~*~Care Tips & Information~*~
~*~Care Tips & Information~*~
Substrate
Here, we use bath/hand towels on all of the larger surfaces in their cage, like carpet. Hides/boxes get an extra layer of "nesting" fabric. "Nesting fabric" is just pieces of t-shirts, bedsheets, washcloths, and other fabric items. We cut large scraps from these items that were stained or end of the line hand me downs. They are sourced from friends & family. Rats do like to dig, so we give them a dig box activity with coconut fiber once or twice a week.
First off, our cleaning schedule for each cage is a spot cleaning on Wednesdays and a deep cleaning on Saturdays. Spot cleans are usually just reorganizing, scooping out dirt/poops/debris, and switching out any soiled boxes/hides/towels. We deep clean by removing everything from the cage, vacuuming the debris, and scrubbing with baby wipes. If you need something more abrasive, dish soap and a melamine sponge work wonders.
This cleanind method and schedule has been standard throughout our operation ever since we began. Here are our experiences with the most popular different substrate options:
Paper Bedding -
This was our first bedding. It can carry mites (this is not fear-mongering, this is very true, look it up if you don't believe us!), and it also creates a lot of dust. It's been treated as the gold standard, but once we made the switch, we haven't had to make another appointment for the sniffles again. It works well enough, but dries slowly, which required more regular cleaning. My rats opted to pee in the hammocks rather than in this bedding. Spot cleans were needed on Sundays and Wednesdays, rather than Tuesday. For what it's worth - IT'S SO MESSY. If you have a longhair dog/cat, it will be stuck to them constantly.
Aspen Bedding -
This was okay, but it caused a lot of mild eye infections. It increases the chances of them getting scratched in the eye by a wood chip by 1,000%. My hairless, mosaic, werewolf, DRex and rex rats all had issues with their skin. It also caused an allergic reaction in myself and a few of my rats.
Pellets/Corn litters -
This is a giant mess, uncomfy on their feet, and it smells the worst out of all of these options <3
Paper Towels -
Be so for real. Don't do that. Nesting material only.
Fleece -
Not very absorbant, and DEFINITELY holds a smell. They did enjoy the fleece, but they like to tear up fabric, so getting new fleece liners that often was really, really pricey.
Towels/T-Shirts -
Absorbant, but intended to dry quickly. This keeps the smell close to it, and doesn't feel as icky as dirtied fleece. They do chew the fabric, but it gives them the opportunity to gather nesting materials. Contrary to popular belief, boys do like to nest; usually the ones at the bottom of the heirarchy. We buy about 1 new towel a month for each cage, and this is still cheaper than paper bedding.
Diet
Our rats are fed Café Rats Shunamite Rat Food. See our Feed page for more information about this feed.
RATS CANNOT EAT SOME THINGS, LIKE-
fruit pits (including avocado, peach pits, etc), apple seeds, raw lentils, raw sweet potatoes, green potatoes (You shouldn't eat green potatoes either! Google it!), citrus fruits/seeds/rinds, coffee (A taste is fine. Decaf coffee is safe as well. Caffeine is the culprit here because it can cause heart attacks.), rhubarb, or raw onions/garlic. Large amounts of chocolate aren't great, but moderate amounts (even if given regularly) of dark chocolate have been shown to make rats very, VERY happy, as well as offering the same nutritional benefits we seek to obtain by eating chocolate. If you have a hog of a rat, I would maybe make sure that they can't steal the others' chocolate when you give out the treats.
Some people are very against cooked onions and garlic, but I have never experienced ANY health (e.g digestive/stool/urinary/lethargy/gassiness) issues when offering our rats seasoned leftover foods. If there is onion in your food, you should only give very small portions and you should offer this as infrequently as possible. That being said, you do not need to fret if your rat stole your onion ring. Just don't give him another one! Allicin, the chemical in garlic that inflames their digestive system, degrades in 10-15 minutes when cooked at 200°F. It degrades even faster at higher temperatures. Just make sure you cook it your food after it's seasoned!
I see that people are very opinionated about what rats should be eating. I respect this, and with most I agree. People feed large portions of sometimes foods, which is definitely a problem we want to be addressing. I don't want to encourage giving an unfit diet, but for what it's worth, rats love to eat human trash. Wild rats are extremely adaptable to diet changes and many other large life changes. Their habitability is one of their most positive traits. I don't want to breed these healthy, preferrable traits out of my rats, as we have done to many species of captive animals around the world. I would like to preserve the remnants of their most helpful, wild traits, and breed them further in. My rats are definitely allowed to eat human foods, even with flavorings/spices, spiciness, and sugar. They experience the world much like we do, and I feel that offering a varied diet, including treats or occasional meals of what we eat, is enriching and fulfilling. My rats definitely get chocolate and marshmallows on Valentine's/Easter, BBQ on the 4th, Reese's Cups on Halloween, Turkey on Thanksgiving, and mint chocolate on Christmas.
Here at Cafe Rats, our enrichment includes:
1.) Free Roam Time
Make sure to offer food and hides for this activity.
Hide food for them to find! Use dig boxes during free roam!
Use snuffle mats during this time!
Free roaming should always be supervised, especially the younger your rat is. You should also make sure that there are no hiding areas you cannot reach before you allow your little ones to roam around.
Just as the name suggests, this should be free time for them to do as they please, and explore the space as they please. This isn't time for you to pick them up or interact with them, unless they CHOOSE to come interact with you. They deserve to have time to their own adventures, too! If you've chosen to potty train, you should offer them a potty box or two during free roam. If you haven't potty trained, I would still suggest you give your rat an area to go to the bathroom if they need to. They should also be able to climb back into their cage should they feel that they want/need to.
Their cage is their little apartment. You're the landlord. You should want to be a good landlord. Their apartment is where their fridge and cabinets(food bowl) are. Their apartment is where their where their sink (water bottle) is. Their apartment is their home. It's where their bed (nest) is, and it's where they feel the most safe. They should never be unable to access their apartment. In the human world, a landlord disallowing you into your apartment is unlawful, unless there is an emergency or some incident making the apartment unlivable (such as when you clean their cage).
If you have a rat that wants to hide piles of food outside the cage, you can choose not to offer food during this time and take it out of their home as well. That is reasonable, and they will not starve during free roam.
We have free roam rats that live that way permanently, but they have proven themselves to be trustworthy, and we have done lots of rat-proofing to keep our spaces safe. One of the most important things we have done is making electrical cords spicy. We make a ghost pepper chili oil, and then turn that into a paste that dries onto the surface of the cords without falling off. Be sure not to touch your skin after you have handled the oil or the paste. (Only cook this with good aeration in your kitchen.) This means that even touching the electrical cords will cause them to feel the spiciness in their hands. This may seem cruel, but it is a much safer, albiet a little painful, experience than being electrocuted in an area that we couldn't supervise! Eventually you can clean this paste off, as they have learned that chewing on your cords is an unwanted behavior.
2.) Dig Boxes
Dig boxes should have all kinds of things hidden in them!!
We usually use moistened, loosely packed coconut fiber for the soil in these. A few days before the dig box is supposed to be given, we bury lots of different types of things, like shiny/sparkly ceramic/resin trinkets, pieces of multi-colored pipe cleaner, rock, unshelled, unsalted, ROASTED peanuts, fabric, and a little treasure chest to find. The treasure chest can contain whatever your rats value most that you can reasonably give them. Ours love peanuts, so sometimes it's just entirely full of peanuts. Usually it has a new bell toy in it or something to play with or play "keep-away" with, and sometimes wrapped pieces of hard candy or taffy. We've put all kinds of things in the treasure box. Once all those things are placed (it doesn't have to be super elaborate!), we sow corn seed or something of the like so that they can also dig up the sprouts! We also make sure to change up the types of trinkets and things they find quite often. If you'd like any inspiration, please let us know!
3.) Training rats
bear with us, this'll be here soon!
4.) Keep the Food Interesting!!!!
hang tight, this'll be filled in soon!