Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / September 2003

Do they have a hut or covered area for them to sleep in?  Mine have a
hut/house on the bottom floor which they all go into to sleep, and the first
one in also drags in the bedding so they can sleep on it.

Keep giving them the bedding in an area of the cage, they may soon learn to
use it.  Maybe they are not used to it, so they need some time.  But really
you shouldn't need to give them a bath often, if ever at all, unless of
course they managed to get themselves into a real mess :-)

The room they are in, what kind of air flow does it have?  Is it a closed
room?  Mine live in our front room, so there is always fresh air around from
when we open the front etc

Although keeping rats in the front room is a sure way to make no
friends/family come around, as everyone seems to have a thing about rats
even if they are in a cage ;-)

Graeme

Poorly bred rex rats frequently are bald at the nape, but it grows in
eventually, then falls out again. More recently there have been growing
numbers of rats with "moving bald spots" -- losing their fur in small
chunks all one side, say, which grows back, then they lose all their fur
at their nape, which grows back, then they loose all the fur near their
rump, or their other side & belly. These shifting bald spots are evidence
of genetic mishap & in the past were culled from breeding stocks
immediately. But they are now at the beginning of gaining recognition as a
special breed of rat called "Patches" or "Patchwork" rats, also called
semi-hairless double-rex, patchwork rex, or patchwork hairless, & can have
all the color variants otherwise present in rats, for Patches Berkshire,
Patches Himalayan, Patches Agouti, and so on.

There have been "slow to accept" responses to special breeds in the past.
The British clubs especially deplore sphynx & manx rats, and when Dumbos
first appeared, the UK rat fanatics promoted the idea that these rats were
deaf & deformed, until truth won out against baseless prejudice. In this
newgroup about a year ago was a long thread of people disgusted by
"waltzing mice," a special breed that dates back to medieval China with
deformed spine, upturned heads, & nervous disposition. I've rarely ever
had the negative feelings some have toward odd strains or new unproven
strains, which usually gain acceptance in time only if the given strain
achieves any popularity -- the wild popularity of Dumbos meant prejudice
against them had to vanish; the comparatively small popularity of hairless
sphynxes means some prejudice can linger.  Mostly I think these are
kneejerk reactions against perfectly reasonable pets.

But I'm just not convinced that "Patchwork" as a breed should have even as
much recognition as it has now.  It's the first "fancy" type I've found
myself taking  such exception to, as even IF they are otherwise healthy &
pass on no other genetic faults, there's really nothing attractive about a
look which comes closest to resembling severe mange disease.

-paghat