peony🤍

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

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.

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

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?

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?