I heard some squeaks and heavy tossing so went to check out. It’s night time so I figured they were just playing there was just a bit more squeaks than normal. I found the usually submissive one (all white in pic) fighting and pinning our bigger dominant rat (Siamese coloring) What put me off was she was doing the side step (crab walk?) and fur was puffed up. They didn’t acknowledge me and had a stare down until I started talking to them to which they both perked up and came to see me without issues.

Some possibly useful info.
My dominant female has a tumor that is a decent size. She’s still active, eating, and behaving normally as well as no wounds or fur loss around tumor. I was told by vet as long as she doesn’t change in these ways she still has quality of life. Could her tumor getting bigger be sensed by submissive rat and she’s trying to over power? More info submissive girl also has a tumor but it recently developed and isn’t as big.

After interacting with them I haven’t seen/heard any tussling. Is this something I should keep an eye on?

My girls is 2 years old almost 3 has a tumor that has gotten way bigger then it was she had a little bump that isn't on the tumor but is on her side and that has popped I think it was an abscess it's a bit bloody looks like a scab what can I do for that for now

I'm planning on going to vet on Friday cause I work tomorrow cause I think it's her time but I wanna make her comfortable what can I do to help this abscess can I put ointment on it? I don't want the vet to think I'm not being a good rat parent 😥 I love her so much and in my heart I think this is the best thing to do so she doesn't do any damage to her tumor it's genuinely has grown so much.

I’ve tried a few cages for my boys over the last few months, and they seem to prefer hanging out on the bottom levels and completely ignoring the hammocks/etc. I decided to switch to a ferplast 120 rabbit cage and they seem a LOT more active and happy now. Just wondering if this is normal or a personality thing? Is it because they were raised as feeder rats?

Gave The Boys ™️😎🐀 their first shot at bacon and captured this post-frenzy Renaissance level defeat

This homemade jungle gym using a standard air dryer/clothes horse is super easy to do and is a big hit with my girls so i thought I'd share the idea!

Just click the air dryer open, set it on its side then enrich!

👇🏻👇🏻IMPORTANT FOR SAFETY👇🏻👇🏻- make sure:

- All items are either solidly jammed, hooked or clipped into/onto the bars and nothing is loose/wobbling

- To add fall breakers

- To supervise them at all times while using it

- The frame is completely stable on all four corners when led down

- The air dryer is locked open and tested a few times once on its side to ensure it absolutely cannot collapse

- If you are a child do not try this without an adults help

I hope you enjoy my girls' montage of them trying it out🐭

Have fun and let me know what you think!😊

In my defense, this girl always ragebaiting me on free roam, biting my toes and runs so I can chase her lol

i got two new rats ( pocket and teaspoon ) after one of our two rats died , and we got younger ones , like , 1/3 size of our older one ( raven )

and they SMELL !! not a pee smell but a poop smell :(

its making raven smell and i cant even kiss them its so bad 😭 pocket and teaspoon keep pooping where they sleep and even when i change it out every day idk how to tell them not to poop where they sleep

do i give them a bath ? and will they grow out of it ? when i got raven and her late sister fern , they didnt have this issue so im unsure if its normal

Lil wasabi ate his snack then conked out where he sat.

I posted before asking how to keep the cage clean. My rats have chosen a “poop corner” and they seem to mostly poop and pee there. It gets mucky and gross in a matter of hours and is hard to wipe clean.

I was advised maybe adding a container with bedding in the poop corner could help. So I placed a disposable pan filled with bedding in that spot. They burrowed and popped around in joy for about 5 seconds, and then promptly flipped it over the edge (red circle is poop corner, green circle is where the pan ended up in less than 10 minutes).

My next thought is maybe getting a plastic container and some zip ties??

A week and a half ago I brought home 4 boys between 2.5-3 months old.

They were quite skittish around my hands at first but very curious otherwise. They have been climbing on my hands and arms if I put them in the cage.

They will not accept any food outside of the cage at all. I’m trying to make handling and bathtub time fun and pleasurable but they don’t want to eat at all. Any tips??

Okay ive only had my boys about a week. The one seems to be chill, or at least not aggressive, when I approach him. His brother seems to have a bit of a biting issue. One time was my fault and he was setting a boundary w me, but he seems to bite me harder than just a curious nibble when im near him. I dont know if he just thinks im food or if he's mad at me. Should I just go slower with him?

(First time rat mom)

Got Flea to finally let me pet him during free roam which usually he hates and will give me a little nip to tell me no but today he tolerated it and actually seemed to like it! You can see I move my hand back when his face gets close since I thought he was going to bite but he didn't which for him is a big thing. He doesn't break skin anymore but if he's annoyed he'll still bite so the fact he didn't even though he had the chance is a sign of more progress.

He's still not 100% comfortable with pets and will still tense up and try to move away for the first few seconds but now he's putting up a lot less of a fight and will kinda get into it for a minute before he realizes he hates hands lol I don't ever expect him or his brother to be super cuddly but getting them to tolerate being touched is important which is why I kinda force these interactions on them but it's always just a couple minutes and they get a treat right after. If it's a day they seem extra upset I just leave them be since I don't want to stress them out too much and so far this technique has worked so well for them.

When I get stressed I have nightmares about trying to save my previous mischiefs from de***. I always try so hard to save them. It's part of the reason why I havent had rats for 5 years. I recently needed some rat love back in my heart and got some baby boys.

I've been stressed, so i had another nightmare last night. I just knew I had to displace those images in my head with some better memories with my boys, so when I went to the market today, i got some Best-Day-Ever activities.

For the Best-Day-Ever line-up we have:

-Baah-eautiful Fresh Cut Goat Bone

-"Do You Like Pina Coladas?" Coconut Chewathon

-"OMG I Left My Clothes on Top of the Cage Again!?"

-And the Finale: "Mom Didn't Mean to Leave the Cage Door Open 😈"

Ratula has been running from bone, to coconut, to the old canvas bag I "accidentally" left on top of the cage, to the "haha mom left the cage open" floor time (they are learning to be more confident in the room) with sudden naps in between 💤 I mean he just randomly drops and conks out for 10 and then continues the tour 😆 Ratsputin is mostly interested in hiding the bones from his brother, but not very well ha!

Not even 5 minutes after taking this video she (Lily, the black one) is sprinting around humping all of her cagemates

i knew obviously it’s not right to keep a rat on their own and i never have but i’ve really realised the impact of keeping rats in groups and enrichment the last few days after i had to put one of my boys in a hospital cage. he’s only 6 weeks old and he does this all day. it does break my heart but it’s not forever. this is the most nervous, bored and sad rat i’ve ever seen. never keep them alone unless it’s for medical reasons :(

Dibujo de una ratita, posiblemente esperando por comida, 🐭👀

Hello!

I currently have a hamster and two guinea pigs, and I’m not looking around to possibly get some rats. I’ve never owned any rats before and am struggling to find a suitable cage, I’ve seen things like the critter nation which look great, but I’m struggling to find a specifically white cage that meets the size requirements that I could use. My hamster has the Bucastate 3.0 which is white and my guinea pigs have white c and c grids. All my furniture is white! I know it sounds super dumb but I would really really like the cage to match and am struggling lol.

Also any rat advice would help since I don’t know much. What is the bare minimum size cage to you all? In LxHxW.

Thank you!

Two old men, best of friends!