Rat Care Information

[Angelgal]

There are two parts to this post.

First part, I may be getting a rat. It wasn't expected, but I am very attached to her. I cannot give out the details as its confidential information but she is adorable (just a baby). She is in my care, and you can bet with me (and another girl) caring for her, she gets the best (well its not the best I WANT to give because what I do is controlled by higher ranking people... but I try!!). She seems like a very happy little rat none the less...

Anywho, I may be allowed to bring her home when she's ready! (hopefully, not 100% sure yet. Different people keep giving me different answers). I'm finding an animal-friendly appartment just for her

So this is what I need to know, beyond the basic information I got to care for her on a daily basis. I am not rat-savy as of yet, but I want to be!
Searching doesn't seem to work for me for some odd reason... I'm not sure if its my computer or what..

1. Housing - Creative ideas are welcome.
- How many sq. ft per rat? (you bet, she's getting a friend!)
- Is C&C acceptable, or what are other afforable options for a student?
- What do *you* include in your ratties cage accessory wise?
- Her cage is cleaned 2x weekly currently as she is housed with 3 others and the cage is not as big as I want it to be (not under my control ... yet) but they are all quite young.
- Is fleece a good bedding?

2. Diet.
- Type of pellet preferred? (I'm thinking Oxbow Regal Rat)
- Any other diet requirments? (other then pellets.)
Like cavies have veggies and hay but what do rats have? Currently this rat is fed some sort of pellet and sunflower seeds as treats by the look of her cage.

3. Health.
You know how there is Guinealynx for cavies, is there something similar for rats? Safe/unsafe medications or antibiotics etc. I already know how to health check (and more...) but it never hurts to learn more in-depth about diseases and treatments.

Otherwise, I know handling/restraint and biiiig on behaviour.
The reason I ask you guys is because I don't trust just anything placed on the internet and the only person I know with a rat has two in your average pet-store cage. So not much help there.

The second part.
I'm a Vet Tech student, what would be some good online or book resources to learn about background information on rats (History of the Sprague Dawley rat, normal physiological parameters, breeds, diseases, hormones etc.)
I have the school library, and online school library but any other suggestions would be good. It's my rat research assignment for a Lab Animal Welfare and Technique course (not my favorite but I need to pass it to graduate).

Thank you in advance!
I just prefer to get the proper, correct information and not random online nonsense.

[guineapigluver1]

I'll tell you what I know, which isn't much. C&C's are not good for rats, the holes are to big. Wire floors, of course are bad for their feet.
I know some members on here feed Suebee's rat diet. I know that you can use a ferret cage, but the bar spacing on some ferret cages may be to big for some small rats.
You can use fleece, but you should expect some holes. That's really all I know, or can remember right now.

[suzilovespiggie]

Ratsrule.com is a wonderful site for anything you need to know about rats.

[Punkygirl0101]

Rats are VERY social, just like guinea pigs and should be kept in same sex pairs!



Please check out Goosemoose.com. Its a rat forum, filled with very knowledgable rat people.

The best rat food would be lab blocks. Now the two best kind of lab block is Harland Teklad (Which you can buy online) or mazuri (Which can be bought at PetSmart). And you can supplement with a homemade diet, which you can find at Ratsrule.com. It is the suebees diet. If you don't want to feed lab blocks, you can feed low protein, high quality dog food. (Senior is better). And feed veggies a couple times a week, and fruit as a treat. They do NOT need hay.

[Ly&Pigs]

And feed veggies a couple times a week, and fruit as a treat.

I believe in veggies daily for the rats. I rotate them around giving them about 2 veggies per day in small amounts. For about 2-3 months I give a high quality dog food and a variation of Suebee's diet mix then I switch and give lab blocks (Harlan Teklad) and my variation of Suebee's mix for the next 2-3 months because I have picky rats who refuse to eat the lab blocks after a while. I supplement with fresh foods daily ( a few are pasta or rice, tuna/chicken or turkey, veggies, boiled eggs) I give fresh fruit on occasion. I've found 2 great treats for them. One is those toddler puffs you can find in the baby section of your stores and the other is an all natural peanut butter mini dog biscuit.

Housing is 2 cubic feet per rat. I have a model 142 Ferret Nation cage. The top section houses my males and the bottom section houses my females. If you have young rats, this cage need modifications to ensure they do not get out the bar spacing. It can be modified with mesh screen.

Accessories- hammocks, hanging cuddle bags, hanging tunnels, pvc pipe tunnels (large enough for adult ratties), food dishes, water bottle, anything I find that I can use for rats basically.

Here's a good site for making rat toys: Rat Toy Ideas

They are best kept in pairs or groups as they are more social than pigs.

They also need about an hour or more out of cage time with you per day for socialization.

[sophistacavy]

I use the diet menu, schedule and all other information from here: the Rat Report

I have never even looked at Sue Bee's rat diet, because the lady who is behind that diet info does not believe that her diet is nutritionally complete.

Also, I had two baby rats before, and it is extremely easy for them to escape from even what you may think would be a too small space. They had free range of my bedroom for a little while until I managed to get something that they couldn't escape out of =D

They are believed to be one of the most intelligent rodent species (if not the most intelligent, which I'd like to believe they are). Its important, as Ly said, to give them the one hour or more of out-of-cage time every single day. They are technically smarter/more intelligent (however you'd prefer to phrase it) than guinea pigs, so they benefit more from games, and the puzzle/figure it out toys that you can find for parrots.

People have even built rat agility courses, and their rats seem to love it! I've never tried it before, but I'd like to with my current new rat. He seems spunky enough L0L.

If you want to PM me, you could do that anytime if you have any specific questions and such.

You are going to have SO much fun if you (hopefully ) get to keep the rat. Good luck!