The BRODENTS! Rodent Enthusiast Thread!

[orpheus.]

So I'm thinking about getting some rats soon, they'd be my first but I have had various rodents in the past.
Does anyone have any tips for beginners? It won't be until sometime next year but I plan on getting a cage and everything sorted beforehand, so cage recommendations or feeding tips would be helpful too.

[Kisiel]

So I'm thinking about getting some rats soon, they'd be my first but I have had various rodents in the past.
Does anyone have any tips for beginners? It won't be until sometime next year but I plan on getting a cage and everything sorted beforehand, so cage recommendations or feeding tips would be helpful too.

Get a big cage - as big as you can go. Rats need plenery of space (even if you let tchem out daily) and you're almost guaranteed to end up with more than 2/3 down the line so it's best to invest in a big cage from the beginning. Many American forums will tell you that fleece is the best thing you can use in a rat cage, however loose substrate(cardboard or horse shavings are popular) is much better in terms of odour control and offering rats the opportunity to forage, nest and dig which are all very strong instincts. A cage with a deep base is best, but you can also get Perspex trays made if you have a wire floor cage.

Food wise, look into a balanced mix - nuggets are boring and often not nutritionally complete. If you're in the UK, I definitely recommend Rat Rations, and you can also purchase the Scuttling Gourmet book to learn about nutrition.

My biggest tip would probably be to avoid pet stores like the plague. By buying rats from a pet store you're supporting the rodent equivalent of puppy mills. The animals aren't bred for health or good temperament, only to look pretty and make money. Find a good, reputable breeder with ethics that you agree with and get yourself some well socialised, healthy babies. Oh and if you can make it to a rat show (even if you don't have rats yet!) you should definitely come along to chat and learn. The community is very friendly and helpful

[orpheus.]

Okay, thank you for the information.
I was thinking of buying the biggest cage in my budget and getting 2-4 rats to occupy it, probably males since I've heard they can be more relaxed. I am in the UK so I'll have a look at Rat Rations. c:

I want to deck out the cage with lots of interesting things before I get them, I know they're very intelligent critters so I want to keep them entertained and content, I also have a pretty big room that they'll be staying in and I'll be rat proofing it so they can have free range when I'm in there.

[meerkat boi.]

hey guys
sooo ive posted about this ages ago about seeing mice and.. they reproduced.

have you guys ever had any experience with keeping house mice as pets?
these are only babies not adults so are they more tameable?

[orpheus.]

hey guys
sooo ive posted about this ages ago about seeing mice and.. they reproduced.

have you guys ever had any experience with keeping house mice as pets?
these are only babies not adults so are they more tameable?

i've had house mice as pets.
they weren't really tame, like, ever, i had them both for 2 years and kept them because they were too messed up to be released, they weren't newborns when i got them but still quite young. the only times i could handle them was in a secure area, and even then they were difficult to handle.

i wouldn't really recommend keeping the babies if you don't have to, what exactly is the situation? are the parents captive or just living in your house/nearby? generally it takes multiple generations to produce tamable babies, you might end up with one or two mice who are friendlier than the others but i doubt they'll ever behave as domestic pets.

[meerkat boi.]

hey guys
sooo ive posted about this ages ago about seeing mice and.. they reproduced.

have you guys ever had any experience with keeping house mice as pets?
these are only babies not adults so are they more tameable?

i've had house mice as pets.
they weren't really tame, like, ever, i had them both for 2 years and kept them because they were too messed up to be released, they weren't newborns when i got them but still quite young. the only times i could handle them was in a secure area, and even then they were difficult to handle.

i wouldn't really recommend keeping the babies if you don't have to, what exactly is the situation? are the parents captive or just living in your house/nearby? generally it takes multiple generations to produce tamable babies, you might end up with one or two mice who are friendlier than the others but i doubt they'll ever behave as domestic pets.

the parents were killed by mousetraps. they live in our house and we captured a baby one today. my dad released it into our brown bin.
ive read a little bit and people find it easier to tame them as babies.
one that sort of befriended me was scampering around the kitchen and running up to me. My dog killed it.

[MoonfallTheFox]

hey guys
sooo ive posted about this ages ago about seeing mice and.. they reproduced.

have you guys ever had any experience with keeping house mice as pets?
these are only babies not adults so are they more tameable?

They will always be very wild. Even though they're so closely related to our domestics they can interbreed, genetically, they are predisposed to a very wild temperament and will never be able to be tame. If you were to try and keep one you would only be able to look at it.

The better choice is to use a humane live trap to relocate them. Take them at least 2 miles from your home somewhere there is food and water like a creekbed, and let them go. They are very good at coming back if you do not take them far enough so the farther the better.

I once rescued a litter of them at only a day old (they were found in a structure and going to be killed, so I took em. Soft heart.) and I used a domestic female mouse who was lactating at the time to foster raise the pups. Most of them lived. I treated them all for parasites (they were totally infested). They were WILD to their very cores. It didn't matter that they were even raised in a human home. They were wild animals and they didn't belong in a cage.

I let them go. I did a soft release on my own property and provided nest material, bedding, and food for the first month of life for them. Gradually decreasing feeding frequency so they learned to forage all on their own. They did great. They wouldn't have needed as much support if they were raised by a wild mouse momma but my doe didn't have the wild skills to teach them so they had a learning curve out there. I also didn't raise them on pellet food alone I provided a lot of "wild" foods for them so they knew what was edible and what wasn't.

[meerkat boi.]

hey guys
sooo ive posted about this ages ago about seeing mice and.. they reproduced.

have you guys ever had any experience with keeping house mice as pets?
these are only babies not adults so are they more tameable?

They will always be very wild. Even though they're so closely related to our domestics they can interbreed, genetically, they are predisposed to a very wild temperament and will never be able to be tame. If you were to try and keep one you would only be able to look at it.

The better choice is to use a humane live trap to relocate them. Take them at least 2 miles from your home somewhere there is food and water like a creekbed, and let them go. They are very good at coming back if you do not take them far enough so the farther the better.

I once rescued a litter of them at only a day old (they were found in a structure and going to be killed, so I took em. Soft heart.) and I used a domestic female mouse who was lactating at the time to foster raise the pups. Most of them lived. I treated them all for parasites (they were totally infested). They were WILD to their very cores. It didn't matter that they were even raised in a human home. They were wild animals and they didn't belong in a cage.

I let them go. I did a soft release on my own property and provided nest material, bedding, and food for the first month of life for them. Gradually decreasing feeding frequency so they learned to forage all on their own. They did great. They wouldn't have needed as much support if they were raised by a wild mouse momma but my doe didn't have the wild skills to teach them so they had a learning curve out there. I also didn't raise them on pellet food alone I provided a lot of "wild" foods for them so they knew what was edible and what wasn't.

What container would you keep them in.
I don't have a cage.
And I'd be scared it they got out through gaps. (I know they can squeeze through tiny spaces)
I have a tank.. But a fish is inhabiting it.
I don't have a wheel.. But I have food and toilet rolls.
Does toilet paper work as a layer for the ground?

[Zelda The Ferret]

My dwarf hamster Buddy had his first Christmas ! He got 5 things that I personally begged my parents for. 2 kinds of treats, a GIANT cage, a hamster ball, and a lazy lookout compartment!

[meerkat boi.]

My dwarf hamster Buddy had his first Christmas ! He got 5 things that I personally begged my parents for. 2 kinds of treats, a GIANT cage, a hamster ball, and a lazy lookout compartment!

Adorable!