The Rat Room

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

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.