Question about food and owning multiple rats =)

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Christie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2008
Messages
652
Location
Hamilton, Ontario
I think I am going to switch my rats diet to Harlan Teklad and Oxbow Regal Rat. I was wondering if there are any bags of Harlan left from the run done a while ago and if not, when will the next run be? How much would it cost to ship to L9G 2S8?? If anyone could figure that out for me, that would be great. Also, Whats it like to own multiple rats. I'm talking, 6+. I know Jorats has like, 19!!! :hailtheking: But how can you look after so many!!!!!!!
 
We have 6 rats. I would probably be very happy with 4 in the future. I find that I could not have two cages because it's a lot to take care then one cage is and I found that when I am paying attention to one cage the other cage is staring at me saying 'mommy we want attention too' maybe they get used to it, I'm not sure. I find that having more then 2 or 3 is neat because you see the different personalities and quirks come out. I know that Willow is outgoing along with Lily, Olivia takes change and such very hard and sulks like the best of them. Ruby is the boss. Pearl is the goof ball and Hazel loves her people and her sister Ruby. So you see you can get so much out of them.

However:
The one thing I would say that you probably already know but want to say it anyways, if you are going multiple rats, make darn sure you are prepared for the vet costs, food costs etc. It can get VERY expensive, which you probably already know. Jorats can tell you how much was spent on her rats this summer. Things can happen that you aren't prepared for. Illness creep up when you least expect it. My six girls got mites and I am very lucky my vet only charged me for one rat for the visit. Her price is $48 for the first rat and half that per rat for rest so it could have been $168 to just see the rats, no meds or anything else. As for food I'm not that bad but my girls go through a 33lb bag of food every 6 months. The others with more rats have way more.

The basic thing is you don't want to go above what you can handle. Taking in rescues and needy rats is a very respectable thing BUT what good are you too your rats if you can't care for them properly. That's the main thing to keep in mind.

Now that I have gone on and on. I will stop now.

Oh and good move to the diet (personal choice for me) :D
 
I have 26 rats and I do admit it's quite a handful. In the future, I would be very comfortable with 4 to 8 rats.
It's not really that hard if you have the time to devote to them. It takes a couple of hours a week to do a full cleaning of the cages with 30 minutes daily for wipe ups.
Vet bills can be astronomical. I can't even think about how much I've spent or I'll faint. :giggle:
 
i have 7 now and so far so good but im home most of the day and spend my time with them alot. only time im out is when i do shopping and stuff. three cages going too for them. one has 4 ratties, one has one, and last has two. takes me a bit to clean them(about a hour for the 4 one,30mins for the two one and 10-15mins for the lone one)
 
I've got tons too. You have to be able to spend a lot of time with them. I have no kids, so I can spend most of my spare time cleaning cages and hanging out with them. I think 4-10 would be best for me, but I'm way over that right now.
 
At present I have 36 rescue rats ... Cage cleaning takes several hours daily plus lots of time out in the play area.
I think someday I would like to have 6 to 8 rats so I could spend more time with each individual.
As previously said, blocks are good for 6 months after the milling date, 12 months if repackaged and frozen. An open bag of blocks will go stale after 3 months.
 
Cool, it's packed in two 4 pound bags, so I'll save the other. I just don't want it going bad. With shipping, 8 pounds of food was 20 bucks!
 

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