The Rat Room

One of my new rats from that awful rattery situation is Doc. He’s quite young but he doesn’t know it. He spends his days mostly worried about being boss or territorial. He is living alone right now because his partner in crime Chief is even worse than he is. Both are getting neutered in early July… can’t happen fast enough.
But with Doc, I have his out time with Begera and Meeko. Two little guys I have yet to introduce. These two a special bubs, are sweet and laid back boys. Doc is all high and mighty with them but still goes around and hangs with them but at a fair distance. Last night though, like every night, I tried to get him to play. I mean, he’s a baby for crying out loud, he needs to bounce. He did! He finally did, popcorned and ran and shook his little head. He was a happy boy. I felt so proud, he found his inner babyhood. I’m hoping to get him moved in with Begera and Meeko sooner than the neuter. That child needs rat etiquette and baby fun.

A small hobby rattery in southern Ontario got slightly out of hand and quickly became overwhelmed with rats. They were found out and the landlord needed them all gone. Luckily a couple of good friends of mine decided to go and check out the situation. The rats were in a horrible state. They had 29 males crammed in a wooden crate type cage and 19 females in a much too small a cage. The rats were living on pine, no food and hardly any water. Almost all the males have sores, cuts and bruises. Some are in such bad mental state, they will need a neuter to help them cope with the stress of a horrible habitat and overcrowding. I wanted to help and decided to adopt two of the males. I brought them home and when the dust settled, the true personality of Big White came through. He is one stressed boy. He puffs up like a rat in a dryer and chatters loudly. He attacks any rat that goes near him. Lucky for me, he hasn’t realized that he could hurt me too if he wanted too. He’s still scared of me which is a good thing for now. I had him with his buddy Little Mink and they seem to get along fine until we got home. Big White doesn’t really like Little Mink. So for now I’ve got the two separated until their scheduled neuters.
Big White is now named Chief. I’m guessing he’s about 6 to 8 months of age. I know his type and with a neuter, he’ll soon be jello.
Little Mink is now named Doc. He’s just a baby, about 3 to 4 months old, which breaks my heart because instead of playing and bouncing and having a great baby time, he’s just totally stressed and scared. He’s unsure of his home, unsure of other rats and very unsure of me.
It’s so easy to breed. You put rat A with rat B and make babies and money signs dance before your eyes, until you realize rats are not in demand. It takes a special person to do things right. If you really need to breed, you need patience, time and space. You need money and a good vet. You need to know your rat’s background and have full support of your family. You also must have a demand or you will be stuck with the supply. Better yet… don’t breed at all. Don’t make more of these poor rats who ultimately end up needing a forever home.

It’s going to take me lots of work, time and patience with Chief and Doc. But I know I can get them to come around and be real rats enjoying life. They’ve had a super rough start… it’s time to give them an amazing forever.

Please meet my new boys. Big White aka Chief

And sweet Little Mink aka Doc

It’s getter warmer outside and this is about the time when people notice an unpleasant odour coming from their cage. Some cages are worse for this than others, those with powder coating and those with thick plastic shelves. During the hot season, you will need to be more diligent in how you keep your cage clean.
1. Change you litter to something like Yesterday’s News, it’s great for odour absorbency. Fill the bottom of the cage with it as well as placing litter box throughout the cage.
2. Don’t over clean your linen. If you have fleece in the cage, change it every 2 to 4 days, only change the ones that are soaked. Too much cleaning and the rats will go into pee overtime in trying to make the cage smell like them.
3. Don’t use vinegar on cages with powder coated and plastic shelves. It’s a smelly mix.
4. Toss any wood that’s been marinated in pee. There’s no cleaning it once it’s been washed.
5. Get an air conditioner for the room. (for the rich rat owner)
6. Get an air purifier.
7. Don’t place the cage in a confined corner of the room, you want to get the air flowing so it doesn’t sit stagnant.
8. Make sure your cage is big enough to house the number of rats.
9. Neuter your males, although drastic, it also has health benefits, less marking, less sebum (buck grease) and no more stress.
10. Keep your rats well hydrated.

There are a number of things you can try, don’t get discouraged, you’ll find what works. Keep in mind younger rats smell way more than adult rats so in time they will settle and not assault your nose so much.
Bathing the rat is not a good idea, it will only make him produce more skin oils. But keep the rats cool and that will promote grooming which is what you really want.

A good friend of mine Velma reminded me that a good scrubbing of the cage using bleach is also very important in order to fully disinfect the cage. Be sure to rinse thoroughly before letting the rats back in. You don’t need to use bleach all the time but every few months would do it some good.