An Accidental pet Rat....Help please?

[Scythemantis]

The best food for rats is "nutro light" dog food, if you have it there. It has everything they need and none of the bad stuff (corn and corn by-products, used as filler in nearly all pet food, are a major cause of cancer in pet rats). Other things extremely good for them are regular "total" cereal, plain puffed wheat and rice, dry pasta, and all green vegetables including frozen (they seem to enjoy cold or hot foods as much as humans do)

Carefresh bedding is harmless and very cheap, though it's very irritatingly dusty. I'm allergic to it, so I have to use the somewhat more expensive "yesterday's news" paper cat litter.

Get a snake!

/Lelle

Completely lame and unfunny remark.

 

[nightbreed]

Made me laugh

 

[MyNameHere]

The best food for rats is "nutro light" dog food, if you have it there...Other things extremely good for them are regular "total" cereal, plain puffed wheat and rice, dry pasta, and all green vegetables including frozen (they seem to enjoy cold or hot foods as much as humans do)

"Lab blocks" are also pretty good. They're made to be an easy-to-feed, nutritionally complete food for research animals, and a lot of people who use them don't even use a bowl, just toss some on the cage floor. Kaytee makes a 'lab block' food, and at least one other small animal food maker does one, too; I've seen it at Wal-Mart (yech!). I used to give my rat a generic small animal mix made by Kaytee with small supplements of whatever I was eating.

Remember Rattus norvegicus proliferated for millennia scavenging amongst the throwaways of humans, so they can eat pretty much anything we do, so long as you don't give them stuff that's bad for them (chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, orange juice, to name a few).

Carefresh bedding is harmless and very cheap...

There's a slightly less-expensive version of Carefresh (made from the same stuff, but different mfgr and brand name) available at stores that are not pet specialty stores--Target, Wal-Mart (yech!), etc.

 

[Crotalus]

Completely lame and unfunny remark.

Lighten up..
It was gonna be eaten by a monitor and that I can assure you is far worse then become snake food

/Lelle

 

[Scythemantis]

Lighten up..
It was gonna be eaten by a monitor and that I can assure you is far worse then become snake food

/Lelle

I'm as lighthearted as they come (terrorism humor, abortion humor, nothing is beneath me!) but It's still just a really cheap joke to be posting in a thread about keeping one as a pet. No, it doesn't matter to me that the thread starter was going to use it as a feeder anyway and isn't offended, and it wouldn't even matter if I hated rats. I'd STILL find it dumb; it's exactly the same as if someone made a thread asking what to do with a baby snake and was jokingly told to just lop its head off with a shovel. Or the common "let me get my shoe" remarks when one posts about their pet invert on any "normal" webforum.

 

[Imegnixs_Cinder]

I have kept rats for best part of 15 yrs now, they are amazing pets.
One thing I would like to add to this thread. Someone (sorry I forget who now) mentioned finding out the sex and getting it a mate. In my humble view it depends on what you want from your pet rat. They are sociable animals and they do bond. If you are going to be spending a lot of time playing with it and talking to it I would advise actually not getting another one, instead let it bond to you. However if your not home during the day or don't have much time to spend with it then yes get another one to keep it company, but bear in mind it will bond to the other rat more than it will bond to you.
Also if you have more than 1, when you take 1 out to play the other gets jelous and if you take both out at same time you really have your hands full lol.
Pet shops sell rats from 6 weeks old so your new baby should do just fine on normal rat food available from pet shops really soon.
Just give it lots of space to run around in and a warm place to sleep and something wooden to walk on to wear its claws down and he/she should be fine.
btw its wicked cute! makes me want another baby!

 

[Scythemantis]

Rats don't even need "sexing" really...males just have tremendous, obvious testes under their tails. Some of the biggest in the animal kingdom in relation to body size

 

[Nivek]

MyNameHere, what is the substrate called that youre talking about? Also, the rat is incredibly playful in the sense that it likes to explore, its actually gotten loose in my room once, but came back when I called for her (no giant testes, so I figure its a female) ill get the dog food and Total tonight, and begin construction on a new 10g setup for her tomorrow! Also, when should i begin cat litter training it, or is it even necessary?

 

[MyNameHere]

The off-brand Carefresh is called Critter Care. You'll pay about 2/3 of what you would pay for Carefresh for a comparable size package (at least in this area).

At the size your rattie is you wouldn't be able to see the testes anyway, she's too young. In rats that size one of the more common ways to sex is to compare the distance between the "two spots" (opening of the urethra and anus) that you'll see under the tail. This works best if you can compare two littermates or rats of similar size, but basically girls will have less space here, where boys will have more space.

I've never heard of litter-training a rat that way, but let us know how it turns out.

also, more interesting info at: www.afrma.org

 

[Crotalus]

I'm as lighthearted as they come (terrorism humor, abortion humor, nothing is beneath me!) but It's still just a really cheap joke to be posting in a thread about keeping one as a pet. No, it doesn't matter to me that the thread starter was going to use it as a feeder anyway and isn't offended, and it wouldn't even matter if I hated rats. I'd STILL find it dumb; it's exactly the same as if someone made a thread asking what to do with a baby snake and was jokingly told to just lop its head off with a shovel. Or the common "let me get my shoe" remarks when one posts about their pet invert on any "normal" webforum.

Whatever. Not all can laugh at everything, maybe your terrorism humour isnt the funniest I know who knows. Rats are obviously beneath you.

/Lelle

 

[Nivek]

My personal opinion on the whole snake/rat joke thing: Just a joke, no harm meant, I don't see any reason to get upset lol...Always good to make a joke, though sometimes it seems better in our heads lol. I don't think crotalus meant to offend, so no use in taking the joke as offensive...Just my opinion heh

 

[LPacker79]

ill get the dog food and Total tonight, and begin construction on a new 10g setup for her tomorrow! Also, when should i begin cat litter training it, or is it even necessary?

I personally would suggest against using an aquarium as rat housing. Rats are extremely susceptible to upper respiratory problems, and the ammonia in a rat's cage could be extremely harmful to it. Even if you have a well ventilated screen lid, ammonia is heavier than air and it would stay at the bottom.

A wire cage would be much more suitable.

 

[Nivek]

Oh, well then! Thanks for the advice! I can't get a cage until i move out, which is in less than a month, so is it a threat?

 

[LPacker79]

It would probably be okay if it's only going to be a month.

 

[Nivek]

Alright, I will switch to a wire cage ASAP, then. Thanks for the warning.

 

[KJE]

Alright, I will switch to a wire cage ASAP, then. Thanks for the warning.

Check this out for home made rat cages...
Rat cages

 

[Nivek]

That is really awesome! I am currently gathering supplies to make a small shelf thing like that one on the link. I am making a screen dore, and cutting a hole in each shelf to make a 3 story area for the rat, i figure ill keep a small thing of kitty litter in a corner on the bottom, lol.

 

[Immortal_sin]

wire cages are the best, as long as the rattie is not standing on wire. Ventilation is key, as with A versicolor
Using some sort of plastic flooring with a wire cage, and Carefresh substrate, you can't go wrong, and you'll have a much healthier rat.

 

[Nivek]

I just took some new pictures, so enjoy.

 

[MyNameHere]

Awww! She's in that cute "I have a giant head" phase!

I have just a couple of questions/'notes", though...

1) Is that some kind of canned dog/cat food in the one petri dish? If memory serves dog food is too high in protein for rats, and cat food is (or should be) higher in protein that dog food.

2) The seed cake thing looks like one of the treat cakes. These are ok on occasion, but not all the time and not as a major part of the diet. Remember that, like candy, they are made to be tasty and not necessarily nutritious for a growing rat.

3) Where is her water? Even in a 'flat' keeper like that you should be able to rig some kind of place to set up a water bottle for fresh, clear water for her.