Any Good Tips just about Rats?
Earlier I had asked what a good pet for my daughter would be and she decided on a cute furry rat. That I generally would hate but...it is furry so I guess not. I don't want her to kill it so can I have some tips? It is a boy rat name J.J(joe Jonas) She loves him!
i love ratz! i individually think they make great pets. but, they need a great deal of love and attention.
the one most important tip i can think of after having around 12 rats in 1's and 2's over the years - they love to chew things up. like - sheets, material, clothes, cords, etc. etc. they enjoy to! their teeth are always growing and they don't know any different. you need to give him chew toys surrounded by his cage to grind his teeth.
if you let him out & misplace him...he may do this and you own to stop yourself from wanting to yell at and hurt him! it is really your own fault if you set out things in his way. i turned all of this into a positive - i collect all of their 'autographs' as someday i want to write kids stories and these will all be part of my book/s idea/s. i give all of my rats too much freedom and i think it might have shortened their lifespan a short time as they chewed up all kinds of my stuff.
another point - positive reinforcement. train him to come to you when you call him and present him a treat when he comes. some people think that rice krispies make polite treats for them. this way, if he is out...he will come when you call his given name. because, if you yell at him & use his name at impossible to tell apart time, he will get afraid & not want to come when his name is called. whether mad, don't use his name in matching sentence...just tell him no real adjectives!
i have always had girls, boys are sweeter from what i hear, but they bring a little bigger and smell a little more. so, a clean coop is a plus. also, use the litter for cages that is just newsprint / broadsheet. it absorbs well...but rats have a susceptibility to have respiratory problems and the cedar, pine, wood litters are too strong of a smell for their respiratory system.
they love those little tissue boxes with that plastic thing removed as little houses contained by their cage & i would just turn it 1/4 each time i cleaned the hold so the tissue house stayed kind of clean too. they will chew these up too.
don't touch him after eating food or a well meal or something, cause he might smell the food on your fingers and bite you thinking you are food...so, be careful...he would not tight to hurt you, but it does hurt a bit when they break skin (just squeeze it out & clean it immediately and you will be ok).
when giving him treats...try to give him low excess weight foods...not diet foods...but they do have a tendency to get fatty tumors...so, approaching humans, the healthier the food the better for his health and lifespan.
all i can read aloud is read up on tips on various sites to help you / your daughter to learn how to lift care of rats. have patience when training him. make available him lots of love. the joy he will bring you in his lifetime will far outweigh their kind of short lifespan for such a cool creature!
capably...i could go on forever. i love rats and have my next two rats name after the orthopedic group who treated me after my accident - 'scoi' and my tibial plateau fracture - 'tibbie'. these 2 rats are going to teach kids crosswalk awareness in my books someday. i be hit by a car while walking in the crosswalk 1 1/2 years ago and have to own another surgery. they were named during an mri when i was told to stay still and come up with about what makes me happy - animals!
peace & relish your j.j!
You can feed rats virtually ANYTHING! Be careful when she takes him out of the cage she hold on to him, they are excellent jumper (little acrobats) and once they get on the floor they can run like the wind. They can also stretch themselves, squeeze, and squish so they fit beneath doors and in small cracks. You really, really, really should get one more rat, because they are totally sociable and just LOVE company. I have three rats and they cuddle with respectively other and keep each other warm, it's so cute. :)
Here is a good site that might help you out. Best entry you can do is read read read!
Play with the rat a lot, set up mazes and fun things to do together .They enjoy a lot of energy that they like to spend walking around and have fun with owners.
Answers: awwwwwwwww Good luck with him! I have owned several rats and all be female except this last one. He's a biter. But I reflect he was meant for snake food when he got lucky that I rescued him. Make certain he has a cage big enough to wallow in and run around in. As a baby...you need a small round up and within a month or 2 he will need a bigger one. It will cost 30 for a med size...I actually have a $50.00 cage for my 2 girls...it had a top and a bottom half. Just capture him out a play as often as you can and hopefully he will tame easy. The boy I enjoy has me scared of him because he's so *%#(a) mean!! LOL He's long as partly my arm from tail to head and all he does is eat because we can't totter by his cage and he doesn't want treats.LOL They will eat anything, but you don't want him to eat chocolate!! When I transmute his cage, my son cracks up because I have to get my resolve up to grab his tail Which I would NEVER do if I wasn't so afraid of his mean bite.But it's the merely way I can catch him without anyone bit...but I tell my son..this is the one time I wish I owned a snake!! LOL my son cracks up because he knows, I would NEVER gun down him...but I would NEVER get another male either! Just progress online and do some yahoo search.the pet stores sells rat pellets and Wal-Mart sell corn cob bedding it's great for the smell, I also buy the soft bedding and add on top of the corn cob so his feet doesn't hurt. The corn cob help to absorb the smell...they also like these igloo looking shaped houses to hide contained by.I have a medium size one in Oscar's shut within. Rats loves sweets, fruits.so anytime you are eating fruit or a cookie, give him a piece.mine sits there waiting on us to furnish him something...LOL I hate it that with all my rats, I could receive them out and play with them.my first one would ride in the car next to me on my shoulder and hide in my shirt when I went to the store...lol. This one does not come out for 1 on 1 time because he even as a little one was too mean...I tried, but got tired of person bit. So, I keep him fed, house clean and jubilant. But kudos to you for letting your daughter have a pet rat...they make great pets! It's just this one be too wild when I got him and could not be trained. He's still loved or he would be GONE lol. GOOD LUCK!
