Fancy Rats Forum

Thanks both.

I'll not name names, but I did contact some of them previously... but I'll not hold that against them

When my ducks are in line I'll contact them and see if I can get some new children x

I'm Sheffield/Barnsley (with scope to travel).

Then I switched to clear acrylic (perspex) and I found that playpen walls could be much shorter. Because rats have poor eyesight, they can't see the tops of clear walls so they just treat them like some sort of invisible forcefield that rises to the heavens. I saw you post something similar on an o...

Hi all I've had rats before (7 over two groups) and am hoping to get some more in the future. I'm planning things in advance now I am older and wiser re rats and my aim is for floor time to open the cage and let them roam the attic room where they will live. Ideally I need to be able to cordon off a...

Hi Lydia I've sent you a PM but for the benefit of anyone else who might be reading, Harry is still with us and so I'm not currently ready to re-home Frodo, but I suspect it won't be long before I either find Harry has passed on or he takes a downturn and I have him put to sleep. But at the moment h...

Male rat, approx 18 months old, originally from Pets at Home, about to be left alone as his cage mate has taken a turn for the worse. Looking for a place for him to live out whatever time he has left - currently fit and healthy. Original source of rats: Pets at Home Contact details: Please feel free...

The things you never think you will type as a topic header... :p So I had 4 rats, 1 still with us, then 3 more and I have never seen this, apologies if it isn’t at all odd but I want to check! Every poo over the last 2 and a bit years has been oval, pellet, all of a similar dimension. Suddenly we ha...

Update:

At floor time he went and stood under the radiator and sort of nested down on a towel, so I have moved the hammock right to the floor of the tank and he was climbed in. Hopefully the others will now sit with him and keep him warm and I assume he is trying to stay snug.

Hi all My eldest rat is not doing so well. He now struggles to get up to the hammock and is generally unsteady and doddery. I’ve made sure there is water at floor level and the food is always there, but I’m concerned as he can’t reach the nest where his cage mates gather he will be in danger of gett...

Thanks both

So exactly how bare am I making the main cage? Literally bedding substrate, water and nothing else? Can I leave them their wheel and can they have a hammock low down?

Thanks, I bought the smallest cage I could, emptied it and added rats. Whenever I'm in the house they are now in it and I've had zero problems. They are behaving just like in the video and then every few hours sleeping in a pile (usually 3 with one off somewhere else, but it's a different one each t...

Thanks! So if my cage is large, so long as they have nowhere to rest (no ropes or platforms) presumably that will have the same effect? As in the only useable space will be the floor/walls. I might just buy a small cage, it can be my medical cage going forwards. I was going to add items from the old...

Hi all I introduced my old rat (20 months or so old) Delta to my new rats (unknown age but young) Frodo, Gandalf and Harry. I read the guides and made sure the space was small, that it was neutral and that I had thick gloves on in case I needed to intervene (and a spray bottle!). I videoed it all, h...

Thanks all

I'm putting my name down for a local breeder and hoping for the best, as I've contacted everyone I can find in about a 50 mile radius and they are all either retired or booked up solid.

Is there a sliding scale of rat quality? Like, breeder who pays careful attention to bloodlines to remove aggressiveness and promote healthy rats at one end and 'yeah I just chuck 'em in a box and pick out any babies that don't get eaten each week' at the other? Basically all the breeders from the N...