Things I wish I knew earlier (after having had some 40 rats in 21 years: ● Good or bad foods for rats. ● Vet costs for rats (meds, tumour surgeries, castrations (males and females)) ● Dumb myths that people spread online that are sometimes even dangerous to rats. ● Introductions of difficult shelter rats to resident rats sometimes don't work out (luckily they can often have safe playtime together in a neutral place) ● How annoying certain breeders and rehomers can be when you are tryjng your best (but are not using THEIR favoured methods) regarding husbandry and (introduction) methods, while you are sometimes paying between €500 and €1100 for vet and meds bills over their (usually two rats) lifetime, and they STILL say you are not a good owner. While you tried all options, suited to your particular rats/intros ● Breeders will willfully breed kinds that have known health issues and shorter lifespans (hairless, Harley, wolf) but still call themselves 'ethical' (think about all the rats that died because of 'purification' of a line. ● 'Ethical breeding' still doesn't mean that your breeder cares about rat wellbeing. Breeders will say anything to justify breeding kinds that have known issues. ● How hard it can be to get a mistreated rescue rat to learn that you are a 'safe' human. ● Not all rats like cuddles. ● How quickly some illnesses can sometimes progress. I had a rat with a funky smelling ear for a couple of weeks. We tried a lot of different meds, but it ended up to be a ZGT, and it grew from nothing to see to months, then weeks, then days to live within ten days 😢
I'm interested in hearing more about you being able to have safe play time between cages that don't get along. I have 5 boys I want to get together, but intros went badly because one of the younger boys was screaming the whole time. I feel like the others could be okay together but idk how to navigate the situation
@@dizzylightyear2427 It's a difficult and maybe specific situation. I had two male rats, one of which had to be castrated because he turned aggressive towards his brother, whom he was with from birth, because of hormonal aggression. To be prepared in case one of the males died, I had opted for getting two female rescue rats. One was about 6 months old, one about a year old. My males were 22 months old. Anyway, introductions.. I tried the open space method, because these two shelter rats were 'neglected' and from a SPCA seizure. The girls were very difficult, afraid of being touched by the males (and by humans at first), and rather ran away and avoided the males. I gradually added a half-open playbox to the intro area, and later tried to add a cabin. But one of the girls still remained anxious about being touched or groomed and she would fight to get the males to stay away from her (luckily no bites or blood drawn). The intros slowly progressed, and after maybe 75 hours of gradually longer open space intros they were ready to move to an almost empty smaller intro cage. There they got gradually longer daily meetups, until I trusted them enough to have them spend the night together in the intro cage, next to my bed. (All the intros were constantly supervised). When they had 3 days and two nights safely together in the intro cage they were ready to move to one half of my two level cage (SRS95 double). Again first without any cage furniture except for two water bottles, two food bowls, and shredded paper towels for nesting material. Again I tried to gradually add cage furniture, like a big cabin, a wheel, and a hanging tube. The girls were still being difficult. One was a squealer and a submissive, the other was an anxiety fighter. Particularly when she felt cornered or while being groomed. After four happy days together the anxious female couldn't take the male attention anymore, and she lashed out at both males, about half an hour apart. So I kind of gave up on the two pairs ever being together happily. But then, after about 2.5 months one of the males died. I was heartbroken, and felt very sorry to now have a single male and a pair of females that couldn't be together, despite me having tried everything, every method, for over 100 hours combined. But I wasn't about to give up. The younger female wasn't an anxiety fighter, although she was still an anxious ratty that didn't like to be touched. So I started out with open space intros again with her and the lone male, later adding a big open playbox and a turned over open plastic tank (front side open) as a safe 'house' with a big opening, and in which I could still fully supervise the two rats while they were in there. Last week I moved the plastic tank to my intro cage, and after some ten minutes into each session (3 to over 5 hours) the female calmed down and even relaxed and snacked next to the male and even slept with her head on top of his back. (Mind you, all four rats would happily have a snack next to each other in every intro session). But what is then strange again.. When I put her in the male's cage half (after a long couch playtime session in the box or intro cage) she kind of turns into a bully. And my male is notably anxious and stressed. While it is HIS cage half, with his scent, his cage furniture, and so on. So after all this intro time together (some 100 hours and 3.5 days between the two males and the two females, and after by now 50 hours between the younger female and the remaining male) I still can't trust them being together in the same cage half. I don't understand why she behaves this way. Maybe because how she was (mis-)treated/neglected before I adopted the two girls from the shelter. So yeah, my oldest female can probably never be safely together with any male rat, inside or outside a cage, and my youngest female is only safe with my male outside of the main cage, on neutral terrain. But my male at least has some interaction with another rat, on a regular basis, and for several hours, and he gets cuddles and groom time with another rat, and is not alone for the remainder of his life. And he gets more attention and cuddles from me as well. It is pretty difficult for me to find another suitable friend for him, and you can't just go to a shelter and ask for two rats to try and introduce to your rat and then return them after a month. "Sorry, they are lovely rats, but they won't bond with my resident male. Can I try two others?". Also because the shelter is 1.5 hours away by car.
After several years keeping rats, I ended up rehoming my final two girls to an NFRS breeder who is keeping them as pet only with her group. I couldn’t cope with the persistent illness and short life span any more after losing 9 over the years. They will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart and I miss them so much but I know for me, such short lifespans often with a number of illnesses (not to mention thousands over the years in vet bills!) just isn’t for me and I’ll do better mentally with longer-lived pets ❤
I am actually super proud of how I am doing with my first rats, I watched a lot of your videos and other rat care videos, and any amount of money I got I spent on them, I made sure they have a critter nation, and its full, I make sure to free roam them, and even train them, I am so glad my first rats get the life they deserve!
i think i did the exact same as you, i bought a ferplast cage had two rats and then freaked out trying to find more when one died i'd never even heard of rolling groups, i then upgraded to two ferplasts stacked with very little in it, i then got a petplanet which i love btw and have managed to fit a deep perspex base into it. The things i wish i knew: i fell dow the fleece as bedding trap, i did lots of research and concluded that it was economical, sustainable and safe, let me tell you, ammonia control is non - existant and allows for no digging, 3, i had no idea hormonal aggression was a thing 3, i didn't realise the importance of finding a rat savvy vet, 4, i didn't realise the heart break it would cause, i obviously knew about the short lifespan but my first pair of rats i had one turned out to be my heart rat, when Bear died, i was absolutely heart broken, i cried myself to sleep for days afterwards, i just was not prepared for it
One of my girls did this the other day with a curtain😂 made the error of leaving the cage to close to it and then next thing the curtain had a peep hole in it
I had a hyper-active chaos tato once and that little guy just would NOT stop moving most of the time and there's a reason I called him Spaz... Once you got him settled down though, he was very cuddley!
My cage at first was a bit bare, mostly because the local pet stores don't offer much for rats. I now order a lot of my stuff from stores outside of my country, along with food, because there are no good quality mixes here and making my own was too difficult because I couldn't find all the right ingredients. I wish someone had told me how in love I will fall with these animals and just how much it will hurt to lose them. Losing a heart rat is like losing a piece of myself. I lost my heart rat last night. My Olly boy had pituitary tumor and even though I noticed the signs basically right away and we went to the vet yesterday to get the meds for it to possibly have more time together, he ended up suddenly going downhill at night. Saturday morning he was still walking, could eat solid foods, had a good appetite and he was like that the whole day. I went to sleep, woke up around 2am and went to check the rats and found him in the middle of passing away. I picked him up and held him on my chest and in 10 or so minutes he was gone. He would have been 19 months this month and I feel like I failed him. Seeing the cage with just my 3 boys hurts so much right now.
I don't own rats, but one thing I wish I knew before owning my guinea pigs is that there is no perfect way to care for them (or any animal, really) Food - There is no perfect way to feed them. There's a set diet guide for guinea pigs of course - 80% hay, 15% vegetables, 5% pellets or something similar (since some people choose to go for 90% hay, or choose not to feed pellets). But my mum prepares my guinea pig's vegetables a week in advance and sorts them into little lunch boxes so that I can easily give them out each day, I can't think of anyone else that does that. The brand and type of hay I feed is probably different to what others feed, same with the pellets. I give my guinea pigs their pellets via enrichment whereas someone else might give them via a bowl or scatter feeding. I give my pigs their hay in huge piles in a lessmess haykeeper, whereas someone else might give them a pile in the centre of their cage, a hay bag, or a hay rack. Enclosure - There is no perfect enclosure for guinea pigs. There's size guides and guides on where to house them, but what I do might be different to someone else. Hell, I might even see the size guides differently to someone else - someone might think it's okay to house 2 guinea pigs in a 2 x 4, whereas I see 2 guinea pigs in a 2 x 5 as 'my' minimum. Bedding - There is no perfect bedding for guinea pigs. There's guides on what's safe and what's not, but again, what I do might be different to someone else. I choose to keep mine on fleece for 2x4 of their enclosure and teabag bedding on the other 2x2, someone else might choose 100% fleece, 100% woodshavings, 100% paper or mixes of different types. Water - There is no perfect way to provide water to guinea pigs. I choose to give mine a water dish as I just feel it works better for us. Someone else might find that a water bottle works better for them. There's SO many different ways to care for animals, and so long as you're at least providing everything the animal needs to be happy and healthy, whichever way you choose to care for them is completely okay! I'm sick of people expecting pet owners to fit into boxes and have everyone follow very strict guidelines when it's just not feasible for everyone. I used to cry because I couldn't find a good seed-based for my hamsters when I had them because I just couldn't afford them (the prices were absolutely ridiculous - something like £60 for 2kg of food), but if I were to have them again, I'd be more than happy with feeding them something like Science Selective pellets with things like seed sprays or forage mixes on top of that.
I don't think rats are necessarily a long term commitment, as long as you have a plan for how things will end. Personally, I have wanted rats for a long time, but this is my final 3-4 year gap where I don't have plans that will prevent getting pets. I'm picking up 3 baby girls in a few weeks, and my plan for when they get older is to re-home them once one dies and the other two are getting older (not too old though). I'm planning on giving them to a friend of mine who has rats herself and is keeping a rolling group for the foreseeable future. If something changes between now and then, the place I adopted them from would also be willing to put them back into their group of rats. Even if you keep a group rolling, it's going to end one way or another. The key thing is making sure it ends in a way that keeps the rat's happy and healthy ❤
i was so lucky to happen to go to an absolutely lovely breeder with the sweetest lil ratties, they were cared for very lovingly and u could tell she wanted the best for every lil baba rat. i miss them so much :c
I agree with you 100% on the things you wish you’d known before getting rats. Three more things that I’d add to this list would be… (1) their 💩 smells quite bad. I do spot cleaning twice daily, complete aspen bedding change weekly and deep cleaning monthly. Yet the room still smells to some degree. 😢 (2) you can’t (shouldn’t) wear anything nice around them because they chew on your clothes and make holes everywhere. 😂 (3) some rats try to (and do) escape no matter how well your playpen enclosure is built. 🐀💨💨 So I pretty much gave up and gave my entire room as their free roam area. 🙄 I have to watch them closely when they are free roaming. I hope they are not peeing/pooping somewhere I don’t know (a toilet with litters provided in the room). I have three boys and they are more work than having a dog… just in my opinion. 😂 ❤🐀❤
I wanted rats for many years however never followed through with actually getting some. As much as I love them, because of my current animals I do not have the time or space. My focus is now mainly on my reptiles. I think the main thing that put me off was having to source new rats constantly as you said. All of my reptiles are solitary so this suits me better! For this reason I subscribe to a few channels including yours for a rat fix instead!
I’m still a new rat owner. Only had my 4 boys for a few months. I have done the cardinal sin and bought them from pets at home ☹️. However I would not trade them for the world. I will def be looking into a breeder next time 100%. I’ve learned a lot from your channel and a lot of others. They are on a mix I make myself, they have a huge critter nation double cage, I have them with hemp bedding and a dig box. I have some Perspex too (which I need to recut myself as I can’t measure apparently lol). I also made a playpen for them, which I sit in with them. I’m trying to think of more enrichment for them. Down side of getting them from a pet shop, they really don’t like to be touched… like at all. I’ve been working on them daily and they are getting there. They are still my sweethearts and like to be around me even if they are ‘no touchie’. I feel this all would have taken me years to learn without videos like this out there.
Try putting some fruit yoghurt or fromage frais or especially Ferret Paste on the back of your hand or your palm and let them lick it off! Helps with trusting you more. They all have different Personalities.. ..two of my boys don't like being held, but the other two will tolerate it..for about 2 minutes 😄
Today we just sent out our paperwork and info to an amazing breeder we are so happy and can’t wait! Hoping the momma gives birth tonight. She’s 21 days pregnant ❤️
Even though you’ve stopped owning rats now your videos are still a godsend, I don’t have rats yet but I was this close to using fleece bedding and just having a dig box. Now I’m using Perspex trays and coco fiber throughout it so they can dig and the ammonia smell is controllable :3
Could you do a storytime sortbof video comparing your experience getting rats from the first breeder vs you choosing a more ethical breeder and the red flags you'd walk away from now?
We had male rats a few years ago, now we have all females. We started with 4, 1 died suddenly quite young, 2 others lived until nearly 2 then died within days of each other and have been replaced with 2 others. Surprisingly, the last original, oldest rat is from a place that sold them for snake food. She is going on 3 years old now, whereas the 2 sisters from a reputable breeder did not live as long. I agree with you that rats all have different personalities, no matter their sex. Of the 6 girls, some were very energetic and crazy, some were shy, some were extremely friendly and loved sitting on your shoulder or snuggling up your sleeve.
hello im a pet loving normal granny, i have 7 girl mice all different natures and so funny with me 24/7 in see through tank, i called them all MOHAMED then changed their name to good English name MOUSEY (i jest) .... my old gentle girl blue/cream will come to see me when talk to them
Unexpectedly lost one of my boys a couple weeks ago and was left with a lone rat, similar to your situation (they were my first). Went ahead and rescued two more that I thought were boys, turns out they’re tiny malnourished females… got my boy neutered as it was the quickest way for him to have friends. He’s recovering great & will be starting intros with them all next week. They are in the same room and have met through the bars & seem very eager to know each other so I’m sure it will go well. Mine is a large potato and the girls are incredibly active so I’m not seeing a clash of dominant personalities which is great. If I do decide to have a rolling group I’ll likely continue with females or neutered males, was dreading doing intros with intact boys but now I might not have to!🤣
Currently have 2 rat babies. I ignorantly purchased my first rat by himself from a chain pet store that turned out to have wet tail. He was shy and skittish but with some medicine and love he put on weight and is very docile and playful now. My second rat fell into my lap. My friends snake rejected the rat which has only ever happened once but she felt the rat was too sweet to return so I took him on and his name is Lucky. My first rat Scabbers is approx 4 months old and my new boy is barely 2 months. Keeping them in separate cages, letting them free roam together and put them in the carrier for a bit. I don’t feel like they were aggressive to one another but they’re not overly playful. Hoping they get used to one another so I can cage them together.
This was a great video! Thank you for sharing, in part, so I don't feel like I'm the only one whom didn't know as much as I should have with my first boy.
I love your videos and they reassure me and help me learn new things! i plan on adopting a few boys in the future, just brushing up on my knowledge since it's been a couple years since I've owned any rats. Thank you!
I'm two months in to keeping my two boys, like you I did the "core" research but learn better from direct experience. I wish I'd known the malt paste/baby food trick from the start, as they're still in the habit of running off with treats and its a tough one to change!
Great content as always💕 I used to dread doing introductions, especially with males. I now have had dwarfs for about 7-8 yrs and haven’t had a single issues with intros since. The males just don’t care, the females can be a bit bossy but nothing much at all
It's something I'm considering tbh! I've heard they can be easier to introduce to each other which makes sense as large size in males is often related to how much testosterone they have
We love your videos. I can totally sympathise with your rat learning journey! Do you still enjoy having rats? I must admit intros with females has been much easier than with males, we haven’t found them too difficult at all.
Hey emi could you do this video with mice instead I have had quiet a will ride with my mice including adopting a pregnant female and not saying no as when they mentioned it my anxiety kicked in so currently waiting on babies 😭
We have 3 rats, same cage as you with the perplex bottom. We have experimented with bedding and went aspen, earth bio setup (where we got a fruit fly infestation) and now back to aspen. Our boys never attempt to make tunnels. Do yours? I'm thinking of changing to something that holds it shape as the aspen doesn't at all. My daughter and I love your videos and have learnt most of our knowledge from you, so thank you so much 😊🐭🐁🐀🐀
Mine don’t really they just tend to dig down one corner and kick the rest up the edges. If you try mixing in another bedding like hay or cardboard it might hold potential burrows better!
I wish I'd known how much time they need. Some rats need daily free roam (not all, it depends on the individual) and that can take at least an hour per day. Also, how expensive they are. Vet care costs a fortune and can be a real struggle when you have a group and multiple rats get ill at the same time.
One of the rats I rescued is at the end of his life (tumor, I knew, not operable bc of heart failure). I worry that Teddy won't accept another rat when his brothed dies, since Teddy is the dominant one. Btw,oddly enough, he has no interest in free roaming. I leave the door open, and nope, he doesnt want out. I had to pry him out and even then he jumps back in at the first opportunity. 😅
I put my new rat straight into the cage after the three of them met outside the cage and they bonded instantly and don’t cause trouble but did I do something wrong I haven’t seen anyone else do what I did
That can be incredibly risky, you’re lucky that it went okay and for some rats they’re fine with other rats straight away. But putting a rat into the others territory (was it cleaned first at least?) after a brief meeting on neutral territory can go really wrong if the rats don’t take too well to it
@@Emiology yes i made sure i cleaned the cage and had 3 separate areas for them to hide away from each other. My baby is very little and and took to my older babies very quickly. I do make sure I feed my little rat one on one but they have never hurt him. I got them all from the same breeder and there about 2 months apart so they could of possibly all ready been around each other a lot as my breeder does a lot of outside play with the rats to make sure their friendly for their new home
Question! If I were to take my rats outside, would it be okay if they were in a covered space with some fake grass? or perhaps on the back porch? All while closely supervised of course, just to give them some different type of enrichment and some sun! I don't have rats of my own just yet but I've been wanting them since middle school (I'm 20 now!). They're definitely one of my favorite animals and once I move into a house (hopefully within the next year!) I plan on getting 3!
It doesn’t really benefit them and the sun is often too bright for their eyes as a crepuscular animal. Even the porch or fake grass has the chance to carry pathogens from wild animals / rats touching it 😊
Love your videos! Do you have advice for a dominant male rat barbering/over grooming another male rat? I have two males only and one of them is barbering to the point of making the other male bleed. Is there something I can put on the one that is getting over groomed so the other will stop? Neither of them are neutered.
Hi! Im kinda binge-watching your rat videos because i really want 2 rats but you cant find good care on google. Just had a little question... i have a 30cm - 40cm -60cm cage for birds. Is that a good cage?
My mom just announced I could get rats!! I can only get two and I’m pretty young and they are gonna be my first pet but my mom will Help. I got a critter nation cage and I’m gonna get two girls and name them my favorite names!! I’ve done research for about a year.
i need help. If anyone sees this: i bought a rat off of trademe marketplace, he was a rescue that came with a huge free cage and toys. He was already a year old. He was a rescued rat- the lady would NOT tell me the conditions but he seems incredibly damaged. She said we can't get another rat for him to keep him company so I've been spending so much time with him (not handling him) just talking and offering treats. He takes treats from my hands, he's litter trained already but he does seem very... disturbed? He's bitten me once when I was changing his litter, really hard it left a huge scar that needed to be checked out lol. The woman did tell us he was a rescue but I have no idea whata happend. My dad and I figured out the rats "trigger" was hands, so I've avoided contact with that and he seems more friendly. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get him more relaxed around me/good treats to try?
I really want mice ik it’s off topic but can they stay in my garden shed it has insulation in the walls in a cage of course but in the winter I could put a heater in would it be practical
Mice are quite delicate I don’t think personally that it would be practical to keep them outdoors in a shed they would be much better indoors but I would recommend looking into it :)
@@0wywiwoeuru I’ll look into it soon thi will be in 2 years but I just thought it would be safer as I have a high drive ratter dog so might be more difficult but I have a hamster they are just not allowed in the same room
Mouse breeders will often have insulated sheds they keep their mice in, but it would be hard to maintain for it to be safe, it would have to be kept consistently warm during the winter so they don’t go into Torpor and you’d also have to make sure it’s completely rodent proof to stop rodents like rats getting in and killing them or wild mice getting in and spreading diseases and possibly mating with them if they’re able to get into the enclosure. For just a few mice it would be a lot of effort to try and make it work instead of having them inside 😊
Can you please tell me we’re you got your cage or a suggestion on we’re to get one Ive looked on Amazon offer up craigslist and nothing so I would really appreciate it if you could
Ive gotten a rat about a month ago but whenever there is something she can reach outside the cage she brings it inside aggressively and bites me hard whenever I get close to her. Ive tried many things I could find on the internet but no lick has been found. I’ve recently gotten two new rats and I’m handling them great, they don’t bite and they are very cute but i’m not able to handle them as much as my other rat is in the same cage as them. I really do want to have her stop biting me because its to the point i’m afraid to get close to her. Does anyone have any tips??
Hey! I recently lost my hamster and was devastated. I looked into getting another hamster but couldn’t bring myself to ‘replacing’ him. I have wanted Mice (2/3) for a while and I need some help. My hamsters old cage is a tank with wooden sides + glass at the front and glass on the top (slides open and closed). It is home made by my dad and the measurements are 70x40cm and height wise 30cm. Is that suitable for 2 female mice? Feel free to say if it not as I will understand, I do not want my space to be unsuitable for the mice 😁💞 ( I have done lots of reasearch upon the mice just trying to make sure my cage is ok!)
A small group of female mice need at least 80x50cm of floor space and ideally around 50cm+ height to be able to fit in enough bedding and climbing toys for them. The top of the enclosure would also be an issue as they’d be more likely to be able to squeeze out compared to a hamster but they need plenty of ventilation so would need a mesh top lid 😊 I’d also have a think about how you’d feel about getting more mice once you’re start to pass away before you commit to getting mice, you’ll either need to keep getting more mice or rehome them if one passes as they can’t live alone and this might give you similar feelings that you felt like you’d be replacing your hamster.
@@Emiology okay thank you so much. I don’t think I would feel as sad as if I lost one of the mice as I would feel sad for the other and this hamster was my first rodent, so I will probably stick to hamsters! I shall see if I can fix or find another cage if I end up really wanting mice 😁 ( also the sliding glass has small slits in and there are ventilation holes in the wood, don’t worry it not suffocating them 😅😂)
I wish i know this before buying a rat last week. The lady who sold me my rat kept trying to get me to buy multiple rats. It wa so annoying I told her I just want one.
She was doing that for good reason, she should have refused the sale though. Rats should never be purchased or live alone you need to go back and buy a second one
Things I wish I knew earlier (after having had some 40 rats in 21 years: ● Good or bad foods for rats. ● Vet costs for rats (meds, tumour surgeries, castrations (males and females)) ● Dumb myths that people spread online that are sometimes even dangerous to rats. ● Introductions of difficult shelter rats to resident rats sometimes don't work out (luckily they can often have safe playtime together in a neutral place) ● How annoying certain breeders and rehomers can be when you are tryjng your best (but are not using THEIR favoured methods) regarding husbandry and (introduction) methods, while you are sometimes paying between €500 and €1100 for vet and meds bills over their (usually two rats) lifetime, and they STILL say you are not a good owner. While you tried all options, suited to your particular rats/intros ● Breeders will willfully breed kinds that have known health issues and shorter lifespans (hairless, Harley, wolf) but still call themselves 'ethical' (think about all the rats that died because of 'purification' of a line. ● 'Ethical breeding' still doesn't mean that your breeder cares about rat wellbeing. Breeders will say anything to justify breeding kinds that have known issues. ● How hard it can be to get a mistreated rescue rat to learn that you are a 'safe' human. ● Not all rats like cuddles. ● How quickly some illnesses can sometimes progress. I had a rat with a funky smelling ear for a couple of weeks. We tried a lot of different meds, but it ended up to be a ZGT, and it grew from nothing to see to months, then weeks, then days to live within ten days 😢
I'm interested in hearing more about you being able to have safe play time between cages that don't get along. I have 5 boys I want to get together, but intros went badly because one of the younger boys was screaming the whole time. I feel like the others could be okay together but idk how to navigate the situation
@@dizzylightyear2427 It's a difficult and maybe specific situation.
I had two male rats, one of which had to be castrated because he turned aggressive towards his brother, whom he was with from birth, because of hormonal aggression.
To be prepared in case one of the males died, I had opted for getting two female rescue rats. One was about 6 months old, one about a year old. My males were 22 months old.
Anyway, introductions.. I tried the open space method, because these two shelter rats were 'neglected' and from a SPCA seizure. The girls were very difficult, afraid of being touched by the males (and by humans at first), and rather ran away and avoided the males. I gradually added a half-open playbox to the intro area, and later tried to add a cabin.
But one of the girls still remained anxious about being touched or groomed and she would fight to get the males to stay away from her (luckily no bites or blood drawn).
The intros slowly progressed, and after maybe 75 hours of gradually longer open space intros they were ready to move to an almost empty smaller intro cage. There they got gradually longer daily meetups, until I trusted them enough to have them spend the night together in the intro cage, next to my bed.
(All the intros were constantly supervised).
When they had 3 days and two nights safely together in the intro cage they were ready to move to one half of my two level cage (SRS95 double). Again first without any cage furniture except for two water bottles, two food bowls, and shredded paper towels for nesting material.
Again I tried to gradually add cage furniture, like a big cabin, a wheel, and a hanging tube.
The girls were still being difficult. One was a squealer and a submissive, the other was an anxiety fighter. Particularly when she felt cornered or while being groomed.
After four happy days together the anxious female couldn't take the male attention anymore, and she lashed out at both males, about half an hour apart.
So I kind of gave up on the two pairs ever being together happily.
But then, after about 2.5 months one of the males died.
I was heartbroken, and felt very sorry to now have a single male and a pair of females that couldn't be together, despite me having tried everything, every method, for over 100 hours combined.
But I wasn't about to give up. The younger female wasn't an anxiety fighter, although she was still an anxious ratty that didn't like to be touched.
So I started out with open space intros again with her and the lone male, later adding a big open playbox and a turned over open plastic tank (front side open) as a safe 'house' with a big opening, and in which I could still fully supervise the two rats while they were in there.
Last week I moved the plastic tank to my intro cage, and after some ten minutes into each session (3 to over 5 hours) the female calmed down and even relaxed and snacked next to the male and even slept with her head on top of his back.
(Mind you, all four rats would happily have a snack next to each other in every intro session).
But what is then strange again.. When I put her in the male's cage half (after a long couch playtime session in the box or intro cage) she kind of turns into a bully. And my male is notably anxious and stressed. While it is HIS cage half, with his scent, his cage furniture, and so on.
So after all this intro time together (some 100 hours and 3.5 days between the two males and the two females, and after by now 50 hours between the younger female and the remaining male) I still can't trust them being together in the same cage half. I don't understand why she behaves this way.
Maybe because how she was (mis-)treated/neglected before I adopted the two girls from the shelter.
So yeah, my oldest female can probably never be safely together with any male rat, inside or outside a cage, and my youngest female is only safe with my male outside of the main cage, on neutral terrain.
But my male at least has some interaction with another rat, on a regular basis, and for several hours, and he gets cuddles and groom time with another rat, and is not alone for the remainder of his life. And he gets more attention and cuddles from me as well.
It is pretty difficult for me to find another suitable friend for him, and you can't just go to a shelter and ask for two rats to try and introduce to your rat and then return them after a month. "Sorry, they are lovely rats, but they won't bond with my resident male. Can I try two others?". Also because the shelter is 1.5 hours away by car.
* small plastic hamster tank
After several years keeping rats, I ended up rehoming my final two girls to an NFRS breeder who is keeping them as pet only with her group. I couldn’t cope with the persistent illness and short life span any more after losing 9 over the years. They will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart and I miss them so much but I know for me, such short lifespans often with a number of illnesses (not to mention thousands over the years in vet bills!) just isn’t for me and I’ll do better mentally with longer-lived pets ❤
I am actually super proud of how I am doing with my first rats, I watched a lot of your videos and other rat care videos, and any amount of money I got I spent on them, I made sure they have a critter nation, and its full, I make sure to free roam them, and even train them, I am so glad my first rats get the life they deserve!
i think i did the exact same as you, i bought a ferplast cage had two rats and then freaked out trying to find more when one died i'd never even heard of rolling groups, i then upgraded to two ferplasts stacked with very little in it, i then got a petplanet which i love btw and have managed to fit a deep perspex base into it. The things i wish i knew: i fell dow the fleece as bedding trap, i did lots of research and concluded that it was economical, sustainable and safe, let me tell you, ammonia control is non - existant and allows for no digging, 3, i had no idea hormonal aggression was a thing 3, i didn't realise the importance of finding a rat savvy vet, 4, i didn't realise the heart break it would cause, i obviously knew about the short lifespan but my first pair of rats i had one turned out to be my heart rat, when Bear died, i was absolutely heart broken, i cried myself to sleep for days afterwards, i just was not prepared for it
Never leave anything hanging within reach of the cage cuz they'll pull it through the bars and chew it up!
Brand new pair of jeans, too...
ROFL, I had one rat who would take huge bites out of any belt, no matter how new... grrrr :D
@@jack-a-lopium Yes!! Curtains.
One of my girls did this the other day with a curtain😂 made the error of leaving the cage to close to it and then next thing the curtain had a peep hole in it
my boys have TORN my curtains up
I had a hyper-active chaos tato once and that little guy just would NOT stop moving most of the time and there's a reason I called him Spaz... Once you got him settled down though, he was very cuddley!
My cage at first was a bit bare, mostly because the local pet stores don't offer much for rats. I now order a lot of my stuff from stores outside of my country, along with food, because there are no good quality mixes here and making my own was too difficult because I couldn't find all the right ingredients.
I wish someone had told me how in love I will fall with these animals and just how much it will hurt to lose them. Losing a heart rat is like losing a piece of myself.
I lost my heart rat last night. My Olly boy had pituitary tumor and even though I noticed the signs basically right away and we went to the vet yesterday to get the meds for it to possibly have more time together, he ended up suddenly going downhill at night. Saturday morning he was still walking, could eat solid foods, had a good appetite and he was like that the whole day. I went to sleep, woke up around 2am and went to check the rats and found him in the middle of passing away. I picked him up and held him on my chest and in 10 or so minutes he was gone. He would have been 19 months this month and I feel like I failed him. Seeing the cage with just my 3 boys hurts so much right now.
Sorry to hear about Olly 😞
You definitely didnt Fail Olly! You did the very best you could do. ❤ I am so so sorry for your loss. :(
I don't own rats, but one thing I wish I knew before owning my guinea pigs is that there is no perfect way to care for them (or any animal, really)
Food - There is no perfect way to feed them. There's a set diet guide for guinea pigs of course - 80% hay, 15% vegetables, 5% pellets or something similar (since some people choose to go for 90% hay, or choose not to feed pellets). But my mum prepares my guinea pig's vegetables a week in advance and sorts them into little lunch boxes so that I can easily give them out each day, I can't think of anyone else that does that. The brand and type of hay I feed is probably different to what others feed, same with the pellets. I give my guinea pigs their pellets via enrichment whereas someone else might give them via a bowl or scatter feeding. I give my pigs their hay in huge piles in a lessmess haykeeper, whereas someone else might give them a pile in the centre of their cage, a hay bag, or a hay rack.
Enclosure - There is no perfect enclosure for guinea pigs. There's size guides and guides on where to house them, but what I do might be different to someone else. Hell, I might even see the size guides differently to someone else - someone might think it's okay to house 2 guinea pigs in a 2 x 4, whereas I see 2 guinea pigs in a 2 x 5 as 'my' minimum.
Bedding - There is no perfect bedding for guinea pigs. There's guides on what's safe and what's not, but again, what I do might be different to someone else. I choose to keep mine on fleece for 2x4 of their enclosure and teabag bedding on the other 2x2, someone else might choose 100% fleece, 100% woodshavings, 100% paper or mixes of different types.
Water - There is no perfect way to provide water to guinea pigs. I choose to give mine a water dish as I just feel it works better for us. Someone else might find that a water bottle works better for them.
There's SO many different ways to care for animals, and so long as you're at least providing everything the animal needs to be happy and healthy, whichever way you choose to care for them is completely okay! I'm sick of people expecting pet owners to fit into boxes and have everyone follow very strict guidelines when it's just not feasible for everyone. I used to cry because I couldn't find a good seed-based for my hamsters when I had them because I just couldn't afford them (the prices were absolutely ridiculous - something like £60 for 2kg of food), but if I were to have them again, I'd be more than happy with feeding them something like Science Selective pellets with things like seed sprays or forage mixes on top of that.
I don't think rats are necessarily a long term commitment, as long as you have a plan for how things will end. Personally, I have wanted rats for a long time, but this is my final 3-4 year gap where I don't have plans that will prevent getting pets. I'm picking up 3 baby girls in a few weeks, and my plan for when they get older is to re-home them once one dies and the other two are getting older (not too old though). I'm planning on giving them to a friend of mine who has rats herself and is keeping a rolling group for the foreseeable future. If something changes between now and then, the place I adopted them from would also be willing to put them back into their group of rats. Even if you keep a group rolling, it's going to end one way or another. The key thing is making sure it ends in a way that keeps the rat's happy and healthy ❤
i was so lucky to happen to go to an absolutely lovely breeder with the sweetest lil ratties, they were cared for very lovingly and u could tell she wanted the best for every lil baba rat. i miss them so much :c
I agree with you 100% on the things you wish you’d known before getting rats.
Three more things that I’d add to this list would be… (1) their 💩 smells quite bad.
I do spot cleaning twice daily, complete aspen bedding change weekly and deep
cleaning monthly. Yet the room still smells to some degree. 😢 (2) you can’t
(shouldn’t) wear anything nice around them because they chew on your clothes
and make holes everywhere. 😂 (3) some rats try to (and do) escape no matter how well
your playpen enclosure is built. 🐀💨💨 So I pretty much gave up and gave my entire room as their free roam area. 🙄 I have to watch them closely when they are free roaming.
I hope they are not peeing/pooping somewhere I don’t know (a toilet with litters provided in the room). I have three boys and they are more work than having a dog… just in my opinion. 😂 ❤🐀❤
thanks for all the helpful advice! currently watching this while cuddled up with my baby ratties Lilly, Sunny and Prim :3
I wanted rats for many years however never followed through with actually getting some. As much as I love them, because of my current animals I do not have the time or space. My focus is now mainly on my reptiles. I think the main thing that put me off was having to source new rats constantly as you said. All of my reptiles are solitary so this suits me better! For this reason I subscribe to a few channels including yours for a rat fix instead!
I’m still a new rat owner. Only had my 4 boys for a few months. I have done the cardinal sin and bought them from pets at home ☹️. However I would not trade them for the world. I will def be looking into a breeder next time 100%. I’ve learned a lot from your channel and a lot of others. They are on a mix I make myself, they have a huge critter nation double cage, I have them with hemp bedding and a dig box. I have some Perspex too (which I need to recut myself as I can’t measure apparently lol). I also made a playpen for them, which I sit in with them. I’m trying to think of more enrichment for them. Down side of getting them from a pet shop, they really don’t like to be touched… like at all. I’ve been working on them daily and they are getting there. They are still my sweethearts and like to be around me even if they are ‘no touchie’. I feel this all would have taken me years to learn without videos like this out there.
Try putting some fruit yoghurt or fromage frais or especially Ferret Paste on the back of your hand or your palm and let them lick it off!
Helps with trusting you more.
They all have different Personalities..
..two of my boys don't like being held, but the other two will tolerate it..for about 2 minutes 😄
They are so cute! I LOVE YOU SM
Today we just sent out our paperwork and info to an amazing breeder we are so happy and can’t wait! Hoping the momma gives birth tonight. She’s 21 days pregnant ❤️
Even though you’ve stopped owning rats now your videos are still a godsend, I don’t have rats yet but I was this close to using fleece bedding and just having a dig box. Now I’m using Perspex trays and coco fiber throughout it so they can dig and the ammonia smell is controllable :3
Could you do a storytime sortbof video comparing your experience getting rats from the first breeder vs you choosing a more ethical breeder and the red flags you'd walk away from now?
Good idea!
@@Emiology Thank you 😊
We had male rats a few years ago, now we have all females. We started with 4, 1 died suddenly quite young, 2 others lived until nearly 2 then died within days of each other and have been replaced with 2 others. Surprisingly, the last original, oldest rat is from a place that sold them for snake food. She is going on 3 years old now, whereas the 2 sisters from a reputable breeder did not live as long. I agree with you that rats all have different personalities, no matter their sex. Of the 6 girls, some were very energetic and crazy, some were shy, some were extremely friendly and loved sitting on your shoulder or snuggling up your sleeve.
hello im a pet loving normal granny, i have 7 girl mice all different natures and so funny with me 24/7 in see through tank, i called them all MOHAMED then changed their name to good English name MOUSEY (i jest) .... my old gentle girl blue/cream will come to see me when talk to them
Unexpectedly lost one of my boys a couple weeks ago and was left with a lone rat, similar to your situation (they were my first). Went ahead and rescued two more that I thought were boys, turns out they’re tiny malnourished females… got my boy neutered as it was the quickest way for him to have friends. He’s recovering great & will be starting intros with them all next week. They are in the same room and have met through the bars & seem very eager to know each other so I’m sure it will go well. Mine is a large potato and the girls are incredibly active so I’m not seeing a clash of dominant personalities which is great. If I do decide to have a rolling group I’ll likely continue with females or neutered males, was dreading doing intros with intact boys but now I might not have to!🤣
I had no idea that rat climb all over the wire cage. Then I decided to move the cage and the whole wall was full of urine.
Currently have 2 rat babies. I ignorantly purchased my first rat by himself from a chain pet store that turned out to have wet tail. He was shy and skittish but with some medicine and love he put on weight and is very docile and playful now. My second rat fell into my lap. My friends snake rejected the rat which has only ever happened once but she felt the rat was too sweet to return so I took him on and his name is Lucky. My first rat Scabbers is approx 4 months old and my new boy is barely 2 months. Keeping them in separate cages, letting them free roam together and put them in the carrier for a bit. I don’t feel like they were aggressive to one another but they’re not overly playful. Hoping they get used to one another so I can cage them together.
This was a great video! Thank you for sharing, in part, so I don't feel like I'm the only one whom didn't know as much as I should have with my first boy.
Could you maybe do a video on things that are unsafe for rats? Like maybe unsafe hammock hooks and stuff like that
I love your videos and they reassure me and help me learn new things! i plan on adopting a few boys in the future, just brushing up on my knowledge since it's been a couple years since I've owned any rats. Thank you!
I'm two months in to keeping my two boys, like you I did the "core" research but learn better from direct experience. I wish I'd known the malt paste/baby food trick from the start, as they're still in the habit of running off with treats and its a tough one to change!
Great content as always💕 I used to dread doing introductions, especially with males. I now have had dwarfs for about 7-8 yrs and haven’t had a single issues with intros since. The males just don’t care, the females can be a bit bossy but nothing much at all
It's something I'm considering tbh! I've heard they can be easier to introduce to each other which makes sense as large size in males is often related to how much testosterone they have
We love your videos. I can totally sympathise with your rat learning journey! Do you still enjoy having rats?
I must admit intros with females has been much easier than with males, we haven’t found them too difficult at all.
Ok but Toast is the most gorgeous potato ever
Hey emi could you do this video with mice instead I have had quiet a will ride with my mice including adopting a pregnant female and not saying no as when they mentioned it my anxiety kicked in so currently waiting on babies 😭
We have 3 rats, same cage as you with the perplex bottom. We have experimented with bedding and went aspen, earth bio setup (where we got a fruit fly infestation) and now back to aspen. Our boys never attempt to make tunnels. Do yours? I'm thinking of changing to something that holds it shape as the aspen doesn't at all. My daughter and I love your videos and have learnt most of our knowledge from you, so thank you so much 😊🐭🐁🐀🐀
Mine don’t really they just tend to dig down one corner and kick the rest up the edges. If you try mixing in another bedding like hay or cardboard it might hold potential burrows better!
I love your videos so much, you are really inspirational to me. What is the best way to do a Perspex tray ❤
I have A video on it 😊
I wish I'd known how much time they need. Some rats need daily free roam (not all, it depends on the individual) and that can take at least an hour per day. Also, how expensive they are. Vet care costs a fortune and can be a real struggle when you have a group and multiple rats get ill at the same time.
One of the rats I rescued is at the end of his life (tumor, I knew, not operable bc of heart failure). I worry that Teddy won't accept another rat when his brothed dies, since Teddy is the dominant one. Btw,oddly enough, he has no interest in free roaming. I leave the door open, and nope, he doesnt want out. I had to pry him out and even then he jumps back in at the first opportunity. 😅
I put my new rat straight into the cage after the three of them met outside the cage and they bonded instantly and don’t cause trouble but did I do something wrong I haven’t seen anyone else do what I did
That can be incredibly risky, you’re lucky that it went okay and for some rats they’re fine with other rats straight away. But putting a rat into the others territory (was it cleaned first at least?) after a brief meeting on neutral territory can go really wrong if the rats don’t take too well to it
@@Emiology yes i made sure i cleaned the cage and had 3 separate areas for them to hide away from each other. My baby is very little and and took to my older babies very quickly. I do make sure I feed my little rat one on one but they have never hurt him. I got them all from the same breeder and there about 2 months apart so they could of possibly all ready been around each other a lot as my breeder does a lot of outside play with the rats to make sure their friendly for their new home
Question! If I were to take my rats outside, would it be okay if they were in a covered space with some fake grass? or perhaps on the back porch? All while closely supervised of course, just to give them some different type of enrichment and some sun! I don't have rats of my own just yet but I've been wanting them since middle school (I'm 20 now!). They're definitely one of my favorite animals and once I move into a house (hopefully within the next year!) I plan on getting 3!
It doesn’t really benefit them and the sun is often too bright for their eyes as a crepuscular animal. Even the porch or fake grass has the chance to carry pathogens from wild animals / rats touching it 😊
Love your videos! Do you have advice for a dominant male rat barbering/over grooming another male rat? I have two males only and one of them is barbering to the point of making the other male bleed. Is there something I can put on the one that is getting over groomed so the other will stop? Neither of them are neutered.
Hi! Im kinda binge-watching your rat videos because i really want 2 rats but you cant find good care on google. Just had a little question... i have a 30cm - 40cm -60cm cage for birds. Is that a good cage?
just given my 7 girl pet mice a clod of grass with seeds on they are out foraging now 5 pm uk time so cute
Really random question but can rats have citrus fruits? Ive seen some things say yes and some things say no.
My mom just announced I could get rats!! I can only get two and I’m pretty young and they are gonna be my first pet but my mom will
Help. I got a critter nation cage and I’m gonna get two girls and name them my favorite names!! I’ve done research for about a year.
I’m so happy and excited for you!
Have a happy time together with your new rattie girls.
Thank you to your mom for saying “yes.” 😊❤🐀🐁❤😊
Is it ok to house a rat and a mouse together? Wont the rat bully the mouse since its smaller?
No rats will kill mice
i need help. If anyone sees this: i bought a rat off of trademe marketplace, he was a rescue that came with a huge free cage and toys. He was already a year old. He was a rescued rat- the lady would NOT tell me the conditions but he seems incredibly damaged. She said we can't get another rat for him to keep him company so I've been spending so much time with him (not handling him) just talking and offering treats. He takes treats from my hands, he's litter trained already but he does seem very... disturbed? He's bitten me once when I was changing his litter, really hard it left a huge scar that needed to be checked out lol. The woman did tell us he was a rescue but I have no idea whata happend. My dad and I figured out the rats "trigger" was hands, so I've avoided contact with that and he seems more friendly. Does anyone have any advice on how I can get him more relaxed around me/good treats to try?
❤🐀
I really want mice ik it’s off topic but can they stay in my garden shed it has insulation in the walls in a cage of course but in the winter I could put a heater in would it be practical
Mice are quite delicate I don’t think personally that it would be practical to keep them outdoors in a shed they would be much better indoors but I would recommend looking into it :)
@@0wywiwoeuru I’ll look into it soon thi will be in 2 years but I just thought it would be safer as I have a high drive ratter dog so might be more difficult but I have a hamster they are just not allowed in the same room
@@sunnynorris39 I would keep them in the same room as the hamster or just not get mice as they require a lot of space
Mouse breeders will often have insulated sheds they keep their mice in, but it would be hard to maintain for it to be safe, it would have to be kept consistently warm during the winter so they don’t go into Torpor and you’d also have to make sure it’s completely rodent proof to stop rodents like rats getting in and killing them or wild mice getting in and spreading diseases and possibly mating with them if they’re able to get into the enclosure. For just a few mice it would be a lot of effort to try and make it work instead of having them inside 😊
@@Emiology thank you so much for your reply
what rat food do you use??
Cool. ❤
Can you please tell me we’re you got your cage or a suggestion on we’re to get one Ive looked on Amazon offer up craigslist and nothing so I would really appreciate it if you could
A rat cage
Do u still have ur reptiles?
Yes
Ive gotten a rat about a month ago but whenever there is something she can reach outside the cage she brings it inside aggressively and bites me hard whenever I get close to her. Ive tried many things I could find on the internet but no lick has been found. I’ve recently gotten two new rats and I’m handling them great, they don’t bite and they are very cute but i’m not able to handle them as much as my other rat is in the same cage as them. I really do want to have her stop biting me because its to the point i’m afraid to get close to her. Does anyone have any tips??
Luck* sorry if there’s any misspelling i was doing something while typing.
Have you tried malt paste?
@@fionacrowe9216 no I haven’t but I’ll look into it. I’ve mostly been using baby food.
Hey! I recently lost my hamster and was devastated. I looked into getting another hamster but couldn’t bring myself to ‘replacing’ him. I have wanted Mice (2/3) for a while and I need some help.
My hamsters old cage is a tank with wooden sides + glass at the front and glass on the top (slides open and closed).
It is home made by my dad and the measurements are 70x40cm and height wise 30cm. Is that suitable for 2 female mice?
Feel free to say if it not as I will understand, I do not want my space to be unsuitable for the mice 😁💞
( I have done lots of reasearch upon the mice just trying to make sure my cage is ok!)
A small group of female mice need at least 80x50cm of floor space and ideally around 50cm+ height to be able to fit in enough bedding and climbing toys for them. The top of the enclosure would also be an issue as they’d be more likely to be able to squeeze out compared to a hamster but they need plenty of ventilation so would need a mesh top lid 😊
I’d also have a think about how you’d feel about getting more mice once you’re start to pass away before you commit to getting mice, you’ll either need to keep getting more mice or rehome them if one passes as they can’t live alone and this might give you similar feelings that you felt like you’d be replacing your hamster.
@@Emiology okay thank you so much. I don’t think I would feel as sad as if I lost one of the mice as I would feel sad for the other and this hamster was my first rodent, so I will probably stick to hamsters! I shall see if I can fix or find another cage if I end up really wanting mice 😁
( also the sliding glass has small slits in and there are ventilation holes in the wood, don’t worry it not suffocating them 😅😂)
@@Emiology I just measured with a tape measure and it actually comes to 88x 38 still a bit off is that still ok or not enough 🙂
Do the rats live in the tank behind you, or do you have other rodents? 😊
They’re mice
@Emiology Love the set-up!
❤❤❤❤
Hi!
Is your rescue up?
Up? 😊
@@Emiology I’m going to foster rats! I already bought the critter nation cage
Did and you. Ek notice she keeps her rats in a glass tank
Did you notice they’re not rats but mice
Hi
Hi
Hi 🙂
I wish i know this before buying a rat last week. The lady who sold me my rat kept trying to get me to buy multiple rats. It wa so annoying I told her I just want one.
She was doing that for good reason, she should have refused the sale though. Rats should never be purchased or live alone you need to go back and buy a second one
I find the stereotypes upseting.💔👎😭