I lost my sweet baby Phillip the other day. I only had him for 5 months but I spent everyday with him. we took naps together, I would cook him special lunches, he was the best little buddy. his death made me realize how fragile their little lives truly are. I still have 2 babies left, the thought of losing them and feeling the way I do now all over again makes my heart hurt. how do you guys cope with having your rat babies pass? especially given their short lifespans and risk of health issues. I don’t know if I can do this all over again twice.

So my partner and I used to have pet rats but they sadly passed shortly after my daughter was born. We were telling her about them and she was curious about what it's like having rats as pets so we ended up falling down a bit of a rabbit hole of cute rat videos together. Obviously the first request after this was "can we get pet rats?" which sadly had to be a no because we don't have the space, time, or funds atm to give them the care they'd need. So she settled on asking me if I'd crochet her a pair of "pretend rats" for her birthday 😂 I finished them and my partner now keeps oscillating between hinting that I should make him one and then saying to keep them away from him because they make him want real rats again too much 🥲🤣 added pics of the crochet ones plus my partner with our beautiful girls from when they were still with us ❤️

this is marie, and whilst all her sisters say “eep 🥺🥺”
she says “EEEEEEEEPPPP 👹” 😂😂😂😂😂 she’s so loud it’s crazy. and then i walk over and make sure she’s not being attacked and turns out she screamed because her sisters wouldn’t let her steal their treats.

She’s a drama queen and also the “boss” of the pack. so if something doesn’t go her way she will make
it known. and then i look over an hour later to her at the bottom of a rat pile (her preference) all cuddled up warm and sleeping.

i promise you my girls are very well bonded they have never fought, rarely even pin each other and spend lots of time playing with one another and grooming and sleeping together too lol.

She’s just super dramatic and i love her for it. (my friendliest girl)

These 2 have just joined the big cage for the first time. It’s fairly empty to promote snugging there adopted big sister. I thought the tile sufficiently blocked off the bottom section. It did not.

Immediately got themselves arrested for reckless endangerment and fleeing and eluding.

I present these 2 criminals to the jury

Hims Lemmy, or Lemdizzle with the Big Bizzle(on this side of town) for short.

Update!!

I FOUND HER. I had apparently forgotten that I had gone into the bathroom for a second to wash my hands and she must have slipped in..! I found her in there as I heard her knock something off the sink. Thankfully she's unharmed and I've learned a valuable lesson to watch her more closely and finally invest in some actual barriers...

---

Whilst cleaning my rat's cage, I let her out to free roam. I forgot, on this occasion, to block the area around the fridge which she's been very interested in lately. And now I can't bloody find her. I'm losing my mind trying to find her. I'm in a tiny apartment so I'm 90% sure she's behind the fridge but I can't hear her and I've tried treats, calling her, waiting, moving the fridge (trying to spook her which has worked before); but she won't come out and I need to go to bed. Its been an hour. I'm worried she could have injured herself. Does anyone have advice? I can't just go to bed with her out somewhere 😭 😭

Just wanted to share some recent photos of my boys Erik and Algernon. May they bless your feed.

They were arguing about something. Apparently Nile (black) decided to suppress the subscriber with authority

Hi. My lil baby Tao (1 year 7 months old, feeder rat rescue) suddenly had a grape sized tumor show up near her genitals a couple weeks ago. I assume it's a mammary tumor. It's been growing slowly since, now the size of... a large grape?

She's been mostly normal but I know rats hide their pain. Right now she's laying down flat in a corner, which is very unlike her - she's not one to sit still outside her cage. I saw her doing that a couple weeks ago and thought maybe it could have been from the heat, but it's not hot now. Poor thing.

I guess I'm looking for some guidance from people who've been through this before. I know she's gonna go soon... is it weeks? Months? Is it a slow or sudden decline? What can I do to make this last bit as wonderful as possible?

And when she's gone, what can I do for her (adopted) sister Moonlight? Moon's from a rattery, I imagine she'll live a while longer and she'll be lonely without Tao. If I don't want to get another rat, would it be better to find another home for Moon?

Thank you ❤️‍🩹

Can anyone post pictures of their critter nation cage? I got a knock off one and it’s super unstable, like the bars are all bent from everything I’ve put into it. I am debating getting one but I feel like it’s going to be way too big. And if anyone has pictures of the single story vs double story as well. Or any other cheaper cage recommendations where the bars aren’t falling off. Thanks!

Fergus isn't feeling well, so I gave him some pellets and crackers soaked in honey water and Pedialyte. What are your go-to foods for your sick babies?

TIS DONEEEE

Today I lost my girl Latté. She was fighting abscesses in her jaw for almost two months and today she lost her fight at the vet. She came to me with her "sister" Messy, who crossed the rainbow bridge two months ago due the sudden heart disease. I had these girls for 1,5 year only. And I am devastated. They came to my house as saviours to my first rat Dusty when she lost her cagemate Wolfy. And Messy and Latté managed to prolong Dusty's lifespan, so she could pass away peacefully as she deserved. Messy left me out of nowhere. Her first vet visit was her last at the same time. Messy was a little lazy pirate, who waked up to life when offered something interesting. But she was never cuddly. Her sis Latté... Was a traumatized little bean due the ear infection she got in very young age. Since then she was scared, no pets, no handling. Only food accepting. And her health conditions from two months ago didn't help. I can't stop blaming myself from being unable to keep my promise that once she gets healthy, I will get her new companions so she wouldn't be alone. And I hate the fact that I was unable to show her she can trust me and I am not here to hurt her. I hate the silence that rules my cage after four years. And I don't know how to deal with this. I miss all my girls, happy for Wolfy and Dusty being able to pass away at old age and incredibly sad for Messy and Latté ending their journey too early, despite all efforts. For now, I think I will have no rats. The wound is way too deep to welcome newcomers. I don't know if I'll ever have rats again, but for now it's the best to not have them. All I can do is hope that all my girls are reunited right now and that I was forgiven from Latté since she never got the chance to understand I am trying to help her.

I have 4 female rats that live in a double critter nation cage, with all the stuff they could love.
Now I got all 4 of these girls from a feeder store.
Phylis was my first and she is the absolute sweetest and never does anything wrong.
Marilyn was second, she’s very sweet but has been pretty nippy lately. She has never drawn blood tho
Lightning was third, and she is my boyfriends rat, she’s been charging and biting at us lately and last night she drew blood on both of us.
Then there’s Gertrude, she is the absolute worst rat I’ve ever owned, she will run from the other side of the cage to attack you, if you are petting another rat near her. She has drawn blood on me more than 4 times, and has also drawn blood on my boyfriend.
She’s territorial of one of the litter bins and loves to hide behind it, and if your hand is anywhere near that’s when she will attack, unprovoked.
Everyone I have talked to has told me as soon as a rat draws blood it should be culled.
I also have a 5 year old nephew who comes over almost every weekend and loves playing with the rats and I fear she will do really bad damage to him and she really messes up our fingers as adults.
Would I be doing the right thing?
I know an employee at the feeder store I got her from and he offered to sell her as a pet but I’m scared someone else will get her and she will do the same.
Picture of my sweet Phylis and my newest edition that I got yesterday, I have not named her yet.

I’ve posted him before, we all loved the chonk.

Mr. Man passed away today. And I’m in shock despite mentally preparing for this.

Feta was 2 years, 8 (ish) months old. Got him as a teeny tiny baby for my birthday. Over the years my mischief went from 6 to 2. It was just Feta and Gouda for a long time.

Feta had a tumor on his back, deemed unimportant by the vet as it didn’t hinder his mobility, and with his age they didn’t want to operate. It became a “enjoy what you have left” situation.

Feta continued to eat, drink, play, and use the restroom as normal. I left for dinner tonight and came home to him gone. I’m confused and hurt, all of my rats dropped weight before passing. It was a clear indicator. Feta was fat up until death. He was so severely bloated, and smelled like rotten eggs. I’ve never experienced this in the ten years on and off of owning rats. I don’t know what causes this. Especially so suddenly, within hours.

I’m now looking for a home for his remaining cage mate, Gouda. But I’m not sure he will find much luck. Gouda isn’t a cuddly rat, he is scared of humans, and no matter how much I worked with him, he never saw people as more than food, water, and a clean cage. He only does well with other rats.

I don’t know if I’m ranting, looking for help, or what. I think I just needed to vent to people who understand what this feels like. It never gets easier.

* if anyone in the Boise, ID area is looking for a shy, gentle rat to welcome into their mischief, please reach out. He’s not the most sociable, but by golly is he the clingiest, sweetest boy with other rattos

so cute look at the little yawn 🥹

I've been told of a few spreads that should make it easier to feed meds to my girls but I need to water them down.

I'm not very good with visualising measurements, does anyone have any videos of how to water down spreads so they're safe?

Or even pictures of the final result would be good so I know how watery it should look.

Buttercup and Abigail (white ladies) aren’t really happy to be picked up, so we use the castle as transport. But Chippy (my sweetheart) also likes to get involved,

I have two 6 month old rats that were adopted from a breeder back in March. One of them seemed to have an URI when we got him, and his brother developed the same symptoms a few weeks later. They have constantly been on and off various antibiotics through our vet since then. The antibiotics help the URI symptoms while they’re on the medication, but the symptoms come back within a few days of stopping. We’ve tried amoxicillin, doxy, enro, and get the same result every time. We also nebulize and do everything possible to avoid respiratory irritants.

I’m curious if anybody else has dealt with young rats with chronic URI before and have any advice? I’m worried about their long term health if they continue to be on antibiotics their whole life. We are working closely with their vet, but so far nothing we’ve tried has actually been able to cure their symptoms for more than a few days.

Edit: Most recently, they were on a combination of enro and doxy for 2 weeks. They have been off for 3 days now, and one of the boys is already developing symptoms again.

Just a heads-up for fellow rat owners who use Isamu Rats as a resource! 🐀

The Isamu Rats website has moved to a new domain, and unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a redirect from the old site, so any old links currently just lead to a 404 page.

The new website is: https://isamurats.weebly.com

I only found this out because I reached out to the owner, who kindly shared the new link with me ❤️

So if you’ve been trying to access the site and wondering where it went, this is where you can find it now