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I need help...I acquired some rats..

bekers71

bekers71

What addiction?!
I was contacted today by on old friend. She is going through some rough times and had some rats she needed to get rid of. (long story) She wanted to find them 'pet' homes. Not give them to some one who would feed them to snakes. If she couldn't find them homes she was going to set them 'free'. So being the person I am, I told her I could keep them for a while until things blow over. Well, she doesn't want them back and I can't go back on my word and feed them to the snakes. I've had hamsters and a few mice when I was kid but that was many moons ago. So I need some help setting this up right.

Here's what I have:

1 adult male(x-large size) and 9 of his babies(weanling size). Mommy rat got lose in the girls house and she said when she found her she would bring her to me. She gave me this big set up that is tall with a plastic top and bottom, almost looks like a type of ferret/bird cage. It has 3 platforms and ramps to them and a big glass water bottle. At the moment I have them all in a 20 long glass tank with a lid and clamps down lid. A couple bars on the big cage need to be fixed and it stunk horrible so needs to be cleaned.

My questions:

1. What size set up should they be in?
2. Do I need to separate the males or can they just all live together?
3. Whats the best bedding to use?
4. I've heard putting vanilla extract in the water helps with the smell. Is this true and how much would I use?
5. What kind of food should I get for them?

If any one can think of any thing else to tell me, please feel free to input it here.

Cage they came with. The bottom is sitting on top. :)
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That cage you have is suitable for a couple rats it looks like. I definitely wouldn't be enough room for all of them(at least, judging by the picture. It could be larger than I'm thinking). I've never heard of the vanilla extract before, but I don't see how it could hurt to try. :dunno:

As per bedding, it's basically the same as snakes. Stay away from Pine, Cedar etc. The dust is bad for their lungs as well.

They eat almost anything. I used to give mine leftovers of pretty much whatever we had for dinner.

Oh, and definitely seperate them now(unless you want the babies for food/pets). They need to be seperated around the age of 5 weeks. Some say as early as for, some say 6 so I just go with 5.
 
Take out the weanling males, and find them homes, (feed them off ;) ), and now you have a colony, or whatever your ratio is, maybe divide them up into 1.2's including the dad if you have to. You might even be able to get away with a 1.3 in the cage. Vanilla extract works pretty good, it just helps with the urine smell which is worse in mice IMO. I use aspen in my tanks with paper that I toss in and let them shred, it keeps them busy. You can feed them lab block, and any feed store knows what that is, or you can feed them dog food, as I've seen others say they do on here, (not sure of the brand though).
 
One more question...the friend said the male and female had one litter of babies and did just fine. But when mom had the second litter of babies they killed them. Why is that? Is that some thing I should be concerned with?
 
That cage looks like it may be big enough for 3 maybe 4. I use aspen for a substrate and I feed mine Mazuri rat chow and they get some greens, veggies, fruit and rat treats every once in awhile. Make sure to get things for them to chew on or the will chew the bars and drive you insane lol. They like having a few hides and they love hammocks.
 
As long as you're not introducing new rats, they should be fine. All rats wrestle a good bit to prove dominance, but that's to be expected. Obviously, never keep one housed alone(very social animals).
 
I get wooden chew toys for rabbits/rats, it helps keep their teeth worn down. I have also bought treats that clip on the cage and are made out of different nuts and berries which they like but they go through them fast.
 
I raise rats in a commercial rat rat here. My tubs are about the size of the cage you showed but not nearly as high. The feed hoppers and water reservoir are external. I have a total of 21 colonies each with 1 male and 3-4 females in them.
Males kept out of cages with females seem to get along just fine for me. I have two elderly retired males that have been pets longer than they ever were breeders, and walter and rex live happily together in a 20 long tank with daily trips out into their exercise ball. They are major spoiled ratties. I feed a mazuri 6f commercial rat chow, you can find the nearest dealer to you on line at the mazuri web site. It runs about 20.00 for 50# and I use 150# a month with the 21 rat colonies, 9 colonies of ASF rats and 5 colonies of mice plus the boys, 2 pet hamsters and 2 female rats who are also retired and living high on the hog in their own pen.
I use pine shavings I buy at the local feed mill where I get my mazuri. Make sure if you get pine it is kiln dried, as my feed mill sells them and others which are not dried and as a result not suitable for rodents. My colonies produce anywhere from 250 to 500 babies every 2 weeks which keeps a majority of my almost 200 snakes fed very very well. I agree strip out the surplus males and set up a colony or two for feeders for your scaled kids. They will be ever grateful. You can see pics of my rack on my web page.
As for the cannibalism issue...If I run into it I cull the responsible party right away as I do not need that trait and it seems to be inheritable to a large degree staying in my stock. Hope this helps.
 
Looks like the enclosure is fine. Vanilla works great, I use it on my mice. Along with rodent blocks, I would use some veggies, and table scraps.... That is an awesome treat for them. Good luck on your new pets
 
Buckeye, It depends on the quanity of water. I give the mice about 3 drops in about a cup of water. It usually takes about 2 days to start noticing the change. It works great. Of course they still do smell a little but not near as bad as they did. I change all my bottles every 2 days.(sometimes sooner). You can get Vanilla extract at Dollar general for cheap. Last bottle I paid $1 for.
 
Buzzard said:
Buckeye, It depends on the quanity of water. I give the mice about 3 drops in about a cup of water. It usually takes about 2 days to start noticing the change. It works great. Of course they still do smell a little but not near as bad as they did. I change all my bottles every 2 days.(sometimes sooner). You can get Vanilla extract at Dollar general for cheap. Last bottle I paid $1 for.
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Does this work for rabbits and piggies too?
 
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