March Newsletter

Mischiefs Managed

Recipe for Rat Treats

Rat Spotlight

How to Clean a Rat Cage

Interesting Rat Facts

Featured Cage

MISCHIEFS MANAGED

You can read about our mischief’s last month, here.

Bambi

Bambi arrived already pregnant. She has been a little scared, but overall has done an amazing job raising her little ones. I am excited for her next, and final litter!

Raven Claws x Ernest

What sweet babies these were. They all left for home this week. Below are Santanna’s three boys, Jacque, Gaston, and Marchal.

Zoe x Ernest

Zoe has been an incredible mother to her 13 babies; 8 boys and 5 girls. Typical for a rat I like to say is 6-16.

Fun fact: 3 of Zoe’s boys are going to be therapy animals trained to sit and work with humans.

I did my best to bond with them as much as I could. I’ve found that handling them when young builds a sense of trust with humans that is irreplaceable.

Rutabaga x Poe

Unfortunately this pretty lady was supposed to have her litter by now… but she isn’t even showing yet.

Update: she had a miscarriage. She is being tended to and is now retired before ever having a litter.

OUR WAITLIST IS CURRENTLY CLOSED UNTIL WE FIGURE OUT RUTABAGA’S SITUATION AND TAKE CARE OF THOSE ALREADY ON THE WAITLIST! I hope to reopen it by the second week of March. But you can always check our adoptarat.com website or our Facebook page.

You can always check out their profiles and such at adoptarat.com, too.

RECIPE FOR RAT TREATS: Sweet Pea Treats

You can try to cut this recipe in half! Otherwise it makes about __ treats with the silicone mold I used.

Supplies:

Food processor
Bowl
Whisk
Spoon
Oven and oven mit
Silicone mold (heat resistant)
Piece of foil
Dehydrator (optional)

Ingredients:

1 can of organic, sodium free, peas
2 eggs
Dash of olive oil
Sprinkle of baking powder
1 tsp. crushed rosemary (natural preservative)
4 TBS of quinoa flour
8 TBS of water

Step 1: you will be using the whole can of peas. Drain first. Then put into the food processor.

Step 2: add eggs, olive oil, baking powder, and rosemary. Blend well.

Step 3: add 6 TBS of water. Blend well in processor.

Step 4: pour mixture into bowl. Add the quinoa flour and remaining 2 TBS of water. Whisk well. (Adjust water and flour as needed.)

Step 5: place your foil down under your mold. This will help you move it to the oven.

Step 6: pour your batter into the mold. Use a spoon to help guide the batter.

Step 7: preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step 8: bake your treats for about 40-45 minutes. Check one in the center to make sure they are done. Be careful not to burn them.

Step 9: safely remove your treats from the oven and let cool for 20 minutes.

Step 10: serve immediately, or dehydrate on high for a few hours until they are crispy. Dehydrating also allows you to save your treats for a long period of time.

RAT SPOTLIGHT

Can you guess which one is Spriggan and which one is Boggle? These adorable boys belong to Decker and this picture was taken as soon as they arrived home:

“The package is PHENOMENAL!!! The colors for all the hammocks are so lovely and absolutely perfect– I actually tried to find pink and blue fabric at Michael’s but they were out 🥲 Now I just have the travel carrier next to me while I go through all the (AMAZING) toys and the [rune] readings 💕💕 The boys are popping out to groom my nails and then diving back into the hide 😭

They got *really* excited when I pulled out the hammocks so I tucked one in with them for the familiar home smell, too.”

I just wrapped up introductions to my ~3 month old boy, Hobb, which we did carefully with the carrier method and slowly increased the space. I felt pretty good about doing it a lil early bc Hobb got a clean bill of health from the vet and is still young-ish. The boys took to their new brother IMMEDIATELY, and Boggle especially loves Hobb and follows him around all over the cage.

I had them hang an extra day in just the top part of their DCN to acclimate together, and then yesterday opened up the entry to the bottom part of the cage. At first they were like “nah I’m good” until Spriggan realized there was actually cool stuff down there, and today they spent the whole day in the bottom cage. 😅 But they are *obsessed* with the giant dig box!

Here’s what I’ve learned about the boys:

Spriggan is my brave lil explorer, and already walks up to the cage door whenever I’m near. He is down for bonding pouch time 24/7, and is very comfortable free-roaming. I haven’t had such a confident rat in so long that when he jumped up my arm on like day 2 it surprised me 😭 He for sure is my climbing and foraging lil dude.

Boggle for sure has terrible vision and takes a lil longer to feel comfortable exploring, but oh my god when he does he is the *sweetest* lil love bug it makes my heart hurt! He is insanely snuggly and will groom me along with his brothers– and he loves a good nap. He is also a cheerio FIEND and I’ve found that he will do just about anything for one. And he really likes their wheel!

They’re both really healthy and eating/sleeping/drinking well, and it just blows me away how socialized they already are. I decorated their cage with slightly “easier” climbing routes and watching to make sure Boggle can navigate them, but other than that I have absolutely zero concerns about their health and temperament.

How To Clean a Rat Cage

Cleaning a rat cage can seem daunting… but at the end of the day it needs to get done for the health and well-being of your rat.

I’ve been caring for rats for a while, but I recently learned a lot about urine buildup. Essentially you need an enzyme cleaner to break down the uric acid crystals. Bleach and vinegar don’t cut it.

For the most part when I cleaned cages, I used vinegar or bleach.

Bleach when not rinsed off properly can actually be very hazardous to small pets. It reacts with the ammonia and can create chloramime gas. Which is as bad as it sounds. And it doesn’t break down uric acid.

On the other hand, vinegar can be a great natural way to clean your cage. But it shouldn’t be the only way, because it doesn’t break down uric acid crystals either. Again, when using vinegar you should always be sure to wipe down with water afterwards. As dried vinegar can make their skin very dry.

So what should you use?

There are a few small animal cleaners on the market, like Nature’s Miracle. But personally, my favorite so far has been Absolutely Clean.

You can purchase from Amazon! And if you read the directions in the image below, no wipe down with water is required afterwards. Meaning it really is pet-safe and ready to go!

And just remember, if the task of cage cleaning seems daunting, at least you don’t have to clean this many cages lol

Interesting Rat Facts

1. Rats are smart enough to avoid eating inedible objects. But if they do chow down on something they shouldn’t, monitor the and remove the object immediately.

2. Rats teeth don’t stop growing. Which is why you should provide plenty of chewable items.

3. They are cleaner than cats and spend about 1/3 of their time grooming themselves.

4. If a rat is very content, they may brux. This is when they grind their teeth together, and the result can be startling! Their eyes will begin boggling, resulting in their eyes slightly popping out of their head. This is because when they brux the oxygen created exits through their eyes.

5. Rats can survive high falls. It just might not always be on their feet.

6. They have a “belly button” just like we do.

7. You can tickle a rat, and it will laugh! We just can’t hear it because it is too high pitched.

8. Rats have super powers! They are very empathic and will react to your emotions accordingly.

9. They use their tails to tell the temperature.

10. Rats are very good swimmers! But not all like the water.

11. Rats cannot see very well. It’s especially hard for them to see at night, even though they prefer to be nocturnal.

12. Rats have an incredible sense of smell. Some are being trained to spot land mines around the world.

13. Part of the reason rats are so smart is because they dream. They are able to recount their day and events when they are sleeping.

14. A rat’s teeth are technically harder than iron. A rat’s bite can result in stitches! So be careful not to startle them.

15. Every rat has a different personality. Some may be more outgoing while some may naturally be on the shy side.

FEATURED CAGE OF THE MONTH

This zen space belongs to Santanna and her three (recently adopted) boys. She free feeds and offers water to them in a gravity bowl during free roam.

Tour of their cage

“I provide them different substrates like shredded paper, finely shredded paper, paper bedding, crinkle paper, oat hay, paper wrapping all for enrichment plus desensitization. I will be removing the middle grate to allow more freedom vertically for the boys to climb.”