The Rat Room

Some rats can be aggressive but it’s really not that common. But in females, their moodiness can be misinterpreted as aggressive tendencies. Intact females can be very forceful and determined.
Females go through a heat cycle every 4 to 5 days. In some rats, it’s not noticeable while in others, it’s quite obvious. A rat in heat will do funny little hops, flutter their ears and even arch their backs dramatically when you touch them. Some females like to do back kicks at their buddies, hoping to convince them to join in the chase and do the courting dance.
It’s also not uncommon to have females get pushy and cranky during their heat. The desire to procreate is very strong. It’s 100 times worse if you happen to have males in the home which is why I always strongly advise against having both sexes. It’s stressful and not fair to the rats, either male or female. The rat will constantly and desperately try to reach the opposite sex. Rats can sense them from far away, they can “talk” to each other as well and will spend their every waking moment trying to reach their “honey”. This is another reason why spaying your rats is highly beneficial.
Spats or fighting can also occur with food. Some rats and I’ve seen this mostly in females become obsessive with stashing. The rat might even hunt down, flip and pin another rat in order to remove the food from their mouth so they can then stash it in their special spot. This is not necessarily aggression, simply an addiction. You can try to alleviate it by free feeding your rats and offering several dishes with food. Also, finding the stash in the cage and dispersing the food several times during the day will help keep the peace.
All these little quirks make our rats unique and so very lovable.

Rats don’t rely much on their sense of sight. Their eye sight is weak so rats depend on their other senses like the sense of smell and feel (whiskers) to manoeuvre their way through life. Rats can have either black eyes, red eyes or pink eyes. The lighter the eye colour the weaker their sense of sight, which is why many red and pink eyed rats sway from side to side to gauge depth and to focus.
Eyes should be bright and clear of any porphyrin which is a sign of stress and/or illness. Rats also have a third membrane. Sick rats or very old rats’ eyes may sometimes appear to be dull, this is their third membrane staying up because it no longer retracts easily.
Some rats also have cataracts. There are several causes for cataracts: trauma or injury, congenital or spontaneous.
Most rats are not bothered by their cataracts; it rarely affects them since eye sight is not all that important to them to begin with. But in some cases, rats with cataracts develop chronic inflammatory in the eye, secondary to lens associated uveitis. If that occurs, long term anti-inflammatory drops would be required.
It is also not uncommon for rats to get a scratch in the eye. Most times this does not require too much care other than putting antibiotics drops in the eye, twice daily. The eye usually clears up fast enough.
A lump behind the eye is also a possible concern although not very common. This can be a tumour or an abscess which can be treated by trying antibiotics and a steroid or other recommendations by your vet. One of the first symptoms you’ll notice is a very unpleasant odour around the eye. Finally, the eye begins to bulge and starts to pop out of it’s socket. In some severe cases it may require an enucleation of the eye. I have seen a few rats undergo this procedure and came out of it quite well. Rats adapt amazingly well without their eyes. In fact, I’ve known a wonderful rat named Boo who was born with no eyes. Of course this fact had destined him to become snake food but he was saved this fate by my mom. Boo lived a full productive life, all without ever having the sense of sight.

Boo

Charlie with a congenital cataract.

Angel with a cataract due to trauma to the eye.

A couple of days ago, I noticed Gera was holding up his leg and wasn’t moving much. I waited it out hoping it was a simple sprain but the swelling never came. So I packed my sweet Gera up and off to the vet we went. The vet suspect cellulitis. He’s now on Clavamox for the next two weeks. We hope that this will treat it and he’ll be right back to normal. Gera also has a small lump in his groin. We are hoping it’s only a neuter abscess which can sometimes happen. Clavamox should take care of that as well.
Gera has been enjoying the extra coddling. He especially approves of his Cozygloo which I gave him when it’s out time. This way he can be out with me and I can watch him so the other rats won’t bother him. The girls don’t seem to understand that Gera needs some recovery time.
We are back at the vet’s next Tuesday for a follow-up. Wish us well.

Get well soon Gera.

A rat’s teeth is constantly growing. Usually rats are able to keep them straight and trimmed on their own. Even without any wood chews or blocks rats will trim their teeth by bruxing. But do continue to offer wood chews because rats really do love to chew. You can try boxes and tissues as well. Once in a while you’ll come across a rat with bad teeth. Either they are born with malocclusion or they develop an infection or illness which caused the teeth to become white, weak and brittle.
Trimming teeth at home is possible but you must be careful and know what you are doing. you need two people for this job. One to do the trimming and the other to restrain the rat.
I strongly urge you to visit your vet first. Some people have a hard time seeing the difference with normal teeth and overgrown teeth.
Also the vet can show you how to do the trimming the right way. It’s always safer and easier to have your vet do the procedure.
In some cases, trimming rats with white and overgrown teeth can result in injury especially if there is an existing infection. The slightest torque can cause the root to break.
Make sure to educate yourself first and have the proper tools and methods.

Today was the day for Chief and Doc to be neutered. This will take away all their hormonal stress and worries. It also calms down their need to be territorial. Both boys did very well during surgery and are now recovering well at home.
We must always remember that every surgery is a risk. If the rat has any hidden ailments like heart issues, they probably won’t pull through or could become very sick for the rest of their lives. It’s a gamble you take but if you have a good experienced vet, the risk are not as high. There are rats that don’t make it out of surgery or barely make it out of recovery. I’ve had several rats go through surgery with my vet, only once did I lose one. Young Max was 4 months old. The vet figured he had a weak heart which is why he had a cardiac arrest in recovery. I never felt guilty for poor little Max. He was very aggressive and never would have been a happy boy. And with heart issues, he would have been a very sick rat throughout his life.
Make sure to weigh your pros and cons when deciding on surgery… and remember, there are worse fates than death.

Doc:

Chief:

In my oldies cage I have four sweeties who have survived the nasty bout of CAR B. I have no doubt that they still have that bacteria in them but it’s not affecting them like it did their cagemates. Anna Banana is one of them. At almost 26 months old, she’s now declining fast. We suspect a pituitary tumour. It seems so unfair to beat the odds and fight the good fight only to be struck down at still a young age by an unbeatable monster. Anna started to show symptoms about a month ago, subtle symptoms like slight confusion, loss of coordination and balance and thinning fur. Prednisone and Dexamethasone will slow the progress but in the end, we can’t win this one.
We are now entering the syringe feeding stage. She walks in her food when doing the constant circling but worse, she finds it difficult to groom herself and if you are a rat lover, you know how important that is to them.

I will feed you and clean you my little Princess, but you just show me the sign and I will set you free.

I’ve had several people ask me how old do rats live till… the average lifespan is quite shocking and a reality check.
Rats have an average lifespan of 2 years. If you do everything well as in healthy diet, clean and proper habitat and lots of mental and physical stimulation then you might get them to reach 2.5 years to 3 years.
And if you are really lucky and your rat has some amazing genetics, then you can have them live to 4 years.
I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had a few rats reach 38 to 45 months old. It’s a bittersweet blessing having them with you so long. When they reach a certain age, most rats require special care. Most lose their hind end mobility, some more severe than others. Some develop what can only be described as dementia. Some develop cataracts and kidney disease… but these strong rats with their strong will to live certainly makes you see the world in a different light.
My Davis will soon be 38 months old on June 23rd. He’s the last of his litter, a little guy with good strong genes.

A member and moderartor on the Rat Shack forum wrote this article on water. It’s very well done and should be read by all.

We’ve had questions about what water should I be giving my rats. There are a lot of opinions and personal choices. Here is some information on the different types of water so you can make a choice. I used to work for a water purification company and learned a lot during that time.

And by another member, SQ writes:

Rats need to be given water that does not contain either chlorine or fluoride.

Note: it is also very important to clean water bottles and the sipper tube well every couple of days

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

Jet had to leave today. He was at the end of his life, no longer able to struggle and cope with the constant lung infections. He most likely had severe pulmonary abscesses. Over the years and several necropsies later, we’ve become accustomed to the symptoms.
Jet had seen a vet in February 09 and she pretty much confirmed our worst fears. We put him on Baytril, doxy, Zithromax but it didn’t do any good. Finally after almost a year on meds, I decided to stop it and let him have his life back. Jet certainly never let on that he was sick. He was strong, feisty, played hard and loved his food… the only sign of his sickness was the grumbling in his chest, the coughing and slight porphyrin. This morning was a different story. He was listless and full of porphyrin. He couldn’t manage to keep his nose clean. Finally he panicked, started to run all over the cage, that’s when I picked him up, calmed him down and told him it was time to go… and he did.
On May 3rd 2008, Jet was born to April. A rescue my mom took in. 1 of 2 males in the small litter, it was evident he was going to be the chunky boss. But a good boss he was. He quickly gained the respect of the rest of the colony doing so without ever having to bully a rat. He so loved his buddies as much as his he loved his food.
He leaves behind 6 cage buddies… and he will be greatly missed by all.
Jet and Jude are back together, the brothers are probably tag teaming again, over the bridge.
Be well, be happy my little Jet Black. May 3rd 2008 – May 20th 2010