Do I have right Sandra this time?

Question
I believe I sent this email to the wrong Sandra initially. I hope you are the Sandra that had corresponded with me in the past week. If so...

Thanks so much for your reply. I had come across your website yesterday and I found it to be quite helpful.

Since I now know that Chewy needs a female companion, I was wondering about the need to quarantine- how long and how should I introduce the new rat? I know with gerbils, it seems to be a big issue making sure the new gerbil is a pup seeing as a gerbil seems to accept a young gerbil to a grown gerbil. Is that true with rats? This leads me to my next questions... is there somewhere I can get a rat, say, from a rescue organization? I would love to help out if I can. We live in Abilene, Texas. Are there any organizations near by? Hopefully, you will know of some good vets in his area, as well, as you had mentioned in your previous reply.

I feel horrible that Chewy has been alone w/out a companion for a week now, and it would have been awesome to get have gotten one of her litter mates had I known she needed the companionship. I doubt any of her litter mates are still at the pet shop b/c I think they mainly sell these rats for bait (snake food). I really want to run out right this second and get Chewy a companion but I would like to see of there are any reputable breeders around here and/or if there is possibly a rescue organization near by, too.

As far as rat food, the pet shop had a special blend just for rats, and it appears to include: kernel corn; orange, green, lt/ dk brown pieces that have the consistency of dry dog/ cat food; smashed peas/ corn; and small seeds- elongated and round, small ones. There are also black pieces in the food that look like huge rat poop, well, huge compared to my rat's poop. There is no sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds, as with my gerbil food. Can the rat simply eat gerbil/ hamster food? I am sure the answer is 'no' but I was really wondering so I figured I would ask. I will follow up w/ the website you listed w/information about a rat's diet.

Again, thank you so much for your timely response and your input. It is comforting to know that your opinion and advice comes not only from experience, but from a love for the animal as well. Thanks! Jenny


Answer
Hi

Yes this is the right Sandra. I remember you from previous messages.

As for food, the stuff from the pet shop? Toss it. Check out my website on diet and you will see why rather than me take up a page of explaining how most of the garbage in it is not worth a hoot for rats nutritional needs. The hard corn? It contains a carcinogen in the form of a fungus, and this also holds true for the gerbil food that has corn in it. Any hard corn is really bad for small mammals. The peanuts and other nuts in the food is just loaded with fats and high proteins that rats kidneys cannot handle, thus in turn, the rat ends up with kidney disease as they age.  There are ideas for recipes plus names of foods that is best for rats, including the typical boring rodent blocks. And no you guessed it, gerbil food for gerbils, rat food for rats. They all have different nutritional needs. Like for example, someone wrote me saying her rat had explosive stools for weeks and was losing weight. I asked what she was feeding her and she said she was giving her the rabbit food that she feeds her rabbit to save money.  Well her rat was dehydrated from the lose stools because in the rabbit food was alfalfa, and rats cannot digest alfalfa. The list goes on. So just keep in mind, you would only feed your dog the dog food and cats cat food because of the certain ingredients in it that the other cannot have, like taurine. Cats need it, dogs cant handle it.  I am sure you know what I mean since you already knew I would say no anyhow. LOL


Here is a link to find breeders in Texas:

http://www.altpet.net/rodents/TX.shtml


Link to rat rescues in Texas

http://www.freewebs.com/pocket_angels_rattie_rescue/index.htm

I just did a GOOGLE and found the info above. As for vets, what cities are you by?  Most of the exotic specialists are in  bigger cities...so I need it narrowed down a bit to be successful.

Quarantine for new rats should be followed as per my webpage suggests, which is 3 weeks and also the keeper is to follow proper precautions as per my site. If you dont have the link here it is:

http://www.freewebs.com/crittercity/thequarantinepage.htm