# Life with Rat



## BowandWalter (Nov 6, 2012)

I think Hatter thinks he's a tiny drunk man, not a rodent.


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## wellington (Nov 6, 2012)

OMG, that is too cute. Rats make such great pets. Had a couple. Miss having them.


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## BowandWalter (Nov 6, 2012)

He has a strong aversion to laying on anything but his back. He does the whole circling thing, then haphazardly falls onto his back, usually not even were he was circling. 





Fuzz butt got his new house today, I ended up just buying one because it was to hard to find the stuff to build one. He seems pretty pleased. I'd noticed that in his tank he'd have sneezing fits whereas outside running around he was fine, it made me get a jump on things.


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## BowandWalter (Nov 12, 2012)

I didn't want to start a whole new thread to show off Charlie 

His curly hair shows up really well in the one picture! He's like sheep rat!


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## wellington (Nov 12, 2012)

Too cute. His coat reminds me of a Curly coated retriever.


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## BowandWalter (Nov 12, 2012)

wellington said:


> Too cute. His coat reminds me of a Curly coated retriever.



It so funny! They'd been playing outside, then Hatter went inside and Charlie stayed out with me. I put Charlie in to see if he wanted food or water and Hatter ran out and grabbed him! I had a huge "oh crud" moment then realized that Hatter was carrying him like a baby, well more dragging him, Hatter took Charlie to the nest and shoved him into the pile of fluffy stuff Hatter has hoarded away over the last while. They've been racing around playing ever since!


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## BowandWalter (Nov 28, 2012)

His hairs finally grown back after the awkward bald faze! I thought a size comparison would be in order


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## lovelyrosepetal (Nov 29, 2012)

I love your rats. I use to have a mouse when I was in seventh grade, while my brothers had a couple of rats. I adored my mouse. I was so sad the day he died. His name was Messer. He was always making a mess, but he was the best pet ever. I always liked my brothers rats, as well. They lived longer than my mouse and were a lot of fun to play with. I have been toying with the idea of getting a hairless rat after the holidays. Have you had any experience with them? I have only had the hair variety but have always thought hairless were really cool. Anyways, I really think your rats are awesome!


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## BowandWalter (Nov 30, 2012)

lovelyrosepetal said:


> I love your rats. I use to have a mouse when I was in seventh grade, while my brothers had a couple of rats. I adored my mouse. I was so sad the day he died. His name was Messer. He was always making a mess, but he was the best pet ever. I always liked my brothers rats, as well. They lived longer than my mouse and were a lot of fun to play with. I have been toying with the idea of getting a hairless rat after the holidays. Have you had any experience with them? I have only had the hair variety but have always thought hairless were really cool. Anyways, I really think your rats are awesome!



My friend at home has a naked rat named Brannigan, their cute when their little, but he's really fat now. She loves him dearly but I think he looks like a haggis. You have to give them baths because the males get all greasy and look like they have orange fake tans, which on a haggis creature is not attractive. They also need to stay warmer then ordinary rats because their naked. Lots of Charlie's siblings were double rex, and one was naked, you might want to look at double rex's they're more half naked, I think they're pretty cute


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## mattgrizzlybear (Nov 30, 2012)

Lol nice pic!


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 5, 2012)

I'm getting two rats tomorrow! Females this time for me since my last set of boys always thought I was worthy of being peed on constantly... But one's dumbo so I'm excited! Might later on be getting a variegated dumbo Rex if her breedings work out. I'm excited!


Her as in the breeder.. Not doing breedings of my own.


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## BowandWalter (Dec 5, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> I'm getting two rats tomorrow! Females this time for me since my last set of boys always thought I was worthy of being peed on constantly... But one's dumbo so I'm excited! Might later on be getting a variegated dumbo Rex if her breedings work out. I'm excited!
> 
> 
> Her as in the breeder.. Not doing breedings of my own.





That's so exciting! I want to see pictures! Yeah, I kinda get peed on regularly, mostly just the sent marking though. Variegated are one of my favorites, I don't think they're easy to find over here, so I'll just sit here quietly envying you! Haha, secretly you know it would be fun to breed them, just less fun to have 22 babies to rehome.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 6, 2012)

Lol, yeah. So I picked out a little black berkshire female. She had two baby berkshires available and I had this one in my hands and she sat there just sniffing and licking me for about half an hour and then decided to groom herself and started falling asleep. So of course I picked her  She didn't even leave my hand to run around exploring. She was content to stare at me and brux. The older female is a retired breeder and is her aunt and is a bit more exploratory in nature. She's a hooded blue dumbo who was named Fidget. Still trying to decide if I want to keep that name or come up with 2 new names... Here are 2 pics I snapped today. Right now they're in an aquarium since the little berkshire girl could probably squeeze through just about any wire spacing, and Fidget is a known escape-artist so I didn't want to risk an escape in my only wire cage I have right now. I'll take more pics tomorrow though!

The baby.. she had her back legs all kicked out when I picked her up. 






And the auntie


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## BowandWalter (Dec 6, 2012)

Awwe! They're so cute, I love how big the babies heads are. How old is she?


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 7, 2012)

The baby is 6 weeks and the aunt is about 8 months. So cute when they cuddle! It looks like a rat and a mouse! Lol


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## BowandWalter (Dec 7, 2012)

Wow, it's amazing to think Charlie is only a few weeks older! She's so tiny compared to my guys at 6 weeks.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 7, 2012)

Yeah, she's small.. just about the size of a large mouse! I think she's actually only 5 weeks and a few days. She's healthy and a hearty eater though. My boyfriend thinks they're disgusting creatures and says they give him the creeps. I did get him to touch one to feel how soft they were... so there's hope  He used to not like any rodent and now he says gerbils are pretty cool to watch. He says I'm an odd female because I find rodents adorable


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## BowandWalter (Dec 7, 2012)

Haha, I must be weird too then! Charlie was 3 or 4 weeks in the first pictures of him I posted, and still looks bigger then your little girl. I don't think they're even supposed to be away from their mothers at that point, he seems okay though, Hatter mothered him a lot.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 7, 2012)

Yeah, this little girl has her auntie who just finished raising her last litter so I figure she's fine. 

Here's a short video of her deciding I taste good! I think the cutest part is from 00:18 onwards  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZB4_92UBzY&feature=plcp

And I should say, no I didn't have any food on my hands and had washed them prior to holding her. But she did the very same thing yesterday when I picked her out. Maybe she's just craving salt?


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## NudistApple (Dec 7, 2012)

I love rats! I have a few of my own, and some fosters. Your boys are adorable.


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## BowandWalter (Dec 7, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> Yeah, this little girl has her auntie who just finished raising her last litter so I figure she's fine.
> 
> Here's a short video of her deciding I taste good! I think the cutest part is from 00:18 onwards
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZB4_92UBzY&feature=plcp
> ...



Hatter does that, he'll hold onto my hand in a really serious manner and lick me. He always looks so concerned while he's doing it, it's so cute, it's normally in the middle of his training hour so I think it's just because he's happy.




NudistApple said:


> I love rats! I have a few of my own, and some fosters. Your boys are adorable.



Thank you! They're such different characters, Charlie is a snuggle bum, and Hatter loves doing tricks.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 7, 2012)

They have a training hour? What are you teaching them?


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## kathyth (Dec 7, 2012)

Rats are wonderful pets.
Very smart and cute!
Nice pictures


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## BowandWalter (Dec 7, 2012)

RosieRedfoot said:


> They have a training hour? What are you teaching them?



I started it after Hatter stopped being a little baby, he doesn't like just being held like Charlie does. So every night I'll sit down with him, if I don't Hatter runs back and forth bruxing like a maniac until I do. So far he knows up, spin, and we're working on walking on his back legs. He's actually so into it that he doesn't even want treats, he just drops them and stares at me, Charlie usually then rushes in and eats the treat.


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## ChiKat (Dec 7, 2012)

Gahh these rat pictures are making me miss my little ratties so much!!! I had 5 rats, though not all at the same time. First I rescued a rat from my brother's roommate (she was living in a plastic cage the size of a shoebox, on cedar bedding, being fed birdseed...grr) and I adopted two friends for her from a rat rescue. When I was down to one rat, she was so lonely and bored that I just HAD to get two more companions for her!  
They really are social creatures...when I got my first one she just sat around all day and waited by the door for me to take her out. Once she got friends, you really got to see her playful personality.
I'll have to post some pictures later!

Cracks me up that the little guy sleeps on his back- that is hilarious!!


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## BowandWalter (Dec 8, 2012)

ChiKat said:


> Gahh these rat pictures are making me miss my little ratties so much!!! I had 5 rats, though not all at the same time. First I rescued a rat from my brother's roommate (she was living in a plastic cage the size of a shoebox, on cedar bedding, being fed birdseed...grr) and I adopted two friends for her from a rat rescue. When I was down to one rat, she was so lonely and bored that I just HAD to get two more companions for her!
> They really are social creatures...when I got my first one she just sat around all day and waited by the door for me to take her out. Once she got friends, you really got to see her playful personality.
> I'll have to post some pictures later!
> 
> Cracks me up that the little guy sleeps on his back- that is hilarious!!



Haha! I already got one person to get more rats! It's all a clever scheme...

But in all seriousness, there are a lot of rats that need rescuing. Hatters mother was surrendered to the SPCA because she was to much work or something silly. Charlie has 12 brothers and 9 sisters out there. Charlie also had lice really bad when I got him, luckily a few baths in olive oil cleared them right up, I was worried about using a chemical because he was so young. I actually feel really bad about his siblings, I could probably fit one more in my cage because it's big, and they pretty much are free constantly. I just really don't want to deal with lice all over again, they're just so creepy.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 8, 2012)

There are like no rats here. Only ones I saw at the petstore today were frozen feeders. When I've asked at pet stores they say they never sell so they don't bother carrying them. I drove 3.5 hrs round trip to get these two girls from the nearest breeder I found (after months of searching).


The older girl I got just dove into the couch when I tried to hold her and after 10 minutes of flipping the couch and searching I saw her wedged up in the backing so I grabbed her lightly and she latched onto me and drew blood... I let her go and had my bf go get leather gloves and I grabbed her to avoid her being crushed in the couch and she latched on again and twisted around screaming like a banshee and bit me again through the glove. The berk baby is the complete polar opposite. 

I've never actually had a rat bite me willingly when I didn't smell like food. The owner before said she was an escape artist but I can't have her escaping with a dog that loves killing small animals and a rat hating boyfriend. >.< 

Guess for now she gets to stay in her cage while we work on trust building. She hasn't earned out of cage time.


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## BowandWalter (Dec 8, 2012)

There's free rat adds everywhere here. Plus those silly people who are like "Hooded Rat Babies! Very rare! 30$" 

I've yet to be bitten, and I've soaked my boys in olive oil and clung to them for a hour covered in oil. Maybe she was having a bad day? Or really wanted to be the ruler of Couch Land. 
I have one of the new Super Pet cages, I only read bad reviews but I absolutely love it. It has really narrow bars, and Ã¼ber door clasps, which are really easily for me to open even when my hands are bad because they're rounded. I think I put up a picture earlier in this thread. It might be a good escape proof cage?


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 8, 2012)

Yeah, thinking she just didn't want her exploring to end and my grabbing her freaked her out. 

Waiting a week on a paycheck to upgrade their housing.


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## BowandWalter (Dec 8, 2012)

I spent the day driving back home from University, I have no idea how I didn't die terribly, I completely dozed off for around 10 minutes. The rat boys seemed pretty happy about the car ride, I guess it's all one giant adventure to them. 

Rat cages are ridiculously expensive, when I bought mine I was kinda horrified.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 9, 2012)

I'm glad you're ok! Yeah, I'm wondering if I should use my old rabbit cage and wrap it in hardware cloth for the time being... Until I can afford the critter nation I want!


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## NudistApple (Dec 9, 2012)

BowandWalter said:


> Rat cages are ridiculously expensive, when I bought mine I was kinda horrified.



I have to disagree! I have gotten the majority of my really nice ones off of Craiglist, for pretty reasonable prices. I have 2 Martin's 695's that I picked up for 50$ and a Double Ferret Nation that I got for 100$.

In the past I've used a Marshall's Ferret Folding Mansion that I got for 80$, some big Machioro for like 50$, and the one cage I ever bought new was a Cageworld flight cage for about 70$.

The smallest of those cages can hold 5 rats (the cageworld, Martin's and the Machioro, which all have similar dimensions, about 36"x24"x18") and the largest can easily hold a dozen (The DFN and Marshall's Folding Ferret Mansion, with are both ~60"x36"24").

Doesn't seem horrifying to me. Cheaper than you'd expect for a much worse quality, smaller cage in a petshop.


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## BowandWalter (Dec 9, 2012)

NudistApple said:


> I have to disagree! I have gotten the majority of my really nice ones off of Craiglist, for pretty reasonable prices. I have 2 Martin's 695's that I picked up for 50$ and a Double Ferret Nation that I got for 100$.
> 
> In the past I've used a Marshall's Ferret Folding Mansion that I got for 80$, some big Machioro for like 50$, and the one cage I ever bought new was a Cageworld flight cage for about 70$.
> 
> ...



I envy your Craigslist! The best I could find was a terribly beaten up old rabbit cage, I figured cutting my losses and buying one would be better.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 9, 2012)

Yeah. Found some ferret cages used for sale for $200 and even then the bars are too big for my girls. 

I keep searching....


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## BowandWalter (Dec 11, 2012)

You already know you own a tiny Houdini  anything escapable will be escaped!


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## NudistApple (Dec 11, 2012)

You should definitely use hardware clothe in the meantime! It's not the most attractive, but it works very well, and it will allow you to get more use out of your cage while you save up.


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## RosieRedfoot (Dec 12, 2012)

Yeah. Sadly I think the larger female is a better escape artist since she keeps trying to get out. The baby just wants to be held!


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## BowandWalter (Dec 28, 2012)

Charlie had a bunch of things to tell Santa. Probably that he wants the Christmas ribbon off!




RosieRedfoot said:


> Yeah. Sadly I think the larger female is a better escape artist since she keeps trying to get out. The baby just wants to be held!



Baby rats are so sweet! I don't know why but some creatures just have that escape attempt nature, I had a hamster who would unlock his cage and go to dwell behind the stove, luckily he knew to come to his name. Maybe you should try to teach her to come to her name? It makes catching them easier.


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## mainey34 (Dec 28, 2012)

Cute pics...thanks for sharing....


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## Yellow Turtle (Dec 29, 2012)

BowandWalter said:


> View attachment 34465
> 
> 
> Charlie had a bunch of things to tell Santa. Probably that he wants the Christmas ribbon off!
> ...





Honestly I hate rats, especially after they bit the electronic wiring in my car and made me lost 1 day of work to fix it. But I really think the picture above is cute


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## BowandWalter (Dec 29, 2012)

Yellow Turtle said:


> Honestly I hate rats, especially after they bit the electronic wiring in my car and made me lost 1 day of work to fix it. But I really think the picture above is cute



My family has a hobby farm, I'm not sad to say that a number of wild rats have fallen victim to my feed bucket. There's outside rats, and there's inside rats and a lot of difference in between. My boys don't even chew their toys, whereas the ones outside will happily attack my chicks, and kill my sparrows. I'm not fond of them in the slightest.

I do love my boys, Charlie is such an adorable ball of fluff. He's actually around 10 inches now without his tail, I joke with my Mom that he's "screaming incoherently" size now. It's amazing to think he was only 2 inches long when I got him!


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