r/RatsRatsRats

My rat calendars for 2027 are out! Like last year there are 2 different kinds of calendars, a food rats one and a paw painting one. Due to how my printing company handles things I have had to make 2 different listings for each calendar - one is for people in the US/Canada, and one is for anywhere else worldwide.

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If you are in the US/Canada you can find the food rats calendar here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4558382899/2027-food-rats-calendar-us-canada

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And you can find the US/Canada painting calendars here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4558380197/2027-rat-painting-calendar-us-canada

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If you're outside the US/Canada, you can find the international version of the food rats calendar here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4558382547/rat-calendar-2027-eu-rest-of-world

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And you can find the international version of the painting calendar here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/4558385185/2027-rat-painting-calendar-eu-worldwide

Iam just so f*ing inliegender with my little squishys and needed to Show them of 🥹😍

For my 2 female fancy rats, made sure to cover ramps and I don’t like to take out the ramps as my little blind albino falls frequently (not now since I have lots of nets and hammocks). They absolutely love it and are so active in it, also due to the weather I have included a ceramic dish and also bought two cooling mats for them which one is visible underneath the white rat.
I’m aware there isn’t a huuuuuge amount of floor space but I hope the enrichment etc makes up for it…also they will be getting daily free roam time when I move out in a few weeks.
They have a lovely little water fountain as well as lots of water sources which I change daily.

Please if you have any recommendations on how to make this even more of a rat haven for my girlies pls let me know!

At the end of the month, I'm rescuing 4 rats! My cage is 77cm x 46cm x 130cm, I know the floor space is on the small side ☹️☹️, but will be getting a double critter nation asap and I'm hoping this is okay for now! Their living conditions at the moment are terrible 😫😫. Anyways, I know I don't have enough clutter, and I know I need to add fall breakers etc but I just don't know where to put stuff anymore. Is anyone able to give me advice on what to add + where!!

If not, please just send your guys' cages!! I'd love to take inspo! Thank you all

Would you still pet the hairless rats? 🐀

I don’t know what to do anymore,

He was bleeding from his eyes and i wiped it out, back of his legs aren’t working and he can’t breathe well bc he’s “snoring”

The vets are close bc it’s a national holiday

I also have another rat who now has rabbit disease so it’s even worse now

2 out of 5 rats are sick and I’m losing hope

Hola, esta es mi última alternativa porque estoy demasiado preocupada por mi rata, el día lunes decayó de forma repentina, empezó a segregar porfirina en exceso en sus ojos y nariz, la llevé al veterinario con los pocos recursos que tenía porque estaba ahorrando para comprarle una jaula nueva y cuando la compré a los 3 días enfermó, le mandaron nebulizaciones las cuales le hice, también medicamento los cuales le di, mejoró notablemente y ya comía, antes me tocaba darle comida asistida, vi que el día de antier estaba muy activo y me emocioné demasiado que hasta lloré pensando que ya se había recuperado, de todas formas seguí con el medicamento como me lo indicó el veterinario, pero el día de ayer decayó después de limpiarle su parte íntima porque lo tiene inflamado, le hice exámenes de laboratorio que salieron relativamente bien y no tenía ningún problema renal, y ayer y hoy empeoró demasiado, no quiere comer, vi que bajó de peso cuando pesaba 346g
Debe de estar pesando menos, la verdad ya no sé qué hacer porque le di de todo he intentado demasiadas cosas por salvarlo porque vivo sola y él y su hermano son mi única compañía y llevo muchos momentos con ellos, si a alguien le ha pasado algo similar con una de sus ratas agradecería saber qué puedo hacer, ya no lo puedo llevar al veterinario porque ya me quedé sin recursos, hasta me tocó vender ciertas cosas para poder costear una sola consulta

Unfortunately I have to rehome my 3 girls, this decision was not made by me but by my mom that I live with. No health issues, but they are skittish and may bite. I’m pretty sure all three are about a year old. I have a good amount of supplies to give if wanted and their double Critter nation cage.

Hi everyone!

I’ve been lurking around rat communities (and reddit itself, which is a nightmare for me to navigate) for quite a while, so I thought I’d finally introduce myself and what I actually do.

I run Crimson Sun Rattery, a small closed rattery in Germany. I currently keep several breeding lines and a fairly large number of rats, and my main focus is not simply producing certain colours or markings, but working long-term with health, temperament, social behaviour and longevity.

Of course I still have traits and varieties I enjoy working with. Among other things, I breed standard-sized rats as well as Dwarfs, and work with different coat, ear and colour varieties. But appearance is never the only thing deciding whether an animal stays in my breeding program. I keep pedigrees and lots of records, follow the development of my offspring, stay in contact with owners where possible, and remove animals or entire branches from breeding if something turns up that I don't want to reproduce. Sometimes that means abandoning a planned pairing or line even when the rats themselves are outstanding. What I can admit, though, is my big love for Silver Fawns (especially Hooded!) - I am a massive lover of pink eyed rats. 😂

One thing that has become increasingly important to me over the years is education. Rat keeping is one of those subjects where you very quickly encounter statements like:

• “Everyone knows you have to do it this way.”
• “This is always bad.”
• “A good breeder would never do X.”

And the longer I keep and breed rats, the less interested I am in rules that nobody can actually explain.

I want to know why something is recommended.

• What evidence or experience is behind it?
• What problem is it supposed to solve?
• Are there disadvantages as well as advantages?
• Does it apply to every situation, or are we repeating something that became community wisdom years ago?

That is also why I write quite a lot on my website/blog.

I write about things such as housing, nutrition, breeding, genetics, health, behaviour and responsible ownership, usually from the perspective of "this is what I do, this is why I do it, and this is what I have observed over the years."

That does not mean I think my way is the only correct way. Quite the opposite, actually. My own husbandry has changed many times because I learned something new, gained more experience, tried something and decided it did not work as well as I expected, or simply changed my mind.

For example, nutrition is one subject I care a lot about. I use a nutritionally complete pellet as the basis of my rats' diet and prefer using scatter feeding, fresh food, treats and other enrichment in addition to that rather than relying on a mix where nutritional balance depends heavily on what individual rats choose to eat. Housing is another subject where I tend to care more about usable space, structure, hygiene, enrichment and what the animals actually do with their environment than whether a cage happens to resemble the current popular setup on social media.

I also try to be very transparent about breeding itself. Breeding animals means making decisions that are sometimes uncomfortable. Not every animal should reproduce. Not every line should continue. Sometimes a health problem appears several generations later. Sometimes a pairing that looked promising simply wasn't. For me, responsible breeding isn't pretending those things never happen. It's documenting them, being honest about them, informing owners where relevant, and using that information to make better decisions afterwards.

My rats are primarily placed as pets, I only rarely place them with breeders anymore now. Adopters are screened beforehand, housing is checked, and I remain available after adoption. Rats bred by me can also come back to me if their owners can no longer keep them.

And yes, I am very aware that breeding is a controversial subject in parts of the rat community, especially when rescues are full. Personally, I don't see ethical rescue and ethical breeding as enemies. Rescue helps rats that are already in need. Responsible breeding should aim to produce animals with carefully selected health and temperament, place them responsibly, support their owners, and reduce the chance that those animals end up in rescue in the first place.

Mostly, though, I'm here because I genuinely love talking about rats. Genetics, weird health cases, social behaviour, breeding decisions, nutrition, enclosure design - give me a rat-related rabbit hole and I will probably disappear into it for three hours.

So: h! I'm Shani, this is Crimson Sun Rattery, and if anyone is curious about how or why I do something, I'm usually very happy to explain it. I also write longer articles about these topics on my blog, because apparently I am physically incapable of having a short opinion about rats. 😭

Bonjour,
Ma cage commençant doucement mais sûrement à s’abîmer, j’en cherche une nouvelle pas trop mal pour mes nenettes.
Actuellement j’ai la Zolux Cage NEO Life lapin gris 99 x 54 x 114 cm (voir photo).
J’aimerai une cage qui remplace les pieds par de l’espace « cage » pour que ce soit plus grand mais que la hauteur où elle arrive ne bouge pas (sinon il y aura un petit souci de place).
Auriez-vous des idées svp ?