So I got a male rat from someone on Craigslist on Fri. It's obese. Former owner gave it peanut butter & some treats for it. So my question is, how can I get his weight down to a normal or comfortable level? He's bigger than what the picture shows. This may be an old pic. He came with oxbow adult rat food as well as the treats. And an exercise ball. Any help would be great.
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- Thread starter ja5838
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You'd probably wanna do the introductions really slowly just in case, and he might end up being one of the anti social ones, if you can I'd ask the previous owner if he was ever with other rats, and if so how he acted with them. If nothing else you could always see about getting him neutered and see if he gets along with your females.
jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
Hi, how old is your new little guy? In the pic, he looks like a great weight and he looks young. Can we get a recent pic?
For food, Oxbow and veggies are perfect for them. If you feel he's obese, reduce the blocs, don't free feed. I believe rats should get 55 grams of food per day. So you can limit that. Make sure his weight loss is slow. A buddy(ies) is a good idea if you have the time and an extra cage. The intros should be slow but steady. I've never had a rat live alone. They always took to new rats. At times I did have to have them neutered because they just didn't cope well with their overwhelming hormones.
For food, Oxbow and veggies are perfect for them. If you feel he's obese, reduce the blocs, don't free feed. I believe rats should get 55 grams of food per day. So you can limit that. Make sure his weight loss is slow. A buddy(ies) is a good idea if you have the time and an extra cage. The intros should be slow but steady. I've never had a rat live alone. They always took to new rats. At times I did have to have them neutered because they just didn't cope well with their overwhelming hormones.
SQ
Senior Member - Vegan for the animals
As Jorats mentioned, he looks good in the picture
As other have said, he needs a friend such as another boy, a spayed girl or two baby boys (10 weeks old before they are physically placed with him). Intros will need to be gradual. Please see :http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32368 and joinrats.com I have introed rats that were alone for most of their lives and they were so happy once they had friends, although having a large cage so that they could have alone time when they wanted it was important for some.
Please get rid of the ball - or remove both end pieces and hang n the cage as a type of hammock (put in lots of padding because their toes can be caught in the slits so it can be dangerous)
As others have said, weight loss needs to be very slow and this can be achieved with a healthy diet and lots of out time with you in a play area so he gets lots of exercise.
A good diet would be oxbow blocks (or Harlan Teklad 2014) and daily vegs such as baby kale, broccoli, cooked or raw carrots (organic taste better), cooked sweet potato, cooked squash, peas, cauliflower, mixed greens etc.
Plus occasional healthy treats such as berries and pieces of other fruit, cooked grains such as oatmeal, cooked quinoa, homemade soup, a cooked bean, a cooked chickpea, a couple of organic kumat puffs, etc
Other then the blocks try to stay away from processed foods, nothing with added sugar (or sugar substitutes), added fat, added oil, etc
As Jorats mentioned, please post a recent picture. We love pics
As other have said, he needs a friend such as another boy, a spayed girl or two baby boys (10 weeks old before they are physically placed with him). Intros will need to be gradual. Please see :http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32368 and joinrats.com I have introed rats that were alone for most of their lives and they were so happy once they had friends, although having a large cage so that they could have alone time when they wanted it was important for some.
Please get rid of the ball - or remove both end pieces and hang n the cage as a type of hammock (put in lots of padding because their toes can be caught in the slits so it can be dangerous)
As others have said, weight loss needs to be very slow and this can be achieved with a healthy diet and lots of out time with you in a play area so he gets lots of exercise.
A good diet would be oxbow blocks (or Harlan Teklad 2014) and daily vegs such as baby kale, broccoli, cooked or raw carrots (organic taste better), cooked sweet potato, cooked squash, peas, cauliflower, mixed greens etc.
Plus occasional healthy treats such as berries and pieces of other fruit, cooked grains such as oatmeal, cooked quinoa, homemade soup, a cooked bean, a cooked chickpea, a couple of organic kumat puffs, etc
Other then the blocks try to stay away from processed foods, nothing with added sugar (or sugar substitutes), added fat, added oil, etc
As Jorats mentioned, please post a recent picture. We love pics
He's probably a few months old. Never had a cage mate except for when he was at the store. I was told what store he was bought at. He's now in a tall, multi leveled Superpet cage, called Habitat Defined. New pics below.
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jorats
Loving rats since 2002.
He's a real cutie and definitely looks full grown. He's overweight but nothing to be overly worried about. Cut out all junk, and keep him on Oxbow and veggies.
SQ
Senior Member - Vegan for the animals
He is very cute and although a bit overweight. he looks pretty good imo. A healthy diet and lots of playtime with you .... running around, climbing and exploring should help.
All the best with intros - I included two links in my previous post
All the best with intros - I included two links in my previous post
