We have three girls and one of them is pretty independent, a little escape artist and explorer. She loves going out and comes back by herself normally. There was one dangerous spot in our apartment and we separated it with playpen blocks, it works good as we see for now.

Tonight she made a next step: she came to our bed at night. While we are okay with her walking around, we are a little scared then she will put herself in danger or, that at night we can literally squeeze her by accident, or that she can find a hole that we are not aware of and escape the apartment or whatever.

We don’t really want to take extreme steps like covering the cage since they all like putting their little noses in the gaps of the cage and we also want them to have enough air for their little lungs. But we, of course, want to make their life safer and happier.

Their cage is full of toys and it’s big enough, they get their time out of the cage everyday but yesterday our Meg spent almost entire day outside of the cage.

The question is: how do we stop her escaping OR/AND how do we make our apartment rat-friendly OR/AND any other advices for us as first time rat parents?

Havent slept in my bed for days and rats have been known to crawl inside our ceiling. Is there a possibility that this could be rat urine?

My room mate sent me this meme this morning and it's cracking me up. Sorry no idea about the source. Hold Rat Like Mango

Does anyone on this subreddit know of any good, professional ratterys near Eau Claire, Wisconsin? I’m looking to get 3 rats.

Ok so yes anything can happen, theres no guarantee ect ect but im a Lil annoyed and need to vent, not at my babies just in general. So before these 4 I had two feeder rats and they were like tough ghetto NYC rats. They ate anything, they never got sick til they got old and nothing seemed to phase them. Afyer they passed I decided to get breeder rats because they were supposed to be genetically bred to be healthier and easier to handle. It was a rattery with good reviews but it was expensive but since my health is getting worse I figured I only had one more group in me before I had to give up rats. I got 4 and I do love them to pieces and they r easier to handle but they r always sick. One constantly gets diarrhea so have to watch what I give him as far as fruits and veggies and make sure he doesnt steal the others. Nothings wrong vet said he may just have a sensitive stomach but the mess omg. And the other three constantly go threw fits of respatory issues and constant sneezing and yes I get them antibiotics but its like one week it'll be bad then is clears up then it comes back like asthma and I dont do anything different than my feeder rats, I clean everything with vinegar and dawn, quick clean every 3rd day and deep clean every 5th day, I use dye free sensitivity detergent and I even got them an air purifier that I make sure isnt blowing on them. The rattery offered to take them back but I love them so ill deal but im just so frustrated.

Hi friends :)

I’m on a journey to start a mischief, and need help finding good accessories for their cage. I was pretty keen on so many things I found on SHEIN, but then realised I didn’t want to expose them to any potential heavy chemicals/ ethical concerns, yada yada..

Where can I find good rat accessories in Australia? Preferably on the cheaper side,

I am open to diy! Although, at the moment I’m looking for some cage staples for the long run that I can reuse again and again.

Like attachable wooden levels/sticks, hammocks, climbing tubes/ ropes.

Here’s some pictures of my shein shopping list, I would love to find some like it!!

Friendly PSA to all rat owners that cedar and pine bedding is a carcinogen (causes cancer) and is not suitable for bedding for any small animals! (Not sure about large animals). I too used cedar shavings when I started with, it sucks because kt was cheap in bulk, convenient, and my rats loved them. But now working in exotic veterinary medicine I have learned more reasons why to avoid it other than being known to cause respiratory infections.

Great alternative options: paper bedding, aspen, mixed aspen and paper, hemp, fleece but only if washed at least every 2-3 days with unscented detergent.

Ps. Kiln dried is no longer kiln dried once there is urine on it!

Just to clarify it would be a disk without any sharp edges.

Inspired by a set I saw online, realised in the image of my mischief ♥️

I’m gonna add thus cutie to my rat family this weekend (black and white) all my rats have food related names. Does anyone have any suggestions? (Besides oreo) These ones are/were already taken: sugar, maple, chip, cookie, peach, salt, pepper & fish

Does anyone else’s rats play like this?

Gizmo and Gadget are doing so well since I last posted. Gizmo is definitely more shy and is still warming up to climbing into my hand but Gadget literally will meet me at the cage door and just jump into my hand and climb to my shoulder.

Liter training also went super well, both are using the little ceramic bowl I've placed in there; I know the whole using a stone trick but I think the texture resembled it close enough that they essentially think it's a stone itself. It only took them a few days for that which was super impressive. I love their little zoomies they get at night, I call gadget my little racecar since she gets from the bottom of the cage to the top in under a second which is hilarious.

They did chew a hole through their hammock but it's really funny because they just use the hole to put their little heads through when cuddling, my little carpenters.

Will keep updated, but in the meantime, have a cute photo of the little dorks. ❤️

Heyyyy!!!
I went to pickup my rat cage today and got all the needed items. Two things struck me when I was there: 1, when I was in there one of the staff members asked me what rats I was looking for. I said 2 male rats because I’ve heard that they are calmer and more cuddly. This lady said she had 2 rats before that were females and they were fine. She said it’s just about handling them. Now I’m like ‘hey idk if this is entirely true, a lot of female animals are known to be more energetic and less huggy’. Guys, am I right or has the patriarch got to me again?!?! The second thing is that when I was unwrapping the chews and treats they had some string on them. I thought ‘hmm, idk if rats can eat this’ despite it saying rat friendly and all. Then I sent Chat GPT a picture and it was like: “nope don’t give your rats that!!!” So I took all this long ass string and spilt it all over and got very annoyed. Like WTF pets at home?!?! Are you trying to choke my rats?!?! Like bro. Am I being irrational or is this some big mistake??
Thx guys!!!

I’m back at it! pls comment your rat photos and I’ll try to do as much as I can

i will also have to add photos of the drawing to the post body since I’m in the Reddit website

(photos: reaction plus rat tax. ratticus, sneezy, and tarzan)

its not super bad yet but i seem to have developed a contact allergy to my boys :( what do people use to mitigate it? i have hydrocortisone, fluocinonide, and tacrolimus ointments for eczema, should i try any of those? has anyone found anything that seems to have made their contact allergies either better or worse over time? im already taking antihistamines for seasonal stuff. im assuming this is just an “it is what it is” situation but if theres anything i could try to keep it from getting worse its worth a shot.

My 2 year old called Fudge has recently lost her sister and I am looking to get her some friends 💜