Possible New Rat Friends

[luvmyangels]

I have gone to a rescue who has rat babies. They are 2 -3 weeks old and should be ready to go to there new homes by the 22nd. I had a choice of quite a few females and we chose 2 but I think I like this 3rd one. Any thoughts.





This is the 3rd one I like too.



These will be my 1st rats. For all the experienced rat owners, please give me any information you can. I have done a lot of research but experience is always better.

[Maryellen]

i like the first ones colors.. but they are all cute..

[SisMorphine]

I prefer to have 3 rats at a time myself. That way you can take one with you when you go places and the other two can keep each other company at home. My 3 rat cage consisted of 2 females and a neutered male. They got along great, slept together all snuggly-like, it was perfection. This time around I'm going for 3 males because though I like females, they are WAY high energy and never stop moving, and the males are more relaxed lumps of mush . . . definitely more my speed

Those babies are cute! I especially like the last one. Is she a black berkshire or black irish? I can never remember the difference in coloring . . .


Get a big cage. I suggest the Preview Hendryx 4 level. Others prefer Martin cages . . . but they're not coated and I feel they just get dirtier quicker. Don't use shavings, go for a Carefresh type bedding. Get at least one hammock and one hidey house for them. You'll find that the females are little monkeys and LOVE to climb, so I got some good use out of one of those hanging bird rope toys. And a fun game to play in the hot summer is to take frozen peas and put them in a bowl and water and watch them fish them out.

And lots and lots of handling and socialization! I would bring mine with me everywhere and they were the friendliest most social animals alive.

And whenever you give them a treat say their name to them. That way, if they escape, you can call their name and they'll come running.

I could go on and on and on . . .

[luvmyangels]

I prefer to have 3 rats at a time myself. That way you can take one with you when you go places and the other two can keep each other company at home. My 3 rat cage consisted of 2 females and a neutered male. They got along great, slept together all snuggly-like, it was perfection. This time around I'm going for 3 males because though I like females, they are WAY high energy and never stop moving, and the males are more relaxed lumps of mush . . . definitely more my speed

Those babies are cute! I especially like the last one. Is she a black berkshire or black irish? I can never remember the difference in coloring . . .


Get a big cage. I suggest the Preview Hendryx 4 level. Others prefer Martin cages . . . but they're not coated and I feel they just get dirtier quicker. Don't use shavings, go for a Carefresh type bedding. Get at least one hammock and one hidey house for them. You'll find that the females are little monkeys and LOVE to climb, so I got some good use out of one of those hanging bird rope toys. And a fun game to play in the hot summer is to take frozen peas and put them in a bowl and water and watch them fish them out.

And lots and lots of handling and socialization! I would bring mine with me everywhere and they were the friendliest most social animals alive.

And whenever you give them a treat say their name to them. That way, if they escape, you can call their name and they'll come running.

I could go on and on and on . . .

Thank you so much for all the great information. The last one they are just calling a black.

I have been hearing different things about the males and females. My friends mother had rats and she said that the females are much nicer than the males. So it is interesting to see your point of view that the males are relaxed. She also told me that the urine is not as strong with females as it is with males.

We will be handling them an awful lot. My 5 year old and I will be taking care of them together and he is excited and awaiting their arrival.

I read what you said about the cages. Someone suggested Martin cages to me but I found them a little expensive especially for the powder coated ones. I found this one http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx? ... enemerch=1
but I think if I get 3 it will be too small.

[luvmyangels]

i like the first ones colors.. but they are all cute..

That is the first one I picked because I liked its coloring.

[SisMorphine]

I read what you said about the cages. Someone suggested Martin cages to me but I found them a little expensive especially for the powder coated ones. I found this one http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.aspx? ... enemerch=1
but I think if I get 3 it will be too small.

I have one of those and I used it for quarantine when I would get new rats in. I also used it for my females when they were babies, but they grew out of it very quickly, and could escape it without a second thought.

This is the cage I used with my girls (that I eventually added the male to)
Preview Ferret Cage #419 (IMHO too small for ferrets)

or they have a slightly smaller version
Preview Ferret Cage #418


Though with the females being high energy you'll probably find the bigger one to be more useful to them with much more space to get crazy in.

Now don't get me wrong, my females were VERY affectionate. They would constantly be giving kisses, and prying my mouth open to do some Rodentistry. But I loved the very calm, quiet, understated affection that I would get from the males. And yes, the males do have stronger smelling urine, which subsides if you neuter them. I would suggest spaying your females because of the high incidence of mammory tumors in female rats, and also because one of my females went into a false pregnancy, resulting in a false labor, resulting in a prolapsed uterus and rectum, resulting in me having to put her to sleep. Not something I ever want to deal with again. Plus female rats do go through heat cycles and can bleed (mine didn't start bleeding until after they were 1) but something to think about.

[luvmyangels]

Once again thank you for the great information. I am going to look into the cages you suggested.

How much does it cost to neuter a rat?

[SisMorphine]

Out in Amherst it cost $80 to neuter, plus the $40 pre-surg visit.

Around here it is $68 for the pre-surg exam and at least $120 for the neuter. No clue how much a spay is as I've never done it.

[luvmyangels]

I can't seem to find the Prevue Hendryx cages that you showed me. I am going to look further. But if you have a link let me know.

[SisMorphine]

Go to http://www.prevuepet.com
Click on products
Then hold your mouse over "small animal" and click on the "ferret" drop down
(This drop down does not work on Mozilla Firefox for some reason). You'll see them on the first or second page.

Mine were found in store at PetCo (I got them second hand, but the girl I who gave them to me got them from there, and I have seen them there), but can't seem to find it online. But any place that carries the Prevue birdcages can order you a Prevue ferret/rat cage.

I want to say that the big one runs about $119 or so. Not cheap, but DEFINITELY not as expensive as they can get for that size.

[luvmyangels]

Thanks so much for the link. I sent them an e-mail to see if they can locate the cage for me. I went to Petco and Pets Warehouse last night looking and saw not much of anything.

[luvmyangels]

Ok. I just found out the rat babies are definitely on hold for us. The beige one is only 2 weeks right now and the other two are 3 weeks. So she is holding the older two for me because the younger one is too young to leave its mother. I'm so excited!!!

I ended up ordering the cage through Martin's.

Thanks for all your help Sis. I am sure I will have more questions once they get here.

[SisMorphine]

No prob! I'll try to brush up on more of my ratty knowledge . . . for you and for me when I get my babies HOPEFULLY in the fall.

[luvmyangels]

Food: Which food do you feed your rats? I know a lot of people put together their own foods. But to start out are there any foods that are better than others? I noticed on different sites people said that corn wasn't a good food to give all the time.

I found this food. Give me your thoughts??
http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/prod ... 046CK660A1

[luvmyangels]

My son has named them already. From top to bottom their names are going to be: Belle, Jingle and Tulip.

[luvmyangels]

I found the cage and now it is making me 2nd guess buying the one through Martin's. Although it has not been sent out yet because it is on backorder.

http://www.petmarket.com/prevue-4-story ... -1358.html

Cheap price but then the shipping gets you.

http://www.futurepet.com/cgi-bin/FULLPR ... TNUM=PR419

http://www.ferretdepot.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?

[SisMorphine]

Holy crapmonkeys! $80 for the larger cage! I would just order as much crap as you can so the shipping will be worth it. That's a DAMN good deal.


As far as food goes, I unfortunately don't know enough about rat nutrition. But I had always heard to go with having Lab Blocks available at all times because this way they could get all of their nutrients, because with the mixes they will pick and choose what they want to eat. But like I said, I really know next to nothing about rat nutrition so I'm not sure.

[luvmyangels]

Ok I nearly pee'd my pants when I saw the rat diaper and Find-a-rat beeper. Check the link out.

http://www.ratbehavior.org/Products.htm

[luvmyangels]

Ok I found these regarding diet:

http://www.spoiledratten.com/feedingcontent.html

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/ratmix.htm

http://www.ratsrule.com/diet.html

http://www.interlog.com/audiotre/rats/

Thought it would help when you get new babies. There were so many more links.

[call2arms]

Cages... Martin's cages:http://www.martinscages.com/
Their cages are amazing! If I didn't inherit a grotto cage, I would have bought one in september.