In Need of Advice

[opossums]

Hi all! I’m a new rat owner. I got two male rats yesterday and I am looking for some advice to make sure they are as comfortable as they can be. Both my boys are roughly 6-8 weeks old, one of them being hairless. My hairless boy seems to be okay, but I think he is doing fear poops a lot even in his cage because they are soft and incredibly smelly! Is there any way I can make him feel safer both inside and outside his cage?

Other than the fear poops, I would really appreciate any advice to make sure they are both settling in well and that I can make them less afraid of the new environment.

 

[lilspaz68]

It's probably more likely to be dietary issues. Whatever he was fed will cycle through his digestive system. Fear poop is more likely to handle when put in a frightening situation like being held or travelling in a carrier.

 

[Big Schpog]

Fear poops! We come up with some cool language for rats. Fear poops! Love it. As Lil Spaz says, it's more than likely something he ate. My girl ate something that was probably a bit off and she had nasty, smelly poops for a day.

 

[❤️🐭WEEGAL🐹❤️]

If you think its fear/anxiety, i would invest in a “critter cuddler” bonding pouch (that u wear around your neck) & place the rat in it to hang out with u for an hour or more a day to get him feeling more at ease with you & being handled. I find they work really well just after even 1 day, they get comfortable with you & being handled... i think its a very useful tool for new rat owners! They sell them on amazon.

 

[Twilight]

If you're looking to save some money, the amazon ones are pretty expensive and you can get cheaper, identical "critter cuddlers" on etsy, with a wide range of patterns: Bond/cuddle with small animals/birds/exotics/reptiles by wrapcity

 

[rmn34]

lol fear poops... used to get those when I would have to give them a bath... My little ones would poop in the sink, and I would poop myself when two soaking wet rats would scurry up my arm and into my sleeve...

But yeah, you can make one out of pretty much anything. I made one out of a shemagh- which is an arabic head scarf one wears in the desert- because my little girl was sleeping on her side and was having fluid pool in the lungs. I carried her around in the sling for days so she would stay vertically oriented.

An old sheet would work fine.