Guide to Proper Rat Care

Housing (How to Build a Homemade Rat Cage)

Basically you have two choices for housing: Open air wire cages, or glass/plastic tank enclosures. Each has thier advantages and disadvantages.

Wire cages allow much better air circulation, and usually allow more interaction between rats and people because you can poke snacks through the cage wires, or let you rat lick your finger. However most rats will pee and poop on any surface they walk on in thier cage, so you will have to scrub the wires every week to keep them from getting cruddy. And unless the drop pan is at least 5" high, the litter will get kicked out of the cage.

Aquariums, modified plastic boxes, etc, are excelent homes too, especially for nursing mothers and young litters. The solid walls keep the rats warmer (especially hairless varieties), and keep a perfect level of humidity which is important to prevent ringtail in dry environments. These cages are easier to clean out too, you just scoop out the old litter and wipe down the glass, and you are ready to add new litter.

Litter or bedding will have to be on the cage floor to absorb and disguise the odor of poop, pee and other little messes like uneaten food. Cedar and pine shavings should not be used because they can cause health problems in rats. Try to use pelleted fiberous litters marketed for ferrets or birds, Carefresh ®, rabbit pellets, recycled brands of flushable litter for cats, ect. If you prefer wood chips, try Sanichips ®. Some people also use corncob, but I find that it molds quickly and smells funny (yuk!).

Diet

Your rat's diet can be as complex or as simple as you like. There are a variety of whole rodent diets made for rats and mice in pelleted/block form. There are seed mixes made for rats and mice, and there are recipes for homemade rat diets too! Rats will eat just about anything, so if you run out of food for the weekend, don't worry, just throw some low sugar cereal, veggies, crackers, and bread in a bowl. Your rats will gobble it up and probably won't want rodent blocks on Monday :-)

Fresh water should always be available to your rats at all times. Animals won't eat if there is no water, and will quickly dehydrate.

Entertainment

Rats are the most intelligent domesticated rodent known in the world today, and they need mental stimulation. Without games and toys rats will become listless and depressed.

The most common cage toys are running wheels, ropes to climb, parrot chews, raw hide, nylabones in different flavors, bells, cat toys, parakeet toys. But you can use whatever you find around your house (toilet paper rolls, paper lunch bags, ping pong ball on a string, bakery string strung with wooden beads).

Wheels are really important to keep you rats in shape, especially if you don'e have too much time to let your rats run around out of the cage. Wodent Wheels® are the safest kind of excersise wheel.

Most importantly, PLAY WITH YOUR RATS! For goodness sake, isn't that why you wanted pets in the first place?

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