Rats are no harder to
keep than any small animal but they are different in several ways. They
are very intelligent and social creatures and need to have other rats
for company or an attentive human to spend time with them. We give the single ones extra attention to prevent them from being bored and lonely.
If you spend time with a very young rat he will bond to you and become a wonderful pet, sadly very many young rats
are allowed to spend most of their time in a cage without any attempt being made to socialize them. Most of the rescues
which we have taken in have been clean, healthy and terrified of people, luckily they are bright enough to respond to
proper care and can usually be re-trained with a little (or a lot) of patience.
Rats enjoy the occasional treat , but we try not to over-do these as
they are bright enough to understand when we are friendly, provided that
we approach and handle them gently. Every single rat
that you meet will have a different personality and if you start with young rats you will usually find that they are
easy enough to handle after giving them a little while to get used to their new home. We
like to have
two or more same-sex rats from a litter rather than just taking a single
one, they will generally feel more secure and get on well together.
We let them come to us at first rather than trying to pick them up and handle them,
they are naturally very inquisitive and they will usually try to climb all over
us without any encouragement at all. We don`t expect too much in
the first few days, being transferred from a breeder to a pet shop and
then being separated from your family is a lot to cope with and the new
babies need time to adjust. Some of the little guys are very shy and may
take a week or two to get used to us. Even the friendliest of rats are
usually cautious about being actually picked up, so we just let them
come to us in their own time and hold them closely to make them feel secure.
Mature male rats are often very laid-back and lazy, they like to be fussed and will sit on your knee while you watch T.V. The girls are usually much more energetic and will run around and play a lot more, but
we find a few that behave in different ways altogether.
Most rats, particularly males, will bond very closely with a human and enjoy being stroked, scratched and generally fussed over. When they feel
really relaxed they will groom your hands and treat you like another rat, which is very flattering.
We feed them with commercial
dry food, supplemented with fresh food such as potato, cucumber, lettuce and sweetcorn. They are also very fond of well-thawed
frozen peas and beans. High protein foods such as cheese are only given in moderation and sweet foods such as chocolate and
biscuits are avoided. Some rats are very fond of grapes and apples but
citrus fruit of any kind is kept off the menu. Sunflower seeds are
considered to be a great treat and are given in small quantities.
Nails A rat`s nails will usually need to be trimmed every now and then, this can be
done with small nail clippers, we also try to have an abrasive surface in each
cage which will help to keep them under control. "Wet or Dry" abrasive paper is
fine and can be glued to any suitable surface. If you would like to see how to
trim nails click on the following link -
Mac Murphy & Milton
Don
Murphy
Ollie
Poppy
