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Ima getting a pair of rats soon, so i have a few questions for dakka.

1. what kinda cage should i keep them in? ( a tall ferret one or a rabbit one?)

2. what sorta treats can i give em?

3. anyone got any cool ideas for names?

Thanks in advance and internetz for all

Nom

Pinky & Brain

Kratz and James

I'd say the bigger the cage the better.

Make sure you get 2 girls or 2 guys or get them neutered, or you'll be drowning un baby rats before you can blink. Also +1 for Pinky and The Brain!

Build various planes, cars and other vehicles for them to drive about in... or not either way...

Willard and Ben.

Also, the cage should look like the set from American Gladiators.

1. A snake cage
2. They ARE the treats
3. Lunch, Dinner.

AustonT wrote:1. A snake cage
2. They ARE the treats
3. Lunch, Dinner.

the best advice I can give you is keep them in a glass terrarium with wood shavings for a substrate, a wheel to play on, a food bowl, and a water bottle hanging on the wall. as for treats, fresh vegetables are always nice.

1. Tall ferret cage.
2. Cheese or Apple or Carrots
3. Melons and Destroyah

1) A cardboard box under your parents bed (with some air holes poked in it with a pencil)

2) Caffeinated soda and that “Natural male enhancement” stuff from the TV (free samples baby!)



3) “Willy” and “The humanity”

When the gak hits the fan (which it will) and your dad goes off his rocker and starts chasing your rats around the house with a shoe you can yell things like,

“Don’t step on my willy!”

“No my 40K/Fantasy models, oh the Humanity!

“Don’t hit my willy with your shoe!”

“Oh the humanity, there he goes again!”

LoneLictor wrote:1. Tall ferret cage.
2. Cheese or Apple or Carrots
3. Melons and Destroyah

This is also acceptable advice

If you do wood shavings for substrait, make sure you Do Not get Cedar. The aromaic oils will cause respiratory problems. If you get wood, you want Pine. Personally though I would spring for the more expensive recycled paper stuff. Tends to look nicer and it's softer for them, as well as being more absorbent and generally effective.

I wouldn't get a ferret cage as rats tends to crap where ever they are, and would instead get a rabbit cage so the whole floor can be substrated.

For treats get a hanging shishkabob (sp?) type thing as rats like to play with stuff that's hanging down from above them. Spear carrots a d zucinni and such things on it. Something else you can do I've read is get a dish of water a d put some peas in it for the rats to "dig" for.

Other random large but moveable chew toys, several different o es so you can rotate different ones in at different times for variety, is also recommended. Rats are very smart a d like to keep entertained with different things so keep tryin new toys and games.

Also, Pinkie and The Brain or Willard and Ben are both acceptable naming schemes.

The Rat Manor is a good cage.

I would say any sort of wire cage would be good.

Fruits, vegetables, plastic.

Chairman Meow and Philip.

#1. Does not matter because as soon as you fatten them up you are going to make rat burgers like in demolition man.

2. anything that will fatten them up.

3. Ratburger#1 and Ratburger#2

P.S. Make sure you breed them to keep the Ratburgers coming.

A mate of mine had two rats.

Anony and Microsoft.

Yes, they were given "mouse" names.

Thanks for the help guys though unless they are both white with red eyes they aren't being pinky and the brain

AustonT wrote:1. A snake cage
2. They ARE the treats
3. Lunch, Dinner.

No can do, snakes are more expensive.

Nom

Aduro wrote:If you do wood shavings for substrait, make sure you Do Not get Cedar. The aromaic oils will cause respiratory problems. If you get wood, you want Pine. Personally though I would spring for the more expensive recycled paper stuff. Tends to look nicer and it's softer for them, as well as being more absorbent and generally effective.

I wouldn't get a ferret cage as rats tends to crap where ever they are, and would instead get a rabbit cage so the whole floor can be substrated.

For treats get a hanging shishkabob (sp?) type thing as rats like to play with stuff that's hanging down from above them. Spear carrots a d zucinni and such things on it. Something else you can do I've read is get a dish of water a d put some peas in it for the rats to "dig" for.

Other random large but moveable chew toys, several different o es so you can rotate different ones in at different times for variety, is also recommended. Rats are very smart a d like to keep entertained with different things so keep tryin new toys and games.

Also, Pinkie and The Brain or Willard and Ben are both acceptable naming schemes.

Agreeing with all this. The recycled bedding is way better than the wood shavings, which rats can develop allergies to.

The size of tank/cage you want will depend on the size of the rats. Keeping in mind that a rat can squeeze their body through any opening they can get their head through, if you get small to medium rats they will escape a ferret cage very, very easily. I large rat will just do it easily. I definitely recommend either the close barred rabbit cages, or a long aquarium tank. You can get a 20 gallon long aquarium that will work well for 3-4 small to medium rats, or 2 large rats.

For food, you can buy the pelleted stuff, but you should also look into fresh vegetables when possible; spinach leaves and broccoli are especially good as they're good anti-tumor plants and rats are prone to developing harmless tumors. One of my rats had a tumor that accounted for 1/3 her body mass before I could get it removed. Despite the stereotype, rats don't really give two craps about cheese in my experience. They much prefer grains and vegetables.

Toys are a must, though it will generally take some time to figure out what they actually like playing with. I bought mine all sorts of wheels and bells and balls and such, but they much preferred to destroy cardboard tubes and boxes.

Rats are a wonderful pet. They're very intelligent and surprisingly affectionate. Good luck!

nomsheep wrote:Ima getting a pair of rats soon, so i have a few questions for dakka.

1. what kinda cage should i keep them in? ( a tall ferret one or a rabbit one?)

2. what sorta treats can i give em?

3. anyone got any cool ideas for names?

Thanks in advance and internetz for all


Nom

My kids have gotten hooked on having Pet rats and here is what I have learned:

The advice about getting two rats of the same sex is good. We've had good luck with females.

We have a 3' by 2' cage that is about 2' tall wtih walkways to the varios levels along with the usual wheel and assorted toys. We've also provided an area in the cage where they can shelter in when they want to be out of the light, since rats are mainly nocturnal.

As far as treats go, our rats like pretty much anything, but we don't give them stuff with a lot of sugar, fat, or salt.

My son's rats were named plague and disease.

If you want your rats to be friendly, remember to handle them a lot, but be careful of them escaping in your house or apartment.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Aduro wrote:If you do wood shavings for substrait, make sure you Do Not get Cedar. The aromaic oils will cause respiratory problems. If you get wood, you want Pine. Personally though I would spring for the more expensive recycled paper stuff. Tends to look nicer and it's softer for them, as well as being more absorbent and generally effective.

I wouldn't get a ferret cage as rats tends to crap where ever they are, and would instead get a rabbit cage so the whole floor can be substrated.

For treats get a hanging shishkabob (sp?) type thing as rats like to play with stuff that's hanging down from above them. Spear carrots a d zucinni and such things on it. Something else you can do I've read is get a dish of water a d put some peas in it for the rats to "dig" for.

Other random large but moveable chew toys, several different o es so you can rotate different ones in at different times for variety, is also recommended. Rats are very smart a d like to keep entertained with different things so keep tryin new toys and games.

Also, Pinkie and The Brain or Willard and Ben are both acceptable naming schemes.

I like that hanging food idea. I'll have to have my kids try it.

Also, rats are really good at tricks. They learn tricks faster than dogs (assume you have lots of food to motivate them). I taught one of my rats (creatively named Ratty) to stand up on command.

Mork and Gork.

Also on the food front, be wary of the less expensive seed mixes over the pellets. Sometimes a rat will pick out a favorite junk type food, such as corn, and eat it over the other stuff in the mix. Out of balance nutrition on rats can lead to skin irritations, especially around the neck, from scratching. Remember, not only can rats squeeze out between bars, but they can chew the crap out of plastic. Plastic bottom on the cage? Plastic levels and walk ways in the cage? These things may last about as long as Tau assaulted by gene stealers. Good news if you have a cage with plastic parts on the inside, the company's that make them will usually send you replacement parts cheap.
Aduro's advice is spot on with bedding. You may also see aspen wood shavings. Aspen is also OK. Find a small animal vet. and take them in for a health check. If something goes wrong down the line it is always best to already have a vet relationship established.
For names
Zeus and Apollo

Cage, i would go for the rabbit/cavy type cages. I've never had any problems with them as long as they have plenty of toys (unlike gerbles, who get out of anything other than a fish tank). Give them lots and lots of stuff to clime on, lots of parrot toys and hamocks to sit in. On the floor i would put the compressed wood style cat litter (the stuff that is just wood) with shreaded paper type bedding over it.

Treats, fruit, veg, etc. Give them a good quality food, not one of the mixed ones, then give them anything else. A good mix of fruit and veg not so much as treats but as part of the food (make them so the stick through the bars, hanging down etc). For treat treats (training them to do stuff etc) puppy treats are good. Not to many as they will get fat on them given the chance. Make sure you check from time to time. Rats will hide stuff and it will rot.

Finaly, on the boys v girls. Boys smell more but make better lap pets. As the get older they get fat and lazy and will be happy to sit with you, where as girls will still be energetic and in everything. The two girls we had loved anything shiney. When we let them run in the livingroom they would grab stuff off the coffee table and run off under the bookshelf only to reappear 30 seconds latter having hidden it at the back. Very funny at the time, untill you needed what they had taken, only to move the bookshelfs to find a whole load of other things you didn't even see them take!

DeathReaper wrote:#1. Does not matter because as soon as you fatten them up you are going to make rat burgers like in demolition man.

2. anything that will fatten them up.

3. Ratburger#1 and Ratburger#2

P.S. Make sure you breed them to keep the Ratburgers coming.

I like what you're doing. Never had rat myself, but when TSHTF, they're gonna be the new cash crop.

warpcrafter wrote:

DeathReaper wrote:#1. Does not matter because as soon as you fatten them up you are going to make rat burgers like in demolition man.

2. anything that will fatten them up.

3. Ratburger#1 and Ratburger#2

P.S. Make sure you breed them to keep the Ratburgers coming.

I like what you're doing. Never had rat myself, but when TSHTF, they're gonna be the new cash crop.

Or you can set up a rat milk farm like in Simpsons.

nomsheep wrote:Thanks for the help guys though unless they are both white with red eyes they aren't being pinky and the brain

AustonT wrote:1. A snake cage
2. They ARE the treats
3. Lunch, Dinner.

No can do, snakes are more expensive.

Nom

Live feeding is illegal in the UK anyway.


For your rattie cage go to a second hand shop, often you will find a bargain. Do not get a wire bottomed cage, though wire bottoms for some upper levels are ok. Give the ratties plenty of vertical climb space. Hammocks are much welcome but not essential.

You want male or female rats? There are differences in temperament between the two, males tend to be more docile and normally get on well together; females are softer and smell less but very fast.

I would get rats in threes for a starter, more company that way. Get them from a breeder or rescue not a pet shop if you can. You will probably be able to source them for free and get good advice on the fancy rats forum.

This is the one I used to go to.

http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/home/

How are rats as pets compared to mice and hamsters and gerbils?
I always wanted one but people say they are disease carriers >.>

As for names, you know the perfect source material for such as ourselves:

LunaHound wrote:How are rats as pets compared to mice and hamsters and gerbils?
I always wanted one but people say they are disease carriers >.>

They are a much more "hands on" pet than smaller rodents, partly because of size partly because of intelegence. They make very good pets, can be trained to do tricks, know there names etc. where as hamsters, mice and gerbils mostly just sit in there cages. I have had all of them except mice, and love them all, but gerbils and hampsters definatly prefer to do their own thing (will run all over when you get them out etc). Rats properly interact with you.

As for disease... Nope. Not unless you go and get one from a drain. Pet rats don't car diseases, they came from lab rats after all. How many of these people who said they carry diseases had pet dogs or cats? They carry all sorts of stuff (the pets, not the owners, although they probably do to, just like all of us).

Mice can be good pets too, but then mice and rats are determined by size and are closely related.

LunaHound wrote:How are rats as pets compared to mice and hamsters and gerbils?
I always wanted one but people say they are disease carriers >.>

Yes, they've been the carriers of some of the worst diseases the world has known, but it's not like they're the source of said diseases. They're great pets for so many reasons. Love em!

To the OP, hitting up rat forums is a great suggestion. Much like any forums they're sure to have their share of d-bags but for the most part you'll find a very helpful bunch who share a love of the little critters.

Personally, I wouldn't keep them in a glass tank myself due to a lack of air circulation, and you definitely want a lockable lid if you go that route (one of my first rats was named Houdini - for good reason ). I've kept rats in rabbit cages with few problems but they will chew the crap out of the plastic bottom if they feel so inclined, and smaller rats should be kept in a cage with closer bars to keep them from squeezing out.

One of the best things I've found for rats (namely the ones hellbent on chewing anything and everything) was a water bottle like this:

The bottle screws into the inside of the spout piece and there's a buffer of space so that there's no part of the bottle that contains water resting against the cage. Nothing worse than coming home and finding a huge hole in the bottle and everything around it sopping wet.