Care of rats

Question
I am a Pre-K teacher,and in my class we have 2 female white rats about 1 year old.My assistant teacher got us the rats and then left the center. My first question would be can we clip their nails? They hurt the children so they do not want to hold them. My second queation would be how can I keep the odor down. I clean their 60 gallon tank every week. Is there something else I can do? I use pine bedding and the smell is ok for 2 to 3 days. They eat at least i cup of rat food aday plus we give them vegtables at lunch time. They seem to be alittle on the heavy side but they keep breaking their large wheel. Please let me know any thing that will help.

Answer


Hi Holli!!

First of all, to avoid a hefty vet bill and broken hearts of however many kids are in the class, you need to toss the pine right away. This is very dangerous for rats or any small animal. Pine, cedar or corn cob bedding are all to be avoided.
Pine and cedar are very dangerous for rats because of the phenol oils. These oils have been proven to cause serious respiratory problems and also liver problems (elevated liver enzymes) in rats. They are also know carcingogens as well.

Corn cob litter is just terrible all the way around, from the fact it is hard and jagged for our rats tender tootsies to the fact if they injest it, it can cause fatal blockage to the intestines and also when allowed to remain damp from urine, even for several hours in warm conditions, fungal spores found in the damp corn cob litter can cause a very toxic mold.  Avoid using this litter just the same as you would avoid the cedar and pine.   A good way to remember what litter may be bad for the litter:
If it smells strong and has a nice aroma to it, it is not good for the rats!!
for more information:
http://www.ratfanclub.org/litters.html
The best bet is to use aspen, pine pellets, yesterdays news, care fresh or hemp litter.  I love the hemp litter the best and have no problems with allergies or sneezing when using it.
Below are a few photos to give you a visual of what you will be looking for in the stores or online.  

Aspen supreme pellets, Carefresh, Hemp, Shredded Aspen and Yesterdays news.  All  are approved to use for small animals.

Also, another problem that your having with strong odor is because they are in a glass tank. These also can contribute to respiratory infections in rats because the strong ammonia smell from urine gets trapped because of poor air circulation.  You can replace the tank with a nice roomy cage. Once the rats are able to climb around, they will lose weight and their nails will even begin to wear down some. If the rats do not get out and get exercise, they will also gain extra weight regardless of the fact they run the wheel. They should not break the wheel if it is a sturdy solid metal or plastic wheel. Spoked wheels should be avoided due to the fact tails and feet can get caught and cause injury.

Using a better litter in a roomy cage and perhaps trying to litter train them where you can simply empty out their litter pan every other day will help with the odor.
Check out my website for ideas on cages and also how to build a play area for the rats to be able to exercise and play.

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

Their diet: If they are eating fattening seed mixes from the pet store, this is also not good. It is loaded with fats and high protein that will shorten the rats life, cause obesity that leads to heart and lung disease and can cause problems with their kidney leading to kidney disease as they age. Read my website for more info and ideas on what to feed the rats:

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

People complain about how short rats live but if they are properly cared for and fed the right diet and proper husbandry is followed, they can live to be up to 5 years old at times!

Are the rats males or females?

As for clipping the rats nails, this can be done using human baby nail clippers, but you need to watch for the "quick" of the nail bed. THis is a very vascular part of the rats body and one of the ways some vets get blood samples by using the nail bed for blood samples. You can usually see the little vein inside the nail. Just clip the tips off.
If they are put in a cage with levels that they can climb around etc...their nails will wear on their own.

I would see that the children each wear a long sleeved shirt when holding the rats. They should never be allowed to randomly pick the rat up because the rat can be injured easily if not held right. Never let anyone pick the rat up by their tail. This can cause a serious injury to the tail called degloving which means the skin sheers right off the tail and exposes the vertabrae. This can lead to a fatal infection and the pain is so severe for the rat they can die from shock. Also, scruffing it by the neck is also never to be done unless a vet does it to examine it but even at that time it is pretty frowned on.
THe rat should be scooped up from underneath and held with both hands cupping the animal. If they are scared, they will jump out and run which is why I would set up a play penned area and allow just two children at a time to handle the rats, wearing long sleeved smocks to avoid being scratched and hands washed first to avoid a nip if the rat smells sweets or other foods. Rats are near blind so if the children approach them with sticky yummy smelling fingers, the rat will mistake it for a treat and may bite. A childs tiny finger and a biting rat can be brutal.  

Hopefully I have helped you learn more about rats and also again, if you check out my site, there is even more to learn that may be helpful .  Teaching children to love rats at an early age will teach them to respect these creatures that are so often snubbed due to their misunderstood and often false stories about them.  Just so you know also, esp if parents ask, rats do NOT carry rabies, and if they are attacked (if they were wild rats that is) by a rabid animal, the rat would die from the injuries sustained in the attack long before it incubated rabies and passed it on.  Rats cannot catch colds or give children colds or any illnesses. The only thing they can share is ringworm.

Hope this helps and good luck!