The Rat Lovers Club! ~MODS PLEASE LOCK!

[Sadies]

I had to take Pablo to the vets today as he is having breathing problems :( the vet said he possibly has the rat lung disease but she said he might get better or might not but he's on medication this week so hopefully my baby will get better. :) :(

[ShadiSin]

Yay, new members!!

Okay, I have a new addiction- Mice!! And the Hunger Games...
I love my rats and give them attention and play with them- but my school recently
had a Science Fair. With mice. Those of you who know me really well know that I'm
too nice for my own good, and so I just HAD to take in 5 poor dears. I now have
2 pregnant females (due to not being separated from two males) and three males.
Oh joy.

I know how that is.. I went to buy my new mice a wheel, and the manager of our Petco pulled me to the side to say they had an injured female and wanted to know if I'd take her since she knew my rodents were purely pets, not feeders.. while looking at her I fell for an absolutely adorable blue & tan girl >.< but I got Jamie, my long hair/frizzy blue female for free due to her eye.. it's crusted over.. she was probably scratched.. she has no other problems, though.

Anyone know any way of 'fixing' her little eye issue? She's at most probably four weeks.. really enjoys being loved on lol. I never thought I'd get mice, but after my new five girls I think I'm hooked.. I'm getting a huge cage for them hopefully today so I might be rescuing quite a few more >.< I'm desperately searching for my dream 'spotted mouse' and I hope I come across one soon. My girls haven't gotten into a fight other than a little bickering at the beginning.. and since I'll have a spare 'cage' with buying this new one, it should be easy to introduce them.. there's an agouti, black and chocolate female I'm looking at today. Really hoping the chocolate is nice..

as far as my rats go, Sadie got into a really bad fight with one of the other females and a chunk of her flesh was torn open on her lower back. We tended to it and none of the girls have fought since l: but I feel so bad for her.. the spot that was torn now has a huge bare spot and she's been acting sluggish.. I'm hoping she'll be alright.. also, Sharkie's fur is thinning.. could this be from aging, or, is it something to worry about? She's about a year and a half, almost two years now.

[heartleafed]

I'm worried about Annabel lately. Shes been looing really thin, and I'm worried the other girls aren't letting her eat, she hasn't been lathargic, and shes been eating.

Should i just give her extra food on the side so the others cant steal it from her?

[MoonfallTheFox]

Bigbang, try that but if she still looses weight then go to the vet. Also, check her teeth for malocclusion.

Shadi, have they been treated for parasites? Lice can cause thinning.

[Sadies]

....If it is parasites such as mites of lice they are easy to treat. Just go to a pet store and buy some parasite shampoo and bathe all your rats once a week. Keeps the little bugs away pluss keeps your rats clean :)

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Raven Feather
Have you ever had a rat?: 
I have owned a total of 10 rats although I don't own any at the moment :3

[heartleafed]

Bigbang, try that but if she still looses weight then go to the vet. Also, check her teeth for malocclusion.

I checked her teeth, and they're fine, they actually look really nice, maybe a bit short though.

I think I'm just gonna keep with feeding her some nice fatty foods twice a day for a week, and if she doesn't look better by then I'll take her to the vet. I can usually catch on real quick when there's something wrong (I've proved that twice already) and there's nothing really alarming about her state, but it's pretty early on.

Hopefully keeping a watchful eye will pay off.

[Cloudsong]

....If it is parasites such as mites of lice they are easy to treat. Just go to a pet store and buy some parasite shampoo and bathe all your rats once a week. Keeps the little bugs away pluss keeps your rats clean

Is this the only way to get rid of them? When my cats get parasites, I put special flea medication on the back of their necks... Is there a similar remedy for rats? My remaining rat Pixel really hates water, and a bath probably wouldn't go off very nicely.. I just noticed some lice on her this morning. Also, just switched back to Carefresh bedding, after figuring out that the lice might have come from the aspen bedding I bought a few times. People say you should freeze it a few days to kill off any parasites, and I forgot to x.x Maybe that's where she got them ? Not sure how long she has had them, since the last week I've been trying to spend as much time with my other rat Whisper, since she was really sick. Whisper passed yesterday morning, and Pixel and I are devastated.

I spend as much time with her as possible now that she's alone, but I'm really busy with school and can't really be with her 24/7. Any suggestions for something I can leave in her cage to entertain her while I'm not around? She already has a wheel, but she doesn't like to use it for anything besides a bed...

[Sadies]

....If it is parasites such as mites of lice they are easy to treat. Just go to a pet store and buy some parasite shampoo and bathe all your rats once a week. Keeps the little bugs away pluss keeps your rats clean :)

Is this the only way to get rid of them? When my cats get parasites, I put special flea medication on the back of their necks... Is there a similar remedy for rats? My remaining rat Pixel really hates water, and a bath probably wouldn't go off very nicely.. I just noticed some lice on her this morning. Also, just switched back to Carefresh bedding, after figuring out that the lice might have come from the aspen bedding I bought a few times. People say you should freeze it a few days to kill off any parasites, and I forgot to x.x Maybe that's where she got them ? Not sure how long she has had them, since the last week I've been trying to spend as much time with my other rat Whisper, since she was really sick. Whisper passed yesterday morning, and Pixel and I are devastated.

I spend as much time with her as possible now that she's alone, but I'm really busy with school and can't really be with her 24/7. Any suggestions for something I can leave in her cage to entertain her while I'm not around? She already has a wheel, but she doesn't like to use it for anything besides a bed...

You can buy the spot on treatment (the stuff you used for your cat) designed for small animals which works to but I tend to find shampoo better as there is less chance of a reaction from it. You can also by a spray which you can spray on them and the cage which I've never used but would het rid of the pests in the cage also :)

[heartleafed]

....If it is parasites such as mites of lice they are easy to treat. Just go to a pet store and buy some parasite shampoo and bathe all your rats once a week. Keeps the little bugs away pluss keeps your rats clean

Is this the only way to get rid of them? When my cats get parasites, I put special flea medication on the back of their necks... Is there a similar remedy for rats? My remaining rat Pixel really hates water, and a bath probably wouldn't go off very nicely.. I just noticed some lice on her this morning. Also, just switched back to Carefresh bedding, after figuring out that the lice might have come from the aspen bedding I bought a few times. People say you should freeze it a few days to kill off any parasites, and I forgot to x.x Maybe that's where she got them ? Not sure how long she has had them, since the last week I've been trying to spend as much time with my other rat Whisper, since she was really sick. Whisper passed yesterday morning, and Pixel and I are devastated.

I spend as much time with her as possible now that she's alone, but I'm really busy with school and can't really be with her 24/7. Any suggestions for something I can leave in her cage to entertain her while I'm not around? She already has a wheel, but she doesn't like to use it for anything besides a bed...

I don't think they make things like that for rats, probably because of the fact that their skin is so delicate. They may have dry bathes, or powder for it. My girls have had a few on them, but I find vacuuming frequently to work well. Dogs or cats can bring in parasites, and even if you don't have any, they can often look for refuge during this time of year in people's houses.

As far as keeping her busy, you could try puzzles or something of the sort, to keep her focused, you know hiding food in something that she would need to knock over or tear apart to get to. Or you could leave something for her to tear apart and nest with, that seems to work. I know you can buy this nontoxic nesting fluff stuff for like under a dollar, it's colorful, soft, easy to tear apart, and my girls love to tear it apart.