Friday, February 12, 2010

I just rescued two fancy rats, I have some questions...?

Keep in mind they are around three weeks old give or take a few days. (both female)





At what age do they start to really interact?


At this age should I handle them a lot, or let the rest?


What else should I do to make them be very social and grow healthily?





And last any other tips are welcomed...I just rescued two fancy rats, I have some questions...?
If they are only 3 weeks old, they need to go back to their mother! Rats only start on solid food at 4-5 weeks, but should stay with their mother for one more week after that, which means you should only be getting them at 5-6 weeks. At three weeks, they need to be fed kitten formula supplement every few hours unless you return them to their mother. I noticed you said they are rescued, and if their mother isn't available, you do need to learn how to supplement formula into their diet for the next week. Since they are older, you could probably get away with offering kitten formula on a dish allowing them to feed themselves.





I'm not sure what you mean by interact. Rats are always highly interactive, especially as babies. If they seem scared, it is because they are not yet used to their new environment. Give them a day of complete solitude, and don't try to pick them up just yet. Leave the room so they feel comfortable to explore, sniff and scent mark their cage. Once they feel that their new home is safe, they will start exploring everything else.





Rats should be handled from birth, ideally. So after the first couple days and you notice them being a lot braver, start offering treats from your hands, stroking them gently, and eventually lifting them up. Just do not pick at them for long periods of time at first, just breif few minutes until they get used to you even more. Pretty soon, they will be coming up to the door of their cage to greet you. Rats need an 1 of out of cage time each day, if not more.





Other than that, just make sure you have feeding, caging, health and grooming researched, and have a vet clinic that accepts rats to call just in case of an emergency :)I just rescued two fancy rats, I have some questions...?
as they are 3 weeks old, they dont necissarily have to be with mum. I would personally give them some goats milk or puppy milk (cows milk is bad for animals) when they hit 4-5 weeks they would be old enough to be introduce solids or rodent food. If not tear up some bread pieces and soak it in a bit of water so its soft and mushy then it will gradually eat it too :D
They should not be away from mom until at LEAST 4 weeks old. It's best that they stay with mom until they are 6 weeks, actually. If you are able to, take them back to where you got them and leave them for a week or two. At 3 weeks old many males have not developed testicles yet, so you may not even have two girls. I had a boy once who didn't develop his testicles until he was around 7 weeks old. Now I'm stuck with two of his kids. XD

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