Expert: Sandra Todd - 6/20/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello Sandra!  I read a question you answered to a little boy about whether to get a male or female rat for a pet and just loved your answer.  It was so informative, so I think you might just have the answers to a couple of my rat questions.
I am thinking about getting 2 rats and have decided (because of that one answer I read of yours) to get males and have them neutered.  I've found a local vet that has experience with rats so that all settled.  I have a 2 almost 3 year old daughter who loves all animals and is very gentle with them.  But I am wondering if a rat would make a good pet for a home with such a young child.  She would always be supervised around the rats (for her safety and the rats!) but I still have my concerns.  Also we have two cats.  Everything I've read about rats and cats co-mingling says that you mostly have to worry about it while the rats are small then once they grow and become bigger in size most cats are to lazy to pursue the rats.  My cats are indeed lazy, one of them is almost 15 years old so I don't see her being a rat huntress.  The other one is probably 4 years old but he is also lazy and has never been outside the house or had any kind of hunting experience.  I had 2 ferrets that the cats never had any problems with but I don't' know if that is in the same category.
Also on that post to the little boy you mentioned some recipes for rat food.  If you still have those links I would love to see them.
Mhh, I think that's all the questions I have.  I had a rat (Ratso) as a child and he was one of the best pets.  I would really like my daughter to get to experience what a wonderful pet a rat can be and also educate my mother-in-law that rats aren't awful little beasties and show her just how sweet and loving pet rats actually are.
Thank you so much for your time,
Stephanie

ANSWER: Hi Stephanie

I turned my Grandmother on to rats years ago, and God love her, she is still alive at 92 years old, a bit senile, yet she can still remember the "black headed rat named Louie" she calls him when she lived with us 5 years ago.  I had to wire the doors shut because I would find her in the rat room and she was always trying to let them out to play with her! She used to say she was sorry for ever chasing rats with her broom! LOL!

Anyhow, as for the rat diet, since the letter to the little boy, I have updated my website and have devoted a page on rat diet, one strictly for training scared or biting rats, etc...etc...so I will give you the URL where I have recipes and ideas for diets etc...

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/ratsandahealthydiet.htm

Now to address your other questions:

Ironically, a frantic mother just wrote to me because one of the baby feeder rats she bought just bit her little 3 year old girl pretty hard and she was very worried about the excessive bleeding and if her child could catch anything from the rat.  I reassured her that the only concern would be to make sure she was up to date on her tetnus shots which at that age she should be, and said a ton of other things that I cant even remember now.  However, this in no way means rats all bite. A very scared shy rat that is new to the home and has never been socialized will bite if cornered or forced to be handled. If the tail is grabbed, the rat can deglove easily which can be a medical emergency. I know alot of moms with young children that have rats, even breed them for a hobby and all is well, but as you said, strict supervision since the rat is so small. As for cats, I never ever recommend allowing cats and rats together, no matter how old the cat is or how big the rat is. My rats all tip the scales at close to 2lbs and my cats would devour them in a NY minute. On the other hand, I know people that raised rats with kittens and because the cat grew up around rats, they were friends.  This is a bit different but you know what? I still dont trust it.  Cats and rats do NOT get along by natural instinct. My rats freak just hearing the cats meow from outside their door and they have never had any face to face confrontation with them. Is that odd? They just know....

Hope this helps, and if you think of anything else, feel free to contact me!


Ohhh.....
One more thing...I think you may appreciate these photos:

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/sugarfoxx/08%20June%20Misc/BJ3.jpg

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/sugarfoxx/08%20June%20Misc/portrait_rat_6m

http://i77.photobucket.com/albums/j71/sugarfoxx/08%20June%20Misc/sleepyArgento_w

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks Sandra!
I knew you'd have the answers.  Also I LOVE those pic's especially the first one with the GIANT rat!  I hope my rats get that big and cute!
But anywho, I have a couple more questions for you.  I found a breeder near by but she only had one male available so I checked crags list and found someone who has pet ones and breeds them for reptile food! :( Well, she got two baby males that were to sweet and she just couldn't feed them so she posted them hoping to get them a good home.  
Well, I couldn't pass them up (I know, I probably would have done better with a good breeder buuuut, they were so cute).  They are a little skittish especially the younger one (Monroe).  Nether of them bite but when I reach in to get them Monroe backs into a corner and puts his head low and freezes.  I feel so bad because he look so scared.  The older one (it's my husbands job to come up with his name and he hasn't decided yet) is a little less skittish but he still get a little freaked out.  Maybe it's because I smother them with loves and kisses every time I get them out (I can't help myself) should I be moving slower, lol.  

Anyways, any tips on helping these little cuties not be so scared or am I doing everything right by taking them out and loving on them a bunch.  Also, my daughter loves to eat kix cereal and she's fed them a couple here and there.  Are kix ok for them to eat?  They seem to love them.  Well thanks again!  You're the best!
-Stephanie

ANSWER: Hi Stephanie

I have a moose...errr...dog named Monroe. A female, I dared to be different and name her a boys name. LOL
Anyhow, about the new boys... I get alot of mail from people that rescued shy rats and need help socializing them. Forcing yourself upon them with kisses sounds like you mean well, but to them it may scare them even more. A slower approach may be better.  I had one rat that would push and fight me and I would just muuuwAH  muuwAH with kisses all over him and he would smack me and push to get away to the point he would hide from me like.....OH NO! That crazy lady is here!

Anyhow, here is my website and a link to training shy rats or biting rats. Instead of always sounding like a broken record writing the same thing over and over I made a webpage on my site about it. Of course if you still need more answers feel free to write back.  
It will tell you the best ways to socialize them without coming on to strong and the right approach in certain situations and even how to understand their behavior by me sharing some tips that I have learned from professionals.

Check out these pages:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/trainingshyorbitingrats.htm

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/gettingstarted.htm

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Sandra,
So far your answers have been a great help!  I've been working with my new boys with the suggestions from your site about helping them get accustom to me and less shy and it's been going great.  But alas, I have another couple questions for you (you shouldn't be so much help! Then I wouldn't have to bug you so much!).

Since I've gotten the boys I've developed itchy eyes.  It started with just under my eyes being a little itchy and has moved on to puffy, itchy, red and almost rashy eyes.  It's miserable.  Being the optimist I've tried remove everything new I've added to my life before placing blame on the ratties.  No good, it just keeps getting worse.  I wash my hands after handling them and am sure not to touch my face when handling them but it's still getting worse.

I'm still hopeful it's not them.  But my question is, have you ever heard anything like this happening from pet rats?  I've had all manner of pets in my life (cats, dogs, birds, ferrets, bunnies, lizards, newts, frogs . . the list goes on) and have NEVER had an allergy to any of them.  I am already in love with my ratties and want nothing more then to love and play with them constantly but this has made me take a step back and it breaks my heart.

I know you're not a doctor (as far as I know) so I'm just asking if you've seen anything like this before and if you have what has been done?

Today I cleaned out their cage and gave them baths to see if that might help.  I felt so bad giving them a bath as I'm still trying to gain their trust and here I am dunking them in water.  Poor things probably hate me now, this crazy lady always kissing them is now doing this!  I couldn't find any small animal shampoo so I used tear free baby shampoo, is that alright?

The bath really freaked them out.  Any advice on making bath time a little less traumatic?

I also am thinking this new allergy might be because of the bedding I'm using (Carefresh) it seems to just be paper so I don't really know why that would bother me but I plan to try something new once this bag is gone, what do you use?

Can newspaper be used?  I've read that using soy, I think, newspaper is good but I have no idea where to find it or how to tell the difference.

OK, last thing, I followed the recipe on your site about the food.  All I did was buy a big tupperware, dump each item in and mix it all up, lol, is that how you do it?

I'm sorry to be such a bother with so many questions.  You've just been so helpful.  Thank you again so much for all your help.  I never thought a couple of ratties would bring up so many questions.

Thanks again,
Stephanie

Answer
Ok lets start from the top:

I am afraid you are allergic to your rats. Yes, I have seen this before and have had many people complain about this. One girl was so sick with flu like symptoms when she went near her rats she had to find new homes for them.  :(

Here is some info on allergies to your pet rats:

http://www.ratfanclub.org/allergy.html

You may need to see the doctor for that and see if you cant get on something for allergies. I am about 75% sure its the rats your allergic too.  I get welts from their claws on my arms sometimes and that is from their urine.  


As for baths, unless it helps you feel better, you dont have to bother if they hate it. They spend more time grooming themselves and each other they are pretty clean in general despite popular belief that rats are dirty.  
You can litter box train them btw, just to let you know. Simply lay newspaper down on the bottom, take a rectangle box or plastic container, put litter in it (I use aspen I hate carefresh!) and they usually get the idea soon enough.  Most big city newspapers use soy ink but skip the colored sections and ads, just use the black and white section of the paper.  You dont even need to put paper down, you can lay down a piece of fleece. I have fleece squares cute to size to fit on the shelves on my rats cage and change them out every few days. They use their litter box but when they are lazy they do pee wherever....


Also, yes its fine that you dumped it in a big bowl and mixed it up (the food that is) I do that too.  You can even freeze some of it if you have too much.   

Feel free to write any time and ask away...thats why I am here!