~ September Skies ~  

Caring for Rats and Mice

Congratulations on bringing a wonderful new pet into your family. Mice and rats make delightful companions, and will thrive on your love and affection. This information sheet is to help you give your new family member the happiest and healthiest life possible. We hope it is useful for you. If you have access to the Internet, the links you will find at the end of this sheet provide more in depth information on all the issues explored here. We wish you the best of luck!

 How Many?

 Rats and mice are very social creatures, and need a great deal of interaction with others in order to remain happy and healthy. They will always be happier with other rats/mice for company. If you keep them on their own you need to play with them every day, and provide them with an interesting home. However, it takes no more energy or space to keep two rats/mice instead of one, and they will entertain you with their antics together! Of course, unless you want to be up to your neck in baby rats, always keep them in same sex pairs. I always recommend keeping two or more rats or mice, for their own well-being. After all, rats and mice are most active and playful when you're asleep, so a single rat will be a lonely rat.

 A Happy Home?

 While rodents can be kept in all sorts of cages, the main types used are aquariums, wire cages, and purpose built melamine cages. Wood, unless it is well sealed, tends to absorb urine and get smelly after a while. It can also harbour parasites, and eventually gets holes chewed in it. Whatever home you use, the main things to keep in mind are:

~ The flooring must be solid, not wire, as this can cause terrible ulcers on their feet.

~ There must be good ventilation so that they don’t develop respiratory problems from the chemicals in their urine. This means if you have an aquarium, you need a wire or ready-made plastic rodent lid.

~ The doors need to be wide enough for you to get your rats/mice out while they are in your hand, and two hands is really the best way to pick up any small creature. The doors also need to be escape-proof (that is, firmly secured), because rats especially are very clever at escaping!

~ Shelter is essential, they won’t feel secure unless they have the option of a safe place to run to, and they will tend to sleep in there too. You can give them a “permanent” shelter (it will eventually  get chewed up!) from a pet shop, or give them card-board boxes (empty tissue boxes with the plastic removed are ideal). You can make, or buy hammocks, tubes and snuggling sacks as well, some examples of these are on the Dapper Rat website (see end).  Offer them some bedding material so they can make nests. Examples are: paper toweling, tissues, shredded paper, and strips of cloth.

~ Litter is what you use in the bottom of the cage to absorb the urine. The most commonly sold litter is pine shavings, but these are actually bad for rodents because they contain dust and essential oils that irritate eyes, noses and lungs. What we recommend is a dust-free cat litter, ones we’ve used include “Breeders Choice” and “Light and Easy”.

 I’m Hungry!

 Feeding your rodents can be as simple or as complex as you like, providing you keep in mind the following:

~ Always have dry food available to your rodents. This could be a muesli mix from the supermarket or health store with a parrot seed-mix added, a packaged rat and mouse food, or your own selection of grains, seeds and cereals from a health food store. I give my girls the latter, because I can change it every few weeks for their interest and health. I also add a little extra protein by giving them a few dry dog biscuits in their mix.

~ Provide your boys or girls with fresh food every day, which can be pretty much anything you can eat, barring chocolate, fizzy drinks and too much fat, sugar or spices. The usual fresh foods are fruit and vegetables, and very small amounts of yoghurt, egg, and goodies from your leftovers. Just as long as they have something fresh each day they should get enough vitamins to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! Some exceptions are: Blue Cheese, Liquorice, raw dry beans or peanuts, and green potato skins. All these foods can make your rat extremely sick.

~ Always provide your pets with abundant fresh water, and in hot weather you need to check that it has not run out or stopped flowing. Dehydration can be terminal in all animals. Use a drip bottle, so that the water does not get dirtied. Keep in mind that the cheaper ones have a tendency to leak in my experience. One I know doesn’t leak is “Ferplast”, and I’ve been told “hagen” bottles are good as well. Leaky bottles make damp conditions for your rats and mice.

~ Treats : you will no-doubt want to give your pets something special every now and then, or as a reward during training. Some ideas we suggest are: Yoghurt drops, dried banana chips, apricot delight, dates… All cut into little pieces of course – too much can give them diarrhoea. These things are all available from health food stores, or the health food section of the supermarket.    

To be continued..... jess :)

Links

Bathing rats and mice (by me)

Just a Spoonful of Sugar... (How to get medicines into your rat!) (by me)

                                    Created on the 13th Feb 2004.      Last updated 10/4/05.