Fancy Rats Archive forum: 2002 - 2011

Thank you so much for your replies :D all of this information has been extremely useful in helping with what to do about this situation. A couple of days after my last post on this topic, I bought two of the 14 week old rats :smileyrat: the owner assured me that if any problems occured then she'd we...

I shall give Woodgreen another try tomorrow to see if they have buck kittens, I did think 'hmm 6 months is a bit old for a baby' :lol: but had to double check because she's listed them as 'baby rats'. I spoke to her on the phone and she didn't really talk about the care they've received etc... the a...

Just want to add that she listed the 6 month old ratties as 'baby rats'... I'm not sure if 6 month old would qualify as a baby but I know she also has younger ones too.
Marilyn

Had some news just now from someone local who breeds rats and has 6 month old rats available. I'm just waiting for a text back about how many of these are bucks. Would think 6 months old isn't too young or too old either... I'm just weary because I've never had to do intros before but it should be o...

Thanks everyone for your replies, they've really helped a lot :) I wouldn't want to neuter him because he is quite prone to respiratory problems and is quite chubby... we're not sure if the resp stuff is asthma or not because it does flare up when he gets stressed or excited, a few days on baytril u...

This is kind of soon for me personally to be writing this but at the insistance of everyone else at home and looking at how depressed my ratty has been, I'm having to consider this option a little earlier than I'd hope. George, my lovely little roan ratty, passed away last week from a pituatry tumor...

Hi, Just writing to update the post. Sadly George was put to sleep last week :( It had got to the point where he couldn't eat and we didn't want him to starve. The vet said he weighed 450 (I'm assuming she meant grams) when she last weighed him and had gone down to 400 in a week which was a lot of w...

Sorry to hear about Diesel, :( losing a rat is always difficult for both the owner and their cage mates left behind. May I ask, how was Diesel around his cagemates during this time? George's brother, Rufus, has found it very difficult because he wouldn't let him cuddle him and squeaks at him to warn...

Thanks MissBlackEyeliner, I'm sure rats shaking their heads isn't much to worry about in most cases I've read they do it mostly when playing and happy :) The vet said sometimes it is a sign of an ear infection but in this case, with his arms it was ruled out. Hope your little George is well and havi...

Just an update about Georgey's head shaking... this is tragic news but this week he hasn't been himself and on Sunday morning, he was unable to grip with his right hand. Our vets are closed on Sundays so the closest day we could take him would be Monday. By Monday morning, that other hand was showin...

I use a muesli base, oats, store's own brand cereak- usually cornflakes- and a few pets at home rat nuggets to supplement any extra protein or vitamin intake needed. This is all mixed together in the bowl. They're also fed cherry tomatoe cut up and dry pasta. Every other day they'll have peas or bro...

Not sure where to begin with this lol so I'll just be blunt. One of my ratties is much larger than the other. Now this is probably normal but for fancy rats both are quite small, especially george who is very very delicate and petit to the point where we actually asked the vet to check his gender (h...

This is going to sound odd but recently my little ratty, George, has started to shake his head more often, particularly after being petted, and was wondering if anyone else's rats do this? He loves a cuddle and this seems to be a new habit from him that I've never seen this in previous ratties. Othe...

Hi, I just took my male rat, Rufus, to the vets because this week I've noticed that there has been blood sometimes in his urine. This has only just started a few days ago and hasn't been an ongoing problem. The vet felt around his abdomen and said she felt no abnormalities. He gets very scared when ...

thanks to everyone for replying, its been a big help :) bought some johnson's vit-min drops from the pet store and will put it in their water just in case. i don't feed them straights, so didn't get the calcivet but just looking at different foods that i can give them to make sure their good health ...