What did we do wrong?

Question
I'm writing to find out what we did wrong, so we can fix it for the next pet rat.  My 10-year-old son had a hamster, named Sparky.  Sparky died after 9 months. We bought him from Petco.  We have no idea why he died.  A week later, we went to Petco to replace the hamster. My son decided he wanted a rat instead because they are more social and can be trained to do tricks.  The lady at Petco said all of our stuff for the hamster would be fine for the rat but we needed a few toys for the rat. I bought rat, toys, Corn and Molasses Pet Mouse and Rat food, and the recommended wood box for his nest. The rat appeared full grow. I cleaned the cage out again to make sure everything was extra clean for new rat. The cage was a wire cage with a plastic bottom, about 8"x15"x15". I used Critter Care bedding, just like I did for hamster. The petco lady said our hamster food was fine since it was mostly seeds and dried fruit. So we added that to the rat pellets. I'd also give him pieces of carrots, cabbage, celery, etc.  We cleaned his cage each week. In fact I had just bought a new bag of bedding, a wooden ladder, and a hanging rope for him on Saturday.  We just cleaned his cage out on Sunday.  He died tonight, just 2 1/2 weeks after we purchased him. My son didn't hold him everyday.  He spent a week just sticking his hand in the cage so Ace could get used to his smell. He never bit us and never had a problem with us picking him up. He seemed like a friendly, curious, energetic little rat. My son started playing with Ace and taking him out of his cage after the first week. I'd take Ace out and pet him and let him crawl on me. I just started that this past weekend.  In fact I did that tonight and he seemed fine and energetic. A few hours later, I found him dead in the middle of the cage. He had bedding hanging out of his mouth. Was the cage too small?  Was the food wrong? Could he have died from impaction to the GI tract? (The back of the CritterCare bedding bag warns that that could happen if animals eat too much of the bedding.) I had his cage in the kitchen, so I could monitor his care and he could be in the center of all the action. I worried that we weren't giving him enough stimulation and that his cage was too small and that he was lonely. I was worried he'd become depressed. We are new rat owners and before I run off and get a new rat and doom another rodent to a quick death, I want to know if we did something wrong. I know you can't determine if the rat was sick and injured or suffered from anything that might have caused its death. We just want to know if from what we described if we did anything wrong. Thank you for any information, so we can provide a better home for our next rat.

Answer
Hi there

I am so sorry for the losses you have experienced lately.  Your rat could have had a problem unknown to you, such as a heart problem.  Sounds like he may have had pain issues which he thought would be helped by eating something odd, which is called PICA. That can explain the litter in his mouth.

However, the worker at Petco has no idea how to care for rats, not a clue.  You do not feed rats hamster food. Hamsters eat hamster food, rats eat rat food. You would not give a dog cat food, so why would you give rats hamster food?  They have different nutirtional needs.  Rats cannot digest alfalfa, the corn in the seed mixes are loaded with fungus (the hard corn) in fact, seed mixes alone are just poor diets for rats.  Rats need vegetables, fruits and even some meats.

I suggest using yesterdays news in a nice roomy cage and feeding your rat a low protein diet. You can learn all about proper rat care on my website, Sandys Critter City.  Please start with the page on diet and just look around at the other pages to get an idea on how to care for rats so you can start again, this time, loaded with the right knowledge on how to properly care for him.

DO NOT blame yourself, however, as these things happen, and sadly, more than I would like to hear about.  

As for being lonely, rats do like company, so next time, get a pair of male rats. I would check around and see if there is a breeder in your area rather than going to the pet store, if possible.

How big was the cage? The bigger the better.  Check out the page on my site called GETTING STARTED in order to get an idea of how large of cage you may need and how to set up a play area for him when they come out to play.  I also suggest male rats only since females are so prone to mammary tumors as they age.  

Here is the link to my site. Let me know how you like it and if you need anything do not hesitate to ask!

http://www.sandyscrittercity.com/ratsandahealthydiet.htm