The Rat Lovers Club! ~MODS PLEASE LOCK!

[Kiliann]

Ooh! Nice stamp!
I like it a lot!

[Centri]

Ooh! Nice stamp!
I like it a lot!

Thanks
It is the first time I make a stamp, so it is not perfect.

[Kiliann]

I think it's great. It looks professional!

[cedaar]

Super cute stamp!

[LadyCrowsong]

I love the stamp; its so cute! Well done!

[Centri]

Thanks!

[ratius]

I'm no expert, but try smelling the bedding.
Does it smell pine-y?
If so, buy a different brand, and fast. If it's normal, you're probably fine.
As long as it doesn't smell (I think the smell if what hurts the rats), your ratties are A-OK.

I'm not sure about "pine-y", but it scented. How could I be so dumb? They are on shredded paper right now which I will have to change it more often, but it's sure worth it<3

Try to get a paperbased bedding next time. Or a bedding made from trees with leaves.

Awesome, Ratius! Have fun with your ratties <3

To be on the safe side, you should look into getting a different type of bedding.
I use Finacard, with a thin layer of Papelit cat litter underneath, and Papelit in a corner litter tray.
Papelit is 100% paper with no chemicals or additives, perfumes or anything that can hurt the ratties
Finacard is a shredded cardboard substrate, and doesn't have dust or anything that can hurt the rats. The cardboard is shredded in a way that makes it fluffy and soft on the rats' feet, but there are also a few larger pieces of cardboard for them to carry around/chew up/etc.
It comes in big bales which last a long time, and is really good quality
You can buy Finacard here ^^

Hope this helps ^^

Thanks for the advice guys! Sadly I can't get those beddings you're mentioning because I don't live in the UK/ USA and those kind of products, if they even exist, are very hard to find... I'm doing what I can ^^
Also centri, that stamp is beautiful!
My boys got their Big cage now, I'm so happy! I hope they share my happiness I'll have to eventually add more things to make it perfect for them

[cedaar]

Hey guys! I still don't have a rat, but I really want one. The next time my Dad would even consider getting me a rat might be Christmas. D: He just wont be convinced! I wish I could just go out and get one myself. <3

[MochaTheLlama]

Just remember Snowz, DO NOT get them from a petstore, They are going to cost you alot of money since their prone to sickness and in general for food etc., and you should most likely buy two because no matter what, they need a companion. You can say you'll be there for them 24/7 but who's there for them at night? I know Zeus doesn't have a playmate, but it's because any rat homed with him could be prone to catch his pnemonia, and I'd feel terrible getting another rat sick.

[ratigan]

If possible you could even get three :) That way, if one wants to go to sleep, the other two will still have company to play with C:
Though, I would say that getting three without having someone there to help you with them may be a bit overwhelming at first... Mine all seem to go in different directions, and I only have two hands so when I need to get them in a carrier, I need my Dad's help haha.

Can anyone please help me with this?

One of my rats is quite a bit thinner than the other two. I'm not really sure what to do about it, though? They're about 7 weeks old at this point. The other two are getting bigger, but Brie is still rather small. I've seen her eating out of the food bowl, but have also seen her scrounging for the scraps on the floor of the cage rather than eating out of the bowl. She was in her tube hammock last night, and I put some of the food in there for her, which she seemed ready for - very grabby at it. Unfortunately, the other two decided to sit on the food before she could eat much of it :B
I know that she can get to the food, but I don't know why she isn't growing as much as the others.

I have some theories- Perhaps it is because she runs around a lot more than the others? When they come out of the cage, Bel just curls up under my top, whilst Blue and Brie(the smaller one) run around, jumping all over the room. So maybe she burns off more calories, sort of thing? However, the problem with this theory is that Blue runs around a lot too and is chunkier than her (though Bel is definitely chunkiest. Her definition of 'free range' is sleep).

I also thought that it may be because she was a bit sneezy when she was younger (it was treated, but the virus was quite strong). This could have affected her sense of smell, and made it harder for her to detect when the food bowl is full? I'm not sure.

I took her out separately today, and tried to give her a bowl of food and a bit of banana. She completely ignored them, however, other than eating one bit of dried. However, I took the other two out separately also, and they ignored the food too :s Surely she isn't hungry, or she would have eaten a lot?

Any suggestions on how to keep her growing normally and eating would be appreciated. :) I would try and weigh her but they're pingy baby girls and very hard to keep in one place..