Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / June 2007

I'm sorry, but I dont know any advice on how to pick her up other than to not
grab her by the tail.  You could hold her in your shirt or something, and
that would provde a safe way of holding her.  The bathtub is a great place to
put a rat as it has different smells, and texture than most other locations
in your house, so they have a great time playing in there.  I put Scooter
there all the time.  I usually put a towel down as he doesnt like the
slippery-ness of the tub.  

There are a few different types of wood sticks which have different flavors,
and that might help her want them.  I dont think Scooter eats much wood
either, so I'll be looking for the advice others give on that.  I think that
the rats are seperated that way mostly for an easier time for those who are
looking for rats as food.  I think Jenny will grow up to be a normal sized
rat, probably the size of a medium to large rat.  I dont think she is a dumbo
or giant rat though.  But I'm still new to the whole rat thing, so I'm sure
others will be able to give much better advice.

I'm sorry, but I dont know any advice on how to pick her up other than to not
grab her by the tail.  You could hold her in your shirt or something, and
that would provde a safe way of holding her.  The bathtub is a great place to
put a rat as it has different smells, and texture than most other locations
in your house, so they have a great time playing in there.  I put Scooter
there all the time.  I usually put a towel down as he doesnt like the
slippery-ness of the tub.  

There are a few different types of wood sticks which have different flavors,
and that might help her want them.  I dont think Scooter eats much wood
either, so I'll be looking for the advice others give on that.  I think that
the rats are seperated that way mostly for an easier time for those who are
looking for rats as food.  I think Jenny will grow up to be a normal sized
rat, probably the size of a medium to large rat.  I dont think she is a dumbo
or giant rat though.  But I'm still new to the whole rat thing, so I'm sure
others will be able to give much better advice.

I am a relatively new rat looker-afterer as well, but I think I might
have a helpful idea for picking Jenny up. Get a beanie, preferably
polar fleece (doesn't stretch as much as a knitted one), and when you
want her 'up', tell her to 'get in the hat' - I've been doing this
with the sexed baby rats the last few days so I don't have to pick
them up one by one. They are learning that to get out, its faster to
get in the hat and get lifted out together than picked up. Its also
thier security when they are out, I leave the hat on my lap and when
they feel unsure they race back into it and then out again...or maybe
they are just having fun ;)

cheers,
Monique and the menagerie

Male rats get larger than female rats, but in the pet store S, M, L
refers to age. In the Petco near us the rats in the small female cage
look to be about 7 -8 weeks old. Do you have a pic of Jenny in
proportion to something so we can see how big she is? Then someone wil
be better abled to tell you if she's going to grow any larger.

A lot of gourmet dog biscuits are fine (once in a while) as a rattie
chew. I buy "Old Mother Hubbard" which come in different flavors. I've
never had a rat who liked to chew on sticks... they all seemed to
prefer chewing on things they were'nt supposed to chew on!! Some rats
like raw hide to chew, and I've heard lately that pig hide (rather
than cow- which traditional raw hide is) is easier for dogs to digest.
Perhaps the same is true of rats. I spent $5 on a nylabone that my
boys payed attention to for about 5 seconds! (Luckily I have 2 dogs so
nothing goes to waste.)

A bathtub can be a very safe place for rats since, unless it's
unusually shallow, they cannot climb the sides. Putting down a towel
or paper towel is a good idea for traction because they are slippery.
www.dapper.com.au has some wonderful ideas about digging boxes,
bobbing for peas, etc which could be put into the tub to keep Jenny
occupied.

--Michaela

As for your hands shaking, pet stores sell bonding pouches (sewing one
is easy and much cheaper) which have a removable strap so you can hang
it around your neck. I bought one for my son and it work great. We put
it in the cage and the boys climb in- then YS walks around with it.
The boys climb out and sit on his shoulder or lap when they want to
and YS has his hands free. You can check them out at www.dearpiehammock.com
That will give you an idea. If you google it, try putting in "Sugar
glider pouch" or "sugar glider bonding pouch" since that's originally
what they were intended for.

Good luck.
--Michaela