Rat behavior during cold months?

[leighstreet]

Just a few questions, this is my first fall/winter with rats and I'm unsure of how they act during these colder months.

Do they slow down activity wise? I've noticed they aren't as noisy and don't run around as much in the middle of night.

Do they consume less food than normal? I've noticed their block isn't being taken as quickly.

Do they need a higher temperature room? I was worried that maybe it was getting too cold in the room (I get hot too easily and my room kinda gets cold) so I bought a space heater to point at their cage to help heat them up in case temperature was a problem.

Thank you!

 

[ViciousCurse]

I live in Minnesota, so needless to say we get some rough winter months, lol. A lot of our Canadian members can attest to long, cold winters as well lol.

Depending on the age and gender of your rats, they may be slowing down just because they're getting older. And, depending on how long you've had your rats, they may also just not store food as readily because they trust you not to take it, lol. With my experience, babies and new rescues tend to take and store food more than established rats. Often, food bowls deplete because they're storing it or just super hungry. The latter seems unlikely in your case

With a space heater, please be very careful about putting it near your rats or their cage. If it's pointing at them, they run the chance of overheating. If they don't overheat, their cage may start to become very warm. Metal absorbs heat and plastic does too, but it could melt depending on the temperature. In the very least, though, plastic becomes very malleable when warm.

I don't know if this is true, but with pet birds, most people recommend not having a space heater on. It gives off something in the air that's harmful to pet birds. I don't know if this is true with rats or not. We also just run the risk of leaving space heaters on when not at home and having an accident happen.

If I worry that my boys are getting cold, I set my house a little warmer than usual, give them tons of extra fleece to cuddle in, and just check up on them to see how they're doing. All of my boys are over a year old or about to be, so they've slowed down and become quite lazy at this point. I've currently got two fast asleep on my shoulders lol. I overheat very easily, but I've found that turning on a fan and having it blow on me helps!

 

[jorats]

We have long cold winter months here too and there's never been a change in my guys. they only time I see changes in behaviour is always due to age or illness.

 

[SQ]

Pet rats do not change their behaviour in the winter, unless their environment changes.
If you change when you interact with them, when they get out to play, the room temp etc, then it may impact their behaviour. Please see "Vital Statistics for Rats" in the Reference Thread https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/
As Jorats said, usually when behaviour changes they are ill or are slowing down due to aging.

A temp change more then 5 'F within a 24 hr period can cause illness because it will physically stress rats. Drafts can also cause illness. Btw rats require 12 hrs of darkness daily in order to be healthy, so no night lights etc.