY afraid of it.  I guess because when you put them inside, it tips back and forth so much.  All I ended up with was a scared rat and a ball full of poo.

Should I toss it, or should I just let them get used to it?

There are three new male rats at the humane society -- tiny things! They're only a month old and I'm still not convinced they're not mice.

Anyway, those boys need names! I was thinking Porthos, Athos, and Aramis or Hewy, Dewey, and Louie. What other kind of name triads are out there that I haven't thought of?

*edit*
The partner threw in some good ones:
Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar (Three wise men)
Zeta, Delta, and Espion/Alnitak, Alnilam, Mintaka (Three stars of Orion's Belt)
Winkin', Blinkin' and Nod

So, I've been trying to get some good pictures of my Burgundy for weeks now, and this is the best I've come up with, thanks to Photobooth!
( Pictuuuures )

An Australian man has shot his best mate in buttocks, embedding shrapnel in his cheeks and sending him to hospital.

The unfortunate man received the shot in the bum while out with his mate hunting pesky rodents to clear his South Australian property.

Police believed the incident, which happened at Lock on the Eyre Peninsula, was an accident.

The injured man was taken to hospital to have shrapnel removed from his buttocks.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=235444&in_page_id=2

I got a new rat, Murray, two weeks ago.

When I brought him home I noticed that he was constantly scratching and had scabs ALL over. Back, sides, stomach, face, etc. Big, dark scabs, too. I checked him over and saw no signs of fleas. The scabs didn't look so much like the lice/mite scabs I had seen before on my own rats but I treated him with ivermectin anyway. I gave him a bath when he came home with appropriate shampoo, tossed all his own stuff (which wasn't much) except for the cage which got a good scrub down and his bowl which went through the dishwasher. His bedding was the lavender scented Soft-Sorb or whatever and the girl had just recently switched to CareFresh; he is now on aspen. He was also eating Kaytee Forti-Diet and has since been switched to my own mix.

Now about 90% of the scabs have disappeared except for a few on his cheeks and under his jaw. But they are still large scabs.

( Scab Photos )

Any opinions? I am going to try to trim his nails soon but he is proving to be a shy boy and we are still working on being comfortable here before we do that; it was hard enough holding him to take the photos, lol! He is also currently alone, so no one is biting on him.

EDIT: I just took him out of his cage to trim his nails (the back ones weren't as bad as I thought) and he has a relatively large wound under his right ear, larger and much bloodier than the one under his chin in the photos, which are from last night. Now I am wondering if there is something in his cage that he is scraping himself on? I guess we'll make an appointment for the vet anyway, to make sure it's not some weird skin infection.