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The Snoo posted:finky's wound has healed up extremely well (I can barely see the mark anymore) and we've been switching up what we mix her meds into, right now it's choco yoghurt. a couple of days ago it was eggnog. she's silly and I'm proud of her! Yeah, 5vdc is nothing big, even for a rodent. If she's still up and around she's probably 100%
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Dec 24, 2017 11:05
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I put them up and she's eating and drinking just fine.
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Guy Mann posted:Meet Krampus the Christmas Rat, the newest member of our cute perpetually-urinating family. That's an adorable lil' ratter 
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Dec 24, 2017 11:45
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Dec 24, 2017 20:21
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I was wondering if any of you guys impose intermittent fasting on your rats. I recently started myself, and I was recalling how there's a lot of research on rats and mice and how much longer they live when they fast on and off. If I still kept rats, I might have tried it.
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Jan 7, 2018 10:29
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Big Bug Hug posted:I was wondering if any of you guys impose intermittent fasting on your rats. I recently started myself, and I was recalling how there's a lot of research on rats and mice and how much longer they live when they fast on and off. If I still kept rats, I might have tried it. Content: 
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Jan 7, 2018 16:08
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Jan 7, 2018 16:27
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Aww, those are some good rat piles.
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Jan 7, 2018 16:34
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Dear Rat Thread, A year ago I posted in here about my rats Coffee & Cream. Unfortunately, earlier last month Cream had a stroke and he condition continued to degrade (despite visiting the vet for medicine) until passing away two days ago.  In order to make sure Coffee had company, I went to the pet store yesterday and picked up two very young dumbos,Cookie  and Vanilla :3  The general feeling was that even at 11 months old Coffee is a sweet, friendly rat and because the others are younger that they should warm up to each other more easily but I also don't have any experience integrating new rats with old ones and there's been a lot of high energy wrestling and squeaks (Vanilla is adorably vocal- she'll even stand and squeak at Coffee just when being approached). The thing I'm curious about though is that when I woke up this morning and all three of them had very dirty feet. the cage even had a little more of a fresh pooey smell even though I just cleaned it last night. I imagine the babies are still learning to use the litter (although they prefer hiding from Coffee behind it) but I wonder if because their hierarchy is all jumbled up that nobody is getting clean? I've been pulling Coffee off of them when it sounds like it's getting too intense but I'm thinking if maybe I should just let her do what she needs to in order to clean the babies? They're just fighting back pretty hard it sounds like and I don't want anyone getting hurt. e: at the very least I was just hoping for some general tips about integrating new babies in with older ratties since I'm not quite sure what to expect.
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Jan 7, 2018 18:48
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I can't help you with most of your questions unfortunately but one thing that I can tell you is about rat fighting. If you see them fight and you're not sure if they're actually fighting or just playing/deciding the hierarchy, you can watch what they're doing specifically. Rats that fight for real, aim to bite the other rats' butt, while rats that are only play-fighting aim to pin down the other rat and nibble them on the nape. As a rule of thumb, if there's no blood then you probably shouldn't be worried about their shenanigans. Especially if they just got introduced to each other. Also, about the poops. It can be helpful if you pick up the "stray" poops and put them into the litterbox. The main reason why rats are pretty easy to litter train is because they have an instinct to poop in the same place as the rest of the group (so that all the poops are hidden and a predator can't use it to track down their lair) so it might be good to make sure the new babies know where the pooping place is. Also also, Vanilla and Cookie are adorable. :3
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Jan 7, 2018 19:12
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Jack Trades posted:I can't help you with most of your questions unfortunately but one thing that I can tell you is about rat fighting. Yeah that's what I've always heard about fighting so I try not to worry about it since I'd never ever seen Coffee & Cream have violent fights with one another just intense rough-housing. To that end I suppose I just became concerned that Coffee just might hurt them accidentally since she's not used to dealing with rats that much smaller than her (Vanilla is a tiny runt so she's practically 1/3 Coffee's size). And yes, I've been occasionally sticking stray poops in the toilet. I figured since Coffee already knows to go there they would follow her lead. thanks for the advice!
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Jan 7, 2018 19:18
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Rat size doesn't really matter in the hierarchy. I've had big ol' 3 pounders be the bottom of the totem pole. (God I miss having ratties sometimes. Kittens are wonderful but there's something nice about animals that have a cage.)
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Jan 8, 2018 22:23
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dovetaile posted:Rat size doesn't really matter in the hierarchy. I've had big ol' 3 pounders be the bottom of the totem pole. Well when I say smaller I mean younger. These dumbos may even be younger than Coffee & Cream were when we first got them but I’m not sure. It’s so much fun meeting some new ratties though and dealing with a whole new set of personalities and habits. I even found myself on a website listening to recordings of rat peeps and squeaks trying to figure out some of the sounds they were making- the babies make this rapid “peep peep peep” sound when I’m handling sometimes that doesn’t seem to indicate distress but is unbelievably adorable
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Jan 8, 2018 23:32
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Hmm, I can't remember ever hearing my ratties making several squeaks in rapid succession. I might have a shoddy memory though. Jack Trades fucked around with this message at 00:09 on Jan 9, 2018 |
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Jan 8, 2018 23:36
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Jack Trades posted:Hmm, I can remember ever hearing my ratties making several squeaks in rapid succession. Yeah! I’d never seen my older rats do it and then at first I thought it was just the tiny one but then I noticed Cookie doing it too. I think they might just be extra vocal though and maybe a little nervous at first. Vanilla is already comfortable enough with me that she falls asleep on my shoulder when I’m sitting idle.
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Jan 8, 2018 23:55
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I came home last night to a perfectly healthy, happy Chouffi who was snatching treats from me and getting tickled, and then she just up and had a seizure and loving died for no reason. She was 6 months old, healthy and a rat of good breeding. She'd had a slightly crackly chest and we were going to get her to the doctor for a check and some baytril, but were 99% sure it was just a mild respiratory thing - I don't think it was connected with this. She was fine right up until it happened and it just came out of loving nowhere. I feel like we've had one rat in every two die at a stupid age like this - Kriek had a PT at a year and a half, Dyna became diabetic and probably also had a PT at a slightly younger age, Toast got bacterial pneumonia and died at about 6 months, and now this. Typing it out I guess we've just had bad luck, I don't think I'm blaming the breeder and our other girls have lived fairly long and happy lives, but I don't know how much longer we can take this lovely cycle. I just want to know what happened to her and if this is somehow my fault. Was it the chest infection? Was it worse than it sounded? Was it something to do with how she had her eyes half-closed a lot of the time? Was it the loving chicken bone? Was it bacterial, is Scootsworth just going to up and die after dinner on Tuesday now? How long had she been hiding something horrible from us? It's just such a horrible shock and at the same time feels so... inevitable, like this is just something every other rat does. And now we have one 6 month old girl and one who's a year and a half, so in six months or so if something happens to Cheedo, we need to get two new friends for Scootsworth, and I have to take them home and work out which of them seems like the Unhealthy One who's not going to be with us for long. Being a rat owner really loving sucks sometimes. Lunchmeat Larry fucked around with this message at 14:21 on Jan 14, 2018 |
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Jan 14, 2018 13:59
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Jan 14, 2018 19:48
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That sputnik is hella packed. It's adorable how rats love sleeping in big piles with zero regard for anyone's personal space.
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Jan 14, 2018 21:03
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I'm so sorry for your loss. wishing the best of health and luck for your other rats. time goes by so fast with them. they deserve long and healthy lives!
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Jan 14, 2018 21:44
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Guy Mann posted:Yeah, I just lost Yayo the other day after only 6 months. He was a shrimpy feeder rat who had always had respiratory problems and I guess the sudden cold snap was a bit too much for him to handle. I've found that the brackets on the space pod tend to break under the weight of a lot of rats. If you want to make it last longer use some big binder clips to keep it hooked to the cage.
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Jan 14, 2018 22:35
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Chin Strap posted:I've found that the brackets on the space pod tend to break under the weight of a lot of rats. If you want to make it last longer use some big binder clips to keep it hooked to the cage. That's hilarious.
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Jan 14, 2018 22:38
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lmao "I NEED TO GET INSIDE" also I got to visit my husband's rats again over christmas at his parents so please enjoy: https://twitter.com/hateball_sa/status/945744685477367809 https://twitter.com/hateball_sa/status/944240164074868736 They're still nervous and nibbly but I left my hand in the cage for a while and the black one played with it so I'm glad they get to have a little interaction.
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Jan 21, 2018 19:28
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Magic Hate Ball posted:also I got to visit my husband's rats again over christmas at his parents so please enjoy: They're cute little buggers. :3
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Jan 21, 2018 20:26
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I'm taking my first steps into rat management. Cage & supplies on their way, talking to rescues and breeders :3
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Jan 23, 2018 10:26
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Jan 24, 2018 01:33
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Cross postin' from the yob- Videos of the ratties wrastlin' while their cage gets cleaned https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV61DHx-46w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RsONPRkwoo
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Jan 24, 2018 05:57
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Jaded Burnout posted:I'm taking my first steps into rat management. Cage & supplies on their way, talking to rescues and breeders :3 My wife and I now refer to ourselves as "rat managers"
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Jan 24, 2018 07:51
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Starman Super DX posted:Cross postin' from the yob- Videos of the ratties wrastlin' while their cage gets cleaned Cuties
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Jan 24, 2018 08:41
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Guy Mann posted:Have you decided whether you're going to go with boys or girls yet? And either way, congrats. The breeder has both available so I opted for males, since I don’t really mind either way but maybe chill rats are a better first foray, smell aside.
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Jan 24, 2018 09:56
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Jan 27, 2018 02:50
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Guy Mann posted:I prefer males, I know the general advice seems to skew towards females for beginners since they're supposedly cleaner and less likely to be aggressive but I've never had a problem with either and I definitely prefer the chiller guys over the more mischievous ladies. I hadn't heard that particular advice which I suppose is fortunate then  Picking up 4 ladrats in a couple of weeks.
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Jan 27, 2018 08:43
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this site doesn't deserve my cute pet pics
Guy Mann fucked around with this message at 13:32 on Feb 24, 2019 |
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Jan 27, 2018 08:45
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Guy Mann posted:This did not go as planned. Hey I have that cage, its not bad. We used it for a quarantine cage after Betty's testicle removal. Hard to get a gingerbread house through those doors tho.
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Jan 29, 2018 01:32
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Jaded Burnout posted:I hadn't heard that particular advice which I suppose is fortunate then Boy rats get fatter and lazier as they get older. Which is great if you want a lazy pile of fuzzy rat-hams on your lap to cuddle, not so much if you were planning on train them to do tricks or whatever. Every rat is unique though, you never know what kind of weirdo rat you might get.
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Jan 29, 2018 01:47
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Jack Trades posted:Which is great if you want a lazy pile of fuzzy rat-hams on your lap to cuddle I have made the right choice.
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Jan 29, 2018 02:02
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Jack Trades posted:Boy rats get fatter and lazier as they get older. For what it's worth, I've only owned boy rats and they're pretty easy to train. (It helped that all of my boys were uh very food-motivated.) Guy Mann posted:This did not go as planned. Yes it did.
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Jan 29, 2018 03:14
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what is this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHiICCfxyfw
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Jan 29, 2018 13:45
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Poor rodent, that's just a really loving cruel thing to do. It's desperately trying to wash the soap out of it's fur and it'll probably end up eating it and inhaling it, which is really bad for them. Poor thing. Also, according to a comment I saw, apparently that's a nutria. 
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Jan 29, 2018 14:13
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So I suppose I never mentioned this in the first place but one of the very interesting things that we had found out when picking up our new dumbos (Cookie and Vanilla) is that Coffee and Cream were not actually fancy rats! when my GF and I chose our original rats we asked to see the "Small Rats" labeled at our local farmer's market pet store. The second time, the girl helping us pointed out that the all albino "Small Rats" were feeders and not fancy rats at all! Confused, we pointed out that the rats we bought a year ago were mixed colors and she told us that sometimes the fancy rats get mixed in with the feeders and will occasionally produce feeders of varying colors. The only real difference in upbringing I think is that the dumbos and "fancy rat" breeds are handled more from birth. Why does any of this matter? Well, to be honest, my new rats have much bigger personalities than Coffee or Cream did! It's fascinating, really. They act similarly, but more complex. Vanilla is very shy and particular like Cream was (but seems to choose her actions very deliberately) and Cookie? Cookie is a bad rat (even if she is my favorite!) biting and tearing at everything she can get her cute little incisors on (the second I take her off my desk she runs right back onto it)! She even managed to make a 1in tear in a poster on my wall after climbing up the back of my computer chair. Also, has anyone had any experience with their rats farting? I think their food (Oxbow Garden Select) has been giving all three of my rats both diarrhea and gas. (I mean they smell like poo poo on and off and there's no poo poo to be found so)
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Feb 3, 2018 08:51
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Starman Super DX posted:So I suppose I never mentioned this in the first place but one of the very interesting things that we had found out when picking up our new dumbos (Cookie and Vanilla) is that Coffee and Cream were not actually fancy rats! Just so you know, all those designations pet stores use when it comes to rats are bullshit. All pet rats are of the same species, Rattus Nonvegicus, and "Fancy Rat" is just a name for a Rattus Nonvegicus that was bred specifically to be a pet instead of being the wild rat and the markings that Coffee and Cream have don't occur naturally in the wild afaik, so they are all so called "fancy rats" just with very different personalities. 
Jack Trades fucked around with this message at 13:33 on Feb 3, 2018 |
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Feb 3, 2018 13:22
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Despite your claims, all of my rats are very fancy.
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Feb 3, 2018 13:30
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