help with weanling

I bought some feeder rats for my snakes, and due to a feeding accident I have decided to quit feeding live prey. A lone weanling rat was left after I decided to quit feeding live and I want her to survive. I don't know much about rearing rats so maybe some of you can help. She is pretty small, about the size of a medium mouse. Shes got fur and gets around just fine, but I don't know if shes expecting mom's nipple. She seems to lick my hands a lot when I hold her.

Shes in a critter keeper that seems to be about 3-4 gallons. I put her on some leftover aspen and cut up a paper towel tube for her to play in. I don't have an extra water bottle so i filled a shallow glass dish with water for her for now. She hasn't had any water since I bought her at the reptile show, and there were not water bottles in their holding pen. I tried to syringe feed her some water but I couldn't seem to get her to take more than a drop. I put a piece of carrot in there and she ate some of it. We have guinea pigs and I was wondering if she can have some of their pellets until i can get some lab block. How long will she be able to stay in this small enclosure? And what am I going to do with her, I feel that she has been save from a fate of snakefood and has been chosen to live for a reason. Thanks in advance for your advice/comments.

Jared

she can have the guinea pig food for now, but it would be best to get her on some mazuri lab block if possible. it can usually be found in pet stores in small bags or at feed stores in 50 pound bags and is lower in corn than most other feeds. they will drink out of a small cup, i used to keep rats and mice in tubs and that is how they got water. i do not suggest carrots unless you like the smell of rat urine. veggies and fruits will cause them to urinate more and more often because of the high water content, so stick to low water foods.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

. i do not suggest carrots unless you like the smell of rat urine. veggies and fruits will cause them to urinate more and more often because of the high water content, so stick to low water foods.

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I did not know this, my 2 girls get a cup of fresh veggies and fruit every night. I never notice a urine smell but then I change out their bedding every week.

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Originally Posted by ZEKESMOM

I did not know this, my 2 girls get a cup of fresh veggies and fruit every night. I never notice a urine smell but then I change out their bedding every week.

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If I was wrong, I take it back, but I read in a thread earlier someone mentioned when they started giving fresh celery I think it was, urine increased.

Ok, I'll give her some guinea pig pellets for tonight. I will be able to get to the pet store tomorrow for some lab block. SHould I buy the brand stuff, its probably kaytee, or should i get the bulk stuff? What shoulld I look for in the ingrediants? BTW thanks for the replies!

since you only want to feed one rat, just get the small bags of it. it will last a little bit.

get the mazuri brand lab blocks. i think they sell them in about a 5lb bag at petsmart. definitely get her a water bottle too--much neater/cleaner, etc. fresh veggies are great for rodents, but do not give them lettuce (too watery so it causes diarrhea) or citrus fruits. they can also eat a huge variety of left overs and other food items--see becky's rat food mix (stickied at the top of this forum) for ideas.

provide empty paper towel or toilet paper tubes for hides/something to chew. all my rats have the igloo things you can get at petsmart to hide in, although they like to flip them over and sleep in them upside down. i also give them empty boxes from granola bars, microwave dinners, etc.

if you decide to keep her, keep in mind that rats are social creatures and really don't like to be kept alone. a friend of the same sex will be greatly appreciated. :)

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Originally Posted by ZEKESMOM

I did not know this, my 2 girls get a cup of fresh veggies and fruit every night. I never notice a urine smell but then I change out their bedding every week.

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FRESH fruits and veggies are (almost) always a good idea...more like what they've eaten for eons. There are some foods that WE eat that aren't recommended for rats. One of the rat sites said to keep away from the citrus. Things like oranges, avocado and strawberries aren't good. Celery and lettuce will make runny stools, but carrots, beans, peas, we give ours cooked spaghetti (they won't eat the uncooked :rolleyes: ). They wuuuuuuuv scrambled eggs, (a LITTLE bit) of broccoli. Most anything leftovers, we give some to the ratties. :)

Buy just a small amount of the bulk. One LITTLE weanling won't eat much. You don't want or need a great big bag getting stale, or creepy crawlies before it gets eaten....and it will if left long enough. Oh, and if you have cats, MINE dug into the bag and would chew on the blocks. :bleh: WTH?!?:confused:

Jared if you can't keep her and need to rehome her let me know. If you aren't too far away from Toledo we could give her a home here in our colony as a future breeder. As you know we don't feed off our breeders and give them names and so forth, so she'd be fine here. Alternately if you want to keep her you're also welcome to pick a nice female weanling from my group as a companion for her. Rats are such social creatures they just don't do well living alone.

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Originally Posted by tmlowe5704

If I was wrong, I take it back, but I read in a thread earlier someone mentioned when they started giving fresh celery I think it was, urine increased.

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Ahhhh...my girls don't get celery!:D

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Originally Posted by sweety314

FRESH fruits and veggies are (almost) always a good idea...more like what they've eaten for eons. There are some foods that WE eat that aren't recommended for rats. One of the rat sites said to keep away from the citrus. Things like oranges, avocado and strawberries aren't good. Celery and lettuce will make runny stools, but carrots, beans, peas, we give ours cooked spaghetti (they won't eat the uncooked :rolleyes: ). They wuuuuuuuv scrambled eggs, (a LITTLE bit) of broccoli. Most anything leftovers, we give some to the ratties. :)

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Ummmm....what happens if you give them strawberries??? My girls have had 1 strawberry cut up in their "fresh" bowl for 2 nights in a row!!!:eek:

Well, after she started licking my hand again i decided to try some warm milk. She went crazy for it! I syringe fed her about 1-2 cc of 1% milk. Is this ok for her? I get the feeling the breeder took her away from her mother too soon. Also, I have no idea if she is male or female. Can anyone point me in the right direction for ratty care? Thanks again

Joanna: Thanks for the offer of taking her in/giving her a playmate. My girlfriend and I are still debating what we want to do with her. We are about 30 minutes or so from Toledo so I am very grateful that you have provided options for us. I'll have to get back with you when we make a decision.

Jared

Here is a pic i just took of her for a size ref. She is just so adorable!

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y12...n/IMG_1218.jpg

I try and give my weaning rats moistened lab blocks for the week before seperation and a week after seperation every 2 days or so. It makes sure they are eating ok so they can prepare for all solid foods.

No problem hon let me know if you need a buddy for her (or him) or if the little rattie needs a home here with us. Whatever we can do to help that way.

It looks awfully young for a fully weaned rat. More like a big pup but really they can do just fine without momma's milk pretty much anytime after 3 weeks of age and it's likely that old (we wean at 5 weeks here but they can wean earlier). Try moistened lab block, some of the stuff in Becky's dry mix, kitchen scraps, etc. If you want to offer it milk don't use cow's milk though. You can get kitten replacment milk and I would think that would be much better if you think it isn't getting enough nutrients through dry and wet food. Most animals cannot tolerate our store bought cow's milk.

Make sure the little rattie is pooping okay (sorry to be graphic but formed little rat turds not runny, stinky stuff or worse, nothing coming out at all).

Here's a couple of links about food, sexing rats, rat care, etc. I find the fancy rat breeders sites to be invaluable to learn stuff that helps me with our breeder/feeder rat colony.

Link about foods:

http://www.ratnutrition.com/suppleme...forbiddenfoods

Link about health care and sexing:

http://www.ratz.co.uk/index.html

Huge site with tons of rat care/breeding info:

http://www.quite.co.uk/rats/#Introduction

As far as sexing you should be able to easily see if this is a boy or girl rat. Hold it up under it's armpits and sort of let the butt end dangle down (or you can support it's feet with your other hand below so it doesn't spazz out if it's a nervous sort of baby rat). With the rat in that position you should easily see if it has testicles hanging down. Even young male rats are quite ummm "gifted" that way and it's pretty obvious well before weaning what you've got as far as a male or female. Do not try to sex by nabbing it by the tail, hanging it head down and peering at it's butt end. The testes will slip back into the body cavity, the rat will be supremely ticked off and I'll laugh at ya when your "girl" rat has a set of "rat butt pillows" to sit on! LOL

If all else fails take little rattie on a car trip to Auntie Jo's house where she will peer at it's butt end and tell you what you have LMAO! (amazing what I will do in the name of BPNet friendship ain't it! course I had Robin running around Atlanta peering at male rat's backsides for ages but she found herself a good young breeder male LOL)

Haha! That's true! What I find even easier to use to tell if you have a boy or a girl - a girl will have little teats, where a boy won't. I've gotten pretty good at sexing as early as 3 days old on these little buggers!

Thanks for the wealth of info Jo! I'll stop giving him/her milk even though it was so funny watching her lick it off my fingers in a frenzy. I just gave her some cheerios and shes devouring them as I type. I wasn't able to get to the pet store today, but i think the cheerios and the water dish will be ok for her/him until tomorrow. I hope it is a girl, but I have my suspicions that it may be a boy. The well endowed males creep my girlfriend out so I hope she really is a she cause I want to keep her! Thanks again for the great info!

Jared

LOL Tell your girlfriend not to think about what's really dragging along behind those big males and just think of them like I do....rat butt pillows! :D