Did we do it right before?

[Little_Vixen]

I've only had two rats before. Isis and Seraphina. And now that it's getting closer and closer to us getting an apartment and getting a cage etc I'm getting doubtful and wondering if the way we took care of Isis and Seraphina before was okay like it was supposed to be. They never escaped or anything, loved to go out but loved just as much to go back to their home.

Cage: http://birdcages-naomie.com/for-sale/04 ... -birdcage/
- 30” X 18” X 36” H w/o the stand.

Bedding: Kaytee soft-sorbant

They got a mix that we got from the petstore we got them from but it didn't contain any seeds like you usually see in mixes but I'm not sure if it was actually an OK mix for them but they seemed happy.
They got an assortment of a veggies every day or so, a handful or peas and corn and sometimes we'd switch those out with carrots (they loved baby carrots).
They got a half or tiny tiny chunk of a hershey kiss every week to every other week because we believed this helped prevent URI's. We didn't know these were supposed to be for emergencies for rats having breathing problems.
They got assortments of other treats on a weekly basis like dried banana chips, trail mix (peanuts and raises for the most part), peanuts in the shell.
On a random and infrequent basis they would get special treats like a string of pasta or they got to share a tiny bit of our frozen yogurt ice cream that we got soft serve. They tried mashed potatoes as well (plain) but didn't like it.

They had a wooden hidey hut, one plastic water bottle that we refilled every day and used VitaDrop vitamin liquid, a few drops in the water every day. They had little colored fruit shaped wooden toys that Seraphina would play with but Isis wasn't much for playing with us, just getting chased and playing with Seraphina. They had around 3 or so sets of hammocks and tubs, pouches etc that we cycled out weekly to wash in soap and water and rinse, then dry outside on our small wooden shed in the sun. They also had fleece that we stuck over the shelves because we didn't want them to hurt their toes or get bumblefoot for being on just grated shelves and bottom for so long (we didn't know it was a bacterial issue as well).

They got plenty of 'out' time but never got to free range because Judy was afraid of and for her chihuaha and my beagle dog was way too curious about the rats for their own good. Often they'd just run around on us for a while and then would play tag coming in and out of their cage onto our arms. I didn't know until later that what they did was called Popcorning.

But.. did we do it right? I realize now that there is a lot I would have changed and a lot of stuff that we probably should have done. They had never been to a vet and only had sniffles for the first week of coming home. Yes they were in an aquarium for about 2 weeks until we got the big cage but we cleaned every day because we were led to believe that if they got enough out time and we cleaned enough that they would be at least decent in an aquarium.. until we researched deeper into it.

I really don't want to screw up at all on any new rats I get and I'm so afraid of doing that. I got lucky that Isis and Seraphina weren't pregnant and had only had new home sniffles. I got lucky that Isis only got a scratch above her eye and it healed almost immediately and we figured out it was from needed to trim her nails..
But this was all luck.

So did we do okay?



Also: Isis was a hooded fawn and I distinctly remember her having black eyes but I can't be for sure. For some reason I seem to recall fawn being a diluted color that usually results in having rudy or red eyes. Been wondering about this.

 

[lj]

You'll be fine. Sounds like you did everything by the books.

I'd feed a block food diet instead of a mixed diet though.

 

[eagle]

I agree with lj on dumping the prepared bag of food and finding a good lab block and by good I don't mean the lab block you will find at Petsmart, Petco or most stores unless you can find the Oxbow. Worse case check you local feed stores and see if they carry Mazuri or something along those lines. Just keep the protein amount to less than 18% if possible. Only other thing is I would probably limit the dried banana chips to maybe once a month or so. They contain high levels of natural sugar and Jo has done a considerable amount of research on the effect of sugar on tumors. Better to give fresh ones as a treat if possible. I have at least 2 water bottles on most of my cages escpecially in the heat of summer and the cold of winter when I have the heat on they seem to drink large amounts of water in winter time also. Other than that you did fine. PS I probably wouldn't use the vitamins in the water. As long as they are getting a well rounded diet the extra vitamins are not really needed.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

Ditto what eagle said and I thought I read somewhere that vitamins in the water are no good anyways because they dissapate. But either way I don't think its ever a good idea to add anything to the water because you don't want anything that might discourage them from drinking the water. Other than that you will do just fine.

 

Chuck the mix food and don't add anything to the water and you should be good to go.

 

[jorats]

I must have changed my care at least a dozen times before what I do now which works very well for me. I agree with was everyone else have posted.

 

[Little_Vixen]

I plan on getting harlan food for my next rats but what about chocolate and stuff (it was dark chocolate) because aren't we supposed to limit that a bit?

Due to living in a stinkingly hot state I'll go with the two water bottles. Even though the apartments we're going to move to have a/c and such.

As for the mix? I'm not even in the same state as the petstore now and I wouldn't go back to them. I found out the day after we got Isis and Seraphina that you aren't supposed to pick them up by their tails.. which the lady did, and I told her that pine bedding was bad for rats because they got sick but because of my age (and the fact that my size makes me appear even younger than that) she looked at me like I was stupid.

What are some watery0based treats that are okay to give? Iceberg lettuce has a lot of water but nearly no nutrition and I think that's the same with celery? What about watermelon?

*bah, hyper kitty blazed through the room and knocked my mouse off the bed jumping over it's wire*

Thanks for all the reassurance, it's been over a year not since I've had my girls and I just really want to make it even better this time when I can get ratties

 

Chocolate should not be given unless in very bad respiratory distress, and only a tiny bit then, also it needs to be 70 percent coco.

Limit watery treats like watermelon tho because that can cause runny poo's.

I feed a group of 8 rats about 3 cups of fresh veggies daily.

For the most part they get Kale, Frozen Peas and Cucumber. (Used to get Spring mix, but since I have started feeding kale, they wont touch it)
Sometimes they will get Carrot, but I try to limit it due to natural sugars.
Frozen Peas thawed in warm water is also a favorite (I let them fish for the peas in a bowel of luke warm water)
Corn is also a favorite but I don't feed too much because it don't have alot of nutrition.
Ripe Banannas are also good, but limit them as they are high in fats.

Edit:
Broccolie is also good, although it's not a fav, they will eat it if I don't give anything else lol

 

[Little_Vixen]

Carrots contain natural sugars? I didn't know that and Isis and Seraphina loved them.
Also didn't know that corn didn't contain a lot of nutrition, they'd get a handle of rinsed canned corn and peas a day.

And that's what I thought about chocolate, we had the dark chocolate kisses but I don't know how much cocoa is really in those, I might just grab some bakers chocolate to keep around, that stuff is nasty but if it helps a ratty, it helps a ratty.

Broccol! Great idea, it became one of my favorite veggies a few months ago after hating it for years.

And don't worry, they won't get watery veggies often. I know about the runny poo-ness. Had a dog steal my watermelon before.. wasn't pretty.

I'll have to add Cucumber to the list. I might as well ask Corbin what all his favorite veggies are *He only eats most of them raw anyway so it'd be easy to share some.

Are green beans and cauliflower okay to give them? There was one other I was wondering about that I personally dislike... oh! Snap peas?

 

I don't think Greens Beans are good.
Cauliflower is though.
The more Raw veggies, the better.
Mine don't like snap peas.

 

[eagle]

Ripe Banannas are also good, but limit them as they are high in fats.

A medium banana has only 0.6 grams of fat. Green beans are fine, but I find most rats won't eat them. Cauliflower is fine.

 

[Little_Vixen]

What is the most preferred bedding for you guys?
I used kaytee softsorbant and I've heard that like the makers of Carefresh these beddings can be rather dusty and the makers don't know what's good for the animals themselves. I've debated Aspen but I think I'd rather stick with pellets or paper bedding.

There's one I've been debating on called Sunseed something that I'd like to try, but not without some good feedback or personal experience of it from other people. Sunseed Fresh World bedding? They have it at the local feed supply store and it was recommended to me via someone on goosemoose.

---> usually can pull a lot of questions out when she's thinking about it

 

[eagle]

Considering the cage you are using, the Sunseed would not really be a good option. It is very lightweight and will be on the floor all the time. I would probably suggest using YN or something along those lines or use fleece. If you have the space freeze the bedding at least 48 hours before using to deter the mites and other little bugs.

 

[Little_Vixen]

we'd never had problems before with the bedding getting out weirdly enough, at least not enough to be a problem before. The tray is about 1.5 inches high maybe a tiny bit less but I think YN is another good choice. I thought Sunseed was supposed to be more along the lines of YN in heavyness. The bottom is covered by a grate/grill so it's not easiest for them to get into it. This is why I've been debating on a different cage because I know some rats like to make nests, burrow, etc. I'm debating the Super Pet First Home For Exotics. The blue one that comes with a hammock in it. But it's been a bear to find lately

 

[eagle]

I was given a bag of the sunseed and it is fine if you pan is at least 3" or so and it is light weight. It was pretty good for odor control. It worked fine in my 3 tier ALT cages.

 

[smilez_n_hugs]

You could always modify the cage by putting something (maybe coroplast) over the bottom to create a pan on top of the grated bottom and then you could still fill it with bedding.

 

I use YN and Living World Fresh and Comfy

 

[Little_Vixen]

hahaha I'd have to be able to fit the pan in there in the first place, I think that would be the problem. I do love that cage though, I found it was pretty easy to clean, the grill slid out for easy cleaning as well. I might just go with YN because it's a heavier bedding.

The only ever problem I had with bedding was that Seraphina would reach down for the largest chunk and try to pull it up through the grate to play with it. She was a silly girl hehe

Yesterdays news seems like a viable choice, at least for now. If I don't like it I'll try Sunseed and Kaytee again and look around for others to possibly try.

I tried to convince my boyfriend that since we have a storage unit for our stuff we could go ahead and order the cage when I've saved up enough for it again and just put it into storage. Unfortunately, he had a good point telling me that his family will be helping us unpack *not my choice* and that they would wonder at the cage. We have enough resistance with them already that we won't be telling them I have rats until after I've gotten some.

 

Ripe Banannas are also good, but limit them as they are high in fats.

A medium banana has only 0.6 grams of fat. Green beans are fine, but I find most rats won't eat them. Cauliflower is fine.

I never meant to sound like it was really fatty, but it dose containe more fat than most fruits.

 

[eagle]

[quote="Ratty Momma":1rapvbt7]Ripe Banannas are also good, but limit them as they are high in fats.

A medium banana has only 0.6 grams of fat. Green beans are fine, but I find most rats won't eat them. Cauliflower is fine.

I never meant to sound like it was really fatty, but it dose containe more fat than most fruits.[/quote:1rapvbt7]


Regardless, everything in moderation and the problem should be solved. :nod:
When in doubt refer to the forbidden foods/allowed foods list.