More Discoveries

During that same vet visit, we discovered other problems with Snickers. To me, it looked like her scar from the surgery was infected, but it was not even the scar I saw. Instead, the vet explained that what we saw was an abscess. She must have gotten her skin caught on something that tugged at her skin causing a tear in it. It was not infected and the vet said it should go away on its own, but if it got worse to come back to see her. Sure enough, it did go away in about a month.


Snickers' estrogen bump seemed to be growing back, but it was not. The vet told me it was love handles because Snickers was overweight. However, Snickers only had a love handle on her left side. At that time, Snickers weighed 2 lbs, which for rats is heavy. They should only weigh about 1 lb, so the vet put her on a diet. I never knew this before, but premixed rat foods are one of the worst, full-fat things you can feed a rat. I was completely shocked. I also found out that the dried corn in rat foods is extremely unhealthy as well since mold can grow in it. Therefore, her new diet consisted of healthful foods, limiting her treat intake to two a day, and filling her dish with less full. There are many different "rat mixes" you can make your rat that can include all of necessary dietary requirements for them. I also could not feed her during the day anymore since that was when rats should sleep and not eat.


The only rat food her diet consisted of was some treats and gray fortified pet blocks, which are full of nutrition for your rat. Since the vet said that healthy foods for us are healthy foods for rats, I decided to feed her Cheerios and oatmeal as the base of her food. Snickers loved to chew on uncooked pasta, frozen pre-cooked chicken, bread, bagels, and crackers. I was very happy Snickers was living her new diet because I was afraid she would not eat it. However, she never used to eat the fortified pet blocks and she still did not. The vet said that as long as she is eating other things, it is fine.

For more rat mix recipes you can look at the following articles: Rat Recipes and More Rat Recipes.

Vet Visit

As I started explaining in the last post, I took Snickers to the vet after choking on her treat. The vet said it was uncommon, but possible and that Snickers should be fine. On the other hand, Snickers had other problems I discovered that day. The vet pointed out these scratches all over Snickers and asked if she was scratching herself more than usual, which she was. The vet put a piece of tape on Snickers' skin and looked at it under the microscope to see if there was a parasite on her and sure enough, there was. Snickers had mites. The vet even let me look under the microscope at them. They were disgusting because you were able to see all of its legs.


Anyway, the vet explained the mites she had do not attack humans, so there was no need to worry about my family getting them, but we did need to treat her to get rid of the mites. Mites can come from bedding, food and from other animals. Since I had just opened up a new bag of bedding, the vet suggested I throw it out since it was likely the cause. For treatment, I needed to clean out her entire cage and bleach her toys to kill any mites on them and then soaked the cage with this mite medicine the vet gave me. Snickers needed to sleep on paper towels as bedding for the next two months and had to get the same medicine orally once every two weeks for two months as well. I needed to clean her cage and spray it with the mite medicine every five days to kill any remaining mites. The medicine worked because she is now mite free and her scratches are all gone. Snickers' skin also looks a lot shinier and healthier than while she had mites.

We discovered more medical problems with Snickers that day, but before I continue about that, I would like to talk about some other skin problems rats can have such cuts on their skin, dry skin, and skin infections. Just as humans can have lice, rats can also have lice or other small insects on them such as fleas and mites, which cause excess scratching and scrapes all over the body. These parasites are extremely uncomfortable to the rat, and, in most cases, you can get rid of them with treatment from a pet store or a vet.


All of my rats have suffered from skin problems: Lilo had the scrapes on her from lack of airflow in her cage, Snickers had mites on her, which caused some dry skin, and Oreo had a flaking tail problem. Let me briefly describe Oreo's skin problem. For some reason Oreo's tail would never look clean even after giving her a bath. It would have a "dark grey" color to it and even flaked sometimes. So when I took her to the vet, I asked about it. The vet was not sure what it was, but she was able to peel the discolorations off her tail without causing Oreo to bleed. She looked at it under the microscope and said it was nothing to worry about and that it should go away on its on. It was just weird that Oreo had this discoloration on her tail and Snickers' tail was as clean as can be.

More to come about Snickers' vet visit in the next post.

Choking in Rats

I think the main reason people use rats for testing is because they cannot throw up, but, because of this, rats can be picky eaters. If you want to know more about why rats cannot vomit please refer to the link, which offers a thorough explanation. Rats typically spend some time to smell and then taste a little of an unfamiliar food before proceeding to gobble it down to make sure that it is safe to eat. Scientists, therefore, typically inject the rats with the product. They use rats for testing new medicines and products because once the product is in the rat it cannot come out immediately because the only way out is when the rat goes to the bathroom and the product has to go through the rats system before excretion.

Throwing up is actually a bad thing in rats because even though choking is uncommon, rats still can. Over the summer one morning, I gave Snickers one of her favorite yogurt treats and noticed something was not right. She was jerking her head back and forth as if she was going to throw up, but of course, she cannot. I also noticed this yellowish thick liquid coming out of her mouth, which I assumed to be the coating on the yogurt treat being dissolved. Evidently, the treat was stuck in her throat and she was attempting to get it out. I had no idea what to do, so I just watched her to make sure she was still breathing. After about five minutes, she managed to stop choking. This had scared me so much that I called the vet to bring her in.

The vet said there was nothing to worry about with regards to her choking, but she had other problems I was unaware of we discovered that I will discuss in the next post.

In most choking cases, as long as the rat can breathe, you should let the rat try to get rid of the obstruction on its own. If the rat seems as if it cannot breathe, then you need to get rid of the obstruction yourself by trying the Heimlich maneuver or reaching into the rat's mouth to clear it. Either way, you should keep an eye on your rat afterwards to make sure he or she is alright.

Time To Say Goodbye

On Saturday October 29, Snickers passed away. I was not home taking care of her so I had no idea something was wrong. Apparently, she was not eating her favorite foods and would mope around. Finally, my dad took her to the vet last Wednesday who noticed Snickers was very weak and limping around. She was extremely dehydrated from not eating and drinking much and from her diarrhea. This was a sign that she was sick.

The vet said that Snickers' teeth were too long which caused problems eating, which is why she was only eat soft foods she could smush into her mouth such as melon. They had to sedate her so they could trim her teeth back and forced some food in her so she could start to gain her strength back. Snickers was always a heavy rat, but she lost way too much weight from not eating so the vet decided to give her full fat dog food to bulk her up.

She had to stay overnight on Wednesday for observation and on Thursday when my dad picked her up she seemed to be doing all right. She was nibbling on the vet's fingers and was eating and drinking. Snickers was able to move around somewhat more than the night before and seemed to be on the road to recovery. I came home on Thursday so I could take care of her and could not believe how bad she looked. She could barely walk on her legs and she kept falling over to her side, but I was happy that she was chomping away at the dog food. Snickers seemed to be doing all right, because she was eating but she still was not drinking that much and was not going number two at all.

The next morning, she was still eating and even made some raisons, which seemed like a good sign because she did not have diarrhea anymore. She was able to pick her head up a little and walk around her cage somewhat. When I came home later that day, though, things changed. She stopped eating, would not drink, and could not hold her head up. She looked much worse than before. I tried to force-feed her, but Snickers would not open her mouth and had no strength in her back legs. Things did not look good.

Then, in the middle of the night, I heard her making these whining noises and breathing very heavy and I knew something was not right. You can tell sometimes when something is wrong with rats from their body language or even when they like something. She stopped the noises when I pet her, so at least I know I comforted her a little. Then, in the morning, she passed away. The vet told me that maybe she knew she was dying and wanted to pass away in the familiar surroundings of her home than in the vet’s office and around the people she loves.

It is sad to see her go because she was my longest living rat of almost two years and her birthday is later in the week. At least she is not suffering anymore and now she is with Oreo again.

Snickers' Surgery

In answer to Donna's question, rats have many problems similar to us. They can have serious problems like those that we do such as cancer and not so serious problems such as the common cold. Just like humans, rats can develop all sorts of tumors, from brain tumors to mammary tumors. Some are benign and others are malignant. In most cases, veterinarians recommend removing the tumor through surgery because even though in most cases the tumors are non-cancerous, they are extremely uncomfortable to the rat and can hinder their ability to move.

Last year Snickers had excess estrogen, which caused her to get a tumor on her side. Before this, I never thought I needed to take her to the vet, but upon discovering this, I decided it was about time. The vet suggested removing the tumor, so they removed the tumor and stitched her up. I was not allowed to keep Oreo and Snickers in the same cage for about a month, so Snickers stayed in the fish tank while Oreo was in the wired cage. Snickers could not sleep on wood chips because we did not want them to get into her incision and infect it. Therefore, she slept on ripped paper towels and I had to make sure nothing sharp was in her cage that could harm the incision. All seemed all right except that Snickers was uncomfortable and unhappy that she could not be in the same cage as Oreo.

The day after her surgery, I came home from work and my mom told me I had to pick Snickers up from the vet. I was flipping out because I did not know anything was wrong. Apparently, Snickers decided it was a good idea to rip the stitches out, which caused her incision to open and bleed everywhere. My mom said that if she had not taken her to the vet, she most likely would have bled to death. I am just happy that my mom had the courage to take her there because my mom will not go near my rats.

So this time, the vet stapled her incision closed in hopes Snickers could not rip them out. Then, in two weeks, the staples would come out. About three days before they were supposed to come out, I noticed that two were missing. Therefore, I cleaned the cage out, but could not find them anywhere. The only thing I could think of is that she swallowed it, which could not be that pleasant. However, she was eating normally so things seemed fine.

Then I was watching television and noticed that the staples were starting to loosen and one caught onto my clothes. Even though the staples were not supposed to come out for a few more days, I decided they needed to. Therefore, my mom called the vet asking if I could take her in. At the same time, Snickers had an itch by her incision and went to scratch it with her teeth and her mouth caught onto one of the staples. I was afraid she would try to break away and rip her skin even more. Luckily, she let me help her get her mouth free and we were off to the vet. She caught herself onto the staples again at the vet, but eventually they removed all the staples and she was a happy little rat again.

Just as humans have surgery and complications, rats can too. So with any kind of surgery, make sure you look at all the risks before going ahead with it. It is also important to get a qualified vet because not all vets are certified to treat rats.

Palace Problems

I religiously took Lilo out of his cage at least once a day. Therefore, when I took him out of the cage one day and noticed these scratches all over him, I knew something was wrong since I did not see them the previous day. The scratches might have been because he was scratching himself too often, but his nails were not that sharp. I had absolutely no idea what caused something this. I decided to take him to the pet store to show the specialist there and they told me it was a skin condition caused by lack of air flowing across his skin. There was lack of air flowing into his cage because he lived in a fish tank with all glass sides. The only way air could flow in was through the vented top of the tank.

Therefore, they gave me this medicine to give Lilo and told me to either get him a wired cage or keep him out of the cage as often as possible. The medicine they gave me was actually a medicine for cats but they said it would help rats as well, and it did. I had to give him the liquid medicine orally everyday, so I decided to put some on his favorite treats, and, surprisingly, he loved the taste of it. I do not know what I would have done if he did not like it. Thus, giving Lilo the medicine was no problem. Now, the next item to do was figure out what to do about his cage.


Since he was already a year old and used to his present cage, I decide against a new cage because I did not want to scare him with new surroundings. Instead, I bought him the small animal high-rise pictured to the left. It attaches to the top of a ten-gallon fish tank to form a three level palace for your rat. This allows greater circulation of air through the tank while he is on the upper levels. However, both Lilo and I did not like this cage one bit. Lilo was scared to go onto the upper levels of the cage preferring to stay in the fish tank itself because he was used to those surroundings. Since he stayed down there almost all the time, it was extremely hard for me to get him out of the cage without taking the entire high-rise off the cage. I even tried putting his food dish on the second level, but he still refused to go there. Therefore, after about a week, I decided that it was best for both of us to return the high-rise and just stick with his original cage.

Now just because Lilo and I did not like the cage does not mean that all rats will dislike it. I think the main reason he did not like it is because it was too new to him. Therefore, I think it is important to introduce your rat to its cage surroundings at an early age so something like this does not happen to you.

Living with the Nocturnal

I feel for you Patrick about your brother’s hamster keeping your family awake at night. The same thing happened to me with my gerbils, hamster, and all my rats. I had two gerbils when I was younger, Taz and Frisky, who I kept in my room. Most of the time they did not keep me awake at night, but there were times when I would have to put them in another room so I could get some sleep. Then when I got my hamster, Furball, I originally kept her in my room. When I realized I would not sleep with her there, I moved her into the TV room which is between my parents’ and my brother’s bedrooms. Here, she did not keep me awake at night as much, but now the rest of my family could hear her at night. With Lilo, Oreo, and Snickers, I knew I could not sleep with them in my room so I kept them in the TV room as well. There are nights when you could barely hear them and nights when they constantly make noise. This was just a sacrifice we had to make in order to keep my rats.

Another area you spoke about was having a pet that was not toilet trained. Just as parent toilet trains a child; we can toilet train rats. I have to admit, though, that I have been unsuccessful in this with all my rats. Just like Patrick’s iguana, Lilo would go to the bathroom everywhere. I would normally keep him out of the cage for a while, so I guess if he had to go, he just went wherever he was at the time. It was not so bad when he pooped (called raisons) places because you can easily pick that up. However, when he peed, it stained the couch and was just gross. The couch where he always went, my parents already told me I could take it when I eventually get my own place. I guess this is their way of getting rid of it. When a rat is scared or does not like something, its normal reaction is to go to the bathroom. So if your rat is in new surroundings or you are giving it a bath, they tend to go to the bathroom a lot. This is true of my pets. None of my rats likes getting a bath and Snickers is the worst at this. She constantly poops in the bathtub and tried to jump out of it.

Therefore, if you do get a rat, it is possible to train them to go to the bathroom just in their cage or even in a corner in the cage. To do this, though, you need to start when they are young and use two different kinds of bedding so they can distinguish between which one they go on and which one they sleep on. In the corner where they normally go, put the different kind of bedding there in a small shallow container, and place all litter in the cage in that corner. It is important that there is no litter in the rest of the cage so they can tell the bathroom area away from the living area. Show your rats this area and if they go somewhere else, place the litter in that corner and make sure they see this. If they go in the litter area, make sure you praise them and give them a treat. When you take them out of the cage make sure their litter area is easily accessible for them so they can use it if they need to. With this positive reinforcement, they should get the idea. This may work better for raisons than for pee. I may have been unsuccessful in this, but I have heard success stories in it.

If there is anything in particular you would like me to talk about, do not hesitate to let me know. You can either comment on any of the posts or use the message board on the sidebar.