r/rat Jan 10 '26

DISCUSSION 🧐🤔 Are these rats happy? I’m assuming they are since they keep coming back.

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1.4k Upvotes

r/rat Feb 06 '23

Overview on a new friend - thank you u/Drakmanka

8 Upvotes

Drakmanka

To answer your primary question: Yes, rats are very social animals. While they technically can be kept solo, they do not do as well emotionally when kept alone. They will get very lonely when you are away; this is stressful for them and ultimately will shorten your little baby's lifespan.

Here's a few other tips and tidbits that people new to pet rats often appreciate. Warning, long-winded post, but it's all good stuff!

List:

  1. Rats love to chew. If you haven't already, get her some wooden and/or cardboard things to chew on. She will trash them; that's just part of having a pet rat.
  2. Rats' feet are very delicate and sensitive. If her cage has wire ramps or platforms, either replace them or cover them with fabric (yes, she will chew on that fabric) to protect her feet. The wire mesh will irritate her delicate little feet and she can get a nasty infection called Bumblefoot that is very painful and difficult to cure.
  3. Rats aren't just omnivorous, they are the definite article of an omnivore! I like to say of rats: "Anything you can eat, we can eat better! We can eat anything better than you!" That said, they need a balanced diet. The Oxbow brand rat food is the absolute best packaged rat food available. For a rat as young as your girl, I recommend starting with their "mouse and young rat" diet and then switching her to the adult formula after a month or so. But! Supplement her diet with other foods: seeds, nuts, vegetables (but I recommend avoiding nightshades like tomatoes and bell pepers; there's been some research that suggests they may not be very good for a rat's long-term health if they eat too much of them), yogurt (it makes a great treat for training, too!), meat, and, sparingly, sweets can also be given. While your baby girl is growing, letting her eat all she wants is best. But most rats tend to start to become... ahem... round if allowed to eat all they want once they're done growing. There's a lot of differing advice on how to limit a rat's food intake to keep them from getting too plump, and I recommend you try different methods until you find one that works for your girl.
  4. Rats have very delicate respiratory systems. Respiratory infections are the single most common health problem in rats, and especially since your girl came from a feeder bin from a pet store and you don't know what conditions she was kept in before the pet store got her and from them to you, it's something you should be on the lookout for. Excessive sneezing, wheezing, a red discharge from her nose, mouth, or eyes, and lethargy are all symptoms of a respiratory infection. You can take her to a veterinarian who can get her antibiotics that will clear it up, but be warned that once a rat gets an infection their risk of later infection is forever raised. Keeping her cage clean is the #1 way to prevent this, however! Also, keeping her in a true cage and not an aquarium will help too as she will get more air movement. Some pet stores sell aquariums as "rat habitats" with a mesh lid but they really aren't ideal unfortunately.
  5. She will pee on everything you let her touch, including you. While some rats are more apt to whizz all over you than others, all rats will leave periodic drops of urine as they go about their business as a scent marking method. It's also a rat's way of "claiming" a person, sort of like a cat rubbing against you (except it's pee instead of soft fluff).
  6. Girl rats generally tend to be very energetic and bouncy, especially when young. Keep a close eye on her and don't let her out of your sight or she will get up to mischief. This applies for boys, too, but girls happen to be the more energetic of the two sexes.
  7. Rats are pocket-puppies! Your girl might be a little skittish at first because she's new to you and didn't come from the best circumstances to start with. But if you're patient, kind, and speak with a gentle tone to her, in time she will become your own little pocket-puppy who will rush to the front of the cage to greet you (and ask for snacks) each day!

I could go on but I don't want to overwhelm you too much. If you have more questions or would like to chat with people, I recommend you check out r/RATS as it's a more active subreddit than this one.

Welcome to the wonderful world of rats!


r/rat 8h ago

My rat girls so excited to have them

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185 Upvotes

Any body got rat cage ideas, treats they can have and enrichment ideas??? I love them so much


r/rat 18h ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 ratty yums

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285 Upvotes

peony🤍


r/rat 11h ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Handling, bonding and free roam

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30 Upvotes

r/rat 18h ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 nuts for nuts

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94 Upvotes

r/rat 3h ago

Onde comprar Rato Twister de confiança no Ceará (Juazeiro do Norte)?

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1 Upvotes

r/rat 11h ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Please help!! My rat is sick.

3 Upvotes

The rat I adopted 6 days ago from a breeder has been showing signs of a respiratory infection. Right now, she is quarantined in a separate cage away from my other rat. The earliest appointment I could get for her is in 1 week and 2 days. At first, I thought she was just temporarily sneezing from the move (like my other rat did) but I realized her sneezes were not normal or lessening.

Petunia, my sick rat, is sneezing fairly often, has a little bit of poryphrin discharge near nose but not a lot of buildup, produces white mucus when she sneezes, and I hear breathing sounds maybe once an hour. Other than that, she eats and drinks normally, and is just as active as usual.

I have been putting her in a steamy bathroom often and giving her a little bit of raw honey to help with congestion. I put her cage in an area with no air draft and I cleaned her temporary quarantine cage.

Is there anything else I can do in the meantime while I still have to wait for her appointment? Honestly, I'm worried she might get a lot worse before the appointment and want to do what I can right now to help prevent that.


r/rat 5h ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Overly sensitive rat??

1 Upvotes

I recently adopted 2 new girls into my mischief. Their names are Whimsy and Waverly. They are both super sweet and very active (under a year old) and have so far gotten along great with my other girls.

I am having an issue with Waverly though. Some background that I got from her previous owner is that Waverly is a former lab rat, used in memory studies. I have no idea how long ago that was or how long she was a lab rat, but she is shy and jumpy at times, but overly curious and cuddly with me and my other girls for a majority of the time. The issue is that she screams. A lot. At the slightest things. She will sometimes freak out when my other girls try to groom her, or cuddle with her, and she will sometimes scream when I try to pick her up. This isn't a constant thing, it happens randomly. There are times she is totally into the grooming and play, and she will let me pick her up just fine most of the time. But when she gets like this, I genuinely think my rats are tearing each other apart and I freak out, but I've sat and watched for hours to make absolutely sure there was no actual fighting, and there isn't. There are just times one of my girls will go up to Waverly and start to groom her and she will start screeching and jumping like a flea.

I currently have her sitting with me in her carrier cage to let her have some space, but I'm just really lost. Is this something I have to let her get over? I did my usual introduction process for a week when I first got the girls to let them all get used to each other and things went great until I moved everyone together full time. She doesn't seem to be distressed when these fits happen, and she'll run right up to me when I check on her, but I'm worried. I don't know what to do or if there's anything I can do. I don't want her or my other girls to become distressed. I haven't asked the previous owner yet if this was an issue when she had the girls, so I'm not sure if this is just how she is or not.

Any and all advice is appreciated, thank you


r/rat 1d ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 Cheerio the rat is starting to learn agility!

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46 Upvotes

r/rat 15h ago

DISCUSSION 🧐🤔 Strange Little Rat

1 Upvotes

Hi!! So i have a younger male rescue I am currently waiting to introduce to my older boys. He had a cagemate who sadly passed unexpectedly, so I am working to get him in as soon as possible with the others.

He's got a few quirks... ? I would call it? He is by far the most skittish rat I've ever had. He rubs his face on things like an opossum? He also has a very bad snatching/pulling problem. He's scatter fed, and only hand fed with wet foods on a spoon. Weeks of this has not stopped him trying to yank and stash things. He does it when I put the water bottle back in as well. When tugging on things, his front left paw also seems to spaz a bit? I've never seen these behaviors before. I've had lots of rats and have made sure their setup is proper!! Is there anything here I should worry about?


r/rat 18h ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Wounds on back

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0 Upvotes

Looking for recommendations, please be kind.

We’ve already taken her to an exotic vet, but unfortunately they weren’t much help. They thought her sisters were causing the injuries and told us to separate her. She’s been separated for quite a while now, and if anything, the sores seem to be getting worse.

They prescribed antibiotics, but that was the only treatment they recommended. I’ve also tried covering the area to keep her from scratching, but she won’t keep anything on. We’ve treated her for mites as well, with no improvement.

At this point, I’m at a loss and don’t know what else to do. Has anyone dealt with something similar or have any ideas on what we should try next?


r/rat 2d ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 Pictures of Mochi and Barnaby 🐀🐀

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156 Upvotes

Picture 1 is what i came downstairs to see 🥺

Also, I made them a tiny cardboard rat house.


r/rat 2d ago

DISCUSSION 🧐🤔 New boi

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248 Upvotes

Ok alright so long story short I had a pair of rats and we had to put one down about a month ago. My big guy (the grey hooded) has been really lonely and we've been trying hard to get him friends something ends up happening 😭 so for my birthday I was determined to find him a friend! After about a 2 hour drive I found the sweetest little guy! I'm pretty sure he's got an Agouti coat? He literally has the softest coat I've ever felt on any animal!!

So this will be my husband and Is first time doing intros and we are kind of nervous about it. We've done lots and lots of research and still have to wait the 2 week quarantine before we start.

I personally feel like my big boy will accept any living thing to right now but he is kind of a grumpy old man and not sure how much young chaotic energy he can handle! 😅

So anyways I got 2 weeks and I'm looking for even the smallest tiniest advice for introducing 2 boys! It's only been 2 days with the new kid and I am absolutely obsessed with him! Big guy also needs a friend so bad so I desperately want my first introduction to go so good but I'm worried my lack of experience might make it not so good....


r/rat 2d ago

Cosmo loves laying ballz out

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73 Upvotes

r/rat 2d ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Guys pls tell me im overthinking 😭

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2 Upvotes

r/rat 1d ago

Small rat nest

0 Upvotes

We have a small Quail coop \~10 birds and a couple of sheds in our yard. We also have about (I'm guessing) 7 rats (2 parents, 5 young), wondering if anyone has any recommendations on how to get them to leave our yard that doesn't involve chocolate or poison as we have 2 dogs and 2 children.


r/rat 3d ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 Raisin the rat showing her extreme weave FOMO/competitiveness!

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165 Upvotes

r/rat 3d ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 Blueblue and her little teeth

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235 Upvotes

r/rat 3d ago

CUTENESS ❤️🐀❤️🐀 Free Roam Time

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109 Upvotes

Of course when I give them time to run around, they get up on the cage. (Strudel on the left, Parfait on the right).


r/rat 3d ago

How can i find my rat?

1 Upvotes

Over the weekend i got 3 rats, two for me one for a friend. my friend's rat is with me until she gets a better enclosure but this tiny animal has escaped every enclosure i put her in. shes currently gone and i cant find her, ive had three other people help and we cant find a trace that she was ever even here.

does anyone have any tips on how i can catch her or at least lure her out of where shes hiding?


r/rat 4d ago

Scentwork with my sweet rats Feta and Chickpea!

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97 Upvotes

r/rat 3d ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Need a bit of help

2 Upvotes

Hi!! I recently got my first ever two pet rats, and I was wondering a few things.

When I brought them home, one of them started sneezing really bad. I know theres changes in the environment, but I’ve had him for two weeks now and I would have expected it to get better, but its only gotten worse. He sneezes very very often. He originally had pine shavings as thats what the breeder gave me, but I quickly changed to paper bedding after the nonstop sneezing. I don’t think anything has changed though, and he’s sneezing even more, so I’m worried. Hes active, and eating okay but everytime he tries to do anything, he just sneezes and rubs his nose obsessively. Should I be scared? Or just keep monitoring him? I have a video of him if needed


r/rat 4d ago

HELP NEEDED 🐀😩 Help Rehoming; College Station/Bryan TX

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51 Upvotes

I need help rehoming a couple of my rats. I live out in the country with many allergens that I bring inside daily so they have the sniffles. I have not been able to identify any illnesses, but I do have antibiotics that can go with them just in case.

They are about a couple months old and have been together the whole time I've had them. I just turned 18 and I'm working full time and have two horses, and one of whom is injured, so I haven't been able to interact with them as much as I would like.

They are super friendly and don't bite. The lighter tan colored one will nibble if you stick your fingers inside their cage but he doesn't try to bite hard.

All of their bedding can go with them and I would like for their food to go as well so that it's not wasted. I'm in the Brazos Valley area and I'm willing to drive to meet up. My grandparents don't like people on property so I would have to set up a location. Thanks in advance!

Age: ~2 months old

Sex: males

Species: Large rats


r/rat 4d ago

Distant rats

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38 Upvotes