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HugglesBubble

HugglesBubble

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Hi! My names Huggles. (My actual name isn't huggles, I promise..) I'm from Colorado. I'm a owner of 5 guinea pigs for about 4-5 years.
I've been exploring the other small animal kingdom and stumbled apon rats from a local member on Guineapigcages. She/he is a owner of 8rats, and although they seem to be poorly misrepresented by society, I'm willing to give them a chance.
I do not own one yet, and I'm crazy about getting my dream cage of the critter nation, (big bulky thing.) But I've researched rats for a couple days now and thought it would be best to get actual owners opinions and they're *secrets* to owning these cute animals ^^ (I don't want to call them rodents lol )

So hi from me, and my pigs!
Boys: Mickey, Mousey, Moo
Girls: Squeaky and Oreo :D
Hello!
 
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Welcome, research is good! They need to live in packs so 2 or more is best. They are addicting.... Started with 5 just over two years ago and currently have 17 furry and naked residents. They are awesome and I wish I had know that earlier.... the best pet around.. :tumkiss:
 
Aww I love wheekers too they are so cute!
From what I understand, rats are very different from guinea pigs. Rats live better in larger colonies and of course live shorter lives. It would also seem that rats suffer from more ailments (having a vet fund and a reliable vet is really important)!

But rats are amazing pets. They are highly intelligent and emotionally aware. They are amazing companions, and personally help calm my anxiety and depressive disorders (much like dogs do for many people).

Critter nations are amazing! The only real secrets to owning rats are to give them plenty of room, out time, friends and the best possible foods (and the vet bit I mentioned hehe)!

Let us know as you get more specific questions and welcome to you and your piggies!
 
Thanks :D I am very new to 'wheekers?' So I'll start with my basic.

How do you tell the difference between the male and female rats?
What's their main diet? I heard they can eat meat?
I'm not much of making my pets look like their living in a cheap home, so could fleece work? Bedding I can do but Ive used it with pigs and it just got to be to much work.
Can males and females live together, *spayed/neutered* of course.
I heard males won't get along if they're above *young*?
What about baths? I don't generally give my pigs baths unless its majorly needed. ( like If they're covered in junk,or smell really bad)
What about. Illnesses?

That's about all I can think of, but please I'm open to advice :D
 
Haha I thought all guinea pig owners called them wheekers, sorry for the confusion! Where I am from (the us midwest) many guinea pig owners call their guinea pigs "wheekers", since they make the "wheek wheek wheek" noise!

male rats have very large testicles unless they are neutered, neutered males do not have the extruded testicles. :3 (there's a thread here for pictures of the biggest torpedos, hehe. They do look a bit like a pair of twin torpedos)
Also females have nipples (12), whereas males do not.

A rats main diet is a lab block and fresh fruit and vegetables. Generally, people don't feed rats meat. They may get something like oysters or chicken for an occasional treat. However, large amounts of protein are very bad for rats - so meat is not a good choice for rats.
Lab blocks are similar to any doggy kibble if you will. The best brands are Oxbow Regal Rat and Harlan Teklad. Then you give some fresh stuff like leafy greens, peas, carrots, etc.

I LOVE fleece. Tons of owners do. It's practical and easy enough to manage - just throw it in the was once or twice a week. Rats will chew on the fleece, but is pretty cheap (at least here its cheaper than bedding).
When you use fleece, you more than likely have litter boxes too. Substrate for litter boxes would either be a cat litter (strictly a paper pellet type such as Yesterdays News, NOT a clay type) or something like carefresh - another paper product.

I have 1 male and 3 females living together currently. They are all fixed. So yes absolutely, most people will attest to having mixed sex colonies. As long as one sex is spayed or neutered it's a great combo!

Males can get along with other males at all ages. Some males may become hormonal when they are around the 6 month mark. However, if they are neutered then their aggressive tendencies typically stop and they can get along with male companions again.
There are very specific guidelines to introducing rats who do not know each other yet and it's very important to follow them.

Baths aren't usually needed. More than likely you won't need to bathe a rat, and they tend to hate them. Rats keep themselves very clean!

Illness... there is a wide range. The most common is an upper respiratory infection, which is treated with antibiotics for 4-6 weeks. You can do some reading on various illnesses on this forum and at ratguide.com

I'd check out the many threads here and ratguide.com to help get a good basic background on ratties! :3
 
um, rats LOL
some ppl use a lot of terms of endearment for their rats, like bubbins, rattikins, sweetie, er, and tons of others that I can't think of right now lol
 
Wheekers are what you already have. (Piggies!). Cuz they make that sound...
Male and female rats are very easy to tell apart because males are very well endowed.
Rats do well on a low protein diet and should be fed a quality block like Oxbow or Harlan Teklan. They can eat meat but that should only be an occasional small treat.
I have a Double Critter Nation and LOVE it. I also use fleece. Rats like fleece hammocks to sleep in too.
My two boys are neutered and live with the girls. They are very happy. :). Boys can live in harmony most of the time.
You don't need to bathe rats unless they are sick/elderly and can't groom themselves properly.
Rats almost always will get sick and need meds or a surgery. You should always plan for a vet fund.
I have literally spent hundreds of dollars on a free rat. LOL
 
I see. Well, we don't call them wheekers xD we call them pigs, or piggies lol. But I see the difference lol. I love the critter nation... I want it so bad lol.

Do rats use the running wheel thing?
As for uri, I've dealt with it, and unfortunately lost my beloved Uchi, a Piggie to it.

What's the introduction you're talking about? How different is it from Piggie introductions? (Neutral area, with food and let them sort it out. Separate if blood is drawn or locked battles)

As for the hammocks..is there a material I should avoid?
 
Bumping this because I recently found a craigslist ad with a family of two ferrets (my dads been wanting them forever) and they offer a ferret Nation Cage. Can this be used for rats? Its a double I believe, two stories. What's the difference?
 
My rats run on the wheel. I have a girl with a wheelie tail, a tail that curves upwards, because she enjoys running in it so much. Some rats won't run in them though, it's a personality thing .

That sounds somewhat similar to rat intros. Rats are more like neutral for a week > familiar for a week > clean and completely redocrate the cage and watch for the first day after they move in. However, they can become complicated. My intros have take me 2 months to do, you could go read my thread if you felt like it. It's just a delicate procedure, although some intros are very easy.

I'm not currently aware of a common hammock material that you would have to avoid. Did you have something in mind? Fleece, cotton, flannel are all fine.. some of mine have some of the thin plastic on them too.

The difference between the FN and the CN is that the CN has 1/2" bar spacing and the FN has 3/4" bar spacing. The bars run a different way, CN run horizontal and FN run vertical.
The most important part of this bit is that very small (baby) rats can squeeze out through FN bars. So it would depend on just how young of ratties you were planning on getting if an FN might be the right choice for you.
 
Thanks for writing back! I just read somewhere that some rats will eat the fleece, and I don't want it to be injested, and cause problems.

Is there anything extra I should know about with rats? I don't know what kind of ratties, or what age yet, but If it turns out to be young ones, is there a way I can reimburse it till I can work up the money to buy a CN? ( I'm a minor, so my money comes from family members)
 
Rats don't eat fleece. They chew on it, it's fun to them. They're smart enough to not actually eat it but you will notice holes in stuff and ripped up pieces laying around haha.

If you get an FN and are worried about the bar spacing you can get some chicken wire of wire mesh and attach it over the outside of the bars. I've heard it's annoying to do but it's cheap so you can do it! I'm sure you could also sell the FN later, people are always looking for big cages.
 
Well we're planning on getting the ferrets if the family will rehome them to us. Its a double, so one will most likely be dedicated to the ferrets, the other to the rats. I hope I can work up enough to get the CN, and then get the rats so I won't half to split up the ferrets space.

Thanks! And about chicken wire.. I don't know lol. I don't like making things look 'cheap' or such..just a peeve to me o.e
Im creative though, and thank you so much for the advice ^^
 
If that's your plan, then make sure the divider between the top and bottom halves is VERY secure, as a ferret can and will kill a rat.
 
Gotcha.. I didn't know ferrets could/would do that. Thank you very much. * the ferrets are a pair..hehe babies/young too*
 
Ferrets are gentically inclined to hunt rats. Many people claim that ferrets are better rat hunters than cats.
I have a friend who has ferrets, they are also lovely pets.
 
I see. My father's been wanting a ferret since he was a kid so I just jumped at the opportunity.
If need be, I'll wait until I can get a CN for the rats separately., and the ferret will have the FN ^^
 

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