TJ and E

[Kain]

Well as promised heres some pictures of my two new Eepers Toejam and Earl!


Earl and Toejam being nosey


How cute are those little faces?


Earl decided weather or not to come onto my hand


He decided I was fine to walk on!


Training to be a tightrope walker Earl?


Toejam was a little camera shy!

So what do you think? Have I got your approval?

As for the introductions to Bart, I have started letting them play on a neutral area (My bed) so they can get used to each other slowly. So far it seems to be going well

Kane

[jeannie]

They are just too adorable! One of these days, I'm going to have to get a pair of rats.

[adara]

They're gorgeous!

I notice you have a wire bottom in the cage, is it removable? If so I would say to remove it, it can be a contributing factor to a very painful and [as far as I know] incurable foot condition in ratties called Bumblefoot

[Die Fledermaus]

Jeannie said:

One of these days, I'm going to have to get a pair of rats.

Me too, although I worry about their shorter lives and being more prone to disease, not to mention gnawing stuff in the room. Comments on that, Kane?

Yes, one day there will be rats here - or chinchies or ferrets. I even considered P-Dogs, which I could have gotten in nearby Nassau county (along with a ferret), but then there was that ban. If anyone has thoughts on which is the best if you want a bigger critter who can spend lots of time outside the cage please add yur comments.

David Letterman has this rat obsession: every other monologue features some negative comment about giant rats overrunning New York City. it gets too negative after a while to NYC and of course to rats, but as usual he is pandering to his audience which is almost all tourists.

Speaking of rats, about a decade ago or a little more there were some rats in the City Hall area. They started baiting the area with poison - even though there were squirrels around. We had a bit of a row with City Hall and the Parks Dept, and got the case on Channel 2 news. . . and saved the squirrels.

[Die Fledermaus]

Kane, the photos are very adorable and the second is the best - a real keeper.

Are they potty trained yet?

[adara]

DF: I let my rats run about my room everyday for at least one hour, usually more, and I don't have a problem with them chewing anything. You have to "rat proof" your room, i.e covering up cables to make it safe for them, but it's very easy

[Kain]

I have removed the wire floor since I took the pictures. I had to wait until I got some new wire cutters. All out now though.

Tom, rat proofing is pretty easy, I find the JML 'Zip Clip' is a great way to protect cables from ratties.

There life span is actually longer than a hamster on average, usually its around 3 years for a rat. The female rat are prone to mammary tumours, other than that there pretty free from illness

Kane

[adara]

Kane: They can also be affected by a respiratory disease called mycoplasmosis [myco] which is a disease that lives in every pet rat's lungs, but only some of them will be affected and show the symptoms. It's unfortunately incurable but can be tempered with a mix of antibiotics. All of my rats but one have myco in some stage or another, 2 of them it's just sneezing for the time being, 1 of them didn't have symptoms until recently but she's getting old and has started sneezing. My poor Zaphod has it really bad and has done since he was at the pet shop.

All of my rats are pet shop rats, all were kept on pine before I bought them and I believe this is the main contributing factor to their illness. As long as it's kept at bay with the antibiotics they can live normal lives, but unfortunately this is all too common in pet rats [I'd say even more common than tumours].

I hate pet shops > Next time I buy a rattie I will be searching high and low for a breeder.

[Die Fledermaus]

So do they chew furniture legs?? How about cardboard (or plastic) storage boxes?

Aren't most pet shop rats merely feeder rats? I felt sorry for them; one ran up my sleeve as if trying to hide. But I did not then and do not now have room. So, are not feeder rats more prone to disease than well-bred "fancy rats" from breeders, assuming you can find them?

If you have a pair, must they interact with the human a lot daily? I know they bond with humans more than other rodents.

Is there an effective way to potty train them? That is a concern as the poor fellow who ran up my coat sleeve that day, being excited, did deposit an amoutnof poop remarkably larger than anything I've seen from a ham.

[adara]

Nope, mine don't chew a thing when they're out, but if you do get a chewer the things they'd chew would be carpet, paper, books, wires etc.

I live in the UK, where selling live animals for feeding reptiles is illegal [quite right too, it isn't fair on the snake as much as the rat!]. Proper breeders should definately be breeding for health as the main reason along with temperament.

If you have one rat alone it is more likely to bond with you, but in my opinion this isn't a good enough reason to keep one alone. If you have a pair they will bond more with each other but will still become very tame, and need at *least* one hour of out time/play time per day.

I've found that younger more nervous rats only poop and pee out of the cage, all of my rats now know to run back to the cage and go in their litter tray. Litter training them is similar to training a cat. You just take a few of their poops and place them in a litter tray. Every time you see them using it you praise them and give them a treat. If they go somewhere else then say NO and pop them in the litter tray. They learn quickly

[Kain]

I forgot about Myco. Sorry

Kane

[Die Fledermaus]

Thanks for the info, Adara!

[sunchaser]

They are so cute DF!!!