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…
We all love treating our rats, and our rats love the interest and variety a yummy treat brings. However, it’s important treats are healthy for our pets, and a good way to do that is to make them ourselves. I mostly use bits and bobs of human foods as treats – a nut in a…
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 can eat a wide variety of animal and plant-based foods. That’s the main reason they’re so successful as a species. They easily adjust to their environment and can survive on all kinds of foods – be it berries and seeds from the woods or trash from the dumpster. But even though they can eat…
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…
While wheels are not an absolute necessity in your rats’ cage, they’re a great addition for exercise and enrichment. Rats in the wild will run significant distances throughout their lives, and when they can, they’ll run to their full length (extending their bodies) and even bunny hop. Allowing your rats the opportunity to run in…
When pet owners think about what to feed to their pets, chocolate is a food that is divisive and it can be difficult to find the truth about whether it’s good for them or not. So, Can Your Pet Rats Eat Chocolate? The answer in yes, but in small amounts. Chocolate isn’t toxic to rats…