merlin my pet rat

Question
could you please help me with a problem i have with my new rat, he is, according to the pet shop 8 weeks old and is very loving. he has started peeing in his igloo bed and dosnt seem to have a toilet area in his cage. he used to use a corner of his cage but he now goes anywhere i wondered if he was just being lazy or has he a problem.  he is on his own but spends a lot of time with me. his cage is large and he has toys in it also. thank you for your help and i look forward to hearing from you. ps. could you also please let me know the best bedding, what to put on the bottom of his cage and best food to feed him. i am confused as i keep getting different advice from the pet shop and the limited books which are available. thank you very much and i look forward to hearing from you. shirley.

Answer

Hi Shirley

Congrats on your new little fuzzlet. When dealing with baby rats, think "toddler"!  A human baby at 8 months old is not able to hold his bladder and become toilet trained and same for the new young rat.
If he is not drinking often yet urinating constantly and sometimes nothing comes out, much like a bladder infection in humans where you feel you need to go but there is nothing there, despite the fact your not drinking...this could be a sign of possible infection of the urinary tract. Sometimes the urine is blood stained or tinged with porphyrin which mocks blood. Porphyrin is the red discharge you may see around the rats eyes and nose and it is produced by the harderian gland located behind the rats eyes. Normally used to lubricate the rats third eye, sometimes the rats body produces more porphyrin than normal during stress due to illness or anxiety from moving to a new home, getting a new cagemate or loss of a cagemate. Just so you know if ever you see reddish brown or red discharge on your rats nose or eyes you wont think its blood and get really scared. During urinary tract infection the rat may also have some porphyrin discharge around their "private parts" that may also be mistaken for blood.
Anyhow, those are some of the signs you would see should your little guy have problems with urinating.
Also, he may even urinate on you or other inanimate objects. This is normal, although not always thrilling for the rat owner, but this is really truly a high compliment if your male "marks" you with his urine. This means you belong to HIM!  Nothing an unscented baby wipe wont cure!   LOL!

As for litter...as you may or may not know, pine and cedar are terrible for small animals. The pet store sells bags by the tons which is such a problem for the animals that end up living on it. The phenol oils in these two types of litter  are known carcinogens and also can cause liver disease and respiratory infection too, along with allergies. I use aspen and other safe litters are yesterdays news and carefresh.  If you want to potty train your baby rat, wait a few months and when he does find a new corner to use as his destination for his business, you can set a little shoebox with aspen inside it and remove all of the litter from the floor of the cage and keep in ONLY in the litter pan.  Add some of his little droppings in the litter box and he will eventually "get it".  He is just too young to really expect anything yet though.  My rats have all been potty trained   but seem to use it for their droppings more than to urinate in, but they do get out of their igloo or hammock and head for another place to pee rather than doing it in their bed. Again, when he is more mature he will not really like to lay in a urine soaked bed. You can give him wads of paper towels to use in his nest and this will soak up excess  urine should he go in his bed.

As for diet...commercial seed mix is not good for rats health wise mainly because they are loaded with fatty seeds and other things that are too high in protein. I remember reading on someones website that cracked me up saying the brightly colored hard pieces in the mix isn't even good enough to use as litter. LOL  Also, hard kernel corn is  not good for them and is found in all of those mixes. The corn contains a toxic mold that is also a known carcinogen. Rats need protein but too much is not good for them and can cause skin problems and also kidney problems later in life.  15 to 18 percent is ideal for their daily protein. With the seed mixes, the rats tend to pick out their favorite pieces, usually the fattening sunflower seeds or other seeds that are more for birds than rats!

Fresh veggies and fruits, or even canned or frozen veggies are ok to feed your rat. There are alot of things to avoid, especially avacodo, since it is loaded with fat, but most of the fruit is toxic to many animals so its best to avoid it totally.  I will provide you with my website URL that will discuss foods that are forbidden for rats along with some ideas of foods you can feed them.  I make my own rat mix and also follow one mix that I will post below.

Homemade rat chow:
*****************

Innova Senior Dog Food OR Wellness Lite Dog Food (this should comprise approx. 1/5 of the TOTAL mix)
Dry pasta - BOTH tricolor and whole wheat (I avoid spirals)
Grape Nut Flakes
Various Organic Cereals (Multigrain, Amaranth, Bran, etc - look for sodium <100mg, sugars no more than 6g)
Puffed Kamut or Puffed Wheat, Puffed Millet
Low fat bulk soy granola AND organic low fat fruit granola (usually raspberry)
Organic rye and wheat flakes (I sometimes substitute Organic kamut or barley oats)
Just Tomatoes brand freeze dried bananas
Dried fruit/veggies (I use Just Tomatoes freeze-dried corn, peas, tomatoes, bell peppers, mango, and occasionally add UNSULPHURED dried papaya or apple)

*****Taken from the RMCA site*******

I also feed my rats dried oatmeal flakes (the LOVE it!) and peas and carrots daily along with the rat mix.  For adult rats, Regal rat by oxbow is a great food as is the lab blocks made by harlan teklad.

If you need links, they are also on my website.
Here is the URL to my site for further info:

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

also, be sure you have a safe play area for your rat to run and exercise where you can sit  safely with him. I have a play pen for small animals but baby rats can squeeze through easily, so if you take cardboard from boxes you have flattened out and tape them around the playpen, the rat cannot climb the cardboard and will slide down!

Last but not least......a vet!  Sooner or later our rats need to see a vet and its best to have one in mind before the rat needs one or you will be going nuts with a sick rat trying frantically to find a vet that sees rats.  If you want I can find one for you if you tell me your location.

Hope this helps and thanks for writing and taking the time to learn about your new boy!

Sandra