How to Properly Care for Rat?

[distaff]

Like I said, they're all kept away from their mothers. They're small rats, not fuzzies or pinkies. Open eyes and fully furred. Glad to know it must have been something wrong with the rat, though. I have a proper rat cage/water bottle/everything, so I also thought it was weird. I'd hate to have to stop getting my rats where I do because it's the only store in town that sells live rats for feeding. :/

A young rat that previously had a bowl for water might not know how to drink from a bottle.
Otherwise, sounds like something was just wrong with it.

My neighbour who teaches biology, and raises rats for the class snakes, gave me two little guys this past summer. I kept them in a Sterelite latch top tote and paper towels until a CritterNation shipped. Worked fine. Used tiny size hardware cloth in the top for ventilation. I could never feed off either of them - they are pets.

At some point, I'll get an unrelated female and breed her. Hard to find rodents around here. We had a promising new ownership on a somewhat local pet store, but that seems to have frizzled. Wish someone could come up with a way to overnight them.

They are neither hard to keep, nor delicate.
Hope you have better luck with one next time.