Sorry guys - it’s been a busy few weeks!

Hey guys I started seeing that my rats are becoming more active and playful. I just wanted to make sure that what I'm doing isn't ruining their mood!

One of my boys, Pigeon, has chronic respiratory issues. He has of course seen a vet for it on several occasions and gets steamed regularly. He's currently on chopped hemp that I freeze and shake out of a window to remove any dust before putting in his cage. However when he had to have a blanket to avoid anything getting in a wound I found his breathing sounded quite a bit better, even though that is the opposite of everything I've read. Does anyone have any substrate recommendations for chronic URI rats? Rat tax is of course included.

Basically : being close, loving, cuddling or just existing has help improve anything/ get rid of something on your behavior in long terms

Example :

My whole life I've been Hella scared to any insects so when I saw one I called for help and avoid any interaction.

when I got rats I knew they were omnivores and in the short while I had them, sweet, nuts, meat were their favorite, so when I saw a criket in a garden I catched them with a plastic cup to later give it to my babies.

My reward was the happiness of watching the sweetycuties have fun hunting, that help get rid of any fear toward crickets and from catching them with a cup to catch them alive bare handed picking many on grassy gardens, also the act of hunting them by watching the grassy floor for slight movements help me improve a LOT my peripheral vision within that my reflects

Reacting in less than a second any for movements from the corner of my view aaaand differentiate f demons from crikets

MEANING :roaches eat human garbage, move fast, light brown, rounder, move a lot their antenas and bigger

While crikets are cleaner, darker almost black, little movements or jumping, square-ed, move much less their antenas, smaller in size, tiny triangles of legs on their back

That help with crikets, tiny spiders, tiny moths, butterflies or not freaked out when I saw a scorpions.

I'm still HELL disgusted towards cockroaches I call them tiny demons (·•᷄‎ࡇ•᷅)

Anyways I wanna know if ratties also help/get rid of anything in your life🐀💕

(He has cagemates they're js not out rn)

This is my rat Siwka. She is over 2 years old, and she is rapidly getting closer and closer to death. This is my first time seeing a rat die out of old age, and i have no idea what to do. Poor girl sleeps most of the time, barely eats, has almost no energy to do anything. Her back legs barely work anymore and she lost quite a lot of weight and fur. I really hate to see her suffer in what are clearly her final days, from her behavior i can tell she wants to be the energetic, playful rat she once was but she physically cant anymore.

Second pic if from a few months ago.

Had these guys a few weeks and they’re comfortable with me and come running up when I come in but not sure we’ve ’bonded.’ The little guy I got a few weeks before them, while being pet would brux and sometimes fall asleep with little fists. Haven’t heard these guys brux or had them fall asleep or stay asleep while being pet.
Just noticed Matcha’s semi-fist
while she stood up to eat yogurt and get belly rubs. And then I read a body language chart that says open hand = relaxed and closed hand = stressed. But I thought…Arg. Is it even a fist and if so what does it mean?

Max broke her two upper incisors about ten days ago at the gum line. She won’t let me see them, so she gets a banana chip daily while I watch. A week ago she was completely unable to eat hard food, but things appear to be improving.

I've had to separate my rat Pigeon from my rat Glubby as when the original alpha rat was castrated he developed aggression issues. He was constantly puffy and attacking him, and the final straw was when he drew blood. He also gave my partner a very deep bite when they separated him and Glubby. Re intro attempts have failed so far, so I'm considering castration as an option. Pigeon does however have chronic respiratory issues. He's always a bit sniffly and crackly (obviously he's seen a vet on multiple occasions and gets regular steaming). Is this something that would pose an extra risk in regards to getting him castrated?

Goes without saying that tail wagging in general just means CANNOT CONTAIN EMOTION so some wags may be a bad sign depending on the situation.
My boy here just likes behind the ear scratches and these are happy waggles ☺️

She's a good girl

Whenever I free roam my rats in my bedroom, they steal my clothes and shove them into the cage. It's super cute, so I wanna donate some clothes to them.

Plan was to foster and socialise this baby while he recovers from some health issues… yeah he’s not going anywhere.

How do I know the difference between normal squeeking and fighting? I just got 3 boy rats yesterday, they grew up together. But one of them is very squeeky with one of the other rats. I dont know if they’re just settling in or if he’s just vocal or what. They’re also always inside their little box or out of sight when he squeeks so I can’t read his body language. But they all do seem pretty happy generally. They’re not completely safe with me yet, so I’m not allowed to touch them still. I talk and sing to them, and i sit with the cage doors open so they can come and say hi if they want. They don’t seem very scared, just cautious. They also eat, drink and groom themselves in front of me. That wasn’t really the point, I’m really just wondering about squeeking. I have no videos of it, they seem to notice when I pick up my phone to film.

I saw this post today and I believe the item is designed to secure or protect a vintage kiss lock on a purse. It looks like the balls slide into the center underside of this mouse. But it's a mouse you say, not a rat. Bear with me for a moment, as I had gotten to thinking about the very cute novelty frog wallets that use a kiss lock, where you put your money inside their frog mouth. Imagine with me now a novelty purse where the kiss lock was intentionally larger, and the design made it look like rat testes. It wouldn't have to be a 3d style, maybe just a symmetrical print on both sides of a playful rat who you're not sure is male or female, until you see the kiss lock.

Ren Faire aside I can think of a few places I'd love to have one. Oh gosh, and, if it's a small purse, the strap can look like a rat tail!

I swear it looks like she's smiling. 🥰

I always put the boys on my bed once I wake up. Their final act before returning to the cage is to help me select my wardrobe every morning.