The Rat Room

New rat owners always tend to go for the cute little baby rats but they shouldn’t disregard the older ones.
There are many rescues out there who specialize in rats. They have ready made colonies and can match the rats to the owners. Little Mischief Rescue in British Colombia, Canada have done so much in rehoming rats, getting them out of shelters and into forever home. They currently have this sweet little group of 4 males, a year old still waiting for their forever mommy and daddy. These boys are amazing. They are healthy, strong, active, show no aggression towards humans or themselves, they get along quite well which is always a plus with new owners. Those cute babies you buy at the pet store or even a breeder can at some point become bullies or be aggressive. This starts at about 5 to 12 months of age. So if you are ready to be a rat mom or dad please consider an already established colony of older rats. It’s always a perfect fit.

You can contact LMR at http://www.littlemischiefrescue.org/

Many feeder breeders are using the CO2 method to kill the rats they breed in order to feed their reptiles. The CO2 method can be done in two ways: pre-fill chamber and gradual fill chamber.
I’ve been doing some research and found that feeder breeders have decided that this is a humane method to euthanize their food. IT IS NOT!

There are many studies on going to prove that CO2 either pre-filled or gradual fill is INHUMANE.

A study made by Inez Joanne Makowska proves rats do have an aversion to CO2.

Rats have a very short life span. On average a rat will live to 2 years. They start to get old at around 18 months. But if you do everything right and you’re very lucky, you’ll get your rat to live beyond 2 years. In ideal situations, all my rats live beyond 30 months. I’ve also had a few make it to 38, 39, 41 and even 45 months old. But count your blessings each day your rat makes it past the 24 months mark.
Today, I celebrated Davis’ 3rd birthday. 3 years ago, he was born as part of an accidental litter. I adopted him and his 2 brothers. Rylee had bone cancer and Jorge made to 31 months.
Davis is still going strong, no loss of mobility, good strong appetite and still a lovely boy. He is also neutered which I believe plays a role in longevity.

Davis enjoys his cupcake today.

Yes, you read that right. Rats consume their feces in order to recycle or redigest the nutrients. It’s completely normal. If he’s feeling the need to engage in coprophagia that usually means something is missing from his diet and stopping him is not a good idea.
Although it may completely disgust you, try to remain calm and accepting… and turn away when you see sweet little Rex pick up his poop and eat it.

Ok so those two words really don’t go together but sometimes you just have to turn cleaning into fun.
That’s how it is with my crew or silly ratties. Almost all of them will run after the wet rag, trying to pin it down and then hide it away in some remote corner of the cage. Good luck in retrieving it.
Seriously though, a clean habitat is one of the most important factor to a rat’s health. I do a thorough scrub down of the cage every Friday of every week. But every day I go in and wipe up little messes. I change the fleece that start to smell and always give them a clean dish of food and water. It’s actually quite fun having a half a dozen rats crawling all over you when changing their food dish. Or wrapping a stubborn rat in the fleece when he refuses to get out of the way. Just don’t throw him out with the trash. lol
The most important thing… Have fun when cleaning with the rats.

Back in 2002 I started using echinacea on my little guys. They were not in the best of health and I was hoping this immune booster would work it’s magic. I used it for a few months and then gave up. I didn’t find it to do any difference whatsoever. But recently, I’ve bought a more organic echinacea for me since I haven’t been feeling the greatest ever since my bout with H1N1. Wouldn’t you know it, I feel better with the echinacea so I’ve decided to give it another go for the rats.
RMCA has a good article on it. www.rmca.org/Articles/herbal.htm
it’s best to read up on anything before you give it to your rats. Research is key to greater knowledge. Also the Rat Guide recommends not using it on rats taking prednisone or dexamethasone. Also not recommended for pregnant or lactating rats. www.ratguide.com/meds/herbals_health_supplements/echinacea.php
Do keep in mind that echinacea is an herbal supplement and should never take the place of an antibiotics. If your rats are sick they must see a good exotic veterinarian.

Coupage is a physical therapy technique used on bigger animals in order to loosen respiratory secretions. Recommended by my vet, I also do this on my rats when they are in a gasping phase of their illness. Rats with severe mycoplasmosis or pneumonia most likely also have pulmonary abscesses. The pus in these abscesses is quite thick so the hope of it clearing the lungs is not realistic but what it can do and what I believe does happen is to displace the pus and allow a better air flow in the lungs. This helps for a short time, it’s not a treatment you want to rely on, it’s something to do when your rat is panicking and gasping. I have seen my rats come out of a fit thanks to coupage.
My method:
I hold my rat next to my chest, I use two fingers and tap firmly on the side of the rat just behind the front arm. Then I turn the rat over and do the other side. I keep doing this, turning the rat over until I feel that he is no longer in severe distress.
The tapping should be firm, like if you were burping a baby.

I think Darcy pulled an April Fool’s prank on me. This morning, before their out time, Darcy had a gasping fit. He just couldn’t breathe through the congestion in his nose and his lungs most likely filled with abscesses.
I had the phone in my hand, I was about to call the vet to have him put to sleep. But I decided to give him a reprieve! I took out the bottle of metacam and administered a dose according to his weight. My vet has given instructions on how to do this when he needs it.
Sure enough, Darcy perked up and decided it was time to play, he explored, he climbed and even gnawed quite happily away at his snak shak log. I said to Darcy, if you are willing to fight again, we can do this. I started him on a high dose of Zithromax. He will stay on metacam to help with pain and inflammation. Keeping my fingers crossed that Darcy still has a lot of life and fight left in him.

Didn’t take out the oldies today, which suited them quite fine. I checked them out thoroughly though. You can’t be too sure when they get this age. But the young ones came out. They all had fun except for Darcy. He’s been so sick with myco/pneumonia… I think it’s nearing the end of the road for him. What can you expect when you are bred in a science centre to be hawk food. He was having a gasping fit, I picked him up, I tapped firmly on his lungs which helped quite a bit. He recovered but just barely. A few more of these gasping attacks and I’ll bring him in to the vet so he can finally rest his sick tired body and set his soul free.

One of the most common behaviour questions I get is how to make my rat love me more.
It’s simple, stick the little guy down your shirt. How to prepare for this… you’ll need to put on a t-shirt, then a sweatshirt, you’ll need a couple of hours of free time so settle down with a good book, movie or even reading the Rat Room.
Put your little guy or guys in between the two shirts and let them sit there and squirm for some time. They will eventually enjoy being in there. Rats love dark cozy spots and they will soon relate your natural body scent as well as your energy to a good place. Do this several times a day for over a week. You’ll see the rats will soon come running to you when they sense you come near the cage. This trick works on babies as well as older rats. Be warned though… it usually creates shirt divers. What’s a shirt diver? A rat that upon seeing shirt immediately dives in.