NOTE:
Due to the Holidays,there may be a short delay in receiving answers as fast as I usually do.However,any emergency question should be addressed by writing EMERGENCY in the subject line.If I read it and see its not an emergency at all but just a way to get my attention first,I will reject your question and you will not get answered at all.Any life or death situation, of course,should be handled by a qualified Vet.To request a telephone consultation, please email sandyscrittercity@yahoo.com. in order to schedule a date and time that is feasible for both of us. There is no time limit on weekends or after 9 pm M-F or if your cell phone carrier is Verizon Wireless.There is no charge for a telephone consultation. I offer my advice free of charge since my goal is to simply keep your rats happy and healthy for as long as possible. My reward is knowing that people learning as much as they can on rat care in order to provide the best care possible. Thats all I need to know. You cant put a price tag on love:)
As one of the top experts here at allexperts for 2008, I am happy to be able to help advise others on the proper care of pet rats.
I am a rat care specialist/advisor for area vets and have 20 plus years experience working with rodents.
I can advise you on the most current treatments available to your rat for common and also complicated ailments that seem to affect domestic rats during their life time. I do telephone consults and have even had some wonderful Vets call me to compare notes/stories. I also have training in animal behavior with the main focus being the study of rodent behavior.
I also have experience with wild rats, raising one myself.
Experience My expertise
Includes the following:
1. Education on prevention of tumors, lung and heart disease and disease of the kidneys too.
2. Up to date treatments for tumors in rats,both benign or malignant tumors.
3. The most current treatments used successfully to treat lung and heart disease
4. Prevention and treatment of the mycoplasma organism that our rats are plagued with since the day they are born, among other common ailments that attack our rats, just to name a few.
My job as a rodent consultant is to educate the owner on proper care of the animal but in no way does my advice take the place of seeking professional treatment by a qualified Veterinarian.
However, I will contribute to this site by answering your questions about raising pet rats and any problems that may arise regarding their health, diet, husbandry and over all well being of the rat to **the best of my ability.**
Organizations I maintain my website, Critter City and update it often to keep up with current treatments concerning pet rat health care. Please click the link above to take you there!
Publications My own website of course, and also I have brochures on rat care that are found in various animal clinics in my area.
Education/Credentials
Mentored by highly noted exotic specialists in my area. I am a member of the ASPCA.
Awards and Honors Was honored by being chosen to be one of the top 50 experts of 2008
Past/Present Clients My past clients have been through various animal clinics and I also am mentor to new rat owners that reach me through here and my website too.
Question QUESTION: Hi There.... So I have had my two rats Co-Co Bean and Bubbles since December... My boyfriend and I LOVE them to death! We got Bean first and about 2 weeks later we decided we can't just have one and no friends for it, so we got Bubbles for her... They have been REALLY great pals, after the introduction stage!!! Of course when we introduced them Bean had to lay down the line and let Bubbles know that she is the dom. one, which we new was natural, well from everything that we have read about them... since then everything has been fine. They act just like they are sisters, love each other, get into lil tiffs, but they get over it... WELL these past 2 weeks, Bubbles has been too aggresive. At first we thought they just got into another little tiff, but it keeps getting worse and worse. Bean will just be standing on a box, looking at whats going on in the house, and then all of the sudden Bubbles will come up behind her, and drag Bean off of the box with HER MOUTH! Bean starts to sqeak and cry out to us, and we will spray a lil squirt of water on bubbles to get her to lay off of her! I thought it was a lil stage, but it's getting worse and worse. I am not too sure what to do because now my boyfriend is getting pissed off at Bubbles because she just won't be nice. He is thinking that maybe she has a diease or something like that, but I DOUBT it. We got her a petco! Is there any advice you can give me, cause I'm just not sure what to do anymore, its getting out of hand! Plus, what really confuses me, is Bubbles has ALWAYS been the shy one and the one who does whatever Bean does, and the little quite one. She NEVER was the dom. one and now she is just taking it too far! Hope you can help
ANSWER: Nope, no diseases for the rats..they are going through puberty is all and its more or less hormonal. She will out grow it.
A real aggressive rat will stand up on their hind legs and circle the other rat, hiss, growl and snarl, fur standing up straight, shoving the other rat with their paws and before you know it they are entangled in a ball fighting,biting, kicking and there will be blood shed.
With your girls, no blood, no foul...and the more you put into it the more they rats will pick up the negative energy and it gets worse.
Let them work it out. Dont intervene. It may be hard but it works. If you continue to rescue the other rat she wont know how to defend herself and if you keep spraying the dominating rat and showing her negative energy, she is going to put that negative energy onto the little rat and it gets worse, which as you can see, it is, you even said it was getting worse and it probably will keep getting worse as long as you intervene.
Does that make sense?
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Yea I understand what you are saying, it is just as if they are kids... in the teenage stage, lol...
I will be trying that out...
Also, I Have one more question for you, I am looking at some type of diet for Bubbles because she is getting over weight and I don't want her to get bigger to where she won't be able to fully walk...
We give them a lot of things, like lettuce, rasberrys. blueberrys, mushrooms, apples, plain white rice, etc. I mean they have a great life when it comes to food wise. Bean is fine with her weight, but Bubbles, I believe she has a different metabloism, just like people. It doesn't help though, like after I am done cooking, how she sneaks away from Ryan and I and gets into our dinner, (because we let them roam the house, like play time), but do you have any diet plans or recipes something that would be good for her, but she would like to eat it at the same time?
Answer Check out my website, Critter City. Ah heck I will give you the direct link to the diet and nutrition page. There are some recipes there plus links to other sites that have other recipes etc...
Rats normally have a fast metabolism, hence the one reason for a short life span, unfortunately.
They burn calories just like they burn through medications faster than normal. However, a diet high in fat will for sure pack on the weight just like with humans. If your dealing with a rat that is older and less active, this could be another reason for weight gain too.
Anyhow, check out the stuff about rat diets on my page and hopefully you will find some ideas.
