What age ?

At what age are rats weaned from thier mothers and perfectly capable of eating/being without thier mother ??

Is it about 6-7 weeks like mice ??

4 weeks. It doesn't take that long for mice.. as little as 3 weeks I think.

Ohh yeah, duh, i was thinking sexual maturity (for mice)

Ok well thanks,i think my mom is coming around to the idea of letting me get a rat AGAIN, i told her that the babies from the mice might die in the cold weather and she had a fit when i asked her if i could keep the ten gal in the laundry room.....GRRR she is so stingy with her space !! its one little ten gal....oh well. i have a nice big extra rubbermaid that would definitly house one aadult rat for its whole life (90 quart) and i told her it could live in the garage ( it only falls to about 60 in there) so maybe she will go for that......i really wanna breed the mice but when your mother says you cant have the space where you intend to house them it gets difficult.Who knows, it might work but if not i have plenty of time to start breeding later.

lol.. can't you stuff that 'little' 10 in your room somewhere?

A mouse is ready to breed at 4 months.. is that what you want to know?

As far as keeping rats in rubbermaids.. make sure there's nowhere they could start chewing it.. as they will make a hole and get out. Mom would LOVE that I'm sure. :)

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lol.. can't you stuff that 'little' 10 in your room somewhere?

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Ohh i have plenty of space in my room, but with all the snakes in there, would that be such a good idea ??

I know angela keeps her mice in her room but hers seems alot bigger than mine.

In that case i may just keep the rat in my room, they are less stinky right ??

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mouse is ready to breed at 4 months.. is that what you want to know?

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I just wanted to know when it would be safe to take the baby away from its mother to come live with me :D

Oh.. well in that case just keep the rodents on the other side of the room. I had my ball in the same room with rats AND stinky mice. She didn't kill me.. so just use your brain when you have the snake out I'd say.

Rats are waaaay less offensive to the nose than mice. Much sweeter pets too IMO.

Hmm, that could be tricky, becuase i have rebel on one side, and roxy and ruby on the other, i have a space against my wall in the middle though,Ill be cleaning the cage out every week and of course handling the snakes first before the rodent, ill even handle them in differnt rooms. Id love to see the rat scamper around the room but then when i let the snakes out.......that wont be too much fun.

I also have a closet in the middle of my room where i could keep the rubbermaid (of course the door would be open) and it would be even farther away from the snake cages.

I really like how rats need daily care and attention, snakes.......drop a rat in there and replace the waterbowl everyday and they are fine,ya know. i want somthing i can luv on a bit :D

Yeah.. rats are cool. Closest thing to a dog in a small mammal. If you want a really nice one, get one from a breeder. Compared to a pet store rat they're night and day.. just don't plan on using it to breed feeders.

Ill be getting it from where i get my feeders (from the breeder)

nahh, no buying any animals from petstores for me.

Good deal. You know that rats should not be kept singly? Get a pair.. same sex if you don't want to (or can't) breed.

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You know that rats should not be kept singly?

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Ive heard that, but id be with it throughout the day smothering it with attention, i dunno if my mom will be up for two rats.But......just in case she is (becuase the fact that i can keep it in my room will really thrill her (becuase thats why she didnt let me get it before) ) Would two females be better or two males ?? wont males fight ?

It really is best for a rat to have another rat's company. You may spoil it rotten, but you have to go to school don't you? And if you're not feeling well one day you may just not feel like always taking it out for several hours at a time. It's just best for them to have another ratty friend.

Unlike mice, male rats will not fight. I have two males.

Male vs Female rats as pets.. it's up to you.

Females don't grow as big, tend to be more active, and won't pee on you
Males get bigger are lazy lap rats (though one of my males is a nut case) and they WILL pee on you!

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Males get bigger are lazy lap rats (though one of my males is a nut case) and they WILL pee on you!

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LOL !!

Ok then i think ill go with two female rat babies......lol im all planning this out, i think im getting a little ahead of myself, im just so exited becuase my mom said no more pets unless they can be in your room but these guys can :D

Is it easy to tell female from male when they are 4-5 weeks old ?

What, don't you want to get peed on? ;) My boys aren't as bad as my cousin's rats (she bought them from me.. from my first litter) those suckers really let loose on you.

Yeah, sexing them is easy. At that point the males are starting to.. er.. develop. There's only a short time after they've grown their hair where it is somewhat difficult to tell males from females. Newborns are easy to sex too.. but your breeder will have no probs with that I'd think.

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but your breeder will have no probs with that I'd think.

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Yeah im sure shell be able to tell me, but she isnt like a "pet rat breeder" shes more of a " I'm going to save myself a million bucks and breed all the food for my 40 pet snakes, breeder"

Lol but with all the years she has under her belt im sure she could sspot some testicles on a rat LOL :P ,well, i guess i could two :?

lol.. well even if you're a feeder breeder, you have to know which is which. Would be pretty hard to be a breeder if you can't tell that.

It's hard to NOT be able to tell them apart.

Brandon, just wondering, why would you want to keep 2 rats in a rubbermaid? They need height, things to climb on, play with. Also, if your mom has an issue with 2 rats, then I don't recommend getting any at all. They need company, or they will get depressed and be unhealthy. You would have to be with then 98% of your day to provide them with enough companionship. It also costs the same to feed 2 as it does to feed one.

Go here: www.rattiusmaximus.com and read, or even better, email Chrissy and ask her some stuff. She is an awesome person as well as breeder and can tell you everything you need to know.

www.martinscages.com is a great place to get a cage, or even better, a tank topper, which can fit on a 10, 20tall, or 20 long. They are pretty cheap when it comes to housing pet rats correctly. Galvanized cages will rust, and aren't worth your money, IMO. Painted cages, like the wire ones at PetsMart/Petco can get the paint chewed off of them and look horrible and then rust. Powdercoated ones work wonderful, as the stuff can't get chewed off and it won't rust.

As for feeding, you CANNOT feed the Nutriphase or other prepares rat foods at the petstore. You will have very unhealthy rats. The dried corn can have mold spores on it and cause illness, the sunflower seeds aren't healthy for them, and the alfalfa in there cannot be digested. So it really is just a waste of money. Try to get Mazuri lab blocks or Purina lab blocks, which are high quality and provide them with everything they need. Try the feed store, they usually stock stuff like that. Look at Chrissy's food mix or some of her links have other breeder's mixes that you can use. We personally use Chrissy's mix and our rats are fat and squishy :) (a good thing) It isn't expensive at all, maybe 20 bucks for a month-2 month worth of food. Very worth it.

It's alot of work having these guys as pets. They need their nails clipped, unless you have a brick in the cage by their water bottle that can wear down their nails. Sometimes they need their teeth clipped because they can overgrow from maloclusion(not lined up properly) or from not getting enough hard crunchy things to chew on. Also, you really need to read up on Mycoplasmosis, which can be a killer if not treated properly.

Bedding.. The most important thing... You really cannot keep them on pine. They will get sick. Pine is for horses who are 6ft off of the ground, not for rodents who are inches away from it all of the time. Try to get some aspen, or carefresh. Carefresh is ok, but it's kind of dusty and may make them sneezy.

Another good rattie website is www.warmfuzziesrattery.com and www.bearwolfrats.com
I've talked to both of these women and they are awesome. I actually met Becky Twogood from BearWolf, and she is really nice.

Sorry if I have seemed pushy, but it's a subject that I know alot about and when people say they are getting a rat and what they are keeping it in and stuff, it pushes some buttons :) I just want you to know what you are getting into. If you can't get your mother to say "yes" to 2 or even 3 rats, then one is definately out of the question. The thing would be miserable.

Boys vs. girls
I would have to say that we enjoy our boys a bit more because they aren't "NUTSO". Our girls are everywhere and never sit still, unless they are sleeping or eating. :) The boys are squishier and more huggable, and will definately sit still to be scratched or to just sit on your shoulder and give kisses/clean you. They don't really "pee" per se, but it's more of scent marking. And it goes like this: Oooh, mine, mine, and this is mine too, mine mine mine, and so on and so forth. Goofy boys. Ours also gets baths more often just because they get a little stinkier than the girls do. Boys get along wonderfully with boys and girls get along great with girls. So either way you go, there shouldn't be any fighting.

If you have any other questions, just throw 'em out to me. If I can't answer them, I'll ask Chrissy or someone else. Hope that helped some :)

I'll second everything SatanicIntention had to say.

I personally find making my own feed mix to be very easy, and the rats seem to enjoy their food. I couldn't find lab blocks, but the mix works great.

I feed:
50% high quality dry dog food (nutro light)
50% mix
The mix has in it:
puffed rice and wheat
plain cheerios
tri color pasta
sunflower seeds (breeder recommended this.. I don't feed a lot of them)
and oats

They 'crunch crunch crunch' all night long. Rats are nocturnal as well, so be prepared for noise at night. :)

A rubbermaid isn't the best choice in a cage, though I keep my breeder rats in a big (tall) plastic bin. They need a lot of ventilation though, so you need a lot of holes drilled in it.

Do NOT get a galvanized cage.. mine IS rusting! Grr!

I give mine wood blocks to chew on, and never have a problem with their teeth. If you want to handle your rat without being skinned alive, you have to clip those nails! Needles! A rock or brick works too if they walk on it.

I have a cloth hammock hanging in my cage, they LOVE it! They sleep in it all the time.

For bedding I like pa-purr. It's cat litter, but it's made from paper. It won't be flung out of the cage like other things, so it's cleaner, and very absorbent.

Ok, you say they don't really pee on you.. fine, they dribble.. MOST of the time. I've had them let loose all over me.. as in dripping down my shirt. Not very charming. :)

I know what you mean about the peeing... If we have 2 boys out at the same time, like last night, it seems like they are trying to compete and see who can make my boyfriend's shirt the smelliest LoL. And no, it's not charming at all.

On making the mix, you can also buy some Zupreem Small Parrot/Conure Avian Maintenance. It makes them very fat and squishy, and healthy too. :) It smells just like Trix cereal. Here's a good website that has it in bulk. http://www.foryourbird.com/page/fory...d/CTGY/zupreem
We're going to buy some from them soon, as it doesn't cost very much. Oh! I almost forgot, we also buy unshelled nuts at WalMart for about $3 a bag. It has Walnuts, brazil nuts, almonds, and those triangular black nuts, I don't know what they are called :) Our rats love those, They are crunch, crunch, crunching all night long. Helps wear down their teeth wonderfully.

Hey Shelby, how much is that Pa-Purr stuff you buy? Is it dusty at all? If not, I may try and find it. We're getting tired of it being flung 15 feet out of the cage :) Ok, I was exaggerating, but still.

I have some old jeans that I will be making hammocks out of, so we will see how that goes.

Speaking of "letting loose", I think the only time they have done that was when I am giving them a bath, and when my teacher, Sue was tryin to listen to Sneezy's lungs, and he had a fear poop. Poor guy, LoL.

But anyway, Brandon, if you have any questions, it seems there are 2 or more of us that know about ratties :) so just ask away.

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Brandon, just wondering, why would you want to keep 2 rats in a rubbermaid? They need height, things to climb on, play with.

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Well, becuase i have an extra 90 quart rubbermaid and im not about to go out and buy a glass tank for the rats......my mom said i cant get two so im not going to get any :( ohh well, i guess thats ok,its better for the ratties......i guess, lol they are just going to be eaten by other snakes :P lol

I usually have both of my boys out at the same time. They just LOVE to pee on everyone. Especially mom. She does not appreciate it. She loves my ratties though. lol

I'll consider that bird food.. looks just like trix too! I'm sure they love that. Do you feed that by itself, or as part of a mixture?

Gosh.. brazil nuts would be GREAT for those teeth. Those darn nuts are so hard to crack. lol

Pa-purr is pretty inexpensive. It's like $8.99 for a large bag. It's not dusty at all.. it's actually made from recycled newspaper, and it's made into little pellets. I get mine from petsmart. And bedding flung 15 feet out is not an exaggeration! I swear my rats throw their sunflower hulls out of that cage. Little brats like to see me on my hands and knees with that dirt devil vacuum every other day cleaning up their messes!

I really should make my own hammocks.. at $8 a pop, and they chew through the hangers in about a week flat, gets a bit pricey. I think I'd make chain hangers. Let's see them chew through that!

I've actually never had my rats poop on me, only pee. I think they know better somehow.. it's true you can litter train rats (at least you can get them to leave their raisins in one spot, if only they'd pee in one spot!)

Sorry to hear you can't get rats, Brandon. But it's better to not get any if you can only get one.

Oops, you know what, I made a mistake. That litter isn't called pa-purr, it's called yesterday's news.

Pa-purr is another brand.. it's a little dusty, and it looks just like normal cat litter, so it would be flung from your cage.

FWIW, the rats I've had have tended only to pee/poop on us until they got used to being handled and then would quit. Your experience may vary, but both the pets and breeders that we've had (1 pet, 2.3 breeders currently, several pets prior) would calm down about handling after a few weeks of regular handling and being hand-fed treats like plain Cheerios and unsalted peanuts and would "hold it" until returned to their cages unless kept out for more than an hour or so at a time instead of "going" almost immediately.