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Anonymous
/an/,
I am really fond of rats and am hoping to get two females in the near future.
I've done my research, but I want to know if you have any tips or little known advice that would help someone new to rats.
In return, a rat in a crochet outfit. :3
tl;dr - Tell me what you know about rats.
>> Anonymous
Handle them frequently. Even if they don't want to be.
Soon they'll be completely unafraid of you and enjoy your company. I've seen scaredy-rats turn completely around within a weeks time because of this.
Get them young. And two females is best, just like what you're planning :3
>> Anonymous
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>>331393

Moar pics of rats?
>> Anonymous
>>331398

Thanks a ton! Do you have any other advice you can recommend?
>> Anonymous
I prefers males, myself. Males are very sweet, lazy, cuddly, in general. Females are more ADD, hyper, OMG MUST EXPLORE WHAT'S THIS HEY WHAT'S THAT I'M GOING OVER HERE NOW SEEYA. The males are just chill little fat dudes that want to be with you all the time.

Keep their cage clean. No, like, super clean. It's essential for good health. They get respiratory problems very easily.

Spend a lot of time with them, handle them a lot, let them ride around on your shoulder, in your pockets, inside your shirt. Especially if you get them young, do this from the beginning (give them a few days to settle in, though). They will bond to you and love the shit out of you, and it's quite nice.

Litter box train them. Get a low container of some sort, fill it with something like Yesterday's News or corncob bedding or whatever (something different than what you use in the rest of the cage). Every time they poop, move the poop in the litter box. Do this a lot. They will eventually get the idea. Several of my rats were trained within a couple of days, some took longer.

Once you get them litter trained, you can leave their cage open and let them run around on the floor without worrying about stepping on stray turds all the time. They will run back to the cage and use their box. It's great.

Use their names a lot. They will come when you call them.
>> Anonymous
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>>331401
>> Anonymous
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i guess you know that you can't use wood shavings cause rats carry a bacteria called mycoplasma which can lead to respiratory infections and death. the best beddings you can use are corncob bedding, KILN DRIED pine, Kaytee soft sorbant/total comfort, critter country, cell sorb plus and careFRESH. Aspen can be okay, too, but if your rats start sneezing then change to a better bedding as fast as possible. early infections can clear up on their own and save you a lot in vet bills.
also, try to find the largest rat-safe cage you can. rats have a collapsible skeleton; can and will squeeze out of and into anything that they can, so always make sure that they can't fit their head through the bars as it's the only part of their skeleton that isn't collapsible.

and in return for crochet rat, i give you a dumbo rat.
>> Anonymous
they do it like we do?