New Ratties

We decided to go ahead and pick up some rats to start our rat colony. We picked up two females and a male. Once the male is old enough to start reproducing we are going to pull him from the girls' tank and set him up in his own until the girls are old enough to breed. I have pictures which I am uploading now. They are in a 20L for now but we hope to have a rat rack built within the next month or two.

Congrats! The male is able to start breeding at 4-5 weeks. But the females(to get at a safe breeding weight, but can get preggo at 5 wks) take up to 4-5 months, or at 250 grams. So I would get them separated out, btw, where are the pics!? Every new rattie needs pics!:D Good luck with them!

The biggest female, Kasper, who is an albino, is 108g, which according to the chart puts her between 6-8 weeks. We'll just say she's 6 weeks. The youngest girl is a little black with white paws, Nibble, and she weighs in at 27g so she's about 3 weeks old. The littlest is the boy. He's super sweet and his name is Monk. He is in at 25g so also about 3 weeks.

Ok pictures are here! First up is Monk, our little boy. He is super sweet and willingly crawls into your hand. I have a feeling I'm going to like him.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats001.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats002.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats003.jpg

Here is Monk with Nibble.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats004.jpg


And here all three. Kasper is the bigger albino female.

http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r...ke/Rats005.jpg

Very cute! Yup give them a few weeks, and they will want to breed. The male is a hooded( I think he is dumbo too!), the balck female with white paws, is a berkshire, and of course your albino! Good luck!:D

Thanks. We fully intend on seperating the male from the girls next week and put him into his own 10g. Oh and we tried rat weanlings on all the ball pythons tonight and everyone took them no problem, so we are safe to breed whenever the girls are mature enough.

Thanks for IDing Nibble. I didn't know what a berkshire was. And I love hoodeds so Monk was one of the first we picked out. He is such a sweetheart! They are soooo different from mice. Monk actually crawls up into your hand. :D All are eating solid food. I will post new pics as they get older.

There was a link I came upon yesterday that had a list of the foods you can't give to rats and a list of those you can. Does anyone have that link? We often have left over fruits and veggies (from feeding the sugar gliders) so I would love to find a use for it. And how often can you feed these "table scraps".

Actually I was thinking that they looked a little young to be weaned yet. I hope they do well for you.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

Actually I was thinking that they looked a little young to be weaned yet. I hope they do well for you.

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I was thinking the same. My last litter's pups were all around 25gs at only 2 weeks, but if they are eating solid food thats great!

Here is the link:
http://www.ratnutrition.com/suppleme...forbiddenfoods

Yeah, the boy looks like he can't be more than a smidge over 2 weeks old - very young to have been taken from mom. Were they from feeder bins? I can't imagine them being sold as pets that young. I too hope they do well for you!

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Originally Posted by Jay_Bunny

The biggest female, Kasper, who is an albino, is 108g, which according to the chart puts her between 6-8 weeks. We'll just say she's 6 weeks. The youngest girl is a little black with white paws, Nibble, and she weighs in at 27g so she's about 3 weeks old. The littlest is the boy. He's super sweet and his name is Monk. He is in at 25g so also about 3 weeks.

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27 grams? That must be around 2 weeks... that's tiny :) My 3 weeks are around 50-60 grams.

Well Nibble, the berkshire is definatly eating solid foods. She was the first to try what I gave them. Monk is still a little hesitant but he was definatly trying stuff out last night. Should I go to the store and get some KMR? If so, how often should I feed Nibble and Monk?

Oh and yes they came from feeder cages. Nibble and Monk came from the same cage and there was no mother rat in with them. The guy said they were weaned. I've never had a rat as young as a weanling so I didn't know.

Oh and can anyone tell me what is up with Monk's ears. They are different from Nibble's and Kasper's.

LOL, he's a dumbo. He will have ears on the side. Dumbo is recessive, so you never know, you may get some dumbo's if those girls with him are het for it.
Baby rats will start to eat hard food at 2 weeks, but arent really weaners until at least 3.
If you'd like, you can get some KMR, low/no iron and mix it in with some food to soften it up.

Maybe those rats are just small and will stay small... I have some tiny girls, momma was only 310 grams, but her kids were still around 50 grams when weaned and they have seemed to maxed out at their moms size. :)

edit:
Yea, looking at those pics again they really are only 2 weeks old with their big old heads. I think if you do the KMR mix with the dry food, they will be fine. You'll be stunned at how fast they grow from one week to the next ;)

I'll go out to the petstore and get some KMR today then. I thought he was a dumbo but I wasn't sure. My fiance asked if it was recessive so thanks for clearing that up. I am really starting to like rats. In just the short amount of time I've had Monk, I'm already getting attached to him. :D

If you keep interacting with them like that daily, they will grow attatched to you. My two pet boys LOVE coming out and playing with us. They look forward to it and are just two big hams. :D Girls are so energetic, but are just as affectionate in their own way

Kasper is really hesitant to come near you. She likes to stay with her new rat buddies and when I pick her up she squirms a lot and tries to get back to the ground. I'm going to have to work with her. Thanks for all the help with these guys. I'm heading out now to go to Petsmart to get the KMR.

Wow, those are young.. Too young to be weaned IMO.

The male DEFINITELY needs a friend, or he'll end up being a very non-social rat. They learn from their moms, brothers and sisters how to be a rat, and if he doesn't have any stimulation from others of his kind, he could easily become a rat who doesn't know how to breed. Having a friend is very important to his social and mental development, and if he doesn't get that early on, he won't know how to socialize and can end up in alot of trouble(major fights, possibly killed) if put in with other rats.

Get him a buddy! :)

He is in with the girls right now. We can get him a buddy when he moves into his own tank in about 2 weeks. Now I know to go a bit older when choosing a rat. He said they were weaned. Guess not. Oy. I'm off to the store now to get them more supplies for their tank. Any ideas on what I should get them? As far as toys to keep them stimulated, food dishes, ect?

Something to chew on lol :)

I'll get them some little rattie treats. :) And now I'm off to the store.

I got them some puppy milk replacer. My friend at the store said it was better for rats. I dunno but thats what I ended up getting. Plus the only things of KMR they had were $11 jars of the powder. Monk loves the puppy milk. When the syringe was empty he would pull it to him with his little paws. I mixed some of their food in with the puppy milk. Kasper, who doesn't need the milk kept trying to get at the syringe. I let her have a few sips of it.

Question, the link about what foods rats can and can't have only gives a few examples of fruits and veggies, and I have a giant bag of radishes. Can I give them pieces of radish or is it not good for them?

I think radishes are too spicy for them... they may not like them... I try to avoid spicy foods, I know how my stomach does with them, and I dont want to upset theirs. So in short, no I dont actually know. Lol

http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question...8082755AAguRq0

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Foods to eat RARELY are...

Foods high in nitrates: beets, celery, eggplant, lettuce, cucumber,
radishes, spinach, collards and turnip greens
coffee

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I dont know how accurate that is since the list is pretty dead on but has a few odds and ends that I dont agree with.

Mmm, ok more for me then. The veggies and fruits we tend to have around the house are things like banana, apple, kiwi, mango, pear, cantalope, carrots, peas, green beans, broccoli, radishes, and sometimes berries.