Been needing to try a different brand of rat food to see if it can help with some of the skin issues I've been having with one of my girls. She's been on oxbow rat food her whole life, what are some good alternatives?

First off, rats for the rat tax. Don't mind the emptiness in the back, their hammocks are currently rrently in the washing machine.

I have four female rats living in a critter nation cage, and not only do their hammocks need replaced soon because they've chewed he fleece out and made holes for themselves, but they just generally need more enrichment stuff. And I got their car second hand and uts missing shelves. But, small thing, I feel like might be going a tiny bit overboard on it with my shopping for more hammocks, climbing stuff, foraging toys, and treats. So, what do you guys think is a reasonable amount to spend on all that?

I did my lashes today

hi! i have two female rats. one of them, ben is about 19 months old. she’s always been on the smaller side, but over the past few days i feel like her shoulders are poking out more and if she lays a certain way i can definitely feel her spine, especially close to the tail. her last vet visit had her at 0.73 lbs, and i weighed her today at 0.769 lbs on a kitchen scale. so she isn’t losing weight it seems? but i’m not sure. her fur is shiny, her eyes are Huge and clear, she’s active (slightly less than usual though i chalked that down to age) and still greets me by climbing the cage bars when i approach. i’m just worried about her health. i can’t see a vet until monday at the earliest, and so i wanted to see if this seemed super serious and i should try and get an emergency appointment or if it was okay to wait out. also curious if anyone else has experienced this/has a guess as to what’s going on. thanks! here are some pictures. she’s pancakes flat in the second image so i think you can see pretty well what her shape is. she is the brown one.

Realised I never made a final update about this post, and it isn’t a good one

He seemed to get better, then the lump came back and he bled heavily again, so he was put under to lance and drain it
But I got a call while he was still under
It wasn’t an abscess
It was a very aggressive tumour eating away at his ear canal and had started making its way through his other ear

So unfortunately biscoff was PTS August 4th while he was still under. I have him cremated and kept inside a biscoff jar

He died too young, but this is the unfortunate life of owning rats sometimes. Thankfully all three of my other boys are healthy and well :’) I still miss biscoff

Is it acceptable to get this cage (height: 42cm, length: 55cm, width: 38cm) for 2 baby rats temporarily and get a bigger one 2/3 months later or do I give up having rats?

Air prison for almost leaping off my bed 💀 why hobnob

Cuteness aggression just rat and love expressed

Recently had a virtual vet appointment for my two rats as they have recurring URIs, and the vet recommended that I buy a veterinary disinfectant solution (this one: https://www.kwikpets.com/products/f10-veterinary-disinfectant-by-f10 ) and a nebulizer, and to nebulize my rats with it...He assured me it is safe, but I'm a bit apprehensive about nebulizing them with a disinfectant, especially as it says to avoid contact with eyes (I know the eyes are not the lungs but still, I have to assume the mist would get in their eyes). There's also absolutely nothing in the product description that suggests using it in a nebulizer, it seems to be made purely for disinfecting surfaces.

Has anyone else ever heard of something like this or tried it on their rats? Does anyone know if it's safe?

my two year old boy seems to be choking, theres drool, the head going back and everything else, and everything we tried doesnt seem to work. hes starting to make weird noises like rumbling, like when something blocks your nose. i dont have any emergency vets near me, and i don't know what to do anymore. i dont want him to go.

Images are on top of the couch post situation -

She was running under the couch, and it is not safe for her to be under there (holes in the wall she could sneak into etc) and I grabbed her, but her tail was all I caught. I gently gently pulled her about an inch backwards and then grabbed her body. She is acting completely normal but I just feel terrible. I know it can hurt them to have their tails tugged at all and I just feel so mean. But if she got lost in the walls or stuck under the couch I can only imagine all the terrible things that might have happened. Has anyone had to do this before? Next time should I just let her crawl under and hope she finds her way out?

Last month I got two new babies to add to my existing trio. Babies were 8/9 weeks when I got them and were the only being kept as a pair by the breeder (no other rats in their enclosure). I've been attempting intros for weeks now and whenever they get moved to the bigger cage, the babies becomes absolutely terrified of one of my older boys (the other two also but to a lesser extent)! Occasionally they will cuddle in the big cage, and I have had rat piles in all smaller stages. I just have no idea what suddenly makes the babies terrified. These babies are incredibly vocal and one in particular will scream even if no one is touching him. I've been keeping rats since 2018 and have never had intros this prolonged before. Does anyone have any suggestions? They can't live in a smaller cage with no hammocks forever 🥲

Picture is of one of the occasions all 5 are cuddling in the big cage, when they got to have a flat hammock for good behaviour, fighting between Sweet Chilli (far left) and the two babies started again not long afterwards

Edit to add: there's absolutely no dominance behaviours from Sweet Chilli whatsoever. He's healthily curious about them but I've sat and watched them for ages and not seen any behaviour from him that would make me think he's the issue. He even lowers his head to them when they face off, but it's like they don't know what to do with it

I found this in my boys cage yesterday. I can’t tell if it’s a string or maybe a worm. I haven’t seen them have itchy butts or anything, but I’ve also never seen this before. Hope it’s just a poopy/urine soaked string but wanted your opinion and any rat dewormers if you know of any.

Like sometimes I look at them (to be fair like 99% of the time when I look at them) and i feel like a proud dad 🥹 I'm literally working on getting their "school" pictures up on my wall atm.

Okay so what we think happened is one of our other rats bit his nail off or he pulled it off but there’s still part of the nail that’s why we think it was bit. Anyways he’s on meds but the swelling isn’t going down that much and it’s starting to look a little yellow, the vet said not much they can do until it starts turning black but it’s not broken and he’s still eating and drinking fine I just dk what to do to help

Katcha, the friendly dumbo-eared rat, would like to wish everyone a happy autumn! 🍂🥧

This is our third mischief, three boys in a single critter nation. The only thing that we’ve changed about how we care for the rats is that we decided to try a Home Depot cement bin rather than use our bass equipment pan on the bottom of the cage. We’ve had our guys since the summer and their cage stinks. Like, all the time.

I’m not over cleaning, I do daily litter / poop clean outs, change our their hammocks every couple of days and they don’t have a ton of porous surface items (lava ledges or wooden huts). Bedding is a mix of hemp and kiln dried pine pellets, no paper bedding. They do have a few cardboard boxes in there, but those are traded out at least once per week. They aren’t technically litter trained but they all go in one spot, and that’s cleaned out often. The rats themselves don’t smell like anything other than ratties.

The two differences between these stinkers and our previous mischiefs are: 1) a new breeder and 2) the cement bin.

Has anyone notice that the cement bin holds on to odors more than it should?

Anyone else have this problem?

Im adopting 4 baby boys next weekend. I’ve owned 8 rats in total before this but all of them have been girls so I have no experience with bucks. I’ve done some research about potential illnesses and differences with bucks and does and bucks smellyness (which is one of the only things I’m not that excited for 🥲) but I’m wondering if there are any more tips or recommendations when it comes to caring for bucks. any tips appreciated 🙏

She knows she'll get some

I’ve been having allergic symptoms in my room, and I use aspen bedding for my rats. I’ve been using aspen for around eight months (I’ve tried a few different types). My rats are not having respiratory symptoms, only me.

I have never tried pine bedding, but because they are both wood shavings I don’t think it would make that much of a difference. To tests if it was the bedding causing my allergies, I was thinking about switching to hemp.

I’m trying to find the best hemp bedding I can online. Hopefully something that will arrive quickly and have as little dust as possible. I’m looking at Eaton, Dominion, and Aubiose hemp. Which is better?

My concern with hemp is that it won’t be as fun for the girls to nest with as aspen shavings. The bigger pieces are more fluffy and easier to move around. Is there a material I could add to the hemp for them to nest with. I use torn up paper towels, but I have to replace those very often because they smell. Is there another type of shaving or fiber that could be mixed in with hemp?

I have 4 rats and I want to decorate their cages for Halloween but I cant find anything pre-made. Does anyone have any ideas for stuff I can make easily for them? Especially if you've tried it yourself :)