Fancy Rats Archive forum: 2002 - 2011

I have six girls and they are always humping each other :roll: Every few days one will go into heat, set the others off and they'll just be loads of scuffling and humping and squeaking for a bit and then it will all die down. It's totally normal and doesn't harm or distress them at all so I just let...

If that's what people think is best then I'm happy to do it but I am a little concerned about the stress it may put the older boys under. After a few hours together on Saturday they were visibly stressed and unhappy- is it going to be ok to put them through this?

Over the last few weeks we have tried to introduce our two baby boys (now 13wks old) to our bigger boys. We have two groups of older boys, one has boys ranging from 7-16months and one has an age range of 4-18months and we have tried both groups. We have tried a variety of things and nothing has work...

It's a tough one, a really tough one. What I would do is talk it through with the vet and see what they think is best. Don't feel you have to make a decision there and then, but just being able to sound someone out that knows your rats and has more knowledge can be helpful in making a decision :) So...

The last couple of days Albie has had an incredibly porphy eye. The other eye is fine, it's just the one. I have a pic: http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj49/izzerie/3f023e63.jpg This isn't the worst I've seen it, it has been much worse than this. He's on the last few days of a two week course of ...

I think it depends entirely on the rat. If he's healthy and doesn't seem old then it's worth considering. You need to bear in mind that there is always a risk with anaesthetic and this risk does increase with age. I think you need to discus it with the vet and see what they say. If the rat is not in...

I'm trying to introduce my 12 week old babies, Ivan and Mozart, to my group of four older boys- Albert (11 months, castrated), Samson and Pablo (7 months, intact) and Sidney (16 months, intact). They've been put together on a number of occasions now and the result is always the same. The babies alwa...

No you can't wash the arms without taking the sofa apart but a little febreze once a week would be fine

Rooms are looking good!

As for sofas that are easy to clean, Ikea modular sofas are great. They come with machine washable covers so once a month I strip them off and give them a wash. This is my sofa

I looked into it once and I think you can but it is incredibly expensive as rats are considered exotic. I think it was around £75-£100 per rat per year

I guess I think of 18 months as old because I've lost two boys young (10 and 15 months). Well I've got them home and I'm a little concerned about one of them. Billy seems to drag his tail along behind him and doesn't seem to have an awful lot of strength in his back legs. Sometimes one will be worse...

I also start looking for signs of kidney problems, HLD, and just general signs of old age :) Can you give me some idea of what they are? Imagine i'm an alien just landed on earth, I seriously know nothing about oldies, the two I've lost were 10months and 15months so this is a new adventure for me!

I'm adopting a group of 5 boys tonight and the ages range from 3 months to 18months. Therefore I'm very suddenly having to think about caring for older rats! My oldest boy is only now approaching the 16 month mark so I was going to have to start thinking about it but now I'm going to have to get my ...

I would happily recommend The Barn Veterinary Practice in Ipswich. They have two practices- one at Copdock and one further into town. They are a RCVS accredited small animal practice with links to an exotics practice in Colchester for advice on more unusual ratty problems. They don't have a vast amo...

It depends where they come from. Albert and Henry didn't have names, Rupert and Sidney did but they were stupid (Andy and Andy :roll:) so I changed them. I changed Samson and Pablo's names from Harry and Peter because the lady hadnt cared for them very well and didn't want them anymore. All my babie...