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My anti-poo strategy has to been to have them chill on a towel until they drop whatever terror-shits they're going to drop, and then proceed with the social time.
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Dec 8, 2013 10:13
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Finally got my girls into their Critter Nation today. They are sulking because they miss their old, undersized cage. Rats.
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Dec 9, 2013 01:38
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Should I be worried if my rats start eating their litter?
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Dec 11, 2013 22:20
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I think your rats are fine, dude. If you're concerned, give them some leftover bones from your dinner to chew on.
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Dec 14, 2013 07:05
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Is balsam fir bad for rats? We brought in and set up the Christmas tree last night. The rat cage is roughly ten feet from the tree. After the arrival of the tree, he's been very lethargic. This morning, we woke up and saw he was still under the weather (this was when it occurred to us that it might be the tree) so we moved his cage to a different room. A google search revealed that balsam fir oils are used in some rodent repellents, so perhaps it was making him uncomfortable? (And yes, I know, rats do better in pairs. This single bachelor was rehomed to us recently, and we plan to find a buddy for him after the Holiday craziness dies down.) AvianPundit fucked around with this message at 17:02 on Dec 15, 2013 |
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Dec 15, 2013 16:57
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I've actually been looking into that a bit because I have a live noble fir next to the couch, and Moomin sometimes tries to nibble on it. The cage is about 10 feet away as well. As far as I can tell they're supposed to be mildly irritating when ingested, but I don't know what kind of airborne effect it has. Keep him in the other room for a few days and see how he does. Might be the tree, might not, but do what keeps you all happy.
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Dec 15, 2013 17:36
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Invalid Octopus posted:I've actually been looking into that a bit because I have a live noble fir next to the couch, and Moomin sometimes tries to nibble on it. The cage is about 10 feet away as well. As far as I can tell they're supposed to be mildly irritating when ingested, but I don't know what kind of airborne effect it has. Keep him in the other room for a few days and see how he does. Might be the tree, might not, but do what keeps you all happy. ...And now it comes to light. My husband just remembered that last night he gave the rattatanius a pine cone off the balsam fir for him to nibble on (which he did). D'oh. He's starting to act a little more spritely as the morning wears on. We'll keep an eye on him throughout the day.
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Dec 15, 2013 18:01
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Because Invalid Octopus and her fellow are bad influences, we are adding a sixth rat to our collection.    Her name is still up in the air, but I'm tempted to call her Fletcher. She should be big enough to come home by the end of the month!
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Dec 16, 2013 00:29
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rat time fun time   
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Dec 22, 2013 21:56
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Patchouli Patrol posted:Because Invalid Octopus and her fellow are bad influences, we are adding a sixth rat to our collection. Smudge! Name her Smudge! 
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Dec 23, 2013 02:35
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Amiss posted:Smudge! Name her Smudge! The eerie part about that is that I once played a D&D character with a familiar that was a rat named Smudge. 
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Dec 23, 2013 02:40
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Patchouli Patrol posted:The eerie part about that is that I once played a D&D character with a familiar that was a rat named Smudge. Ha! Obviously I am a wizard.  (Fletcher is a cute name too!)
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Dec 24, 2013 23:28
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My male rat suddenly had something happen, possibly a stroke? He's two or three years old, so it's not like I wasn't expecting something to happen, but this is such a weird thing. When I got up this morning, he was wobbling terribly whenever he took a step. He's either lost a lot of motor control, or he's entirely forgotten how to do things. If he's given food, he takes a wobbly bite, chews or licks two or three times, then just stops mid motion and stands there for a couple seconds, until something in his brain goes "Oh! Food!" and the process repeats itself. Every time he gets a mouthful, he tilts or sinks in place a little more until he falls over or is lying flat. It confuses him terribly and he wiggles in place until I lift him up and get his legs back in order. Maybe he went completely senile overnight. He definitely doesn't understand the water bottle anymore.
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Dec 25, 2013 09:17
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I know this is probably a stupid question, but my rats really love licking my fingers and I'm not quite sure why. Quite vigorously, from the top to the bottom, I hardly need to buy soap anymore. I figure it isn't just a sign of affection, because as a general thing my rats have proven smart enough to understand that I am not, in fact, a rat and as such don't need washing. Should I get them a salt lick? Maybe spray their food with salt water every so often?
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Dec 25, 2013 20:30
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They're just grooming their giant rat friend. One of my rats shows affection through lots of licking.
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Dec 26, 2013 01:08
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Image dump of some happy rats enjoying some Christmas leftovers.       
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Dec 26, 2013 01:32
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I'm worried about one of my guys. He's been sitting in a corner all day today, not eating or drinking much of anything but sniffing the air wildly. When I take him out of his cage he doesn't want to do anything, he just hides and sits still again. Anybody got an idea what's wrong? 
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Dec 28, 2013 17:42
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Sick rat died on christmas, so I've got a single rat I have to keep busy until the second or third. Won't have transportation to pick up a buddy until then. She has a big exercise wheel, I carry her around seeningly all the time, what more can I do to keep her happy until new friend arrives? She's driving me absolutely batty with her begging.
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Dec 28, 2013 23:59
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Cardiovorax posted:I'm worried about one of my guys. He's been sitting in a corner all day today, not eating or drinking much of anything but sniffing the air wildly. When I take him out of his cage he doesn't want to do anything, he just hides and sits still again. Anybody got an idea what's wrong? He sounds either frightened or preoccupied with smells or far-off sounds. Perhaps he had a fright while you weren't around to see? Pogonodon posted:Sick rat died on christmas, so I've got a single rat I have to keep busy until the second or third. Won't have transportation to pick up a buddy until then. She has a big exercise wheel, I carry her around seeningly all the time, what more can I do to keep her happy until new friend arrives? She's driving me absolutely batty with her begging. Aww poor baby. I'm not sure what else you can do really, unless you have a friend with a rat you can borrow, or who can babysit her for you.
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Dec 29, 2013 11:37
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Pogonodon posted:Sick rat died on christmas, so I've got a single rat I have to keep busy until the second or third. Won't have transportation to pick up a buddy until then. She has a big exercise wheel, I carry her around seeningly all the time, what more can I do to keep her happy until new friend arrives? She's driving me absolutely batty with her begging. I've had to isolate rats for 2-4 weeks at a time for various reasons like surgery, etc. She will be okay. Maybe give her some clean cardboard, rawhide, or other stuff to chew up and keep her occupied.
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Dec 29, 2013 18:37
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My girlfriend has a 1 year old rat (male). Sometimes he sneeze and we can hear squealing a little when he's breathing. This doesn't occur all the time. Some day he does, some day he doesn't. The rat lives alone in a dust-free litter cage and eat vet adult-rat food. After some research, I'm wondering if could be a mild case of mycoplasma? But he doesn't squeal or sneeze all the time. If he has mycoplasma... What about Doxycycline? I've found great information here: http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/mycoplasma_mycoplasmosis.php Can we administer the rat (named Totoro) the medication "just in case"? Can it be dangerous if he doesn't have mycoplasma? I've found a nice way to administer Totoro the medication here: http://dovetailrats.wordpress.com/2011/02/26/candy-for-your-babies-doxycycline-medicine-balls/ I've already bought this but it's still unopened: http://www.jedds.com/-strse-1094/DOXYCYCLINE-20-pct--100-g/Detail.bok What's your thoughts about it? Thanks alot!  PS: By the way, I live in Quebec so we can have 30C in summer and -30C in winter... the room is temperated, the cage isn't near a window and the rat sleeps in a ferret hammock with rags to keep him warm. We try to keep the room at the same temperature but it's hard with these temperature variations... I can say that the room temp can fluctuate from 18C to 30C (30 in summer... no A/C in the appartment) (sorry for my bad English) ShiroTheSniper fucked around with this message at 16:41 on Dec 30, 2013 |
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Dec 30, 2013 16:38
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Big Bug Hug posted:He sounds either frightened or preoccupied with smells or far-off sounds. Perhaps he had a fright while you weren't around to see?
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Dec 30, 2013 16:47
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My rats got a lice infection. I tried to find some ivermectin to buy but I couldn't find any in my country. The only proper thing I managed to find that I managed to find was Frontline (active chemical is Fipronil). I've read a couple of scientific papers about curing lice infection in rats with Fipronil and all of them say that unless it's ingested then it doesn't cause any side effects with exception of short term skin irritation. Lurking around different rat forums though I found lots of rat owners saying that Fipronil is deadly and that you shouldn't give it to rats no matter what. Does anyone here has some ACTUAL experience using Frontline/Fipronil on your rats? I'd like to know as much as possible to make sure I don't accidentally harm my boys.
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Dec 31, 2013 02:11
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ShiroTheSniper posted:My girlfriend has a 1 year old rat (male). Sometimes he sneeze and we can hear squealing a little when he's breathing. This doesn't occur all the time. Some day he does, some day he doesn't. The rat lives alone in a dust-free litter cage and eat vet adult-rat food. All rats have Mycoplasma. All of them. It's a matter of managing the symptoms and treating them when they have a "flare-up". This is something you'll pick up along the way as a rat owner I wouldn't personally worry about the occasional sneeze, some rats are just sneezy. Especially if it sounds like he's just clearing his nose. Sometimes my aircon makes my rats sneeze, or if the windows are open on a day with a lot of pollen floating around. If it's frequent, and there's other symptoms like lethargy, weight loss, puffed up fur/hunched posture or congestion, that is when I'd treat with antibiotics. So it's good that you have them on hand just in case. If he's eating and drinking and acting normal perhaps just keep an eye on him in case it gets worse. But I have had several rats who had the occasional noisy breath while they were perfectly healthy(for rats). Jack Trades posted:My rats got a lice infection. Ivomec is the only thing I've ever used for mites/lice and the only thing anyone here in Australia will use for their rats. It's known to be safe when used with caution, whereas like you say, there's a lot of conflicting info over Frontline etc.
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Dec 31, 2013 02:55
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Big Bug Hug posted:If he's eating and drinking and acting normal perhaps just keep an eye on him in case it gets worse. But I have had several rats who had the occasional noisy breath while they were perfectly healthy(for rats). Thanks alot! You're reassuring us! He's always running around and eating alot (without being overweight) so I guess he's perfectly fine!
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Dec 31, 2013 02:58
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My rats sneeze every so often but it's not a common enough occurrence for my to worry about. It's like once every two days if anyone's wondering.
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Dec 31, 2013 07:52
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ShiroTheSniper posted:Thanks alot! You're reassuring us! You're welcome, dude. I don't hear proper sneezes often but one of mine is constantly clearing his nose. Always has. He's past 2 and healthy as a horse, but does the little 'pfft' sound a lot. Sometimes it's hard to tell when a rat is sick, just gotta look at the whole picture and do our best. Big Bug Hug fucked around with this message at 15:27 on Dec 31, 2013 |
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Dec 31, 2013 15:16
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Jack Trades posted:My rats got a lice infection. Rats groom their whole bodies with their tongues. I can't imagine a scenario where one could apply a topical medication to a rat and have it not be ingested at least a little. If you can't get ivermectin, Revolution (selamectin) also works.
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Jan 3, 2014 17:55
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Rodent Mortician posted:Rats groom their whole bodies with their tongues. I can't imagine a scenario where one could apply a topical medication to a rat and have it not be ingested at least a little. If you can't get ivermectin, Revolution (selamectin) also works. Can you get rat-sized cones of shame?
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Jan 3, 2014 20:43
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Extra Smooth Balls posted:Can you get rat-sized cones of shame? Looks like it!  But they'll probably hate you for it. 
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Jan 3, 2014 22:51
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That's way cuter than it has any right to be. I didn't think rats had enough of a neck for those things to not fall off straight away, though.
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Jan 3, 2014 22:56
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We've gotten Revolution for, IIRC, puppies from our vet and used it with no ill effects. They usually dose it in a syringe for me. You stick it on the back of their neck. I hold the rat until it dries. The only thing about the cones is that rats use their hands to eat, so that can be kind of disruptive.
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Jan 3, 2014 23:04
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Our girls just got dosed with Revolution yesterday. I'll let you know how it goes, if folks are curious. Less mite-related content:        We ended up naming the baby Violet.
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Jan 9, 2014 23:46
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I used Frontline aka Fipronil to treat my ratties from lice and it worked as well as it should. I used the dosages that were used in the scientific study that I found (1.25 mg per rat). Technical document for Fipronil stated that minimum dose of Fipronil that causes poisoning in rats was 7.5mg. Total amount of Fipronil I used (since I have two rats) was 2.5mg, which is 1/3 of the dangerous dose for rats. I also kept them separate from eachother during the first day, just in case. None of my rats got any symptoms of Fipronil poisoning and after 7 days all the lice are already dead. Since one dose of Fipronil should work 4 to 8 weeks, when new lice hatch from their eggs, they should die pretty quickly as well, no need for any more treatment.
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Jan 10, 2014 18:11
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Man I should've gotten two different looking rats instead of the two brothers. Sure they get along (though they "fight" a lot), but it's so hard to call them by their right name. I keep calling Ratigan instead of Vincent Price (that probably doesn't help either) and vice versa. Doesn't help that I also now call them "Poopers" when I first see them.
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Jan 14, 2014 07:52
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All right so I got two rats Sunday and they've been sneezing on and off since then. Their eyes/nose are clear, they're eating, drinking normally. Vet visit or is this normal? [It's been around six or seven years since I've had rats.]
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Jan 14, 2014 17:12
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JGBeagle posted:Man I should've gotten two different looking rats instead of the two brothers. Sure they get along (though they "fight" a lot), but it's so hard to call them by their right name. I keep calling Ratigan instead of Vincent Price (that probably doesn't help either) and vice versa. Do they look exactly the same or just very similar? I have two brothers and they look very very similar but with time I learned to recognize them by their difference in looks and demeanor.
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Jan 14, 2014 19:50
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Jack Trades posted:Do they look exactly the same or just very similar? They're both white with black hoods. Vinny has a spot of black on his back and is thinner (also softer). Ratigan is larger and has a tiny block spot on his inner thigh. They also have a white dot on their foreheads except Vinny's is smaller.
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Jan 14, 2014 23:00
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dovetaile posted:All right so I got two rats Sunday and they've been sneezing on and off since then. Their eyes/nose are clear, they're eating, drinking normally. Vet visit or is this normal? [It's been around six or seven years since I've had rats.] Most new rats I bring home sneeze while they adjust to new bedding, diet and air. Keep an eye on them
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Jan 15, 2014 08:47
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Oh my god my rats are pavlov'd to the sound of cereal bags. They rush to the gate and stare at me.
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Jan 15, 2014 10:01
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