Re: Questions about keeping ratties
Here's a fantastic link on what is good and not so good to feed rats.....
http://www.ratnutrition.com/suppleme...forbiddenfoods
As far as them breeding Nate, they will breed anytime after 5 weeks of age. Should they breed that young, nope...but they will, so if you don't want breeding to occur, keep them seperated by gender. Even with our feeders that will be fed off well before any pregnancy would even show we keep them apart. Why have them wasting energy running around jumping each other when that time could be better spent eating and lazing about putting on weight more efficiently.
Rats will wrestle and play a lot. They also do a lot of fussing about and squeeking while breeding (especially if the male is being rejected....what a big old whiner they can be about that LOL). As long as nobody's getting bit up it's fine really.
Rats kept in a clean environment really have little smell. Even with our colony of about 50 or 60 in a smallish room, unless it's the day before cage cleaning day you'd never know they are in the house (we live in a 3 bedroom duplex and they are in a spare room in the main part of the house...not in the basement). I do a full clean every Sunday, on Wednesday I do a half-tank changeout (just pull out half the bedding and dump in a bit more) just to freshen them up a bit. Seems to work very well. Always make sure if they've had fresh treats or bones you remove the uneaten scraps as they will stink up the place.
Add vanilla to the water if you like. Male rats tends to smell a bit more than the females so that helps as well as not having the male enclosures overcrowded (they will mark more if they are all vying for space and dominance). Make sure the enclosures are well ventilated and you should be fine.
Re: Questions about keeping ratties
I clean my cage's twice a week I use pine , baking soda , and vanilla extract and you won't even know their there. Smell is not a problem for me any more......I love BREEDING RAT'S:rockon:
Re: Questions about keeping ratties
Quote:
Originally Posted by Emilio
I clean my cage's twice a week I use pine , baking soda , and vanilla extract and you won't even know their there. Smell is not a problem for me any more......I love BREEDING RAT'S:rockon:
Knew ya would! :)
