Rat Care-

Getting your rat

The best choice is to buy a rat from a rat breeder, instead of pet store or other similar places. Pet store rats often carry diseases and they are often not treated well and handled properly as young fuzzlets. Rat breeders breed their rats for temperant, and, unlike pet stores, the rats are not shipped far distances.

Should I choose a boy or girl rat?

Boy Rats

Boy rats tend to be less active as they grow older and they are more up to lounging around and being petted. They are also bigger and heavier, thought not by to much.

Girl Rats

Girl rats are more active in general and will be for the rest of their lives. This doesnt mean they are less affectionate, it simply means that they prefer to run around rather than sleep in their tunnel.

Handling and Picking up your rat

When picking up your rat, NEVER PICK IT UP BY ITS TAIL!. This is extremely painful for the rat, because rat's tails are very delicate and should be handled with care. Instead, pick your rat up with two hands, one hand underneath the belly, and one supporting the hind legs.

Food and Water

Water

 Fresh food and water should be supplied at all times. Sipper water bottles are the best type, compared to a water dish, because water dishes tip over easily and spill. This type of water bottle is made in many different sizes at pet stores. The water should be dumped out and changed once a day, and cleaned once a month.

Food

Rat food should be served in a ceramic dish, or one that will not tip over and spill. Rats tend to like sitting in their bowls, spilling their food while they do.

There are many varieties of rat food packaged at the pet store, but many of them are not nutritionally complete and do not contain the needed ingrediants. They typically contain too much corn, which can cause cancer in rats. If you are feeding your rat pet store food, it is recomended that you either don't choose a food with corn as the first ingrediant, or there is less corn than more soy content.

You can also choose to make a homemade diet. Homemade diets often tend to be harder to make, since it is hard to know whether your rat is getting his/her nutritional requirements or not.