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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 8, 2008 15:15:48 GMT -5
My breeder rats are young but REALLY SKIDDISH. They will be full grown pretty quickly and I want to have a good relationship with them before they start breeding. They are currently separated in two cages, one with 3 females, the other with two males. When I walk into the room, the three females cower in their house, one male hides and the other comes up to sniff me through the bars. I have tried letting them sniff my hands, but most of them aren't interested. I have also let them ride around on my shoulder, but after two really messy poo incidents, Tony doesn't really approve of that any more. I think one problem is that the cages are in a walk in closet in the ferret room, so they only see people and action when I am in there feeding or cleaning up their cages. I would like to move them out of the closet so they can feel like more of the family, but I have two issues: 1. I would rather have my mom NOT know I am breeding rodents to feed the ferrets. She comes over to our apartment, usually with short notice, and almost always looks in or walks into the ferret room. We don't have a door on the ferret room and would prefer not to put one on. (I'm not complaining about my mom AT ALL, but some things are easier to not tell her! ) 2. The only other place to put a rat cage would probably be in the ferret room itself... There is a desk in there that the ferrets shouldn't be able to get onto, and the rodent cages should be ferret proof (I don't want to jinx it so I say "should"). Would the rats bee too freaked out in a room that smells like ferrets and where they can see ferrets? Does anyone have any suggestions? I want the rats to like me, I hate seeing them terrified!
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Post by bigsis7 on Dec 8, 2008 16:16:46 GMT -5
Hmmm....well to socialize them you can try giving them treats (such as yogies) to them. Put it in the palm of your hand and let them come to you. When they seem comfortable with that you can take them out of the cage and go into a quite room (such as the bath room) and let them run around and just get used to you being there. Soon they'll run to the front of the cage begging for food. I used to have a rat who I would open the cage door and she would latch onto my arm and skid up ! About moving the cage they would do better in a high traffic room. I would get them more used to you though first before putting them into a room with ferrets. Two of my rats weren't scared of Oliver, but I had a little dumbo girl who was terrified for the first month of owning Oliver. It really depends on the rat. Hope this helps!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 8, 2008 17:21:09 GMT -5
Thanks BigSis. I give them all sorts of treats (crackers, toy treats, fruit, veggies, etc) but they won't take it from my hands because they are too terrified of me. I guess I will just continue to try. I have had pet rats in the past but they got a lot more attention than these guys. Since they are breeders, I don't PLAN on making them into pets, so I don't want to get super attached or put too much time into them... you know? Obviously they will be as healthy and happy as possible, but without as much human interaction as my old pet rats.
We had our last rats for a while ago and ended up finding them new homes about 2 months after we got the ferrets in December. The ferrets were TERRIFIED of the ferrets, even being the the same room as them because of their smell. These rats that will become breeders don't seem so terrified as I expected. I will talk to Tony about seeing how they do in the ferret room or in the living room... I will just have to be honest with my mom when the time comes!
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Post by Forum Administrator on Dec 8, 2008 23:20:02 GMT -5
Try feeding them a treat using chopsticks or tweezers and gradually work up to feeding them from your hand
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Post by weloveourweasels on Dec 8, 2008 23:40:50 GMT -5
I made friends with a rat that was lucky enough to not become my ball python's dinner because she was full from the first rat. I let him hang out in my shirt that has a pocket like a hoodie pocket. He felt really safe and slept in there. He was really the sweetest rat I have ever encountered. I had carrots with dinner that night and on a whim I offered a slice to him and he quickly grabbed it up and happily ate the whole slice. If you really want to you can make or buy a bonding pouch like they have for sugar gliders so they will be close to you and get used to your smell. I would try to place them in an active room of the house like big sis said. The stress of the smell of ferrets plus not being socialized has got to be a bit much for them. P.S I took the rat back to the pet store because I could not feed something i had been loving on to my snake and am not ready to have rats as pets.....yet.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 9, 2008 0:25:15 GMT -5
Thanks for the great ideas Giuli and WLOW. I like the idea of a pouch. As I said, I love letting them chill on my shoulder and in my hood, but there ended up being poo all over the house and pee in my sweatshirt... I made a pouch for my last set of pet rats and they used to come to the grocery store with me, but of course they would potty in there too. Tony agreed that the rats could be in the actual ferret room, instead of the closet. The cages are about 4.5 feet up so I have to stand on a stool to get to them! They all seem comfortable in there... eating, running on their wheel, digging, etc, so I am pretty pleased. For some reason the females are acting pretty outgoing today, even before the cage move!
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Post by weloveourweasels on Dec 10, 2008 0:38:36 GMT -5
Your Welcome. They will poo and pee in the pouch you just gotta wash em when they get icky
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 11, 2008 19:43:53 GMT -5
Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I have moved the rats into the ferret room, on top of the desk, and they seem more comfortable. Many of them have been approaching my hand when I open the cage. I have had 1 or 2 take food from my hands very cautiously so far. Today I made them a little sack so they can spend time out of their cage without making messes all over my shoulders and couch! I threw a few paper towels in there so collect some of the mess, but I plan on washing it inside out ever few days. Here is bag: My favorite male: My favorite female. I think her new name is Lavendula... It's the first word in the Latin name for lavender. She has the rex hair and whiskers!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 12, 2008 23:04:22 GMT -5
I found a great treat for the rats... 4 out of 5 rats will take them this treat from my hands, including my shyest male!
......................MEAL WORMS!
They are going nuts over them right now!
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Post by bigsis7 on Dec 13, 2008 11:31:15 GMT -5
Oh yum!!! I'll bet they'll love you forever now !
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