3 New Rats

**JGuitaristR** · 04-30-2003, 10:28 PM

Today, my mom and I adopted 3 rats. At first, it was just one rat, but then we got to thinking that he had 2 friends at the pet store, so we went back and got them. We bought them a huge cage, 3 levels, but one is small enough to escape. I was wondering if some how putting screen all around this cage will prevent him from escaping again. Do they chew? Would he be able to chew through hard screen? Also, any important tips would be greatly appreciated. Ohhh... and 1 out of the 3 little guys is sweet, the other 2 are skittish and do not want to be held, as with any other animal, will holding them every day change their skittish behavior? Thanks!

**Desert Arabian** · 04-30-2003, 10:50 PM

They do chew, and they should chew, because it wears down their ever growing teeth. I had to do the same thing once, and wrap screen around the cage, they chewed on it at first, to "investigate" it, but after that they left it alone.

One quick question...are all the floors in the cage- wire?

**luckies4me** · 04-30-2003, 10:57 PM

Congratulations on your newest additions. Any questions you have I will be happy to answer. I have several years of experience with rats and have been breeding for a few years as well. I currently have 24? (lol, need to do a thorough check) ratties, various ages. I also have a three week old litter. One of the babies can be seen in my avitar. I do breed. The ratties in my sig are my boy Meekos son (the fawn dumbo) and Cheeky, a dumbo Russian Blue possum faced buck whom I rescued.

I am glad you did not take just the one ratty, as ratties are very social and crave companionship. Are all the rats the same age? If one can fit through most likely all three can. Chicken wire around the cage will work until they grow large enough to not be able to fit through the bars. How big is the wire spacing in the cage?

The Skittish ones should come around after daily handling. You can try forced socialization, which is taking them out and holding them for 15 minutes until their fear dies out. In about two weeks, a lot of the time sooner, they should be unafraid and want to cuddle kiss and lick you.

If this doesn't work it could be genetic. I am assuming these are feeder rats? The parents are not bred for health and temperament so it is a possibility, but something you shouldn't worry about until you have worked with these guys for a little bit.

Any other questions? Just shoot away!

**luckies4me** · 04-30-2003, 11:04 PM

As YLL pointed out, they do need to chew. Hard wood chew toys are great. My ratties get toilet paper tubes, lab blocks, their Innova dog food, wooded parrot toys etc. to help keep their teeth in tip top condition. You rarely have to trim a rats teeth unless they do not have chew toys or they are elderly and are fed a moist diet. They do however need regular nail trims.

Wire spacing should be 1/4 inch for the floors and 1/2 for the walls. You can cover wire floors with burp rags, linoleum etc. if this is a concern to you. Do you have a picture of the cage?

What type of bedding are you using? Pine and Cedar are harmful to small animals as they release toxic phenols into the air and irritate the respiratory tract.

NOW for the most important part!!! What sex are your ratties? Please keep them seperated if they are male and female because they can and will become pregnant.

**wolfsoul** · 04-30-2003, 11:05 PM

A great thing to let your rats chew on is rawhide. My rats just love rawhide, I just went out the other day and bought a new kind by Fortum, but they also enjoy Petcetera's rawhide chips.

Here's a list of food you shouldn't feed them. There is alot, so be careful. An informative forum to go to is www.petratscanada.com/forum but everyone there is really touchy and pretty arrogant so don't p*ss them off..They get mean..

**luckies4me** · 04-30-2003, 11:16 PM

Originally posted by wolfsoul

Here's a list of food you shouldn't feed them. There is alot, so be careful. An informative forum to go to is www.petratscanada.com/forum but everyone there is really touchy and pretty arrogant so don't p*ss them off..They get mean..

Sorry but I had to chuckle when I read this. It is SO very true though, which is why it's funny.

I know a lot of the people at that forum personally so I know firsthand what they can do, lol.

Another great forum is the Rat Fan Club. WolfChan also belongs to the RFC, as well as I. WOlfSoul, don't you also belong? Everyone there is great and always willing to offer helpful advise. Suebee and Dearpie are great people and love to give advice.

Here is the link:

http://www.goosemoose.com/rfc/index.php

They also have a chat room which I frequently stop by and chat in. Take a look around the site and if you want, join. The place is great and full of invaluable information. I am sure others here can attest to that.

**wolfsoul** · 04-30-2003, 11:24 PM

Sorry but I had to chuckle when I read this. It is SO very true though, which is why it's funny. I know a lot of the people at that forum personally so I know firsthand what they can do, lol.

LOL

, um, oops

heehee. They hate me, so whatever lol.

Tikeyas_mom also went on and asked about rats and they freaked on her for being uneducated

Do you know them in person, or just through the forum?

**wolfsoul** · 04-30-2003, 11:25 PM

WOlfSoul, don't you also belong?

Not that I know of lol. It's possible that I registered but haven't posted much

**JGuitaristR** · 05-01-2003, 08:32 AM

Hello, everyone! Thank you so very much for all of your help! Yes, the floor of the cage is wire. Why do you ask? I know their feet are sensitive and the wire shouldn't be exposed, is the bedding enough to cover that? lol, luckies, you've got a lot of rats! The one's you've got shown are so adorable. I'm guessing at the spacing on the cage, looks to be 1 3/4 in. tall and 3 in. wide. Feeder rats? I am so sorry, but I don't know. The paper said Fancy Rats...????? Well, I'll give the little guys as much time as they need to feel comfortable around me... hopefully someday soon they will. I'm sorry, but no, I don't have pictures of the cage.

I use aspen for all of my little animals. I use it for my hamster, guinea pig and iguana... and now, my rats! All of the rats are males. Thank you wolfsoul, for the helpful website. Oh and thanks for informing me about the rawhides! I never knew that!

Once again, thank you all.

**Desert Arabian** · 05-01-2003, 08:44 AM

Yes, bedding will be good enough to place on the wire. If you didn't have a smooth suface, they could get bumblefoot from the wires. It is really nasty if your rats get it- I don't think they willl.

Also, since they are males, they will be a little oily/greasy...you can give them a bath. That's what I do with my boys. They like the water, and it gets them nice and squeeky clean. All my rats get a bath about once a month, because I am allergic to them. It helps my reduce my allergies. My boys give me hives.

**luckies4me** · 05-01-2003, 09:47 AM

3 inches wide!!!!

That is way too big for rat feet, but even their legs. When you mean bedding to cover it, do you mean aspen? Aspen will just fall through the wire and won't do any good. It needs to be covered with something else, like cloth or what not. Or better yet get another cage made specifically for rats. You can try www.MartinsCages.com I use their R695's for my ratties. I will attach a picture so that you can see what it looks like.

As far as Bumblefoot is concerned, it is now believed to be genetic, so even if a rat is predisposed to this and is on solid flooring, they can still get Bumblefoot. We have a great article on it at our clinic...I can try running it through the fax machine and make a copy. Of course dirty wire flooring will eventually cause irritation.

My cage does not have to have the floor covered everywhere because it has correct bar spacing but I do think the ratties prefer to have some solid flooring. Just make sure they have something to go to to rest their tootsies, like a bed or what not.