Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / March 2007

My grandrat is single, and been with us since she was about three months, so
she's about 2 now. For all the time we've had her, she's been non-verbal.
Hardly a squeak out of her. But then yesterday, as I was walking by my
daughter's room, I heard an insistent squeaking. I checked on Exit, my
daughter's rat, and she seemed fine. At first I thought it was cold, so I
turned on the heat, and she shut up. But then later, after my daughter got
home, she started making the noise again. My daughter put Exit into her
exercise ball and she seemed totally cool.

We first thought that maybe she was lonely, and had finally figured out how
to squeak to get our attention.

But then we mentioned it to a friend, who suggested that maybe she's in
heat.

She's single, and we don't have any intention of breeding, and she's too old
to have kids now, as it would be her first time and her pelvic bones are
going to be too tight for a clean delivery.

However, is there anything I can do to comfort her? Should I change her
diet? Could it be something else? My wife checked her out and found that the
rat's vagina seemed wet, which had my wife more convinced that it was heat.
But we're no experts, and I'm appealing to you nice folks to give me some
advice, as I don't know if our vet is super-familiar with rats.

Thanks,

Stu
http://www.gnmparents.com