So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Tried to tempt Snickers into eating with a rat fuzzy. Figured that would be small enough to not intimidate her, but she still wanted nothing to do with it. Left it in her tub over night; figured at that size it couldn't possibly do any damage, and she might want to eat if things were dark and quiet. It was still there in the morning, curled up on on the warm spot. Went to work. Came home and it was still there, had opened it's eyes, and was toddling awkwardly around the tub. Snickers is still being a grump under her hide, so she gets another tube feeding on Monday, but now I have a baby rat, guessing around about 2 weeks old, and showing no distress. Welp.
Got some powdered puppy formula at the store and it's been gobbling down about 7 ml every 4 or 5 hours no problem. If it lives out another week I think it gets to be the lucky one.
Re: So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kcl
If you are trying to keep the rat fuzzy alive, you should note that it is likely young enough to need stimulated to urinate and defecate. This should be done before every feeding.
Yup, have been doing so. Mom used to breed Persian cats and I've had to raise a few babies by hand. Rat is smaller, but same general principle.
Honestly my husband and I really do love rats, and we were talking about getting a few and keeping pets that would also help offset feeding but... that was supposed to be a later on down the line like maybe in a year or two kind of thing. Guess that got bumped up, lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
redshepherd
AW! Are you attached already?
If this happened to me, I'd raise the rat until my bp starts eating again, and then probably would still feed it off...
I think by the time she's feeling ready to eat the pup might be too big. I'll have to go get a new fuzzy.
Re: So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lizardlicks
Yup, have been doing so. Mom used to breed Persian cats and I've had to raise a few babies by hand. Rat is smaller, but same general principle.
Yup - pretty much the same deal with all baby mammals on that so you should be good to go! Some are just more likely to manage to pee on you than others...
I hope I never have to deal with feeding live baby rodents to anything again. They squeak and I feel so guilty.
Re: So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Kcl
Yup - pretty much the same deal with all baby mammals on that so you should be good to go! Some are just more likely to manage to pee on you than others...
I hope I never have to deal with feeding live baby rodents to anything again. They squeak and I feel so guilty.
I hear ya. Last pup I got from the supplier was a pretty little hooded rex. Felt like kind of a waste using it as a feeder. I try to get my kids over onto f/t as soon as possible so I don't have to deal with live.
Re: So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lizardlicks
I hear ya. Last pup I got from the supplier was a pretty little hooded rex. Felt like kind of a waste using it as a feeder. I try to get my kids over onto f/t as soon as possible so I don't have to deal with live.
After dealing with live for one snake, getting something that is already on f/t moved waaay up on my list of requirements for anything I buy in the future. I can do it, but I hate it and don't want to again. I also ended up with a mouse for a month until I got it rehomed during that experience. It at least could eat on its own but I had to give it more of a formula mash type mix for a while. Rodents are just not for me as pets. Too much pooping.
Re: So I guess I have a pet rat now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Lizardlicks
I hear ya. Last pup I got from the supplier was a pretty little hooded rex. Felt like kind of a waste using it as a feeder. I try to get my kids over onto f/t as soon as possible so I don't have to deal with live.
I had that feel back when Cake still had to eat live, and the store gave me this cute curly-haired light grey dumbo! It was super cute, but the snake has to eat... It looked something like this
https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...f99cd8fb24.jpg
