The BRODENTS! Rodent Enthusiast Thread!

[.Middy.]

Today I got the chance to get some rats from a really awesome breeder a few hours away from me. Needless to say i jumped at the chance because I’ve heard amazing things about her rats. Very glad I did because these are some awesome rats lol. They are super sweet, squishy babies and omg they are beautiful! I love them so much lol

I was only planning on getting two does and a buck, but the breeder got the buck confused with another and decided to bring both to let me decide between lol. Picked my original favorite, so she decided to just give me the extra boy and I’m a total sucker for DWS and sweet bucks so I said yes of course lol.

First photo is my favorite buck, second is my marble doe Calliope, third is my extra buck, and fourth is my other Marble hooded doe Arizona! Still need to name the bucks haha

[ShadyBro]

Does anyone have experience dealing with abscessed teeth in rats? One of my girls has a nasty big abscess on her jaw that's been going back and fourth between golf ball sized to barely noticeable for the past week. My best guess would be a tooth issue due to its placement, and its not drainable from the outside so she would have to be put under to work on it from inside her mouth. Neither I nor my rat vet thought it fair to put such an old rat through dental surgery, but she isn't in pain either (thanks to some really nice pain-killers and her being a total champ about taking her meds) so its been hard trying to decide what to do. Her teeth have begun to misalign from the repeated swelling however, so I am starting to think her time is up if the abscess doesn't go away on its own with the antibiotics soon. I was thinking about getting some xrays at my local vet office but wanted to ask around and see if anyone had their own experiences to share, to see if it would be worth it. I do not have a great local vet when it comes to final decisions - he doesn't see small animals as being 'worth it' and mostly works on farm animals so he has that nasty 'just kill it' mentality (and this is who I would see about having her put down since my experienced rat vet that I use for surgeries and the like is about three hours away), so I wont be taking advice on that from him anytime soon and wanted to rather hear from other actual pet owners to see what others have dealt with in malocclusion.

[MoonfallTheFox]

Does anyone have experience dealing with abscessed teeth in rats? One of my girls has a nasty big abscess on her jaw that's been going back and fourth between golf ball sized to barely noticeable for the past week. My best guess would be a tooth issue due to its placement, and its not drainable from the outside so she would have to be put under to work on it from inside her mouth. Neither I nor my rat vet thought it fair to put such an old rat through dental surgery, but she isn't in pain either (thanks to some really nice pain-killers and her being a total champ about taking her meds) so its been hard trying to decide what to do. Her teeth have begun to misalign from the repeated swelling however, so I am starting to think her time is up if the abscess doesn't go away on its own with the antibiotics soon. I was thinking about getting some xrays at my local vet office but wanted to ask around and see if anyone had their own experiences to share, to see if it would be worth it. I do not have a great local vet when it comes to final decisions - he doesn't see small animals as being 'worth it' and mostly works on farm animals so he has that nasty 'just kill it' mentality (and this is who I would see about having her put down since my experienced rat vet that I use for surgeries and the like is about three hours away), so I wont be taking advice on that from him anytime soon and wanted to rather hear from other actual pet owners to see what others have dealt with in malocclusion.

I have.. I lost a hairless buck from it. His front tooth abscessed really bad overnight. I did have the vet go in even though the rat was pretty old because he was in good health otherwise. The tooth itself was dead (black root, ew) and fell out during the procedure.

He seemed to be getting better but suddenly went downhill later on and had to be PTS. He was 2 and a half. X rays were done before the decision was made and the infection had gone to bone despite treatment.

The malocclusion itself can be managed with trimming but the abscess is the problem.

[The Lost Gremlin]

Does anyone have experience dealing with abscessed teeth in rats? One of my girls has a nasty big abscess on her jaw that's been going back and fourth between golf ball sized to barely noticeable for the past week. My best guess would be a tooth issue due to its placement, and its not drainable from the outside so she would have to be put under to work on it from inside her mouth. Neither I nor my rat vet thought it fair to put such an old rat through dental surgery, but she isn't in pain either (thanks to some really nice pain-killers and her being a total champ about taking her meds) so its been hard trying to decide what to do. Her teeth have begun to misalign from the repeated swelling however, so I am starting to think her time is up if the abscess doesn't go away on its own with the antibiotics soon. I was thinking about getting some xrays at my local vet office but wanted to ask around and see if anyone had their own experiences to share, to see if it would be worth it. I do not have a great local vet when it comes to final decisions - he doesn't see small animals as being 'worth it' and mostly works on farm animals so he has that nasty 'just kill it' mentality (and this is who I would see about having her put down since my experienced rat vet that I use for surgeries and the like is about three hours away), so I wont be taking advice on that from him anytime soon and wanted to rather hear from other actual pet owners to see what others have dealt with in malocclusion.

I have.. I lost a hairless buck from it. His front tooth abscessed really bad overnight. I did have the vet go in even though the rat was pretty old because he was in good health otherwise. The tooth itself was dead (black root, ew) and fell out during the procedure.

He seemed to be getting better but suddenly went downhill later on and had to be PTS. He was 2 and a half. X rays were done before the decision was made and the infection had gone to bone despite treatment.

The malocclusion itself can be managed with trimming but the abscess is the problem.

I had a hooded rex boy called Teddy who suddenly developed an awful mouth abcess at the same time he was suffering from a rather aggressive URI. He was about 2 years and had been healthy all his life until that point. But he wasn't responding to the URI meds and both the vet and I agreed that he was too weak to risk putting under anaesthesia. If he did survive the op, it probably would've been a rather miserable existence for him post-op considering his current health.
I let him spend his last few days with his new baby brothers before having him PTS.

[cardboardteeth]

any mice keepers out there? if you could pm me an answer to my questions that would be great!!

so I've been reading about mice [I'm going to get three girls fairly soon!!] and I was curious - do mice need to be fed flax seeds regularly? I've heard that it is good for them, but I don't know if it should be on the daily or not.

My meal plan is to feed them fresh fruits, veggies, and oxbow rat/mouse food [and of course flax seeds if they do need to be fed it daily] which I've been told is a good diet. is this true?

[MoonfallTheFox]

any mice keepers out there? if you could pm me an answer to my questions that would be great!!

so I've been reading about mice [I'm going to get three girls fairly soon!!] and I was curious - do mice need to be fed flax seeds regularly? I've heard that it is good for them, but I don't know if it should be on the daily or not.

My meal plan is to feed them fresh fruits, veggies, and oxbow rat/mouse food [and of course flax seeds if they do need to be fed it daily] which I've been told is a good diet. is this true?

They don't need it daily. The only thing they require daily is the oxbow. It's fine if you want to supplement their diet with some seeds, they'll love them, but they will be okay without them as well.

[meerkat boi.]

Today I got the chance to get some rats from a really awesome breeder a few hours away from me. Needless to say i jumped at the chance because I’ve heard amazing things about her rats. Very glad I did because these are some awesome rats lol. They are super sweet, squishy babies and omg they are beautiful! I love them so much lol

I was only planning on getting two does and a buck, but the breeder got the buck confused with another and decided to bring both to let me decide between lol. Picked my original favorite, so she decided to just give me the extra boy and I’m a total sucker for DWS and sweet bucks so I said yes of course lol.

First photo is my favorite buck, second is my marble doe Calliope, third is my extra buck, and fourth is my other Marble hooded doe Arizona! Still need to name the bucks haha

a few days late but they are adorable!

[ghostmaker]

hey everyone !!! i'm back again,, haha


so, i'm feeling really confident about asking my parents for a hamster, but i'm making a little presentation and can't decide on a habitat??

i'm stuck on whether to make a bin cage, or buy a tank c: tanks are expensive, but i feel like they would be more sturdy and better in general !! c:



what would any hamster owners/people who know about this recommend?

[Keriae]

hey everyone !!! i'm back again,, haha


so, i'm feeling really confident about asking my parents for a hamster, but i'm making a little presentation and can't decide on a habitat??

i'm stuck on whether to make a bin cage, or buy a tank c: tanks are expensive, but i feel like they would be more sturdy and better in general !! c:



what would any hamster owners/people who know about this recommend?

If you can, buy an Alaska, Barney, Alexander, or Hamster Heaven! These cages meet the recommended minimum size of 80x50cm, though if you can afford to go bigger, do!

If you want to save money, and have an Ikea near you, you could DIY a cage! You could buy a Samla bin to make a bin cage, or make a Linnmon, Kallax, Billy or Detolf cage!

I personally really love the Alaska! It's great if you're on a budget, and offers plenty of floor space as well as lots of room for hanging toys and ledges! This is Bella's current set up, though I'm hoping to buy some new toys and some levels/hammocks to switch out as soon as I get paid!

[Kisiel]

Whoa I didn't know the Alaska was that cheap!! Thanks for the link Kearie, I may just buy one as a "just in case" cage. Even though I already have a large (it's not really) hamster cage from P@H as a hospital cage and a furet and another spare large cage... Really don't need any more lol but it's tempting