Messed up situation (new)

Okay guys. So i obtained my first rattie through my snake collection. I fed live...(DONT JUDGE) it was before i knew how awsome sweet and amazing and compassionate these guys are. It all started when I bought a pregnant snake accidently. Eventually she stopped eating because its close to her laying time. I saved the rat in an extra tank i had for the following feed just in case. Well the rat stunk, so i gave it a bath so my room wouldnt smell , i fell in love immediatly. The rat instantly loved the water. It played and groomed and cleaned my hands to.....i instantly regreted trying to feed him to my snake. But my snakes HAVE to eat and they will only except live...my bf decided to try again but this time with a female. Because maybe this time my smake would eat it (some snakes are even color picky) she didnt eat it. So now i have 2 ratties. I told my bf im done feeding rats. With a bunch of complaining i finally got my way and now we feed large mice instead. (Still bad i know, they just wont eat frozen/thawed!).... My 2 ratties ended up being great together. (Winston and Ivy). I sent my bf to the feeder store to get mice and he forgot and got a rat. I refuse to feed it to my snakes. I absolutly REFUSE. But he dont want me to keep it either. Its sickly, so i cant give it away until its healthy. Its in the same condition my female was, i treated her with herbal remedies and she recovered in 2 weeks. The new rattie is a huge male...i want to keep him



I even thought of selling one of my snakes to make room

I think i have rattie fever lol

Sorry for blurry pics. They dont hold still too long

Hi and welcome... do you have your male and female living together? They are going to make lots babies and you will get overwhelmed quite fast. I suggest you separate them. It would be best to have two females together and two males together. Rats need companionship.

She game 2 weeks pregnant sadly. So im dealing with an oops litter anyways. I habe the space money and time...just not permission from my bf the new rat is a male so i have 2 males and 1 female now. Im moving her from the cage with my first male rat into her own cage to birth and raise her pups in peace. Im so thankful i cleared up her illnesses. Efore i noticed she was preg....now im going to have 3 big ass rat cages. My bf is gonna be maaddd but idc. Im willong to get rid of all my snakes to rescue ratties

Hopefully, you bf will be on board with your new plan and he can enjoy them as much as you do.

Best case scenario you can keep both snakes and rats - it sounds like your boyfriend prefers the snakes and you prefer the rats! You can keep boys and girls together if the boys are neutered or if the girls are spayed (or both), which would allow you to consolidate to a single large cage with your two boys, the mama, and then maybe a couple of her babies once they're big enough to be introduced to the rest of the group (if you decide to keep any). If you don't want to pay to have any of them fixed and you decide you want to keep girls and boys, then you definitely need separate cages (and be careful! rats are really crafty, so intact boys and girls in the same house - even in separate cages - need to have an eye kept on them).

Also, I've heard from people who keep both snakes and rodents that it's better to keep them in separate rooms because constantly being exposed to the smells and sounds of their prey keeps snakes in a perpetual state of hunting with no satisfaction.

Good luck with your new rats! Hope mama and babies do well!

Thank you guys ❤ my bf finally let me keep the 3rd rat. He let me know by bringing him home rat medicine (CBD oil for animals) Works for Cough sneeze sniffles and fur issues. My momma rat is gaining weight like crazy. I opened up her diet some to more nutrious veggies and fruits as well as seeds and nuts and vitamins ect. Im excited for the litter ❤ scared to introduce my 2 males 2 eachother...will they fight?? I dont want to see canabilistic behavior. I have a hard enough time knowing we have wild house rats chewing to get my female....any suggestions on introduction? Like maybe a bath and a new freshly cleaned cage, even tho i cleaned it 2 days ago.

Save them! I can't lol at the pic . Reminds me of my Xena She passed away yesterday. The one on the right has bronze color like her. They're amazing animals Beautifully spirited.

This is my newest rattie. Hes shy and sickly but with much love and attention he seems to be opening up. He loves being pet. Hes a sweety.

Here is some info on introducing rats
https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/introducing-new-rats.34842/

and joinrats.com also has a lot of info.

Please take you baby in to see a good vet with the knowledge and experience to treat rats. Your baby may require antibiotics to fight an infection .... herbal remedies only go so far. Btw you wrote that they baby is sick ..... could you describe what is wrong?

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This is a rat rescue forum so I will not talk about snakes except to mention that even the Toronto rehab center is able to feed wild snakes in their care prekilled animals.
Hope you rehome the snakes.

I rehomed all the snakes. He had a crazy sneeze but its gone now. His weight is coming back and so is his fur

I also seperated all 3 onto diff cages until we have the oops litter. But i have them good homes already ❤

Sounds great !
Please line up a good, knowledgeable rat vet in case of medical emergencies, for example, she could have problems giving birth or afterwards ...... (see ratguide.com)

Btw, baby boys are separated from mom and sisters at 5 weeks. Baby girls stay with mom until at least 6 weeks old and never need to be separated.
Babies need to be rehomed in same sex pairs or larger groups and should not go to new homes until at least 6 weeks old.
Babies need to be at least 8 weeks old (10 weeks is better) before being introed to rats over 12 weeks old.
Here is some info re rehoming in case it is helpful https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/rehoming-a-rat-or-accidental-litter-things-to-consider.22990/

Thanks! These articles arw grwat! You guys are so friendly and helpful!

Love this story so much glad you were converted, welcome to the club!

i treated her with herbal remedies and she recovered in 2 weeks.

Click to expand...

Please what exactly were the herbal remedies you used for your second rat (so that I can try them too)? Also, did the "CBD oil for animals" that you got for your third rat end up working better than that or not as good as that?

Wow, when you jump into something you jump in with both feet! Congratulations on becoming a rattie parent, I had to laugh envisioning Winston grooming himself & you during his bath and winning you over.. In future you shouldn't have to bathe them tho, they'll be as clean as their environment is. Do you know about different safe/unsafe litter types? Is your bf ok about you rehoming the snakes?

@Admin @jorats

please do something ..... maybe even remove entire thread since it discusses snakes?

Please do not feed live rats or mice to your snake, it is very cruel. It's less cruel to feed thawed out frozen ones and that is why I posted the link above to show how. Anyway keeping a snake as a pet in an aquarium isn't much of a life for the snake either. They don't get to slither about much, climb or swim as they would in the wild.

I feel like there's a certain social-conduct violation when posting videos of food preparation tactics on a board where the food is an animal the board is trying to save...