Rats as a Pet
The rat makes an excellent pet for children and adults alike. They are very calm and gentle creatures, and if raised like they deserve they will be kind and caring and affectionate to their owners!
My Rats home!
Everyone should build their rats a home. It's way cheaper than buying a wire cage from Petco or Walmart. The one you see here cost me 40 dollars. They have 55'' x 22'' of space to play. The reason the glass aquarium is on the bottom level is so the babies didn't escape. I removed a lot of their toys to take the picture.
The above cage is simply an old book shelf some 1x1's and wire fencing.
-I drilled large holes in eat of the shelf bottoms for entrance to the different levels, and built a ramp for the larger space at the bottom.
*** Keep in mind that if the rats have nothing better to do they can chew threw the backing of the bookshelf! I used duck tape to secure the backing to the shelf and so far so good!
- So my ratties do not get sick I use news paper for the "bedding". It's cheap, and rats like to nest this gives them tons of ways to do so!
Treats:
-Rats love Kettle Korn, I've been teaching my female rat tricks with it. They go crazy when you open the bag!
- Baby puffs. Low calories and tons of flavor options, they can also be put in their food bowls. At $1.98 you can't beat it!
Food:
-keep an open mind when buying food for your rats. They are scavengers and will eat almost anything; this, however, does not mean it's healthy!
- When I go out to get them food I think to myself, "If they won't eat it will I?"
-Rat's need lots of protein and salt. They need lots of nuts, dried veggies and some sweet stuff too!
- Petco and Wal-mart both carry already mixed bags of food. I find that most rats don't eat half of what is there. So I pay attention to the things they did eat out of the mix and bought it separate and mixed it myself;
1.) Fruit Loops
2.) Honey roasted peanuts ( all nuts)
3.) Tropical trail mix ( raisins and banana chips
4.) Broccoli (dried corn)
5.) Saltine Crackers
Bath Time!
-Some rats love it.. others hate it.
- Use Johnson and Johnson baby shampoo, that way the "no tears" has some piece of mind.
- Dry the rat off as soon as you get it out of the water!
- Rats need warm water, so pretend you're giving an infant a bath and treat them the same way.
-Some rats will poop the entire time they are in the water, just get it out and continue.
The Female rat:
- The female rat goes into "heat" every four days.
- It takes 21-23 days for your female to give birth.. and they can have up to 20 babies.
- The Female is the "smarter" of the gender. Females are more easily taught tricks.
This is my Female, Chance!
The Male Rat!
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| Splinter |
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-Male rats, are male rats.
-Feed them, play with them they are good.
- Most sleep A LOT!
-Easy going
- Can be taught tricks, but it's much harder than it is with girls.
-Red eyes are nothing to be afraid of. Morris here- is a huge sweet heart! <3
Thing's YOU need to keep in mind:
- Rats have a very short life span; 3- 5 years.
-You need to keep them clean! Wash your hands before AND after you play with them.
- Rats have very sensitive respiratory systems, so you need to pay attention to the bedding you put in their cages. Do not use Pine or Cedar bedding, it contains to much dust. Aspen and newspaper are good!
- you MUST use a water bottle for your rats, they can not use a water bowel.
- When your rat becomes sick, you need to be able to care for it. If you do NOT have the money for a vet there are things you can buy at walmart!
-Tumors must be dealt with by a VET.
- Rats get abscessed teeth like humans do. This looks like a tumor growing from their face.
