Hello,

I've never owned rats, but understand their needs, and how intelligent they are.

I picked up two rats yesterday from a girl that had taken them on from a man thats been evicted from his house.

One is male and one is female, and both are in seperate cages but the cages that they are in are hamster cages

I urgently need to get two rat cages for these guys, these cages are expensive and I am looking for two second hand ones if anybody knows of any or has any for sale near the newport gwent area in southwales, I am prepared to pickthem up.

Also, I beleive they have allowed the male to go in with the female and I think shes pregnant judging by her bulging tummy, which makes it even worse is that shes only 4 months old , when i picked these guys up they had no food in their cages just stale bread rolls, for now i've given them hamster mix until the shops open today to get somne real food for them, any recommendations as to whats best for them?

Also if she is pregnant, what is her chances of coping with a litter at this age? and am i best leaving her to her own devices in the hamster cage until she has them ???

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, also if anyone can tell me a good cheap place to get cages for these gorgeous little things would be great.

Also, the male is one years old, whats my chances of introducing a buddy to him? Im unsure wether it's risky wether to get him castrated at this time in his life? Thanks

Glad they have you now. I was checking out castration and they get up the same day no probs. Many worry is anethetic but my degus fine with that. You have to keep apart for 4 days though.

Good luck.

Introducing males can be tricky but it really depends on the rat, Ive only had to have one male castrated but I also have a group of 3 very hormonal boys who would need to be castrated to intro to my big group so they are living apart from the others. I personally would wait and see if your girl is pregnant, the chances of him accepting a young male or two from her litter are much higher than trying to intro 2 adult males. If they have been together then it is highly probably that she is pregant, you will need either a plastic sided cage or one with very narrow bars so the babies dont squeeze through. Im too far to help with a cage but it would be worth joining your local freecycle site and posting a request on there, you might find someone who is wanting to get rid of a cage or two. Also I would just like to say its lovely that you are wanting them to have company, a lot of people dont understand the importance of that.

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gsds (Henrick and Bella), the cats (Syd, Lilly, Elvis and Dizzy), the gerbils (Honey, Lisa, crusty, Millhouse, Flanders, Bart and Homer), the rats (Valentine, Flower, Petal, Blossom, Koda, Cava, George), the mice (Minnie, Pop, Seudag, Caraid, Silver, Trouble, Athena, Pandora, Aphrodite, Meep, and Springtime)

Personally I would buy the male a larger cage leave the female unless the cage is tiny and just make her cage as great as you can for the moment until you know of age is pregnant

Then if she has babies you can keep a few girls for her and intro and 2 boys or so to the adult male thankfully I've never had any problems with intros all I do is let them free range together for a few days then add them to a smaller cage then to the main cage

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

Poor little rats, at least they're safe now. I'd plan ahead in case she is pregnant, as it's best to be prepared, she is young but not too young & definitely old enough to have a litter. When I had the rescue girls & their babies I fed them my usual home made dry mix ad lib, fresh vegetables such as kale (I steamed it briefly as it made it more palatable to the fussier rats) & fresh fruit like apples & pears & with extra oily fish, scrambled egg, EMP eggfood & porridge. They also had supplements called Daily 3 on their wet food & Dr Squiggles in their water once a week
I would try eBay for cages, or Freecycle, also the Preloved & Gumtree sites. If the hamster cage has narrow bar spacing (eg 1cm or less) & is a single level she should be OK giving birth in there, but as the kits grow they will need more space, & the boys will need their own cage from about 4 1/2 weeks old. You could possibly loan a suitable cage from someone
It might be easier, if she has babies, to introduce a couple of the young bucks to the older boy & keep a pair of the does as companion for the mum

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I have just got off the phone from a girl that knows the girl i got themm from, which is a good friend from school.

Basically, theyve been bred for snake food.
The guy that had them has been keeping them in his attic, and the girl i got them from took four rats from him to breed from for her snakes.

I was told that the guys been evicted and he had to get rid of his pets, the two I have are the ones that he wanted 'to keep'. From what ive just heard they have given the rats up and brought a pair of rabbits for snake food as they keep large snakes.

The the *pregnant* female escaped, and my friend was there and found her, and asked what cage shes supposed to be in, and the girl i got them from said 'oh she goes in that cage with the other' when she went to put it back in the cage, she discovered the 'other' was stiff as a board, dead, the other im presuming was the male. So now we're down to 3 rats. The other was given as snake food, and luckily for the two remaining, i came along. I have also been informed that they have been kept in an understairs cupboard since this girls had them. I am FURIOUS.

So I am presuming they have spent most of their lives in darkness, i'm considering castrating him and introducing him to the female after her litter if she is preg, i understand that some recommend it and others dont. But i do hav a few options, which i can assure everbody that my decisions wont be taken lightly.

Here some pics of the little lady...

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...0807-00065.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...0807-00064.jpg

http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/...0807-00063.jpg

thanks guys

Poor poor little babies
I know snakes have to eat but I get so utterly sick of hearing of feeder breeders who treat the animals they've bred like s**t I have 3 girls rescued from appaling conditions with a feeder breeder last year who were all pregnant, I also have 4 of their babies
TBH I'm not great at guessing ages but she looks younger than 4 months
In theory you could castrate the lad & keep him with her if you decided to, it's just that as it's surgery there is a potential risk with any small animal
This forum is very good for all aspects of rat care, it's got some good information too
Fancy Rats | Home
Info on pregnancy with a link to feeding the pregnant doe
Fancy Rats | Information | Preparing for Birth
There is also a rehoming section set out by location for when the time comes to find homes for the kittens
If you have any questions please feel free to PM me, I'm not massively experienced in the breeding of rats but I managed to successfully raise & rehome 3 litters last November

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Thanks very much,

TBH with you, their story has caused quite a stirr between friends and family, I dont think *if she has Kits* then I'm not going to have enough to go around, as im only letting them go in pairs if she has some.

I will be sure to get some pics of the boy up so you can try to guestimate, i guess once theyre fully grown its probably really hard to tell, his teeth dont seem particularly long and thats what im going on, wondering to beleive if hes 1 year or not as everything else i havebeen told is a big fat pack of lies! x

Awww gorgeous berkie belly! She looks pregnant to me good luck!

Does she have a name yet? X

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat