Accidental Rescue

[HorseNerd]

Hello everyone!

I am very new to the rat world, and newer still to rescuing animals who come running up to me in the middle of the night and need some advice.

Last night about 1 am a very sweet, skinny girl covered in some form of grease or engine coolant came running up to my husband as he went out to make sure he'd locked his car. I placed her in an old bird cage filled with Kaytee Clean and Cozy fluffy bedding for the night and resolved to call around in the morning to see if anyone had lost her.

When I called around I was told she and a friend had mysteriously showed up and started begging residents to help them, often climbing pant legs and running into hands about a day ago. The solution was to put her and her friend "down by the creek" in the hopes that they would just go away.

My solution is to learn about rats, figure out how to degrease her without making her sick or causing a chill (do rats get those?), pick a proper habitat, and buy a rat ball so she can run around the apartment when Im home. Any advice for first timers is very much appreciated. I promise to read other threads within the community and educate myself as best I can. Thank you in advance!

EDIT: I know white bread isn't the best for my unnamed little one, but it calmed her enough to have her picture taken and sit still so I used it as a prop. Her diet is mostly fruits and vegetables as that's what I have in the house, so it'll be much healthier in the future.

 

[Wolfgirl]

Dawn dish soap is great to use to bathe off grease and such.
Organic baby shampoo will also work.
Use warm water (not hot) and then try to dry her off as best as possible with towels. Hold her against you until she is mostly dry. Or at least have her in a warm room.
Large cage with bar space no more than 1/2 inch is preferred. Make sure that there is no bare wire bottoms. Cover any wire bottoms or ramps with fleece or tile. Careful of cages with just plastic tub bottoms as rats can chew through them fast.
Go out and buy her rat blocks asap. Nothing mixed with seeds or other odd mixes as these are unhealthy.
You could cook her some egg in the mean time for protien.
Please try to find her friend.
Rats NEED to live with at least one other rat.
If you can't find the other rat spotted with her I highly suggest rescuing another aomewhsom (but remember to quarantine.)
Additionally I would highly advise a vet appointment.
Who knows what type of internal or external parasites she would have caught out there.
Its highly unlikely she caught anything that could hurt you or other pets, but I've heard of rats getting loose outdoors and catching parasites that kill them later.

 

[Dena]

As far as food, oxbow adult rat food is one of the best. The critter nation, or double critter nation is the best cage, since it gives the rat lots of room, and it's easily customized. Please try to find her friend! That's so sad! Poor babies! If they ran up to people or climbed their legs, then they've obviously been handled. She's adorable! Good on y'all for helping her!

 

[HorseNerd]

Dawn dish soap is great to use to bathe off grease and such.
Organic baby shampoo will also work.
Use warm water (not hot) and then try to dry her off as best as possible with towels. Hold her against you until she is mostly dry. Or at least have her in a warm room.
Large cage with bar space no more than 1/2 inch is preferred. Make sure that there is no bare wire bottoms. Cover any wire bottoms or ramps with fleece or tile. Careful of cages with just plastic tub bottoms as rats can chew through them fast.
Go out and buy her rat blocks asap. Nothing mixed with seeds or other odd mixes as these are unhealthy.
You could cook her some egg in the mean time for protien.
Please try to find her friend.
Rats NEED to live with at least one other rat.
If you can't find the other rat spotted with her I highly suggest rescuing another aomewhsom (but remember to quarantine.)
Additionally I would highly advise a vet appointment.
Who knows what type of internal or external parasites she would have caught out there.
Its highly unlikely she caught anything that could hurt you or other pets, but I've heard of rats getting loose outdoors and catching parasites that kill them later.

I will bathe her in dawn for sure. As a dog groomer, I know it also kills fleas and removes their eggs, just in case she brought home some passengers.

Thanks for telling me about seeds being unhealthy. I picked the rat food I got BECAUSE it had seeds and looked more varied/interesting than the straight up blocks. Oops.

We are going to try for a week to catch her friend, simply because the best outcome is to have them be together in their new home. If not, Ill have to find a local shelter with rats as I am unwilling to buy from a pet store.

My only worry about getting her vetted is FINDING a vet around here. Im still looking for one that takes birds; I doubt any take rats.

Thanks for the reply!

 

[HorseNerd]

As far as food, oxbow adult rat food is one of the best. The critter nation, or double critter nation is the best cage, since it gives the rat lots of room, and it's easily customized. Please try to find her friend! That's so sad! Poor babies! If they ran up to people or climbed their legs, then they've obviously been handled. She's adorable! Good on y'all for helping her!

I like the idea of a double critter nation since Eleanor (I finally named the little one!) will be joined by someone (hopefully her buddy) in the near future. Plus, it looks nice and tall which means it maximizes my apartment space.

She's VERY well socialized, even when scared. I am trying to teach her to come to me instead of being grabbed so that we can continue her calm, tame ways. So far a little verbal coaxing and she steps willingly onto my hand. Frankly, if she wasn't this socialized I don't know if I would have been able to keep her, but luckily we don't have to worry.

Thanks for replying!

 

[ViciousCurse]

Welcome to the rat world and this forum! I'm so glad you're eager to learn about these little guys. It's sad to hear they were dumped not once, but twice.

All the advice here is absolutely solid. Just be on the lookout for lice or mites on the rats, especially because of their outdoor adventures. Kitten Revolution is honestly the best product to remove any external parasites. While Dawne dishsoap is a good one time thing, I'd recommend against using it frequently as it can dry out their skin and I don't believe it's a guarantee to remove external parasites.

The DCN (double critter nation) is HUGE! I underestimated its size before I got it. Depending on where you're located, check out Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, Kijiji, etc. for used DCNs. Although, if you only plan on keeping two or three rats, a single critter nation could work as well. I have a DCN but I had up to six adult male rats in that cage at once.

As for variety in diet, that's up to us humans to give them different kinds of food for them every single day. Check out the forbidden food list on here (on mobile, so I can't link properly), but rats can eat JUST ABOUT anything. Rats can have seeds, but only in moderation as seeds are wuite high in fat.

Otherwise, good luck with Eleanor! I look forward tp hearing updates I'm so glad you got a super trusting rat.

 

[Rocket99]

Hello everyone!

I am very new to the rat world, and newer still to rescuing animals who come running up to me in the middle of the night and need some advice.

Last night about 1 am a very sweet, skinny girl covered in some form of grease or engine coolant came running up to my husband as he went out to make sure he'd locked his car. I placed her in an old bird cage filled with Kaytee Clean and Cozy fluffy bedding for the night and resolved to call around in the morning to see if anyone had lost her.

When I called around I was told she and a friend had mysteriously showed up and started begging residents to help them, often climbing pant legs and running into hands about a day ago. The solution was to put her and her friend "down by the creek" in the hopes that they would just go away.

My solution is to learn about rats, figure out how to degrease her without making her sick or causing a chill (do rats get those?), pick a proper habitat, and buy a rat ball so she can run around the apartment when Im home. Any advice for first timers is very much appreciated. I promise to read other threads within the community and educate myself as best I can. Thank you in advance!

EDIT: I know white bread isn't the best for my unnamed little one, but it calmed her enough to have her picture taken and sit still so I used it as a prop. Her diet is mostly fruits and vegetables as that's what I have in the house, so it'll be much healthier in the future.

This is so sad. Someone must have abandoned them. She is so skinny, feed her anything she wants for awhile and I hope you find her friend. For them to be climbing up legs, they are desperately trying to find a new home. They don't know how to survive out in the wild. Ty for helping them.

 

[SQ]

Put a cage or humane trap where you think her friend might be with her soiled bedding in and food and water. Hopefully you will be able to catch her before she is killed. If it can be done safely (it is never completely safe to take rats anywhere - see the Reference Thread), maybe take your girl in a cage or carrier down there and sit with her as hopefully her friend will come running if she is not too frightened

Please see the Reference Thread for a lot of good information https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/

 

[Dena]

Any luck locating her friend? How is your new baby doing?