Rats are curious and intelligent creatures, so they’re usually very good at working out which foods are good and which are bad for them. With a keen sense of smell and a discerning palette, rats will often make a beeline for the foods they like the most and avoid what they don’t. But what are…
If you’re considering getting a pet rat, you might have heard the terms “dumbo rat” and “fancy rat.” These terms, alongside others like top-eared or standard eared rat, are used to describe pet rats in general and aren’t segregated by anything other than looks. “Fancy rat” is the umbrella term given to domesticated brown rats…
It is important to ensure our rats have everything they need to thrive and stay happy. We check things off on our checklist (either mental or physical) as we go: substrate, toys, litter… pee rock? What is a pee rock? Do rats need one? In this article, we’ll take a look at exactly what rat…
Anyone who’s had the pleasure of owning rats knows how fascinating their behavior can be. Watching them interact, bond and play is always a joy, but some of their behaviors can be more complex and even more mysterious in their origins than others. For example, eye-boggling and bruxing are two behaviors that can confuse or…
Rats are intelligent and social animals that need plenty of enrichment to be happy and healthy. Naturally, we want what’s best for our rats, and sometimes small changes can significantly affect their welfare and overall health. Providing a good digging box is one of these changes; digging boxes are easy and cheap to make but…
Rats are very clean creatures. They spend so much of their time grooming that it not only keeps them physically clean, but also serves as a social bonding activity and as a way of communicating. It’s a fact that because they groom so frequently, rats are inherently fastidious about their cleanliness. However, sometimes an older…
A question some rat owners may have is “Why are my rat’s eyes red?”. Rats naturally have red, pink, ruby or black eyes, and this largely depends on their coat color. Rats with true red or pink eyes can come in a variety of coat colours, and in some cases these eye colours can come…
Rats and mice are similar creatures, both being rodents and both being popular pets. Pet (fancy) rats are of the classification Rattus Norvegicus – the brown rat while pet mice are Mus Musculus. While they look similar in physical terms (apart from their size), which might make people think that they can live together in…
It’s a common myth that rats don’t have bladders, albeit a strange one. In fact, rats absolutely do have bladders and they’re much the same as ours. They have good bladder control and process urine in their bodies like we do, via their kidneys. However strange the myth may be, it may have some background…