The Rat Room

Hairless rats are prone to all kinds of ailments. One of the worst ones is eye gunk. The hairless rat has no way of protecting his/her orifices, and eyes are no exception. In fact it’s a pretty good reason why hairless rats really shouldn’t be bred. When you think about it, it’s an anomaly. It’s a defect in the pet rat. The hairless rat is cold, has a faster metabolism to try and stay warm, they are prone to multiple skin issues from dryness to keratin cysts. They get cut up easily and gashes are always deeper and more serious on a hairless. Most hairless seem to remain smaller which I would think is a stunted growth. In the past, many hairless barely made it to 2 years.
But breeders need to make their money. So they make these lovely babies with these issues and don’t give it a second thought.
A Rat Shack member Lilspaz68 rescued 4 hairless rats with extensive and critical eye damage. They were rushed to the vet who was able to clear them up, clean them from all the debris buildup and save the eyes. Due to lack of immediate vet care, sweet Melvin had to have his ruptured eye removed and might very well lose his other one.
Fortunately, the other members rallied and helped Lilspaz68 because vet cost is not cheap. These rats will have a lifetime of special care living in a cleaner environment. During their treatment, these rats are on antibiotics, they need special drops and daily cleaning. Their cage must remain lint and debris free. My sister and I from The Cozy Corner will be donating special hammocks for these babies. We have found broadcloth that is a blend of 35% cotton and 65% polyester and hopefully this will be better suited for them. Fleece and flannel are completely out of the question for these special rats. And worse yet, they can never live with a furry buddy since the fur can actually become debris and affect the eyes.
If you have a hairless rat and you notice any kind of changes around their eyes, even excess porphyrin, it is imperative that you see a vet as soon as you can. Eye gunk can accumulate and damage the eye in no time at all.
Take special care of your hairless, so they can live healthy and happy lives.

Here are a few pics of these rats before they were brought to the vet.

And thanks to their guardian angel Lilspaz68, these rats are looking so much better.

It’s never a good thing. Rats who develop a tumour in the face have a very poor prognosis. Facial masses can be abscesses in the bone, nasal cavity, sinuses, eye socket, ear or tooth. None of these are very treatable and most end up in severe pain and in need of euthanasia. These masses can also be tumours, cancer and in which case, euthanasia is the most gentlest thing to do for the rat.
My Jenny has a facial mass. It’s very hard and bony. My vet believes it could be a tooth abscess or bone cancer. It’s affecting her left eye slightly as well as her nasal cavity. Jenny is highly stressed out, sleeping more and in obvious pain. My vet has recommended we try clavamox, hoping the abscess will respond if it’s an abscess and metacam. Since giving her the metacam, Jenny is more alert and eats on her own again. She has lost a lot of weight. But, I’m not holding out much hope for her. The lump is still there, it has not gone down in size, it is distorting her face… I fear the worse. Jenny may need to be put to sleep early next week. I won’t make her suffer much longer.

Edit to add: Jenny didn’t make it. She died early evening on Dec 31st. Be well sweet Jenny.

Of course we already knew that.
But scientists put it to the test and have found rats to have empathy and pro-social behaviour. In the study, they trapped a cage mate in a tube, while the free rat had the choice to release the cage mate or move on to something else. On average the free rat, released his cage mate before doing anything else. The article goes more into details. There is also a video to show the difference the rats faced with a trapped cage mate, a trapped stuffed toy or nothing in the tube.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1427.full.html

Over the years, I’ve experienced my share of rat empathy and social capabilities. I remember once, my old girl Bijou was being harassed by 3 young bucks. My Mielle out of nowhere during out time must have sensed Bijou’s worried signals because she bounded back to the cage and found Bijou at the bottom. Mielle pushed the big bucks away and convinced Bijou to enter a tube by nudging her gently into it. When Bijou was in it, one end was already blocked, Mielle dutifully placed herself at the open end, daring any of the young boys to come near. That day, I knew just how special rats truly are.

Back in 2007, a member on the Rat Shack started the Secret Santa fun. Those who participate, are assigned names and we put together a gift for our giftee. This year, my gifter commissioned my sister and the Cozy Corner to make a brand new type of hammock. Nic took this opportunity to finally create something I’ve been bugging her about for some time. I live in a triplex, a building I co-own with my parents and my sister. We all Iive in this triplex and we’ve called it the original Rat Shack since we all love and rescue rats. I wanted a hammock that reflects the triplex. Well, she did it. And it was made for me, paid for by Ratty Momma a member on the Rat Shack. I was shocked, floored and completely amazed at the size of this thing. It’s perfect, it’s exactly how I envisioned it. I knew Nic could do it… she is so creative and wonderful with her sewing machine.
What do my rats think of it? They love it! When I first put it in the cage, they were all over it, they wouldn’t stop exploring every bit of it. It’s perfect from top to bottom. The bottom part hangs on the ground, perfect for oldies. The top part opens to the CN shelf, perfect to just walk right in. But the middle part, the agile rat, simply lifts himself into it…making a private nest, big enough for a buddy or two or three.

The pics!

And a video… you can see just how great this thing is. And don’t worry, Nic will be making these now. Visit the Cozy Corner!

Magnum and Marshall bring new meaning to those words. You don’t know dirty until you’ve had these two youngins together in a cage. These boys, about 3 months old now live with an older gentlerat Turk in a single Critter Nation. Definitely a big enough cage for three males. Turk spends his time mainly sleeping and hiding away from all the ruckus caused by the galloping duo. These two really should be called Tazmanian Devils. Within a matter of hours, they leave their cage completely upside down. I’m also thinking, they get their teeth from the local beaver. I have never had so much fleece chewed up so fast. I try to line their cage with soft beautiful fleece only to see them completely teared up and removed from place. I’m sure they are having a ball playing and rearranging but they sure do make my clean ups that much longer. Every morning, I need to rush into the rat room to fill up their bowl cause no matter where I put it, they manage to spill all their water. I do believe this is the first time I deal with such chaos, such disaster makers. lol It really does look like a natural disaster has hit that cage, over and over again.
And when I go in to clean up, the two babies come running up to me with their innocent little eyes, ready for love and treats. They sure are lucky I’m a sucker for sweet faces. lol

The cage, a few hours after cleaning.

I’m still doing intros with my group. I’m taking my time, I don’t want to push anyone into living together until they are totally ready. I’m lucky in that I have a rat room, I have two Critter Nations and I don’t need to rush into anything. So I’ve decided to have Storm neutered. Not for any aggression mind you… but more so because the others perceive him as a bully. When the rats around feel unsafe with Storm, that’s when it’s time to do something about it. I’m also lucky to have a good vet, that I trust completely and I know this can be nothing but good for us.
What I’m hoping for with Storm and his chop chop is a change in attitude. He needs to let go of his macho behaviour and start to let the other rats get close to him. In fact, he’s not fond of letting me get close to him. He protests and fights me until I’ve got him in my arms and then he just relaxes. He needs to get past his stiffness. He does have a partner in crime but it’s not all that serious. Butter Bean, the boss can go either way. I’m really hoping that after Storm settles down, BB will become the good alpha. We will see… if not, BB will be next.

Storm

A must read for all pet owners… a fantastic book by Karen Pryor. This book gives you an insight on how animals think. Animals can learn from us and are eager to do so. We are their teachers and we must do so gently and with lots of fun. Sure, animals can be trained using fear, pain and intimidation but why not do it with fun?
Not only can you train rats to do tricks but you can also shape their behaviour. You can help them figure out how to react differently. Instead of biting out of fear, you can click them away from the source.
My sister was having a lot of trouble doing intros with her group. Two males, both were neutered but Neko was literally launching himself onto Bruno. This was not good. I talked to my sister about clicker training her two boys into not wanting to hurt each other and to have a cue word that could be used to separate the two. This was something even I have never attempted and didn’t know how well it would take.
Nic used her tongue as the clicker. She used pumpkin seeds for treats and the cue word was off. The word was not introduced until the shaped behaviour was strong.
During out time, Nic watched the rats closely, when Neko moved close to Bruno, the slight turn of his head earned him a click and a treat. It didn’t take long for him to associate turning away from Bruno to a click and treat. He was doing it all the time. Finally, Nic added the word off to the turn away. Neko was having so much fun running to Bruno, sniffing him and turning away for his click and treat, it became a game. Then Nic worked on Bruno. She had both boys running to each other, sniffing and turning and running to her for the treat. She had all her rats moved in together within a week. Her intro attempts had started last July and she never could get beyond 2 or 3 days. Yet after only one week of clicker training they are living together. And Nic no longer needed the clicker or treats. The boys didn’t associate each other with aggression, it’s like they couldn’t remember why they didn’t like each other in the first place. But Nic wanted to see if a month later, the word Off would work. Sure enough…she yelled off and they turned away from what they were doing. Amazing!

The boys Neko and Bruno.

I was innocently checking out my Facebook when what do I see? My local SPCA has rats. So the next day, I go down there and they have 3 brothers living together and a lone male. So I decided to take all four. Meanwhile, I had already been in contact with a fellow on Kijiji about his two young rats. At the end of the day, I came home with 6 gorgeous boys. The three blonds as I call them are 8 months old, the lone male is about 18 months old and the two youngins are 2 months old. Intros started immediately. I hate to waste time and a fresh move is always the ideal moment to intro. After 3 days Turk the lone male moved in with the babies. Now, I’m on day 5 of introducing the 6 males together. I’m thinking of going another week of these intros to make them good and ready to share a home in a Critter Nation. I’m also thinking about if I should introduce them to my current crew of 6. My 6 are not living together, I have 3 in one half of a CN and 3 in another. The group decided to separate and not get along. Seeing as I have a couple of oldies at the time, it suited me and them just fine.
But still a dilemma… do I attempt a full intro with all of them at some point? Not sure.

On with the pictures.

The group on day 1 of intros:

Day 2, things were still going along great.

Day 3 we had a few scuffles and that’s when I found out who’s my alpha and beta as well. It’s no surprise that it’s the blonds, they are at the right age. Storm is alpha, the beige bareback and Butter Bean is beta, the pink eyed beige bareback. Their brother Jake is a sweet darling of a boy.
Turk is a little worried, I don’t think he’s very used to multiple rats in his colony. But he’s getting the hang of it. The babies, Marshall and Magnum are scared but trying. They have taken to Turk quite well. I’m shocked and saddened how these babies don’t know to popcorn and play like babies should. It’s a shame really but I’m going to change that.

Day 4 and 5 went pretty much the same, mostly getting to know each other and learning to accept each other.

That would be Gera. He was named Begera. He was bred in the US, came into this world on February 14th, 2009. He ended up in rescue not long after. In May 2010, Gera and his mom took a trip to Canada. He was destined for someone else but that home fell through. My sister and I met Gera at a rat group meet up in Toronto. Nic fell instantly in love with him. A couple of days later, when we found out that Gera was available with his little buddy Meeko, we jumped at the chance to have him. What a lucky break! Nic wanted him real bad but circumstances within her colony couldn’t accommodate Gera at the time. She had a very sick boy with severe head tilt, an intro at that time could have been detrimental to Chance. So I greedily and eagerly accepted this little man into my life. Gera was a rat like no other. I’ve had my share of strong rats, good rats, calm rats, sweet rats, people rats and rats’ rats. But Gera was all in one. He was the whole deal. Many times I would look at Gera and ask him, are you sure you were meant for me? I know rats already, so to be given a rat that encompassed peace, love and harmony was a shocker. My specialty is the misunderstood male. Gera was to me what Daddy was to Cesar. Those in the dog world will know what I mean. Gera was special in so many ways. I’m not the only one who knew this… all the rats knew this. When we were in the middle of intros, rats would flock to Gera, to soak in his calm, peaceful energy. They found comfort being near him, some rats would even try to spoon him. He allowed all rats to take in his energy. All rats were Gera’s buddies. Including all humans. During out time, that’s where Gera wanted to be, with his human. In the last few months, Gera slowed down. He had reached 30 months, he was greying at the nose, but he still had full mobility, full capacity…just slow. He started to sleep out in the open a lot, and when he chose the bottom of the ladder for his bed, I knew it was almost time. This morning, October 8th, I found Gera had peacefully left this earth. In true Gera fashion, no complaints, no gasping fits, no issues. He knew it was his time and he was quite fine with that. I took a few pictures yesterday, I had a feeling… I’m sure he told me, Mom, I’m going tomorrow. I cuddled him yesterday. I told him I loved him. And I always will.
The house is empty today.

Gera with Nic at the rat people meet up in Toronto, May 2010

Gera, fit in quite well.

Gera during intros, not a care in the world… he remained calm as always.

This picture was taken yesterday morning.

We’ll never know. Did you ever have a friend? Probably not. Did you ever have the right food, and comfy fleece in your cage to keep you warm? Sure doesn’t look like it. Did you get any care at all for your illnesses and injuries? Definitely not.
We are all so sorry your life ended before it could begin again like it should’ve. It looks like your nakie skin was chilled on a metal pan in an old fashioned dog kennel, I don’t see bedding, toys. I do see you, your eye damaged, probably gone septic, probably suffering badly until finally your spirit had to let go of your weakened body.

A friend of mine responded to an ad on Kijiji, a typical ad that goes like this:
I have up for grab is my hairless rat FREE, yes free.
Just him no accessories and must be gone today as
we are leaving …

BRING YOUR OWN CONTAINER.

The little guy never made it. This is no way to treat a rat. Rats are not toys or possessions, they deserve love and respect, they deserve proper care.
There are countless ads online of owners who no longer care for their rat or perhaps never cared for them at all. There are even ads that states the rats will be left outside in the woods… what? Why do people think rats can live outdoors, in the wild? Pet rats were born and raised to be with humans. Domesticated rats have different needs.
Please… if you want a rat, do your research. If for some reason you need to rehome your rat, please take your time and find the right home for him.
Rats are beautiful, social and loving animals. Be kind to them.

This little guy clearly never had a chance. RIP wee one.