sofapillows
New Member
TL;DR: how can i help my lone fat rat (1.5yr) keep losing weight when new babies (7wk) are introduced to the cage
so unfortunately my rat Remi is fat. he is a fat, obese, ~780 gram rat. this is completely my fault. due to negligence and worry that my other (tiny, skinny, old) rat would lose too much weight if food wasn't constantly available
a few weeks ago my older rat died due to old age. since Remi has been alone, I've been able to regulate his food intake (oxbow essentials and vegetables) and he's been losing some weight but he is still obese at this time
2 weeks ago i got him three new baby brothers. i have been letting the babies get used to their new home and Remi get used to their smell.
today was introduction day and it went absolutely perfect! so i want to integrate their cages together over the next week so Remi is no longer alone
the problem is that Remi is still obese who needs to lose weight. i have no idea how to go about that if babies in the same cage since the babies need high calorie food to gain weight and grow.
so unfortunately my rat Remi is fat. he is a fat, obese, ~780 gram rat. this is completely my fault. due to negligence and worry that my other (tiny, skinny, old) rat would lose too much weight if food wasn't constantly available
a few weeks ago my older rat died due to old age. since Remi has been alone, I've been able to regulate his food intake (oxbow essentials and vegetables) and he's been losing some weight but he is still obese at this time
2 weeks ago i got him three new baby brothers. i have been letting the babies get used to their new home and Remi get used to their smell.
today was introduction day and it went absolutely perfect! so i want to integrate their cages together over the next week so Remi is no longer alone
the problem is that Remi is still obese who needs to lose weight. i have no idea how to go about that if babies in the same cage since the babies need high calorie food to gain weight and grow.
- is it possible to separate them for a certain meal time? is that healthy for the babies to not have food available all the time?
- should i just separate Remi for a meal time and let him load up on oxbow and veggies so he doesn't eat as much of what's in the cage?
- should i just keep them separated for now until their dietary needs are similar and easier to regulate?