Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / September 2007

I've got a girl named Io. We initially paired her with a male,
Splinter, but there seemed to be no interaction between the two, so we
removed Splinter and matched her with Dimitri. She gave birth about
three weeks ago to only 4 babies, one of whom died.

As of last Friday, one of my rats has started choking almost daily:
the symptoms seem to be classic stuff, jumping around in frantic
spasms, drooling, propping herself upright with her head back and her
jaw gaping, making little squeaky gasps every time her flanks heave.

Hi Group,
I've been on the waiting list a long time and I've finally got to the top -
the pair of bucks I've been waiting for are six weeks old on Thursday, and
I'm really looking forward to it. Time to re-assemble the old cage,

Hi Everyone...
One of my female rats (about 1-1/2 years old) has a tumor near her
left armpit on her chest.  I've done a bit of online reading and based
on things I've read, it "appears" to be a benign tumor, but I'm not

22 Sept
Girls - 6 weeks
Mishka - 125 (+15)
Tippy - 125 (+25)

I don't know if anyone around here is familiar with LolRats (or LolCats)?
Anyway, for some great ratty fun you should check out this website:
http://www.vermin-realm.com/lolrats/
- Tale

I don't feel too bad. It's just as well. She had also lost a lot of
weight in the last couple of weeks. She had also been acting strangely -
mostly keeping to herself in the hammock, and occasionally going schizo,
chewing on the bars of the cage. I'd let her out, and she'd hop ...

hiya
What do your ratties love to eat as food? (not treat) My guys LOVE
pasta with a spinach/ricotta/pecorino stir through sauce. That is
followed closely by the 'asian style salad' mix.

She's looking very tired and not showing much interest in food. She has
always been a skinny girl, but she seems even more so now.
She's 19 months old.
At least she doesn't seem to be suffering. No porphyrin to be seen and

How do?
One or two of the girls make funny noises late in the afternoons. I'm
not sure what she is doing, but I have never heard it in a rat before
- not that I have had that much experience with rat vocalisations.

I have made some progress with my two new rats, Ninja and Lighting.
However...
+ Ninja has no problem being picked up, or having his body touched.
But he was suddenly jerk away if I try to pet him on the head. He

I am trying to figure out what is going on with my boys.  All my rats have
done this, so I'm guessing its normal... but I'd like your opinion about it.
Sometimes when I pick them up, or I'm cuddling them they seem to shiver.  Its
like how you and I would when we are cold.  Do your ...

So I weighed the rats again. I have a lot of kilos of rat here :s Two
girls have stacked on weight in the last week (is that all its been?)
but by weight alone still don't weigh 7 weeks old.
Does anyone fastidiously weigh their rats?

Hope you and all your little soldiers are well and having fun. And hugs and
kisses to all who have lost their little ones.
I have been very busy and have had no time at all this year to do anyhting
for myself. But I have lurked in the background.

(+ update:
I have recently adopted new new hooded rats named Ninja and Lighting.
They seem to get a long with minus a few fights mainly due to
dominance, or trying to find some social order. But the new two pair