cleaning day antics. Did we do right?

Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:11 pm

It was cleaning out day today.
It took ages to get Candy out and when she did come out she was just running round the cage all the time, and after she finished exploring, she was hiding behind the cage. She kept popping her head round, and everytime I turned to look at her she'd pop back behind. Then she was bobbing her head up and down all along the side of the cage. She also creeped up on me and put her paw on me when i wasnt looking, and then when i turned ran off.
Do you think this is some kind of game?
She wasnt distressed or anything, just more skitty than usual...she tried to stop me picking her up, and she found a nice soft pillowcase to snuggle in.
Silly thing. She doesnt want to sit on me or anything...just wants to get down, and she wont sit on my shoulder. What can I do? I can pick her up with a little effort but thats about it. After that she doesnt really want to know.

Mia was quite difficult to catch, but when Steve finally scooped her up, she sat on his shoulder (her favourite place) and stayed there, all still.
I thought perhaps she was a little stressed, and thats why she wasnt moving, but she seemed to be enjoying a good tickle on her head.
She wasnt too sure at first, but Steve finally had her soon crawling on and sitting on his hand. She likes to sit on his head too.

By the end of it she was crawling onto my hand and shoulders, and she has had hardly any contact with me before.
All this surprised and pleased us, but is it normal for a usually skittish rat to just sit on your shoulder and do nothing alot? Especially as she is still so young, and new. We've had them since last friday afternoon.
Afterwards she was still a little difficult to pick up when she got down.
We let them go into the cage whenever they want, but today (especially as Mia didnt want to in particually), Steve put her in with his hand, hoping this would get her used to being handled in the cage and associate him with being something safe. Will this work cos neither of them like us handling them in their cage.

Oh, and Candys little feet sometimes, and i mean really cold, but shes ok within herself. Is this normal?

Wed Feb 08, 2006 11:45 pm

My rats sometimes run or even squeal when you try to pick them up but once they're out they become totally different rats. When I first got my guys they were very skittish and the first day I took Cream out he sat on my leg and started cleaning and stayed there for a very long time. I think this is just how rats get used to you. When they start cleaning while on you it means they are comfortable with you. I wouldn't worry about Mia at all..it is a good sign..

Also some rats just don't like being picked up in general...my Cream hates it..but once he's out he's all over you. I find it easier to take the top off the cage and scoop him up with both hands and put him very close to my body rather than grab him from the top and pull him out.

As for Candy I'm pretty sure she was just playing. One time my guys got loose and Peach would run under the dresser and he'd stick his head out and as soon as he'd see you he'd run under the bed..this went on for almost 40 mins!! Sometimes he would come out of under the bed when I was looking under the dresser and nibble my toe and I'd turn around and he was gone. I had to catch him because we have a cat..but he just thought it was a big game!

Also..I try to handle my guys lots inside the cage..I pet them lots and let them crawl on my hand and pick them up a little and let them jump off whenever they want..just so they can get used to your hand. Now everytime my hand goes in Creamy licks it to death...

_________________
~*Allie*~
Puppy: Pepper (my big suck) Kitty: Kitterz
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Ratties: RIP Penny...i miss you pretty girl <333
Peaches n' Cream..2 bRATS
Jibroney!! --new rescue rat

Thu Feb 09, 2006 12:30 am

It all sounds perfectly normal and positive! The running and hiding, then peeking out and coming up, but running away when you move is what I mentioned before - that's her building up her confidence around you and learning to trust you.

Baby girls are notorious little nutters - they very often are very energetic and want to be running around full speed and getting into everything. If you want to keep them on you for 20 minutes or so, you need to try and catch them when they're sleepy, or simply stand in the middle of the room with them, so they can't get down or jump off you. wink

Encourage them to go inside your tops - if you worry about getting scratched, then wear an extra layer so that they can crawl between them. You may even find that they curl up in your bra, your armpit, your collarbone area or your sleeve and go to sleep. That is always nice.

Cold feet - rats often feel like they have cool feet - as long as the room isn't too cold (try and keep it around 70 degrees F or 20 degrees C) then it's probably nothing to worry about, especially if they're perfectly well in themselves.

As for being extra skittish today - it might be that she was in heat, which can make them even nuttier than normal. Some are no different when they are in heat, and some turn into vibrating, back arching, crazy, overcaffienated hussies.

I would recommend at least putting your hands in the doorways of the cage so that they recognise that you're coming into the cage and that you're not going to hurt them. Give them treats at the doorway (baby food, instant oatmeal like reddy brek and yoghurt are all good things on a spoon, as they can't run away with them). It will also, hopefully, teach them to run out onto your hands rather than having to reach in and grab them.

It sounds like things are all going well - I'm glad to hear that they seem to be getting used to you, and I'm sure you'll have a couple of gorgeous girls who hang off the cage desperate to climb over their mum and dad soon. Mr. Green

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Thu Feb 09, 2006 1:28 am

Thankyou. I hope so.
We will probably try to get them out now while theyre sleepy. We always thought they'd get cranky and/or nasty.
We got this wood pellet stuff thats suitable for rats and it looks and smells really nice to go o the floor of their cage.
It does break down into dusty bits though in the corner of the cage from where they do their business and dig around.
Its only in that one corner though, and the bag says 'dust extracted' so it should be ok shouldnt it?
Its all run out now and we use shredded paper too, so next time we clean them out, is it ok just to use shredded paper as the floor dressing? They like to weave it into nests (which they dont use), so it may reveal the plastic floor...and I dont like the idea of them walking on that.
The paper is very long and sticks out all over the place. Maybe we should cut it up more before we use it?
Im not sure what stuff to trust in pet shops. Over in the UK, we dont have anything that you described for floor dressing.
In the way of bedding, they use a tea towel, so we are fine for that.

Will rats of nearly 5 weeks of age really be in heat? I know they can get pregnant at 6weeks. If shes gonna act crazy in heat, and shes this crazy at the moment, Im in for a tough time

I forgot to ask can anyone tell me what type of rats we have?
Mia is a fawn coloured one with a white belly(not pure white-kinda creamy)
and Candy (you can see from her pics) looks like a black and white hooded rat- but not. Her head is all black and black trails down her back but stops way before her but. After her black hood...she has sort of pale black dots...then a big black splodge which goes more onto her side and then nothing further down. Is she not a pure hoodie?
Do you think they are sister? Cos they had 5 females in the pet shop...those two...and two whites, and one just like mine but chocolate and white.
Candy has more of a hamster look about her...while Mia has a more pointed rat face.
Ive checked them several times and Im pretty sure they are both female. I know how to check them, and the cage of males next door in the pet shop had rats with bulges down there which these havnt got...so it sounds like we got two girls right?
As much as we'd love teeney little babies we havnt the space or money.
Does anyone know how to post a picture on the store bought cage gallery section? It doesnt have a drop down arrow like the rat gallery.

Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:09 am

It really depends those wood pellets I would not go for again - they're basically compressed pine sawdust and it's not good for them long term. If you want something absorbant, examine the other options - Carefresh is kind of expensive and a bit dusty, but soft and pretty good with smells. Biocatolet or Bob Martin 100% paper cat litter are very absorbant and good at odour control and my favourite, cheaper than Carefresh. Paper alone is ok too, but it will need changing every day (two at the absolute most - if you can smell wee, then it needed changing the day before). Then you can also get hemp bedding, EcoPetBed (a card bedding for stables at horse/stable/tack stores), newspaper, corn cob bedding etc. Lots of good options. I use shredded tissue and Biocatolet cat litter. My flatmate uses newspaper and changes every day.

I suspect she's older than that, if you've already had her a week. P@H generally get them at 5 weeks old, and you've already had her a week, so she's probably at least 6 weeks old and perhaps more - do you have kitchen scales you can weigh her with? If so, let me know what she weighs (grams is best, but oz will do) and I can give you an estimate. wink

I'll go check your photos now and let you know - but yes, they could still be sisters. Black is the default colour, and it's recessive, as is RED (which is probably what makes her that colour but I have to check first) - so if they only get one copy of the gene from mom, say, and don't get a matching one from dad, then they will be black. But if they get one from both parents, they'll be a colour (that's how it works for most colours anyway).

It might be a good plan to create yourself a photobucket account to store your photos on - at the moment, I'm not sure how much space is allowed for the RP galleries and I'm not sure what is working and what isn't at the moment, and it also is nice to have your own album.

Edit: OK - you could have a black hooded or a black berkshire. Either way, she's mismarked. Markings aren't usually cut and dry, there are lots of modifiers (genes that work together and influence the final outcome). Sometimes it's impossible to know for sure if a rat is mismarked berkshire or hooded... I'd probably guess black mismarked hooded for Candy.
I can't really tell from the pictures for Mia. I'd guess she's either Buff (what the US folk call Beige) or Topaz (what the US folk call Fawn), though it's possible she's Silver Fawn (the US folk call that Amber). What colour are her eyes? Are they pink or red? And if you look at her fur, are the hairs one single colour, or do they have bands of colour along the length of them, so she looks kind of "salt and pepper" but not black, grey and white? Is she a creamy brown colour or orangy?

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Last edited by LittleWillow on Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:39 am; edited 2 times in total

Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:23 am

	LittleWillow wrote:
	Baby girls are notorious little nutters -

Oh Yeah

Boy is this ever true

My little chloe who is 5 months old now is our biggest nutter

the other day i was standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes, minding my own business when all of a sudden something jumped on my back and climbed up to my shoulder

scared the living **** out of me....

she had been curled up asleep for ages on the top of a pile of clean washing ( oh yeah thanks for that...smile) and ide forgotten she was out

I had the front door open and the music playing so my first thought was an intruder....but not it was little chloe ...all 200 grams of her.....lol

Nutter is definately the word

smile

Deb

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Roxy 30/06/2004 to 28/11/2005 Relaxing on the banks of the river at Rainbow Bridge

Thu Feb 09, 2006 2:50 am

Oh I forgot to add - as long as their bits look the same as each other, then they should be the same sex. At the age they're at, then it's usually pretty clear if they're boys. They can draw their testicles right up to nothingness if they're cold or scared, but if they're running around, calm, warm and happy, and there are no testicles, then you're probably safe. If you're really up for it, it's possible to... er... "pop out" their manhood if they're boys. It doesn't hurt, but I can't imagine they'd be happy to lie still while you poke around. wink

I also forgot to say - Mia is probably a berkshire, but could be others. Does she have any colour on her tummy? Does she have any coloured patches? Where does the white spread to - is it a line or patch on her tummy alone, or does it spread onto her legs, chin etc?

And finally - if she is in heat, it's not a permanent thing. They're in heat for around 12 hours every 4-6 days, usually starting in the evening and going overnight, but it depends on the rat and their normal rhythmns and daylight patterns. They also have a tendency to synchronise with other girls in their cage, so you might end up with all girlies going into heat at the same time, or within a day or two of each other. wink

They also tend to have a habit of chasing each other around and playing leapfrog or trying to mate each other - it often frightens people who fear they might have brought home a little boy by accident. But if one of the girls is in heat, the others try to help out and mate her - so whoever is at the bottom is the one in heat. They also do it sometimes as a dominance thing. Sometimes their girly bits might seem a little darker or duskier due to extra blood flow, and maybe a tiny bit of clear discharge - but no blood (no periods in rats), no cloudy, coloured or smelly discharge. They might also wiggle their ears, and they might arch their bum up into the air, their chest pressed to the ground and their head pointing upwards - a pose called lordosis - if you touch their back or rump.

_________________
Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~