New Parent; Help!

[Reinz]

Welcome to the forum Rue.

You are well on the right track with all of your knowledge obtained. And thank you for giving us good info.

In case someone did not mention, I do not remember, since you have No thermostat, it would be best to shut off the UTH, especially since Rue likes to burrow. We see a lot of burns on this forum. Just use the heat lamp until you can an inexpensive Thermostat at a hardware store or the pet store. Or if you can afford it, you won't regret getting the best like the Herpstat ($115?)

If Rue is taking F/T rats great, keep it going, I would not change. However, if you find for some reason that you must feed live, always stand guard with long tweezers/forceps/pencil/etc and be prepared to jam it in the rat's mouth if it looks like a dangerous situation during the coil. Never walk away until they uncoil and you know for sure that death has occurred. Even then, I constantly check on them.

Enjoy your new pet