Rat Advice

[Laura]

I'm getting a rat (or two) in the very near future, and was hoping you rat experts could give me the basics on rats. I've never had one before, and I've been reading up on them online. Some of the information is contradicting to other sites, so I just want to know what you guys think

The main issues I'm curious about are diet, what's the best diet for them? And what kinds of table food should I be supplementing the rat diet with? Also, the bedding. What should I be using? I read pine shavings are a bad idea. Also, a lot of sites mentioned that rats shouldn't be kept alone, but some of them say it's perfectly fine. I'm going to be getting it/them from a shelter, so maybe I should see if there are any loners vs. the ones kept in cages together?

Thanks in advance!

 

[menagerie]

I've been involved in rat rescue for the last 8 years. I like to see rats in groups of two or more. That being said, I have a few singles here, but only because they don't want to live with companions. If you are getting females, I encourage you to get them spayed. It will greatly cut down on mammary and pituitary tumors.

We use Back2Nature as a litter, but you can't get that everywhere. Any recycled paper bedding is fine (i.e. Carefresh, Yesterday's News). I have also used aspen in the past, I stay away from pine as it does contain phenols which have proven to raise liver enzymes and are hard on the respiratory system of rats. You can also use fleece or fabric liners and change them out a couple of times a week.

I feed Harlan Teklad blocks and a variety of healthy fruits and veggies. Harlan is not available in stores, but you can order it from Wee Companions for $1.00 per lb, plus shipping. [email protected]. Stay away from the Suebee's Diet, it contains too many carbs and rats that are fed Suebee's tend to become obese.

Some great sources of information are:

RatClub a New Zealand based site, full of great information. There is also a forum, I'm a mod on RC.

Goosemoose aka RatsRule a mainly US based rat forum. I encourage you to read the Reference Desk section and the first three pages of each of the sections.

RatGuide is an excellent source of information and medical and medication advice.

 

[Ash]

Listen to Meanie for sure! She's a great source of advice and has a lot of good info. Rats Rule is pretty decent, I've gone there for cage ideas.

Most bird toys make awesome rat toys, and you can give rats all those things you want to give chins, but can't. We feed Nutro Natural small breed dog food as a staple, and supplement it with fruits/veggies and stuff. Rats are great pets. Be prepared to be a lot of turn around and washing, though. Rats will pee on just about everything. And then lay in it.

 

[tkc1038]

I just recently got into Rats and was unaware that the Suebee diet was not great for them ,I too thought it was too high in Carbs and just took some of the better items and use them for treats, My guys get Lab block and their natural foods as well as a good quality dry dog food. I am still not sure what is the best diet out their but have done my best with what is available. For bedding i use Aspen AND fleece. I use the shavings for mostly around where they go potty and the fleece in where they sleep. I am still learning alot of information, BTW my girls LOVE poached chicken bones they go NUTs for them.

 

[Laura]

Thank you I knew I was asking the right people lol

 

[Laura]

I did a bit of research on the HT blocks, and was wondering which formula I should be ordering?

 

[GRose]

Just throwing my 2 cents in but I use Mazuri Rat pellets. I have been in the rescue and zoo side of things here in Cali and quite a few zoos use their products for most of their animals. Also Zupreem is a good brand. Also don't forget to buy some chew type treats (wood blocks etc) to keep teeth worn down. The block pellet diet will help but you don't want problems with teeth. You don't need to supplement with anything, the pellet diets are usually complete nutritionally although rats can have some other stuffs like the occasional carrot or snap pea, etc. Make treats healthy. If you get a wheel make sure to get one with a solid surface so little feet don't get caught up there. Also depending on what kinda of cage you have make sure there are some solid surfaces so that your rats can get off the wire. And as for bedding I used to use carefresh but switched to aspen when i got my chinchillas so I only had to buy one type. Either is fine but I have heard of some rats who had developed allergies to carefresh but others don't and I really liked it when I had it. I would stay away from pine or anything had the phenols (oils in the wood). Um, what else? :hmm:I agree about the spaying. My vet told me they do that now to cut down on tumors since such a large part of the rats body is covered by mammary tissue. I wish i had known when I first got mine. 2 of my girls have since passed on due to their tumors. My last girl is now currently by herself. I think I feel more bad about her being lonely than she does but it's hard to say without being anthropomorphic. I can say when i had my three girls they slept together and played and fought too, it was fun to see them groom each other. Now that I only have Velvet, she still runs on her wheel and sleeps in her hammock and I just give her lots of attention to make up for what she might be missing. But since I don't plan to have more rats for now that is the way it has to be. My advice is if you do end up getting more than 1 to get some that are already use to each other, whether they be litter mates or just already bonded cage mates. If your a first time rat owner you may want to wait to learn how to bond unfamiliar rats with each other.