New pet rat!! (total n00b)

[Wild Ty Laserbeam]

I'm sitting here in the public library in gainesville, fl with my new pet albino feeder rat (5 months) in my backpack. She's really sweet, but for the most part we don't know what we're doing, so I figured i'd come here in search of advice. Before, when I was thinking about getting a rat, i posted on rat forum, but surprisingly, the people on that forum were kind of crazy and not very helpful. I'm traveling with a partner who is also committed to the rat. So here's some questions off the top of my head.

How do i keep her from pooping in my pockets?
How do I keep her warm/safe at night?
Does anybody have any cage suggestions?
What should I feed her and how much?
Is there such a thing as a service rat?
What makes good bedding?
What's a cute name? We were thinking Cartoon.

thnks ya'll

 

[JayJayOnTheFly]

my rat just ran away a few nights ago :/ but the cunt shit and pissed all over me so idgaf i slept with it in my hood or it would run down inside my sleeping bag and i fed her what ever i was eating i let her eat as much as she wanted or untill i ate everything i dont think you can have a service rat just keep the thing hidden and just go get a small bug cage thingy and use w/e the hell for bedding

 

[spoon]

How do i keep her from pooping in my pockets? ----- You can't.
How do I keep her warm/safe at night? ----- Don't squish her. Give her some fluffy stuff to make a little nest and she'll be good.
Does anybody have any cage suggestions? ----- Anything but cardboard and thin plastic. They can also jump pretty well so it needs a lid.
What should I feed her and how much? ----- Rats can eat anything that you can and more. Feed her as often as you eat. (More often if possible)
Is there such a thing as a service rat? ----- No.
What makes good bedding? ----- Fluffy stuff she can chew up and make a nest out of.
What's a cute name? We were thinking Cartoon. ----- 'Cartoon' = good.

 

[Dmac]

as far as i know, you cannot liter train a rat, aside from that, they make great pets, better than cats in my opinion.

 

[Mouse]

you can't avoid them pooping and peeing on you

don't feed them meat, it makes their shit really nasty.

you can litter train rats, but not in a traveling environment. just deal with the mess.

feed them veggies... no onion and other acidic things. it's not good for them for some reason. Breads are ok. I suggest getting a small bag of regular rat food to feed them on occasion to ensure they get enuff protein and vitamins.

since rats are nocturnal it can be hard to keep them at bay when night falls and it's time for YOU to sleep. I would usually find a cardboard box and put my rat in it. for some reason he wouldn't chew out of them in a night. I'd just use whatever I happened to find in the trash so I never had to carry anything with me all the time.

rats tend to have addictive personalities... so unless you want them to get sick and die young, keep them away from beer and nicotine. if you smoke, dont let them drink your spit (some ppl find this amusing... until you realize you're rat has become a nicotine junky just like you and will attack your face whenever he wants a fix)

 

[xbocax]

How do i keep her from pooping in my pockets? In my experience keep it in your hood or sweater pocket although they will always use the restroom there it will make it more at home and less likely to run away
How do I keep her warm/safe at night? you ca jus throw her in an empty pack bottom of the sleeping bag rats like tight places so as long as your not squishing her its all good
Does anybody have any cage suggestions? already stated
What should I feed her and how much? anythin but at the same time a variety of things if they eat too many fatty things they will get tumors chocolate or peanut butters a good treat cheerios or any decent cereals a nice on the go treat
Is there such a thing as a service rat? cmon now
What makes good bedding? old news paper, ripped up fabric
What's a cute name? poly styrene

 

[Wild Ty Laserbeam]

Thanks everybody. We've had her for two nights now with no problems. Just sharing foor from the bumfeed with her. We walked down to a pet store yesterday and got her a little cage. Also, we're in the process of sewing some hangout pockets for her in our jackets. As for the service rat thing, i can dream can't I? Thanks everybody. If you think of tips I could use, I'll but glad to hear them, but it seems that this probably wont' be as much work as I though would originally.

 

[Mouse]

rats are easy. the only issue you'll have is other ppl being dicks about not liking rats.

 

[Medusa]

Just don't stomp your rat to death like this one chick I met.

 

[Mouse]

wtf? that's terrible!

also, don't pierce your rats ear to make it look more punk rawk like this one douche I met in NYC

 

[Medusa]

Yeah, we were all drinking, and this guy convinced her that her rat was vermin (she only had it for a day), so they chased it until they stomped it with one of their feet....and it was dead. I tried to stop them and was chasing the rat around, trying to save it, but I was too late. People are fucking stupid.
What happened to the rat with the pierced ear?

 

[Mouse]

i dunno.. some kid in NYC had a baby rat and he as all punk as fuck so he pierced his rats ear to make it look punk as fuck but in reality it was just fucked. Looked like it was healing ok but it's just plain stupid to do stuff like that.

 

[Wild Ty Laserbeam]

wow those are some fucked up stories. I have a few more specific questions now though. First, what do folx do with their rat when hitching? we got her a small cage thingy (this one: Amazon.com: Super Pet Guinea Pig and Chinchilla Come Along Medium Carrier, Colors Vary: Kitchen & Dining), but she ripped through it. we are planning on getting a metal one which also solve spilling/shitting in her water. Is it cool to just throw the cage in my pack or what?

Also, she keeps biting us. Usually just gently and non aggressively like she's checking if our fingers are food, but a couple times now when we've needed to move her from her bed or put her away after exploring she's given us a more aggressive bite. Not that it hurts, just seems like it might be bad news. I was thinking maybe lime juice or pepper on something on a fingertip a couple times might deter this?

 

[Mouse]

the few times my rat bit me hard, I earned it. I didnt' feed him or sat on him.

when he was really lil hit bit me hard and I chucked him across the room and he didn't do it again. you can train them.

some rats are just shitheads tho, so don't feel bad if it's not some super awesome rat from heaven.

those fabric carriers are meant to put an actual cage in... like a soft sleeve to keep the cage safe. they'll eat outta them really fast.

as for water... give it to them as needed when traveling. I wouldn't just keep a dish chilling there cuz it'll spill and whats the point inthat?

my rat would sleep in the top of my pack under the flap most of the day. or in my hoodie in winter.

I never kept him in a cage tho... just random boxes for nite time.

 

[Medusa]

i dunno.. some kid in NYC had a baby rat and he as all punk as fuck so he pierced his rats ear to make it look punk as fuck but in reality it was just fucked. Looked like it was healing ok but it's just plain stupid to do stuff like that.

Yeah, that's such an asshole move. The things people do to animals is fucked up. It's not like the rat gave any sort of consent to the piercing. If only somebody could communicate with animals like Dr. Dolittle..

 

[Swiper]

so i didnt read what the other people have said on here but ill tell you what i know from experience. rats all have personalities and you'll do well to learn what you rat likes and doesn't like. my rat was very skiddish and would run away all the time.
as far as pooping in your pockets youre an idiot if you think you can "pocket" train a rat like a dog, just deal with it. i cant count the number of times ive felt rat piss running down my back.
anything made of cloth is good bedding.
ive used two different types of cages, ive used a rat ball that i didnt like very much cause it broke really fast, or at petco (NOT petsmart, they only sell this kind at petco) you can get a medium sized cage just for when it goes to sleep for like 11 dollars, and its made of wire so you can attach it to your pack really easily, and also allows you to attach one of those water bottle things. what i did with mine is just bent the wire that holds on the water bottle so i wouldnt lose the wire.

AS FOR FOOD
GRAPES ARE TOXIC FOR RATS. very very bad for them.
cheese, contrary to popular belief is also bad for them. all dairy products are bad.
i fed my rat lettuce, spinach, lots of bread, every so often the left over pizza crust, NUTS THEY LOVE NUTS, acorns, and corn they love corn especally dried out corn on the cob from the pet store. also when you first get it buy it some vitamins and medicine for wet tail when its young. your rat seems old enough that itll be fine. also its VERY VERY IMPORTANT that they get to chew on stuff and gnaw their teeth down because they can grow into their brain and kill them.

rats also like to steal stuff and hide it from you.
i let my rat live in a hole in our wall in my old place in brooklyn and i found 10 dollars, an infinite amount of lighters, rolling papers, floss, pens, and all our reserve toilet paper in her hole one day.

rats are amazing pets though so make sure you feed them right and theyll live for a long time!

 

[CardBoardBox]

A girl I was with used a transformers lunchbox (the soft kind) as a cage to keep her rat in at night. Tucked it into her sleepingbag for warmth at night. kept her rat from taking off. We've lost that little bugger so many times its a wonder she's still alive. I think she familierized herself with the smell of camp 'cause she'd always show up in the morning again.
Line the bottom of your pockets with something like newspaper or a wrapper to keep the piss from soaking your sweaters.

 

[Zorila]

it just crossed my mind, if you have a large enaugh pocket for the rat, you can put one of those hard, thick plastic cups or some metal can in it, that way when your rat pisses and poops you can allways take out the can and wash it, another use to this is that the rat will certainly chew on it and grind it's teeth.
this way you slove two problems, the one with the stink and the holes cheued in your jacket, but if you're using a metal can you should put scissor cut pieces of rag in there to insolate your Cartoon from the cold can.

 

[Wild Ty Laserbeam]

So we've had our baby Cartoon for 3ish months now. She's awesome. She does rip up our clothes and piss/shit all over us, but it doesn't really matter. Rat poop isn't gross and her piss doesn't smell nearly as bad as my armpits (which is where she loves to hang out by the way). We read that rats don't neccsarily need something to chew after we got concerned that she wouldn't chew on stuff. Internet said that it's okay for them to grind thier teeth on eachother to keep em short.

We've been giving her cheese, so thanks for the tip. I'll rememer that about grapes too. I've also read that onions, sunflower seeds, and raw taters are bad for them. We feed her our food, but we eat lots of meat, so we keep other food aroudn for her. Mostly nuts and granola bars.

I think we have the cage you are talking about. Kind of rounded top? We use fleece for bedding. Boxes and lunchboxes can't possibly hold her. She's much too rascally. She tears up everything. She's a girl rat in her "teenage" years so she goes into heat regularly and goes frantic looking for bedding and food to take back to her house. Maybe when she hits rat menopause she'll behave a little better.

 

[Abbie]

This thread has totally inspired me to get another rat. I had left my poor rat Pluto at home because this was my first hitchhiking trip and I didnt want anything bad to happen to him. I cant wait to have a pet again ! All these travelers and their dogs make me so jealous.