Care & Training

CARE

Food

    Rats can eat almost anything but, if you feed it people food you may notice the fur of your rat looses its silkiness and your rat may fall ill. Most pet stores sell rat & mice food. But, if yours doesn't, gerbil, rabbit, hamster, or other rodent food will work fine. In fact, I prefer hamster food to rats because I find my rats like the larger chunks and do not eat the small oats (I don't blame them the look GROSS). Treats are suggested if you would like to train your rat to do tricks.

Water

    Rats, like most animals, require water. You can use any Small animal water bottle, and it must always contain water. Some people purchase rabbit water bottles and only fill them once a month! others get mice water bottles and fill them every 3-4 days.

Cages & Bedding

    Face it. Rats poop and pee. This may cause your cage to smell. Always stock your cage with bedding. there are MANY different types of bedding. Some are 'Super absorbent', some are colored, some are even scented!  Personally, I use the tan cheap stuff. You need to change your bedding about every 3 weeks or whenever you cage begins to either fill with poop, or starts to smell. You can change the bedding by emptying the old bedding into a garbage can/bag (i like to go outside for this) and simply putting the new bedding into it. Don't put more than 1 and 1/2 in. of bedding into the cage. 

    Cages Cages Cages! The size, shape, color, style, and weight depend on you! I have a cousin who uses an old bird cage and has added a second story using some cardboard! (The ladder was already in the bird cage). My old cage about the size of two normal sheets of paper set next to each other. My NEW cage is MUCH bigger. But, my new cage has very spread out wires so, whenever I get a new rat, I have to put him/her in my smaller cage until she/he gets bigger.

TRAINING

Case of the New home Jitters

When bringing a rat home for the first time you have to spend a LOT of time with him. If you cuddle, pet, and hold your baby rat more, the better. During this time, you may get pees/pooped on. THIS IS NORMAL. The solution? Hold him more. soon your rat will calm down and then, hes ready to be a full-on house pet.