File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
My rats are starting to smell a bit like urine. I want to give them a bath, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to get them to hold still while I do it I can hold them for maybe 5 seconds before they start thrashign around a bit...I assume it would be a bad idea to attempt bathing them?
>> (????)?
pinch the nape of their neck right behind the skull, and pull it semi tight. triggers a mechanism in them that makes them completely passive and compliant.
>> Anonymous
get spray bottle
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
No, you should bathe them once in a while, although if you keep the cage clean you shouldn't have to do it very often.

Use a mild shampoo (baby shampoo is great), and get ready to get your arms scratched up. I recommend long sleeves.

Some rats don't mind it too much, but some of them HATE it.

They will also poop the entire time you're washing them.
>> Anonymous
>>337463
I know that supposedly doesn't hurt them, But I've been afraid to do it in case I accidentally hurt them. Perhaps I'll try it and see if it makes them chill out.

>>337466
I wouldn't mind the scratches, the main thing I'm worried about would be them getting water in their eyes and ears, since I know thats bad for them.
>> Anonymous
Rats are like a waterised oxymoron. They can tread water for up to three days, and yet can go longer without drinking than camels. Try just an extremely deep tray with a tiny bit of water in the bottom, see how they like walking on moisture. Gradually increase depth, relying upon positive signs. When you've got them swimming confidently, practise holding and scruffing them up, until you can wash them fully and they're happy little rodents all the while.

In the meantime, if desperate, you could try rubbing a flea powder into their fur to mask the odours. But really, if they're walking on clean litter all the time, there should be no real smell of them, except the normal fur one.
>> Anonymous
>>337480
>But really, if they're walking on clean litter all the time, there should be no real smell of them, except the normal fur one.

About that...

I have the entire bottom of their cage covered in shredded paper towels, so I'm pretty sure that's not what that is.

They do seem to have a habit of getting pee on each other a lot, though.
>> Anonymous
>>337466
I can't resist awwwing at that picture.
>> Anonymous
>>337547
me either!

more rats!
>> Anonymous
Just buy new ones
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
My first rat, she died a couple of months ago. Pictures still make me sad... Her sister's still with me, very old and a little ill but still full of life and sociable.
>> Anonymous
I don't care what anyone else says, paper and corncob products smell horrible and just spread the piss smell. I use aspen. Occasionally I actually mix some pressed pine into it to repel fleas (in before "baaaw oils", my rat is in a well ventilated cage and is going on 3 years, he's a healthy geezer). I also put timothy hay into the cage at every cleaning and he'll tuck some of the softer bits into his box, so that helps cover any remaining odor, and I replace his box once a week.

I just bathe him like a dog when he needs a bath, using puppy shampoo. He doesn't crap in the tub, but he squeaks constantly and will try to jump out - it's easy to forget how high a fat rat can leap.
>> Anonymous
Mine never crapped, but boy were they unhappy. I just stuck em in the bathtub with the water level at about an inch or so and slooshed them down with the water and a washcloth with soap in it. Nice clean ratties, tada.
>> Anonymous
my female rats smell like grape soda.
>> Anonymous
my rats smell like corn tortillas
they're male and intact

maybe get your rat introduced to water first
video related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7end071b3zA
>> Anonymous
Former breeder here. I wore my scratches like a badge of honor.

If you lack the constitution, just place them in a tub which has a small bit of warm water in it and proceed from there.
>> Anonymous
why...do people own rats
>> Anonymous
>>337879
My girls smell like grape Koolaid, haha.
>>337937
For the same reason people own cats and dogs?
>> Anonymous
I want to try bathing my girls, but I know the fat one is going to have heart failure and try to kill herself jumping out. Will they get over it if you just stick them in the tub with shallow water?
>> Anonymous
>>337950
But rats are smelly diseased vermin that shit and piss on everything. Dogs and cats don't smell if they're taken care of and they don't piss and shit on everything if you train them.
>> Anonymous
>>337955
doesn't sound like a troll at all
>> Anonymous
>>337953

I also have two female rats, and there is a decidedly fatter one. She's also far more skittish than the other, darker one. My flatmate and I tried bathing them but they just keep running to the shallow end of the bath and staring up at us as if we were the worst people in the world :(
>> Anonymous
>>337955
In during troll.

Either way, rats don't stink and are ten times cleaner than any dog.
>> Boobies and Eyeballs
>>337979
I hate that look.... and the worst part is when you finally feel so bad about upsetting them that you take them out of the water, they run up your arm and hide in your neck and make you feel even more guilty.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
OMG rats are soooooooo kewl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111111111one
>> Anonymous
>>337463

I tried this and my rats just sort of mildly flailed around because they couldn't grip anything with thier feet. I tried different locations on their neck, and various strengths of pinches. Never made them squeak or seem ill at ease, and one of them actually sat on my lap happily chattering away whilst I pet her afterwards. But they certainly didn't make them
>completely passive and compliant.

:S
>> Anonymous
I kept rats for a while. If you put them in water, like a bathtub filled with water and an all natural non-pine shampoo, they will swim around like sperm, then when you dry them off, they will give themselves a bath. The urine is something they use to define their nest. They will always smell like urine. You need to change out the bedding like twice a week for some rats. Not based on how often they poop, but how often they pee. Also, they like to spray outside the bars of the cage and then the whole cage will just stink. Getting live plants reduces the smell and give the mice a natural feels. Switch to a coconut fiber bedding and see win results
>> Anonymous
>>337979
Yeah my fatter one can be very shy. When I clean their cage I usually stick them in a cardboard box and she jumped like two feet out of that thing and shit all over the place, while my little rat didn't really give a shit.
>> Anonymous
use a shallow bowl or something with lukewarm water, and scrub them under a faucet (sink preferably :x) using slightly warmer water. there are small rodent shampoos out there for bunnies and rats theyre pretty gentle and dont hurt the babies' eyes.

mine tend to scream and protest a lot, but when i put them in the bowl or the small tub filled with an inch or two of water they play around like they were pups again (and my rats are old farts)