# Rats!



## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

ok, I keep pet rats. I rescue the odd one (yes, there is such a thing as the NZ rat rescue!) and I do breed a little too (yes, it's just as involved and debatable as dog breeding) Actually in general they are very similar to lil dogs, and need similar care etc...

Anyway, I have my new camera, and so I'm experimenting at the moment!! 

Ruben here is a half-wild that I rescued:


















Finch is a boy from my last litter, and will, pending all health goes well througout the litter etc, be bred later next year (he turns one next month)









he's my squishly snuggly boy!!! heh


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

and his nutty little, one eyed, sister, Sparrow:


















I also have Ceara (mum to Finch & Sparrow) and Prism, who turns 3 in a couple of weeks, and is aunty to Finch & Sparrow (and is considered very OLD in rat terms, though I expect she'll get to her third b'day, I doubt she'll get a whole lot furthur... )

FD


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## Birdie (Jun 28, 2009)

Aww! <3 
I love rats! Yours are adorable, especially Ruben.  I would love to have rats one day, but not until I move out... mom thinks all rats are gross or something. :dontknow: I don't know, I think the domestic rats are cute and really sweet, personally. My teacher brought in her rats one day, they were so so nice! One of the older ones cuddled with me the whole time, I fell in love haha.


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## bigredpoodle (Sep 13, 2009)

Okay I know another lady that loves rats too ! Yours are way cute


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

*sigh* Loved all the pictures, I have several in my photo album on this site of my rats. They are my favorite pets, yeah I probably even like them better than the poodles lol. Less grooming!!! The picture of your Finch looks a lot like my boy Bond, except bond has a rex coat. 

When I graduated from highschool I purchased two little females, Summer and Sabre as gift to myself, two more girls quickly followed a few months later. I had wanted a pet rat for a long time before then and done a TON of research. I didnt get everything right care wise at first, but quickly got on track with a huge cage and loads of toys and what not. I usualy keep four of five at a time in the big cage and sometimes have smaller but still roomy cages with rats. The most I ever had at one time was 10 which is nothing for some people but was a bit much for me, I was fostering a set of six rescues at the time. Never have bred any, too much work and I didn't have the time for all the research because of the dogs. 

My dog Howie actualy had a pet rat of his own (two of them). He was VERY attached to Summer who was one of the sweetest girls ever. She passed early though from a recouring respitory infection. At the time we didn't have any rat savy vets so we my vet was doing the best they could. After Summer was gone Howie really missed her so I got Mr. Max from a breeder, adorable little B/W hooded rex. Max and Howie were BEST friends, max even came with us to shows from time to time. He was neutered so lived in the big cage with my girls, had him 3 1/2 years. Howie never got attached to another rat after Max though. 

*sniffle* I'm sorry to say though that I am as of yesterday night officaly a non rat owner for the first time since I bought my first two 7 years ago. My last remaining rat, Bond... passed away yesterday evening. He was a shade over 3 yrs. He's been living alone for about a month when his cagemate died. John doesn't want to let me get any more rats because I've had trouble cleaning cages and such since getting preggers. I couldn't lift the big cage anymore and the smell of the bedding made me sick. Bummer. Bond and his "brother" Foamy had been living in a smaller cage for the past two months. He already has the cages, ALL of them, packed up and stored. I guess to try and discourage me from sneaking off and getting another three or four babies without him  I've never let my population get below three really in the last couple years, it's easier to have at least a trio so nobody is left alone in the cage during one on one time. 

Wish they lived longer....

What do you breed exactly? Anything in particular. I have been in love with rexes for a long time but they are hard to get here. The nearest breeding is reeaallly far away and the ones in the petstores are just to iffy health wise.


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

*Can't resist*

just have to share my favorite rat picture of all time.  This is Gabriel, he left us two months ago this picture was taken 2 1/2 years ago before I moved out and got married. 










Ugh, lesson learned though, don't get rats so close in age again, they all depart for rattie heaven about the same time and it's a little rough.


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

well in NZ we are VERY limited. Basically, our borders are now closed, we CANNOT import rats into the country any more. No way, no how (trust me, we've tried everything! There are NO loop holes) so basically, what we have is what we get. 

So what we have is: self, berkshires & hoodeds. And downunders.
And 9 very basic colours. Including PEW.

No different coats (rexes/hairless etc) no dumbos, no simese, no husky, no blazes, nothing.

So at the moment I'm attempted in to save the downunder marking, which is the one that has a dark stripe down the belly, same as they have ontop:








(this boy is grandad of Finch & Sparrow, who are both downunders too, but they're berkshire already, so it doens't show too well!!!)

my site:
http://www.ratclub.org/flyingduster/rattery.shtml

This is a litter that's just been rescued (7 girls living with 3 boys. 5 litters later they advertised them online to sell... *sigh*) I don't have the time to look after a litter at the moment, so one of the litters went to another local person here, and the rest went North.









At my peak, I had 39 rats in the house... I was looking after some for a friend though, AND had a litter, so they weren't *all* mine really... lol! I only have the 5 now, and I'm QUITE happy with that! lol


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## PonkiPoodles (Feb 25, 2009)

Cute pictures! 
My best friend had an enormous white rat while I was growing up... I loved playing with it, but rats never really grew on me. I think I'll take a feret before I adopt a rat.


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

yeah, ferrets are banned as pets AT ALL in nz now. There's still a few hidden away (the law came in AFTER ferrets were already kept as pets, people were allowed to keep their current oens but not breed anymore for pets. pfffft, like that'd ever stop 'em!) though I think they're awesome pets, I personally am a rather law-abiding person, and like sharing photos far too much so I KNOW I'd get caught if I kept a ferret!!!


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

Awww bummer about not having any of the different coats, but the standardss are nice too. Most of my guys have been standard coats, standard ears. I've only had one Dumbo. 

I've never seen a downunder in person but I have seen pictures and such. It's a neat marking. I LOVE berks, they are some of my favorites and selfs. My first rat was a champange self very pretty. lol kind of matched my hair at the time. Most of mine have been mismarks, it's hard to get pretty markings unless you're only getting from super breeders, I don't have access to many of them. The ones I have access to now don't breed anything that I want, which is a shame. My last few have come from a petstore that breeds their own and sells as feeders what does sell as pets. Not a nice place but I could find what I was looking for and be resonably certain it would be friendly and healthy. I did have one I ran across in a petsmart several years ago, a blue hooded with a perfect hood. I snatched her right up lol, named her Martini. That was before I switched from girl rats to keeping boys. 

In a way you're lucky not to have blazes, though I LOVE them. I of course just HAD to have one, I wanted the little wedge shaped white snip down the nose, I didn't understand at the time the major health issue associated with the blazed rats was megacolon and wouldn't you know it the first blaze I got had just that  I was sooo bummed. We kept him going with special diet and meds for several months and he was ok, but we knew it wouldn't be a long life for him. I think I had him four months?? He had to live in a small cage alone because he couldn't eat normal rat food at all, had to have all fresh cooked, almost no grain. Baby food and cooked veggies and a tiny bit of rice. He couldn't have anything raw either. He was also only slightly larger than a large mouse. Cute little guy. I got another after he died, kind of by accident, ran across a cat striped rat whcih has a blaze in a petstore and almost fell over. I HAD to have him his markings were almost perfect. Thankfuly he was heathly didn't have the same issue Austin did. 

I've been thinking about it all day today, I want another couple of rats. I've always nuetered boys in the past but since I can't justify that expense I figure I should get girls. John has never been around girl rats except the physco rescue I had who would attack anything and everything. If you put your hand in the cage to fill the bowl you'd better check and make sure Morgan was alseep fist LoL! Those babies are soooooo cute!!! It's killing me LoL. My hubby is going to kick me out... You think I can use being preggers as an excuse to stall any rat related divorce? LoL.
I know I should probably just hold off, but I'm afraid that I won't ever get any more after the baby gets here. Silly idea really but it's the way my brain is working today lol.


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## frostfirestandards (Jun 18, 2009)

we have a rescue hairless rat. 

I had rats in the past, but I never really researched them, so im probally doing this wrong. 

Is it ok to give him commercial rat food?, am I supposed to keep him in a rat cage, or is the fish tank ok? 

how do I get him to like me LOL 

my other rats would cuddle, and come when called, but I dont think he was handled properly, he freaks out when he is picked up. 

he was brought to our local pound in a laundry soap bucket with a cardboard tunnel (like you can buy at the pet store) and some cedar shavings stuck to it I did use that fluffy recycled newspaper bedding, but he has aspen shavings in there right now. 
I honestly have expected him to kick off by now. he is older and really just sleeps alot. Id like to get him a friend, but he is not neutered, and I dont know how he will do with another male. any suggestions?


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

If he's older, and by older I mean starting to reach senior discount age for a rat, I wouldn't bother with a friend for him. Being alone his whole life he may not take kindly to one. It's esier to intro adult females to eachother than adult males though with that said I have NEVER once had trouble adding new rats to my existing colony. Though it is nice to keep a furry friend in with a hairless I've always heard. I had two hairless females but they were only two out of 10 if you get the general idea lol. You don't have to have males neutered for any reason, and you can intro intact males to eachother and keep them happy. I always had my boys done to reduce the smell and urine marking, which only my intact boys have ever had a problem with. You CANNOT introduce a female for obvious reasons. Single rats that have been happily single for a long time are usualy ok remaining single so don't sweat it. Obviously they are best kept in groups but being a rescue you might not have had that option. Any new rat comming into your home has to be quarenteed for at leaast 14 days. In order to do this properly you really need to keep them somwhere with a completely seperate air supply. It's as much for your current rats protection as for the new one. 

Food, it;s harder to find real rat food than you might think. "hey look walmart sells some..." Nope leave that on the shelf unless it the little cubes from 8 in 1 that they sometimes carry. Thats not a terrible food. What you really want, and you're lucky enough to be able to get easily here in the states, is something like Mazuri rat food. Mazuri is a purnia company btw. They sell it at alot of petstores now, petsmart jumps to mind. The other thing I fed my rats for years was the senior forumal nutro natual choice, in the brown bag. You're looking for lower protien than a dog would need. I supplemented with fresh or frozen (and then thawed) veggies, usualy the mixed kind with peas, carrots, green beans... you know the stuff. Apples are nice and I learned never ever to get between a rat and his strawberry LoL. 

The Aspen is fine for bedding, I never did care for the paper stuff personaly except perhaps yesterday's news. It was the only one. Pine and cedar are no no's. 

Cage; wire is best because it allows for good air circulation which helps since small furries can be so prone to respitory illness. The bigger the better I wouldn't consider keeping a rat in one less than the size of at lest a 20 gallon aquarium. Thats just a size reff. for you, wire is still a better bet. Shelves to maximize space are also great. There is the arguement that an aquarium would help retain heat which might be important for a single hairless but in my experience it's not needed. Just provide a good house and some blankets or a hammock in addition to bedding for them to cuddle in. 
Sure wish geocities hadn't closed, it deleted my entire rat website, had a HUGE rat care guide on it with photos and everything. With wire cages it's nice to cover the cage floor with something solid (not wood) to avoid food injuries if the cage has a wire floor. I used cheap-o fleece blankets, and sometime carpet samples. There are tons of ideas out there though if you google the subject 
here's a picture of my big cage to give you an idea, (fleece was in the dryer after being washed in this photo)









this is my big cage, it's 3 feet by 3 feet (would you believe I only paid like 100 bucks for it brand new and that included shipping?!?!) it' housed up to five rats at a time usualy my max number that I keep.


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## frostfirestandards (Jun 18, 2009)

WOW that is a huge cage! 
Sadly, Mr Wrinkles passed away some time today.  

I was feeding him labblocks ( I think thats what they are called) as well as some human food. 

He was pretty old I am thinking, and was a "hard keeper"


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## flyingduster (Sep 6, 2009)

Aww, sorry to hear he didn't make it...  There are a fair few great rat forums (just like this one!) if you're ever interested in rats more...!

lol, and that's about the size of the cage I've recently *downsized* to:








big enough for 5 or 6 at a push...

This was my biggest cage:








which would comfortably hold 12-13 rats... And yes, I've had it full once, all with (entire) boys! lol. Yes, it's well over 5 feet tall. heh


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## WonderPup (Oct 26, 2008)

Awwww, I guess it's been a bad week for old rats. 

I love those cages FD, very nice  LoL, thats funny that the first one is your downsized version. Mine is my upsized cage  Course there isn't anyone in it now and it's in storage. I ask hubby if maaayyybe I could get another rat or two (or three) before the baby was born and he looked at me like my head had suddenly done a 360 and my hair had turned green. Ummm k, guess thats a NO. LoL. Oh well, we still have a guinea pig so he's fun to watch. I don't handle him much (my hubby does though) because he doesn't seem to like me. I usualy get nipped. Guess maybe thats why his first home abandoned him? Oh well, Mojo is cool, not a rat, but still cool.


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