hello! i'm working on adding variety to my girls food, i've made a homemade mix and i feed them oxbow adult rat food. idk if help is the right tag, sorry mods skull! hippolyta and titania photos for tax (plus the occasional helena but she doesn't eat this mix)

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the home mix has whole grain pasta, tricolor pasta, pistachios (small amt w shells), rice (they don't eat it tho lmfao), walnuts, and a small mix of treats: banana chips, those oxbow heart treats (had some leftover i know hay isn't great :3), and those small anima granola balls.

i'd like to add more to it an balance it out for their needs - i didn't do much measuring when making it. i 50/50 the mix and the oxbow. this is what's on my list rn but ANY ideas help!!

- dried flower mix (hibiscus, calendula, and rose "flower fusion mix" from exotic nutrion)

- dried minnows

- pea flakes

i also feed them baby food puff things as treats - the peanut butter ones with elmo on the packages, those gerber ones in the bottle, and lil munchies in the can. i keep them bc my malocclusion baby can eat them and give it to the big girls as treats :)

should i mix two types of rat food mix? i feed them in a bowl and do small amts forage feeding, i just have a thing where if i can't see food in the bowl i fill it and i dont wanna overfeed them.

truly, i'm worried they aren't getting the nutrition they need. i'm worried i'm not feeding them enough because they run up to the cage door and actually go crazy for any food, they stash all treats i give them, and act like they haven't eaten in a week. i know thats normal pet behavior lol but i am a worrying mother nonetheless.

So since my rats aren't the cuddly type. I decided I wanted to get a rat who was. Then I came across a boy who's alone now and his current person is afraid to handle him and can't/doesn't give him attention. So I'm taking him. The current owner said he used to fight with his brother. But I noticed the cage was quite small for one rat, let alone two. Current owner also said his dog really stressed the rat out. I don't even know if this rat will want to be held, let alone put with other rats. But I can give him a better life than he currently has. Would putting his cage next to my current boys be stressful for him? Or would that be an ok way to see how he feels about other rats?

Shion

Hello, today while handling my rats, one of them fell on accident, from about 5 feet height. He fell flat on a wooden floor and slowly crawled into his cage.

He seemed to be regurgitating at first, but he stopped doing that. He doesn't appear to have trouble breathing. He seems to be alright but I feel so so bad and I want to make sure he really is alright.

Is there something I should check or watch out for?

I wasn’t paying attention when my rat bea was roaming this morning and she got in my fridge door hinge while I was shutting it, she squeaked so loud twice and I immediately opened the door. She seemed scared at first and is now back to running around and got a little treat but seems slower then she normally is. How do I know if she’s hurt?

In the past I have had a couple of rats that died of a respiratory illness. In truth I did not take them to a vet because I didn’t know if a vet treated rats! Now that I’m older and wiser I would love to try again. I have had and raised hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs successfully but rats seem to be harder for some reason. I love them though and want to get one when I’m more educated on their care. Any suggestions for avoiding that respiratory issue!?

So i’m looking on getting a rat but im having trouble finding a cage one that’s not tall and what are some things i need to put in the cage besides food and water

I love you perky 🥰

Link won!!

I originally wanted to name my new rat flapjack because I thought it was cute and a bit unique. But nobody else liked that name or understood it. So we decided on Templeton like the rat from charlottes web. I don’t know if this name is unique enough for my liking. Do you or anyone you know have a rat named Templeton? Obviously some people do, but I feel like flapjack is less common and means something to me. I usually do that for all my animals.

One of my babies looks like he's tweaking!! Like he is SO jumpy. Not just hyper - like lightning fast racing around and fighting with his brothers. I've been following the no blood no foul rule in terms of fights: but is this normal?? They are 8 week old males, and him being so compulsively jumpy is scaring me ☹️

Could this be a neurological issue? Or am I paranoid?

ALSO: Is it normal for what seems to be a bit heavier breathing (silent) for half a minute after fighting or running around??

Thank you please help🥲

If you can't be bothered to read all of this, please skip to the final paragraph as that's the thing I urgently need help with. Thanks.

Hello, we got a duo of female rats yesterday, admittedly from a pet store as we don't have any other option in my area and we don't have access to transport, and we went out for just a few hours today to come back and find one of them dead in their cage.

I did notice that she was a little fluffed up when we got her and that she didn't come out as much as her friend or climb, but between being a baby, nervous due to change in environment, I wasn't too worried- how are you supposed to tell if a new rat is nervous or sick because it's not coming out much? She was eating and drinking fine.

I examined her after death and she had a big, extremely hard, mass covering the lower left part of her abdomen, this was around 1.5-2 inches in length and probably around 0.5-1inch in width. I'm assuming this was a malignant tumour or a tumour that was pressing on her internal organs and such but please tell me if you have any other ideas as to how she passed.

Anyway, MOST important part of this post is that the remaining rat is now on her own and I don't know what to do. If I went back to the pet store (I know, I know, but she needs company and I have no other way) and got 1-2 of the 2 other rats my duo were housed with when I bought them would my remaining rat be immediately okay with them? They wouldn't need to be reintroduced would they? It wouldn't have been been 48 hours since separation.

Thanks!

It's ight

For anyone was is looking for rat plushies... for those of us that couldn't get one while they were available, AliExpress has a copy. I have found a rat plushie on Amazon I liked, one even has babies. I just came across Rattus from Kilstar. Pic 1 is from AliExpress, 2 & 3 from Amazon, 4 is from Killstar. Now if we could just get a Perky plushie!

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