Loose rat in the house WOOO HOOO!!!

[cchardwick]

I was cleaning out the tanks today and put a couple female rats in a plastic tote, then when I was moving them back I guess I just wasn't quick enough and one jumped out and ran under the table! I have so much junk in the snake / rodent room it took me awhile to catch her, good thing she didn't crawl in a wall vent! Has this ever happened to you? When I had my snakes in aquariums they would sometimes get out too when I was trying to feed multiple tanks and I would see them crawling across the floor LOLOL. Now that they are in a rack system I don't have that problem. Maybe I should go to a rat rack system, but I guess if you had multiple rats in one tub one could still jump out?

[Ba11er]

Rats are smart give them an opportunity and they will take it. As long as they are properly fead and have access to water they won't go to far if they do get out. I have always had success with luring them with food to recatch them.

I have wanted to switch to a rack system but I like the height my plastic bins provide for that exact reason, they can't jump out too easy. I find I am running out of floor room so I might make some shelving unit to vertically house the bins instead of stacking them on top of each other.

[redshepherd]

Good thing you caught her! LOL.

I don't breed my own feeders, but I've even had it happen once when I needed to buy a live rat for my picky eater. (It was a cute dumbo rat with light grey fur too, so too bad) He jumped straight out of the box when I opened it and ran halfway across the room before stopping... I guess confused where he was. I was still holding the tongs, and ended up catching him by the tail with the tongs.

[GoingPostal]

Rats getting loose is part of the reason I stopped breeding them-always caught them though, they usually come right back to the cage and move in if you leave the lid off and food/water inside. Just a pain to deal with.

[voodoolamb]

One of my girls escaped a few nights ago. I didn't lock her cage properly. Saw her running down the hall and called her name. She came right up to me and I got her put away before she became a midnight snack for the dog.

A few years ago I had a free range pet rat whose cage door almost always stayed open. The little bugger was liter trained and neutered (No scent marking!) And would always return to his cage. He would even follow me outside and learned how to use the doggie door. Once a hawk scared him and he ran all the way back to his cage from the garden.

Not sure what I would do if I had an untamed feeder running around! Probably would be on a wild goose chase!

My snake collection isn't big enough to justify breeding my own feeders yet and when it does get there I'm torn between doing ASFs or rats... but if I go with ratties I think I'll use a dog training clicker. Everytime I drop treats into the bin I'll give a click. At the very least all of them should learn to associate the click with food. That might come in handy if I get an escapee - to lure them out of hiding without having to bond with and train each individual rat.

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

I occasionally have a rat escape when opening or close the rat or snake tubs, maybe once or twice a year. If recapture is not immediately possible then the rat does not survive the escape. I don't know what the rat may have picked up outside the racks, including mating with a wild rat, so it gets put down on sight.

Here's another reason I put them down. The vast majority of my rats do not try to escape, even from the snake tubs, in a way that also successfully escapes me. I do not want rats with this focus to pass the "escape" traits on. It happens rarely enough that it may not matter, but I try to breed docile, friendly, and easily hand-able/feed-able rats through selective breeding. Accordingly, any rats that bite are put down immediately and even rats that seem fearful are slated as snake food and not for breeding stock.

[wolfy-hound]

I actually have one loose right now. I'm not certain exactly where it is, but usually they will stay in the rodent room. I put down a bowl of water and some food, so they have zero reason to leave the room. That keeps them contained. A tall "5 gallon" bucket and something for them to crawl up to the lip sometimes can catch them. I caught the last loose rat because it jumped into the bag of bedding and couldn't jump back out and I heard the scrabbling noise.

I also usually kill any rat that stays loose. I have had a rat escape, then come right to me. Those go back after treats. But if it runs from me and I have to trap it, it's put down. No telling what it may have gnawed on, after all.

[cchardwick]

I couldn't imagine losing a rat that was prego..... It would start a rat infestation in my hood LOL.

[Devenco]

I had 1 rat jump out last week.

Sadly she did not come when I called her (took me a good 25 mins to catch her....)

Soooo she ended up with a very hungry pastel...

[Freakzter]

I've had rats many years, but only as pets. I currently have a small colony as feeder breeders. I've only had one escape ever, and it was back when I had pet fancy rats and was first experimenting with homemade cages. caught her a couple nights later with one of those non lethal homemade rat traps using a trash can she couldn't jump back out of. I've never had a feeder escape, but then again I do spoil 'em a bit heh.