RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Wed Jan 21, 2004 4:23 am

Hi folks!
Wow the R-695 is a BIG cage I sure hope my ratties like it!!

((I sure hope that the picture shows up))
I know right now that it looks pretty bare but more things will be added throughout the week. I need to get hammocks, more toys and an igloo. Any other suggestions as what to get? I have a crock for food and carefresh litter for them. ((I'll put that in once I get them))

Anyone know how to suspend the wodent wheel from the bars like in the photo albums? Any tips would be appreciated, I want to save floor space for the ratties.

Also what can I cover some of that wire with? (The floor/balconies)

Oh and that plush rat in there.. my mom thought until the real rats come he would have to do! (Silly moms!)

I still haven't decided where to get my rats from, I know of some breeders in the DC metro area (many thanks to this forum for those breeders) but I still don't know about that route. Shelters and pet shops are still on the list.

Thanks again, suggestions for the cage are welcome!!!
-Whitney

_________________
Eagerly awaiting my Martin's R-695 & my two rattie boys!!!

Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:55 am

The image doesn't show, sadly Sad

Oh well, I know what it looks like and I'm sure its great!

As for toys, use PVC pipe, LARGE toilet/paper towel rolls, tissue boxes, shoeboxes, rags, or anything else you can find for your boys. You don't need to spend a fortune to get a great ratty home! You can buy a hammock or make one yourself with a rag. An igloo is a great idea, but if you want to save a little money, just take an old shoebox, cut a small opening in the front, toss in a few rags or paper towels. The boys will LOVE it. (replace rags twice a week) If you're going to the pet store, pick out snuggly toys such as the Critter Cuddle Cup, ferret toys, chew toys, corner litter pans, and logs (look in the reptile section for those). Basically any ferret or rat toy is ok - hamster/gerbil/mouse toys are not.

You have a food holder, get a dish (for treats and veggies) and lab blocks. Also a water bottle, of course. Carefresh litter is great, my rat Pepper had a problem with it but many rats don't. You can put Plexiglass on the levels; or, nothing at all.

Please, if you decide to get your boys at a pet store, make sure it is a responsible, caring one - not Petco or any popular commercial petstore like that.

Am I too suggestive?? lol. Hope not. Good luck with your boys! Do you have names picked out yet?

_________________
Laura (aka RATLOVER47)
My boys: Pokey and Pepper

Rest in peace little Pipster. I miss you more than anything.

Wed Jan 21, 2004 5:59 am

Thanks for the suggestions, I'll need to get the lab blocks and toys. I uploaded the pic on my webbie, you can see it here!! http://www.angelfire.com/retro/funeducksquack/rats.htm Thanks again!! Your suggestions are very heplful!

_________________
Eagerly awaiting my Martin's R-695 & my two rattie boys!!!

Wed Jan 21, 2004 6:43 am

Maybe a water bottle on the top stories. Thats how I have it one on bottom and one on top. It looks like your fellas are going to have a great home.

_________________
Tabby
My Friends that have crossed to the bridge
~Lilo,Stitchy,Pleakly,JumJum,Ohana~
And the family hamster ~Scrump~

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:10 am

Yay! I second Trinity's idea for the water bottle on the second level. I keep two water bottles in all my cages just in case one malfunctions and so they have it at both main levels. I would recommend buying an igloo like you said. Other things my crew like are hammocks (you can make these out of pillow cases and shower curtain hooks for cheap), any kind of box they can fit into a shred such as kleenex boxes or 12-pack coke boxes. Plastic organizer baskets are a favorite too. I put mine on the top level and attach it to the side with a shower curtain hook to keep it from falling. I then put a fleece blanket or old t-shirt inside and can usually find all the ratties piled in there at once. Might also want to inves in a litter pan or two if you plan on litter training them. The ferret corner pans work great.

As for attaching the wheel to the top, see this thread where I attempted to explain it in the past!

_________________
Christy
RP Admin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:45 am

Christy thank you very much that was so helpful, the wheel is now mounted where I want it! My thoughts are with you and Uno, I'm so sorry for your loss!

_________________
Eagerly awaiting my Martin's R-695 & my two rattie boys!!!

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:53 am

No problem at all. And thank you very much. :*)

_________________
Christy
RP Admin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Wed Jan 21, 2004 9:53 am

I agree about the extra water bottles, corner litter pans, and a real igloo: igloos are sooo easy to clean, and cheap, really, about $8 I think.

As for covering the floors, a variety of walking surfaces is best for rats. Leave some uncovered, some covered with plastic embroidery ... um, stuff (I forget what it's called), etc. You may want to pick up a few more food dishes to rotate as one is being washed, and have one for wet and one for dry food.

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:09 pm

	Quote:
	plastic embroidery ... um, stuff (I forget what it's called),

Needlepoint Canvas? When I was a kid, Mom would give us the scraps and we'd make stuff from the plastic. Glad you mentioned it; it would be good as a washable wire wheel cover.

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:39 pm

	ratlover47 wrote:
	Please, if you decide to get your boys at a pet store, make sure it is a responsible, caring one - not Petco or any popular commercial petstore like that.

:/ No offense, but a blanket statement like that is pretty rude. I understand what you were trying to say, but next time please suggest a good store or a breeder.

I happen to be an animal specialist at the PetsMart in my area, have been for a long time now, and it always makes me cringe when people say "Don't go THERE, they're commercial and big, they don't care about the animals!"

Very untrue. Myself and my other associates take wonderful care of our animals, and make sure to try and educate EVERY customer who is interested in them, sometimes even if they don't want to know.

We socialize every animal, of course including the rats, and make sure they have everything they need. We don't get anything special for selling an animal, and reserve every right to deny someone a sale if they are unwilling to learn proper care or buy what that specific animal needs.

So please, before you make such crude statements, realize that many of us who work at these stores DO care, and ARE knowledgable about the animals and what is best.

:/ Sorry, but I really do hate comments like that!

Wed Jan 21, 2004 7:47 pm

EvilGummy makes a very good point. There are some pet stores out there that are good. Unfortunately it's not the norm, which is why some of us are so fast to say no to petshops.

I have heard horrid horror stories about some PetSmarts from the very members on this board. But then, the PetSmart in my area is wonderful. They know how to treat the small animals, they are kept on carefresh and away from the reptiles and they are housed in groups as well as have a price that most people wouldn't spend on a feeder. The employees are pretty knowledgeable about rat care and a couple have rats of their own. So yes, there are good petstores out there even if they are a part of a chain. But unfortunately the majority are not concerned in the least about the animals they are selling, it seems.

I think it all depends on the people working in the animal department and on the manager/owner of the store. I wish all of them could be caring and knowledgeable as you are, EvilGummy...the world would be a much better place for rats if so!

_________________
Christy
RP Admin
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Frodo, Zorro, Erzulie, Maeve, Clara, Molly & Emily

Wed Jan 21, 2004 8:18 pm

Thanks. We do keep them on carefresh, and it still amazes me to this day how many people when buying a new small animal will tell their son/daughter/wife (Ok, go grab a big bag of that pine stuff). And then when I tell them how dangerous it is, they look at the price difference and I usually have to keep pushing onto them the fact that pine is so dangerous before they grab the carefresh.

I prefer Cell-U-Zorb myself, but it IS very expensive for even the small bags.

And we do keep the reptiles far from the little guys. I wish fancy rats cost more, they're only about 8 dollars, and I've had to time and time again explain to someone that they can't buy them for food for their snake.
(We don't sell any form of feeders at my store, so I can get into some pretty ugly arguments with angry customers who want that rat for a snack)

As far as PetCo goes, the one right next to our store IS a horror story in it's own, I'll agree to that...(They sell males and females of small animals, and almost always get them mixed so people buy pregnant animals.)

In the end it really all depends on the people running the place, which boils down to the Big stores being the same as any of the little small pet stores out there. We're just easier to bash since people will know our name if they hear it. :/

Wed Jan 21, 2004 10:01 pm

"In the end it really all depends on the people running the place, which boils down to the Big stores being the same as any of the little small pet stores out there. We're just easier to bash since people will know our name if they hear it. :/ "

Ain't that the truth! Our Petco swings from good to not-so-good and back again, depending on who is working. Sometimes the rodents are on Carefresh, other times on pine. Most of the time the sexes are mixed, and I had one guy there tell me it was okay cos the mice's nads weren't "big enough" yet to make them "want to mate". Shocked

And in the same area of town, there and two mom-&-pop pet shops: the one where I got my mice sells feeder mice as well as fancy, and they're really nice people but could use a bit of edu about rodents as pets, even though they keep them themselves (only lab blocks, pine, etc.); the other one "specializes" Rolling Eyes

in mice and it's dark and dirty and dusty in there and the woman looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if they had any food other than lab blocks (I don't think they've sold anything in years, it seems).

So unfortunately we don't have any great pet shops in this area, but I've heard enough about other PetSmart and PetCo stores to be envious!

_________________
Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Wed Jan 21, 2004 10:09 pm

"Most of the time the sexes are mixed, and I had one guy there tell me it was okay cos the mice's nads weren't "big enough" yet to make them "want to mate".

Hehe, I could tell some funny stories. But that's real good. x.x

Unfortunately most of my stories involve the customers, not the workers. Confused

That's what I get for being on the other side of the fence, working in a pet store instead of just shopping there.

Though I do love my 15% discount. Mr. Green

Thu Jan 22, 2004 1:37 am

EvilGummy wrote:

	ratlover47 wrote:
	Please, if you decide to get your boys at a pet store, make sure it is a responsible, caring one - not Petco or any popular commercial petstore like that.

:/ No offense, but a blanket statement like that is pretty rude. I understand what you were trying to say, but next time please suggest a good store or a breeder.

Sorry about that. I didn't mean to say that all commercial pet stores are bad, but some of them I don't like. There definitely are several good ones out there. It makes me really annoyed to walk into petco and see three rats in about ten sq inches of space. And by saying that some pet stores aren't caring, I didn't mean that the people don't care, I just wish some of the people knew what to do for the animals better. Though that comment wasn't meant to offend anyone, I guess it did, and I'm sorry. I've actually never been to a PetsMart before - just several Petcos and other "commercial" pet stores.

My point is...not all pet stores are "bad." Some Petcos even are great; some aren't. Some breeders are good, too; others are not. Sorry for being unclear, and I'm very sorry also for offending you. I'm proofreading this to make sure I didn't say anything stupid again.

Whitney - the cage looks great! I love the plush ratty, but you might want to make the box's door a bit bigger, or turn it upside-down. (Ahh! There I go again with my suggestions! lol) Looks like tons of fun!!

_________________
Laura (aka RATLOVER47)
My boys: Pokey and Pepper

Rest in peace little Pipster. I miss you more than anything.

Thu Jan 22, 2004 1:39 am

	EvilGummy wrote:
	In the end it really all depends on the people running the place, which boils down to the Big stores being the same as any of the little small pet stores out there. We're just easier to bash since people will know our name if they hear it. :/

Very true...my problem with this one big pet store nearby is that they have no idea what they're talking about. They say pine and cedar are ok, and once this guy even told me its ok to put rats in the same cage as ferrets!!!

_________________
Laura (aka RATLOVER47)
My boys: Pokey and Pepper

Rest in peace little Pipster. I miss you more than anything.

Thu Jan 22, 2004 2:05 am

It's ok ratlover, I can't blame you for what you said if you havn't been to a good commercial store before.

No worries.

Thu Jan 22, 2004 2:13 am

First of all, I'd like to say bravo to Evilgummy for running the store so well.

That being said, though, I'd still rather not shop at large chain pet stores unless they have a corporate, blanket policy on issues such as employee training, care for animals in the store, education of buyers, etc, all of those things that Evilgummy's doing so well. Unless they have a good corporate policy, some of your money spent there still trickles up to support the "evil corporation."

It's kind of analagous to this. PETA publishes a "cruelty-free" list, but does NOT include on the list lines of cosmetics that are not tested on animals, if their parent company still tests on animals.

An example of this that I can recall occurred in the early 90s, when ecology and animal welfare became somewhat trendy, so a lot of major cosmetic manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon. Sally Hansen introduced a line called "Natural Glow" that was packaged in ostensibly environmentally sound packaging, etc, and they had the gall to state that the products in that line were not tested on animals, even though the Sally Hansen company still used animal testing on their other product lines. A more current example is Clairol's "Natural Instincts" line.

But back to the original topic, the cage looks great! That plush rattie--I have one just like him! Isn't he the cutest thing? Have you tried making him do rat things (note to others--he is a hand puppet), like washing his nose. When you move his little hands around his face, it is almost as cute as a live rat! Almost.

_________________
Arvay and the Squirmin' Vermin

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, 'I used everything you gave me.'

--Erma Bombeck