Baby Rat

Question
(A little bit of a story ahead, forgive me! Haha)

I bought my first pet rat as a baby in a pet store where they sell babies like him (as it seems) only as feeders. Now at about 3 months old he's huge and healthy and just a joy to be around.

I got him a huge cage in preparation to find him a friend.

I went back to that same store to look for another baby to raise. Knowing very well that the babies they sell there will probably have poor health because of the conditions that they live in...

The bunch that they had were all too adorable, even though it was a little heartbreaking seeing one in particular that had a broken leg...

But in the end there was one that stood out the most. He is completely light cream colored and it was just like love at first sight. He was not afraid of my hand like the others were and would not squirm as much as i expected him to. So i decided to take him home.

He felt very fragile to me, i could feel his tiny ribs through the skin. And when i brought him home he seemed eager to be in his cage. (Mind you that i'm going to keep my pets separated until the little one grows up a bit because my older pet, Shuu, likes to play and can get a little too rough)

The little one took big interest in his feeding dish, and spent almost thirty minutes just eating and nibbling on stuff. And every time i would pick him out he'd just mellow out and fall asleep on the spot.

And now are my questions.

Even though it's really adorable that he's so mellow, i want to be sure that he's not just possibly sick or something. Or that's just how baby rats behave... I'm not sure, maybe i'm overreacting, he's only been here one night.

And another thing, is that he has a healing (bite mark?) on his little tail. It's not an open would or anything, it's pretty closed up, but i was wondering if there's anything i should put on there to help it heal.

And if there's anything in particular i should feed him at this age. (He seems about a month old if not younger) I gave him some veggies, oatmeal and some rat blocks. But if there's anything particular you think would work better, please let me know.

Also, thank you so much for reading this and possibly replying to it as well! I'm attaching a few pictures of him just so you can see how cute he is! I hope you enjoy looking at them!

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/Haruhara_Raharu/DSC04059.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k13/Haruhara_Raharu/DSC04064.jpg

Have a lovely day~
-Karolina

Answer
He is so cute..thanks for sharing those photos.  

He sounds grateful to be with you, maybe a bit shy, but he will probably perk up and be full of energy before you know it.  All rats are different.

As for diet, he can have a regular diet now.  Try going to my website, Sandyscrittercity.com and go to the page on proper nutrition for ideas on making healthy rat food for him. He will live a much happier, healthier life, trust me.  Most commercial foods are too high in protein (which destroys kidneys) and high in fats, which is bad for the organs, esp the heart.  Hope this helps!