baby eyes

Question
QUESTION:
I just bought a second rat, she is a dumbo, she is about 3 weeks old.  Her mom had another liter and was taken out so I decided to pick her up earlier than I wanted, but anyway.  She is tan in color, but has red eyes.  Is that becuse they have just recently opened?  Should I protect her from light?  She is not an albino, so why the red eyes?  I hope you can answer or give some suggestions.  Thanks, Theresa

ANSWER: Getting in to major detail in to eye coloring and genetics with rats would take me quite a while... But in short, I will say that not just Albino rats will have red or pink eyes. It's quite common for a beige or tan rat to have red, ruby, or pink eyes as well as black. It completely depends on their genetic make up and what gene they were given during development. You do not necessarily have to protect her from the light as a little sun is good for your rats but they do like darkness. It is important to their health to give them a good 10 to 12 hours of darkness if you can at night by closing the blinds and keeping lights off. They do not NEED that much darkness, but it's best for their health.

The only thing you will notice different from a rat with pink, red, or ruby eyes is that their eye sight is not as good as a rat with black eyes. Technically all rats have terrible eye sight, but pink eyed rats have it much worse and to compensate they will wave their head from side to side. This helps them determine depth and certain objects better if things are moving (try it yourself and you will know why they do it lol)...

You baby is very very young being away from momma at such a young age and the breeder should have kept momma away from males during nursing because she must have literally had her babies and become pregnant right then... It can really wreak havoc on their little bodies. But to help your little one you should do a few things. #1, don't use pine or cedar (this is for any age of rat). They contain harmful phenol oils that damage the respiratory system and do a load of damage to the rest of the body sometimes resulting in cancer. Aspen bedding is what I prefer, or a paper or pellet based bedding. #2 a healthy diet. At this age she should still be nursing but she is also eating solids. A good rat block or home made mix is best. Avoid seedy diets all together. You can supplement mothers milk by mixing up baby oatmeal, and some baby food in a bowl and letting her have that, you can feed it to her on your finger or from a spoon or right from the bowl. #3 get her a friend if she doesn't have one already. Rats do not thrive well alone. They need the constant social interaction from another rat to help with their health and well being. During the night is when rats are most active and we are sleeping. This is when they are going to cuddle up together, groom eachother, play and run around. It's very important that rats live in same gendered pairs or groups.

I wish you luck with your new little one! Let me know if you have any other questions :)

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I do have another question.  I have been giving them a little Half&Half on my finger.  Is this not a good thing.  I will do the baby food, but I know most babies need a high fat content so I give little bits of the milk.  But I am unsure if cow milk is bad for them.  Thanks, Theresa

Answer
I have been very ill so I am sorry I did not get to your follow up sooner. a very small amount of half n half is okay and won't hurt them. If you want though you can try soy milk as it's better for them and easier to digest. I believe they even have soy half and half that you could try. Also try baby food, my rats LOVE baby food.