More often than not in all of my years of keeping rats as pets I have heard a lot of myths thrown around about them. They are dirty. They smell. They carry diseases. They are mean. Well all of these are false, false, and false. Rats are some of the most intelligent animals in the small animal world. They are often referred to as the dog of the small animal world due to their unique personalities and willingness to please their owner. However, with all of that being said, rats do require a lot of maintenance and upkeep and on average cost about as much as a dog or a cat in regards to their care. If you are looking for something cheap and cute that you can keep in a cage and look at then rats are not the pets for you.
One of the most important pieces of rat ownership is the cage. Finding the perfect rat cage can be difficult at times and it is another one of the biggest myths perpetuated by the pet store industry. Basically the rule of thumb 90% of the time is if the box says that the cage is designed for rats then it isn’t going to be big enough. Put it down and walk away. Rats need at least 2 cubic feet of space per rat. I like to always use a rat cage calculator any time I am trying out a new cage so that I know exactly how many rats I can comfortably fit in it. A cage calculator takes all of the guesswork out of it. The one I like to use most often is here: www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml
Once you find a cage that is large enough the next concern is bar spacing. Rats can pancake themselves and squeeze out of very small spaces. Always remember if they can get their head through the body can get through. Some recommended cages that work well for small colonies of 4 or less rats are:
And finally I feel that I must address the issue of tanks or aquariums. I highly discourage the use of them as most of the time they are never large enough for rats. They also tend to trap in ammonia and dust particles thus reeking havoc on the rats respiratory systems. For the price of a tank you can invest in a very nice cage that will last you a very long time.
Right along with housing comes bedding. Bedding is a very personal choice. There are a lot of good options out there and you just have to experiment with what works best for you and your rats. The number one rule is No Pine or Cedar. The second rule is no dusty beddings. So long as you follow these rules you will be fine. Pine and Cedar are very toxic to small animals due to the phenols that they emit and can permanently damage a rat’s respiratory tract. Dusty litters such as clay cat litters can also severely damage a rat’s respiratory system. Some of the preferred beddings used are:
Yesterdays News: www.yesterdaysnews.com This is a pellet based bedding made from recycled newspapers. It is good at odor control. This is pretty popular with the rat crowd.
Carefresh: www.absorbent.com This is made from reclaimed paper based materials. It is a fluffy bedding, which the rats really love to burrow in and snuggle in. However, it lacks on odor control and can sometimes be a bit too dusty for my tastes. But, it is still a good bedding choice for some situations.
Aspen Shavings: (I like to buy mine from Tractor Supply Company) This is probably one of my favorite choices for beddings. It smells nice. It does great at odor control. It is soft for the rats. The only draw back is that it can be messy. Since it is lightweight it gets kicked out of the cage easily and sticks into the carpet.
Fleece/Fabric: Many people don’t use bedding at all and choose to just reuse old fleece and fabric in their cages. The nice thing about doing this is that it is washable and for the most part fairly inexpensive. However, you will need to change out the fabric more frequently then you would with some bedding materials.
Newspaper: Shredded newspaper is a favorite of most rats as they can really make some pretty awesome nests out of it and it is something that is readily available in most homes. It does lack on odor control and absorbs moisture quickly so it is necessary to spot clean this every day by taking out the soiled newspaper and adding fresh.
As previously mentioned there are a lot of products on the market that make great bedding material. What I have listed above is only a very small selection of the most popular. Look around and do your research you will be amazed.
Rats are extremely clean animals. Obsessive like a cat they will groom themselves for hours. A rat cage should never smell. If you can smell it then it is dirty and needs to be cleaned. A rat's home should be cleaned at least once a week. This should involve removing all of the old bedding along with any fabric items in the cage. The fabric items should be washed and the entire cage should be scrubbed down to remove any bacteria, urine, and feces. Any hides, food dishes, toys, water bottles etc should also be scrubbed clean and disinfected. There are several cleaners on the market, which are sold as cage cleaners in the pet stores. They work perfectly fine and are ok to use to clean the cages. You just want to make sure you have them rinsed clean. However, these commercial cleaners are often expensive and truly can be a drain on the wallet when there are cheaper alternatives out there.
The most commonly used product is Distilled White Vinegar. Vinegar does an excellent job of neutralizing odors and disinfecting the cage. The way I like to use Vinegar is to place my cage in my shower or haul it outside to the driveway. Place the vinegar in a spray bottle. Rinse the cage down with clean water. Then spray vinegar all over the cage and allow it to set for about 30 seconds to one minute. Take a scrub brush to any extra grungy spots. Then rinse the entire cage down to make sure all remnants of the cage is cleaned.
Another popular cleaner is to use a diluted bleach water solution. The way I clean with this is to add a small amount of bleach to warm water. I also add in a few drops of laundry detergent (laundry detergent doesn’t suds up like dish soap). Using a clean washcloth and a toothbrush to get in the cracks I will wipe the cage down where the cage sits. This is particularly useful with larger cages that are harder to move or don’t fit into a bathtub. With this method you have to do a bit more scrubbing to make sure you get all of the cracks and crevices. When you are done allow the cage to dry completely and make sure there are no strong bleach smelling odors which can upset the rats respiratory system.
The biggest don’t in cage cleaning is to not use any major household cleaners like 409 or Fantastik as those can have very strong and harmful chemicals which can linger and hurt a rat if they were to ingest it along with very strong lingering fumes.
Rats are omnivorous which means that they eat both plant and animal materials. Because their nutritional needs are so complex it is hard to find a great rodent diet in the pet stores. It is strongly advised to stay away from any mixed seed type of rodent diets. Many of them are not nutritionally sound and it is basically like feeding a 4 year old child Twinkies and Pudding for breakfast, lunch, and dinner each day. Sure the rats love the seed mixes but they are not that healthy for them. Another good reason to steer clear of most seed mixes purchased in pet stores is that they contain a preservative called ethoxyquin, which is used as a pesticide. This preservative has been shown to cause cancer in rats. I just don’t like taking the chance.
The cornerstone of any good rat diet should be a high quality lab block and then supplement with homemade grain mixes as well as fresh fruits and veggies. There are three acceptable lab blocks on the market today. They are:
Harlan Teklad: www.teklad.com/rodent.asp This is specifically designed for use in laboratories and is one of the best lab blocks on the market. Most rat owners prefer Harlan Teklad to any other. Most rats will agree with this too. You can only get Harland Teklad blocks by ordering them from distributors. However, Capital City Rat Rescue orders in large quantities and has them available for purchase as well.
Mazuri: www.mazuri.com Mazuri is second on the list and they can be purchased at most PetSmart locations. This is a good block and the rats seem to do well on it.
Oxbow Regal Rat: http://www.oxbowanimalhealth.com This block is manufactured right here in Nebraska and is also an acceptable block. However, most rat owners who have tried it have had bad luck getting their rats to actually eat it. Last I heard Oxbow was working on reformulating their blocks so that they taste better for the rats.
As mentioned above I also encourage feeding a homemade grain mix. The recipe I like to use is called Suebees and can be found at www.ratsrule.com/diet. The rats really do love this stuff and I feed it as a treat once or twice a week. It is much cheaper pound for pound then buying the store bought grain mixes.
Then of course supplementing all of the above with fresh healthy fruits, veggies, and treats is always a good idea and as long as the rat is at a healthy weight encouraged. Human food and extra treats should be given sparingly and on a limited basis. Although there are not a lot of foods rats cannot eat it is just not healthy for them to down too many extra calories.
Rat’s metabolisms burn very high and as such they need a lot of fresh water as well. My preference is to use a water bottle at all times on the cage. I prefer the 16 ounce size, as it is large enough that it does not go dry in one day but small enough to ensure that the rats are getting fresh water regularly. I found that water would sit in a 32 ounce bottle and become stale and moldy too quickly.
If a bowl is given for water supply then the bowl must be a heavy ceramic crock style that cannot be tipped. The water will need to be changed out at least 3-4 times a day, as rats are messy animals that will dirty their water very quickly. I do not find water bowls to be the best option.
Rats are extremely social creatures. They do not do well on their own and should always been kept in, at the bare minimum, same sex pairs of two (unless you have your rats neutered/spayed). I often hear the excuse from adopters that they want only one rat as they want to make sure that the rat bonds to them. Well this is a huge myth. If your rats are kept in colonies with multiple rats it will not prevent the rat from bonding to humans. In fact it will help the rat blossom into a well socialized and well adjusted rat. Rats who are kept on their own often have behavioral issues as well as stability issues.
Here is a story that I like to tell to people to help illustrate this is point. Imagine if you were kept in a small closet or room in your house all alone every day of your life. No one to talk to and no one to play with. No one you could get hugs from. No one to share your dinner with. Just you and you alone. For your entire lifetime. Then once a day a dog would come into your world for just an hour or two at a time. Play with you. Give you some food, some water, and then turn around and leave closing the door behind. If this were your life 24/7 for the rest of your life you would get very lonely and probably start to go a little loopy as well.
Rats need companions to groom with, snuggle up with and sleep with, play with, and eat with. There are just certain things that we as humans cannot do for our rats that another rat can do. Once you watch a large colony of rats interact with each other over time it becomes very obvious and evident that they truly do need each other.
On the other hand rats also need human interaction as well. At the minimum rats need 2 hours of social time outside of their cage where they are allowed to play and interact with their human. This can be accomplished several ways.
Block off a room/area: This works by taking the rats into a specific room that has been rat proofed. This means that there are no holes in the floor/wall for them to escape into. Check inside and under cupboards as well. There are no electrical wires for them to chew. Basically they can’t get hurt. Throw in some fun toys and a few blankets and pillows. Sit down with a good book and let the rats run and play. They can play on you as well and you can interact with them on their level.
Furniture: Some people will opt to play with the rats on them while on a piece of furniture. This is often the preferred way with new rats or rats who need some socializing. Sitting on a bed, couch, or chair lay a blanket over you and let the rats run under and around the blanket
Playpen: You can purchase manufactures playpens at Martins or Marshal. These are meant to keep the rats confined in a cage like atmosphere but in a much larger space. They are often large enough that a human can climb in with them to interact. They also have tops to them so that when the human can’t supervise playtime they can close the top and feel secure knowing that their rats are safe.
Rats unfortunately do have some common health issues that crop up over their lifetime. As such it is important to find a veterinarian that specializes in exotic pets. It is very hard to find a knowledgeable rat vet so you will have to do your research and ask a lot of questions before settling on one.
The most common issue with rats is respiratory issues. These can be upper respiratory infections, pneumonia, and mycoplasmosis. Typically treatment involves antibiotics.
Mites, Lice, and other ectoparasites can also be an issue with rats. This will cause discomfort for your rats as well. They will develop scabs on the skin from the excessive scratching. Again very treatable with medication from your vet.
Rats are also prone to getting abscesses. An abscess is a pocket of infection under the skin. Most commonly a rat will get an abscess from tussling with another rat where even the smallest of scratches can become infected. Yet again very treatable with antibiotics from a vet.
And finally rats commonly develop cancer and tumors at some point in their life. Breeders are working very hard to better rats for this very reason. There is not much that can be done to prevent it and there are few treatments. But it is necessary to discuss tumors with your vet to determine if removal is an option and other treatment options.
