The Rat Room

For my mom. Yep, you read that right. My mom picked up a rat off of kijiji. And the story that comes with him is simply crushing.
Charlie is his name. He does respond to it so he gets to keep it. He lived his whole life alone, in a small cage, on cedar chips and crappy food. He was never let out to play nor picked up for cuddles. You see, his caregiver was allergic and his girlfriend was afraid, calling him a biter. So far we have not seen any biter in him yet. The guy told my mom that his mother breeds feeders in Ottawa. That’s where Charlie comes from. This feeder breeder kills her babies by throwing them in the freezer and letting them freeze to death. A very painful and inhuman process. Charlie escaped his death only to live a sorry life which led him to be a fearful obese rat. Charlie weighs a whopping 823 grams. He’s about 2 years old but he seems in pretty good health considering how he lived. He’s a lucky boy. His life is about to change big time, huge cage, good food, lots of out time, cuddles and more cuddles.
Welcome home Charlie 5. My parent’s are thrilled to have him.

Charlie and my dad or, his dad. lol

A few years ago, a group of us on the Rat Shack put together a rat train in order to adopt out rats to all parts of Canada and even the US. It was a huge undertaking which totally paid off in the end. Another big rescue is underway which can be followed on the Rat Shack. I shouldn’t be surprised at how far people will go to help pets in need but still each time I’m amazed and awed by how much the rat community does for each other. A couple of wonderful members in the maritime were alerted to a situation that required rehoming several rats, in total 46. With no real good homes in the area, they were forced to look elsewhere. In comes MRR. Mainely Rat Rescue. They stepped up, agreed to be part of the rescue. They have a great rescue network set up with fosters, vets, transports and volunteers. A volunteer agreed to drive the 3.5 hours to the border, to take in and place the rats into their temporary homes. These rats will also be spayed and neutered. This “project” required the two members to pick up, sort out and fashion cages for a huge amount of rats. Many are mamas and their litters which again, requires some extra work to make sure moms are well fed and not under stress. Then they themselves have to do the long drive to the border to meet the MRR volunteer. Unfortunately, a miscommunication at the border forced the rats to go back. They required proper vet papers assuring these rats were indeed fancy rats and in good health. With the help of more members on the Rat Shack, donations poured in to help pay for the extra vet bills and extra transportation issues. Finally, the rescue can go through, the rats can settle in and find good homes. These rats are extremely lucky because many don’t have angels looking out for them like these ones. Many rats go homeless and are neglected.
I send thanks to all those involved. And you know you guys ROCK!

Here are some pics of the rescue effort.

Packed in boxes for lack of cages.

Switching cars and cages.

Rats!

And more Rats!

Oops, out of the box.

Company for the drive.

If you would like any of these sweeties please contact MRR. If you can’t adopt, please donate.

Purchasing a rat from the pet store only to find out she’s pregnant is an all to common scenario. One lady in Fredericton decided to make the most of it and educate society in the wonderfulness that is rats.
Her two girls gave birth and the babies are now looking for homes. She has created a Facebook page in order to help home the babies and to continue with the education on rats. Be sure to “like” the page Adopt A Rat Fredericton.

My sister and I at the Cozy Corner are helping out by donating 4 hammocks to Lisa in order to help promote adoption. Lisa will also be continuing to foster other rats in need. Sadly, the maritime is over saturated with unwanted rats.
Every bit of help from anyone will always be greatly appreciated.
So be sure to visit Lisa and the babies on her Facebook page.
Happy adopting!

Recently, a group who call themselves Mouse and Rat Rights have decided to make up their own ideas about rat food. These people have made no research or take into consideration the nutritional needs of the rat. They decided they wanted to go raw and homemade. That’s fine and all but not if you do not meet the nutritional needs of the rat. This can be absolutely detrimental to the health of your pet. The rat only has a couple of years at best, so feeding him/her an unbalanced, incomplete diet will cause irreversible harm.
The worst part of of all this, this group has decided to publish their unfounded diet on the internet. So again, I implore those looking for information on their rat to please weed out the “bad” sites. Always do the research on your own and rely only on scientific data or trusted studies. Even sites who are supported by commercial retail are not to be trusted. Always double check what you read. Make sure it is supported by a larger rat community. Your rat’s life depends on it.

Here’s a false food pyramid created by the MARR.
It scares me how many people might actually believe that this is the right way to feed your rat.

And a little common sense. In this day and age, there is absolutely no excuse for the improper care of a pet. With all this user friendly technology holding a wealth of information and even the mass publications at your local and free library, everyone should give the very best care necessary to keep your pet healthy and happy.
On the Rat Shack, we see so many rescue stories with our members. They pick up so and so from an online ad, most of us see the pics and some of us probably think the animal is on his last legs but no, due diligence as well as some TLC brings this animal back to life. Literally. Recently, one “case” has really opened our eyes. Shade was adopted by one of our members, lilspaz68. She’s a hospice and rescue so when Shade came in, lilspaz68 was fully prepared to care for her. Some good food, clean habitat, antibiotics for any infections, revolution to treat possible mites or lice and a friendly loving place to call home gave Shade the chance she deserved to be the happy healthy rat she should be. The pictures are incredible. I couldn’t believe my eyes after a couple of months in lilspaz68′s care what a difference it has done to Shade. She has even shed her poor black (brown) coat and molted into a beautiful shiny black girl. She’s gained weight, she’s bright eyed and happy. The way a rat should be.
Please do your research when adopting a pet. Proper food, big clean habitat and friends to play with is a must for rats. Be a good pet caregiver. Be their companion, as they are yours.

Shade in October:

Shade in January:

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.