Soon-To-Be Rat Parent!

[wickedrodent]

Im glad you know about the cage calculator, I was about to suggest it. lol Im horrible at guestimating rat cage sizes, its so much different then for pigs.

Im adopting two- also boys. One agouti and one fawn. Id love to take in the hairless boys but its hard when Im living with my grandparents. I don't want to get kicked out! Not that I would, but still.. My cage is actually big enough for 12(!) ratties, but I would never be able to spend 6-12 hours a day socializing with them so its best to just stick with 2. For now at least.. haha.

What kind of diet are you feeding? Ive been debating for a while and might just try suebees mix plus low protein dog food until the next time I order oxbow.. I have heard a lot of good things about regal rat.. The rescue lady is letting me take home some of the harlan they are eating, but Im not sure if I want to use it permanently or not.. Its good to have it either way though..

Toys are hard.. I have a hammock, rope ladder, ball house, basket house, jingle balls, litterbox, and eating area but the cage STILL looks empty! One bad thing about having such a big cage, I guess.. :eye-poppi I might whip up another hammock and give a few cardboard houses... maybe some paper balls too. I was thinking about giving them a little in-cage pond.. that might be fun. On the first level of course.. in a nice big heavy shallow bowl.

Four words: Pea Fishing is Awesome! I am SO trying that as soon as I get them.. well.. maybe the next day.. don't want to freak them out.. Have you seen the youtube videos? Adorable.

 

[Love4Piggers]

Oh I bet your boys are gorgeous!

About the diet, I read good things about Mazuri's rat formula, so that's mainly what they are having now, along with a little dog food. I order my piggy pellets/hay from KM's, so I don't order from Oxbow. But I read on Rats Rule that Mazuri was a good formula, so I might just keep feeding them that for right now.

Wow, I am so jealous about your cage size. I so wish that I had the room to make mine a huge cage like that. But unfortunately I just don't have the space right now. But they seem very happy in their new home. The lady I adopted them from said she and her hubby are pretty new to rescuing, so when she took in my ratties 2 pregnant mother's, she was not fully prepared for all the babies they had, and she did not have as many cages as she would've liked. She has received donations, and is getting more cages now that the rats are getting bigger, so they will have adequate space. Well, so now my boys have this bigger cage all to themselves, just the three of them, and they are so happy! They threw a fiesta last night, and I sat and watched the whole thing, so funny. They were playing with eachother, running around real fast, and climbing the walls; and then they conked out. It cracked me up, silly things. They sure are clowns at times. :silly:

So glad I got rescues, these are officially the first rodents I've ever rescued! So thankful I found this site and know the truth about pet stores now. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have found these precious little guys!

 

[ctinaw]

Aww they are very cute - I've always wanted pet rats. Maybe someday!

 

[Love4Piggers]

Just an update. I have been spending a lot of time on Ratrules trying to learn as much as I can, and haven't been posting here, and have missed you guys here! But my piggers certainly aren't being neglected, in fact I just last week bought them new fleece, and my order from CozyCavy arrived today, woohoo! But anyway, I am loving my rattie boys so much, they are going to be so spoiled, just like a couple of piggers I know. *COUGH* Frodo is the shy one, but with a lot of attention and patience, he is slowly coming out of his shell. They are the best gift, I am so happy to be a rescue rattie mommy. :heart:

 

[Love4Piggers]

Oh, and of course, in addition to my update, I must add a few photos. *grin*

They love this tunnel!

Shadowfax likes to stay nice and warm in the fuzzy hammock.

Gandalf likes grape tomatoes.

 

[Sammy and Peanut]

Aw! They are adorable! For my ramp, I drilled it to the second floor and the first floor. Then, I stapled felt onto it. Hope that I helped.

 

[Love4Piggers]

Thanks so much!

Things are going really great, they have become quite tame, and seem to be learning to love me as much as I love them! I have become quite attached to these little guys, and boy they are getting big fast. On the sad side, Shadowfax has had 2 bouts with bacterial pneumonia, and has done 2 rounds of doxycyclene/baytril. Here's hoping he stays better this time. I had no idea just how wonderful rats were going to be as pets, but they really are!! As for their cage, I switched to fleece about 3 weeks ago, and it is working out really well. They are pretty much litter trained now, so I just have to keep their litter pan clean and don't have to do much spot cleaning. And once a week I have cage cleaning day, where I wash the piggers and the ratties things in the washer, and clean their cages.
Here's a photo of the ratties cage from above with the fleece:

And here's my boys more recently!

Gandalf

Frodo

Shadowfax and Frodo in their cube

I am so happy I rescued these guys, they are so precious. I'm already wanting a Ferret Nation cage, LOL. Can't afford it at all right now though, unfortunately. So I'm just trying to make this cage the best it can be, and also make their free range time the best I can make it.

Also about their food, they are now on Harlan Teklad lab blocks, and I must say, huge difference. They love the Harlan so much more than the Mazuri. And I have made Suebee's, and they get it about twice a week. And they have learned to like quite a few fruits and veggies and other healthy things as well. I wanna make them as happy and healthy as possible.

I hope that WickedRodent updates soon, too, about how it's going with her rattie babies!! *hint hint*

 

[wickedrodent]

Your boys are just too adorable!

*runs off to update on my thread*