Warning for People with Martin's & HED/Elderly Rats

[lilspaz68]

The 1/2" x 1/2" spacing of Martins cages are pretty foolproof but not completely. I have had to get rats who had a foot stuck in Martin's before but its very rare. They do some odd movement which allows their hock/heel to slide through. The best thing to do is stay calm and push that hock up from the bottom...it frees them relatively easily. I have had it happen twice before but it was years ago. Now I am personally going to be putting stick down lino on all my shelves of Martin's with elderly rats in them.

This morning as I went by their cage to get the carrier for Emily and Pez's Last Trip, I saw that Carina was hanging off the shelf...her foot was stuck and swollen, and she hadn't made ONE sound. Carina has severe HED and her hock had slipped through. I tried to push her foot up from the bottom, and it was truly stuck...that's when I noticed that a toe had gone through and was through another bar spacing....I almost panicked, as she was. But I gritted my teeth and pushed her foot down through the bars and then I was able to easily slip it out once she was free.

Poor poor Carina!!! I put her on the bed and ran for the metacam...came back to her guzzling Ensure from the little dish I had out for Emily and Pocky. I got a big dose of metacam into her and then she continued eating. After that she groomed herself while lying on her side. I think the leg/foot is badly sprained but not broken...I waited a bit for the metacam to kick in and gently examined it.

I think she will be living with Pocky in her one-level cage she shared with Pez. Pocky is a sweet girl, and I wasn't sure what to do with her now that there's no more sisters for her to live with.

Pocky with Carina

 

[victoria]

I had the same thing happen to Lizzie in the CN with the ladders. I heard some rustling when I woke up, looked over and saw her hanging upside down. She had PT and was not very strong and was pretty wobbly. She recovered from the sprain in a few days. With the CN, I wove needlepoint canvass between the rungs of the ladders to prevent it from happening again.

Get well Carina :hugs: I'm sorry to hear about Pez and Emily Shelagh.

 

[SQ]

I put linolum cut to fit on wire levels and dollar store dish drain trays cut to fit & cable tied to balconies ... no problems with rat feet and wire floors as the wire floors are completely covered.
I have found it to be important to cover ladders, esp in the CNs and FNs when rats develop hed. Putting the ladder inside a knee sock works well.

Edit: I don't use the stick on linolum, I use a large piece of linolum cut to fit. That allows it to be easily replaced when necessary with no damange to the cage or sticky residue left behind.

 

[lilspaz68]

I put linolum cut to fit on wire levels and dollar store dish drain trays cut to fit & cable tied to balconies ... no problems with rat feet and wire floors as the wire floors are completely covered.
I have found it to be important to cover ladders, esp in the CNs and FNs when rats develop hed. Putting the ladder inside a knee sock works well.

A sock!! :doh: Why couldn't I think of that?? Thanks Holly!! :thumbup:

 

[SQ]

You're welcome.
Casper got his foot caught at the top of a CN ladder a couple of weeks ago, so I started putting socks on ladders again.
(I hate hed!)
Glad our little snake bitter is recovering ok from her ordeal.

 

[mamarat]

Poor sweetie. So glad you found her sooner than later.

 

[lilspaz68]

So am I mamarat!!! :shock:

Well she is feeling much better.

She looks dead here but she's just dead asleep

She wakes up scary fast...and if you are offering food, watch your fingers!!!

My old tatty ratty :heart:

 

[Dahlas]

Oh poor girl......

 

[mamarat]

What a sweetheart. :heart:

 

[jorats]

Ah, poor sweetie. I had that happen a few times with my martins too.

 

[lilspaz68]

The cage has been lino'd and sock'd but Carina cannot live in it at least not for now, so Pocky is her slightly reluctant cagemate in a one-level cage.

 

[PitLuvs]

Omg...Im totally starting to freak about mine now. Eeek! Poor baby

 

[lilspaz68]

Well the cage is all sock'd and lino'd now

 

[kscanuck785]

I don't personally have a Martin's but I think the sock idea is totally AWESOME!! :thumbup:

 

[coreline]

first off, what a doll <3 she's adorable!

I am SO going to do that sock idea.

funny enough, my issue with a rat that HED and a Martin's wasn't the floor. despite having very little muscle mass in his legs (he was about 2 years 9 months when this happened and he'd had HED since he was around 2) he would always climbs the walls when I came in the room. he couldn't get very far, but he'd try his hardest. one morning on his way down his leg caught fairly high up, so he was dangling at a horrible angle. but I got his foot out fast and amazingly...nothing more than a sprain! my vet said he figured if he'd not had HED he'd have done more damage.

(he was moved into a martin's play pen after that....and didn't stop climbing until he left me. I don't have a clue how he did it with those skinny legs!)

 

Thanks for sharing the info here about the Martin's. We have a Rat Tower for our young foster girls & our big (neutered) boys live in their CN. I love the sock idea & the linoleum. Even though my girls are young & spry, I'd definitely going to put some in. The keep pulling up all the fleece, so I have to do something else.
As for your adorable Pocky...she looks so loved. She reminds me of the Velveteen Rabbit...loved.

 

[Godmother]

I had missed this thread back in 2010 when sweet Carina and Pocky were still here. :heart: :heart: RIP, dear girls.

 

[RatsForever]

She such a little sweetie. :heart:

The sock idea is brilliant!

 

[little rat]

Thank you for posting this issue . I have a couple of 3 year old males and I just placed into my Martin cage because the younger boys were not allowing them any food. I will definately make the changes to protect my boys. Bye the way your girl is so sweet looking.