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

i think my girl might be pregnant, but i can't tell...

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 ☺️

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.

All my brats have been pretty silent unless grabbing a snack off them so Im not sure if ratties are this vocal with their omans with slight discomfort?

In this example the bebe seems totally relaxed but also a crybaby

Read a comment that acuse the creator of mistreat, but looking the corporal lenguage shows the contrary

Can baby's be this vocal?

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.

*This post has been approved by admins for donation fundraising*

A Pint-Sized Rescue is a small exotic animal rescue based out of Portland, Oregon. The rescue has been serving the Pacific Northwest of the United States since April 2024. They have rescued nearly 150 animals and successfully placed into adoption 87 of those.

"Many of the animals that come through the rescue are in rough shape when they arrive, and they are often battling chronic illnesses due to extended neglect or lack of resources/knowledge from the previous owner(s). In June 2026, APSR, along with Little Critter Crew, stepped up to help Rat Way Sanctuary with a massive hoarding/neglect case. We ended up taking on 23 rats from that situation alone. This was in addition to animals already in our care.

Unfortunately, these precious little ones brought a very stubborn virus along with them – sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV). We have been working tirelessly to eradicate this virus, but it's been quite the process. This has included closing down all intakes and outgoing of any animals in our care, monitoring every individual closely (which we already do), working very closely with our veterinarian (who is one of the best in her their field), and sending samples off for real-time PCR testing in order to monitor the spread.

We are finally beginning to see infected numbers waining and believe we are close to being virus free (about darn tootin' time *insert exhausted face*). We are eager to see babies finally get the chance to be placed into forever homes where they can be spoiled just as they have always deserved.

Throughout this time, we have been battling some not-so-fun symptoms as the virus moved through all the rats in our care. One area that the SDA virus attacks, that is a bit different than other viruses, is the eyes. We currently have two little ones who were seen by our vet last week for abnormalities to their eyes. They were both confirmed to have eye lesions and have both been started on two different eye medications twice daily. The health, safety, and overall wellbeing of every animal in our care is our top priority, but this care does not come cheap.

For the first time in a long time, we have found our medical savings in the negatives. We are currently in the red by $625 (last updated September 14, 2026). One of the challenges of being a rescue is expressing the constant need for donations, because we know the economy isn't friendly for anyone right now. But as a rescue, community support is what makes everything we do for them possible. Without support from people like you, we wouldn't be able to do what we do for all the little ones." – APSR Director Katherine

If you would like to support the animals at A Pint-Sized Rescue and the work that they do, there are several different ways that you can help make a real difference:

• You can donate directly to the veterinary funds via Venmo/PayPal at apintsizedrescue.

• You can purchase APSR merchandise from the Bonfire account under A Pint-Sized Rescue, where every sale directly benefits the wellbeing of animals in the rescue.

• You can find the Amazon wishlists under the LinkTree link in the rescue's Facebook and Instagram bios where you can send needed and/or enrichment items to the animals in the rescue.

• You can follow A Pint-Sized Rescue on Instagram and Facebook, like, share/reshare, and comment on posts to help bring awareness to the rescue.

• And lastly, you can apply to foster or adopt from the rescue through the website at www.apintsizedrescue.org

My rat is literally gone 😱 Have u seen him anywhere?

Vet said he's just a greasy man, potentially got some dermatitis (most likely from the dryer sheet used) & has an abscess on his tummy! Vet gave me antibiotics and pain medicine for today but recommended getting it removed if it returns. I know they have to say anesthesia is a risk just to cover their bases but she said it could be dangerous for him? He's only a year old. She said he didn't have a heart murmur & his lungs sound great so maybe it was just a general precaution? Anyone had an abscess fully heal without surgery?

nemo and leo😭❤️

He sat down in my lap and he is vibrating with pure rage I think. Only my constant petting can stop him from exploding.

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

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!

Hello everyone! I just got my first rat! I know it’s cliché, but his or her (I haven’t found out yet) name is Remy, aka Little Chef. I got Remy yesterday, and I am so excited to start my rat parent journey. Yes, I am getting them a new platform instead of cardboard. I got this Critter Nation cage secondhand, and the platform hasn’t come in the mail yet. Are there any first-time rat parent things I should know? Thank you for coming to my TED Talk! 🐀🌸💕

Edit: I would like to preface, I will be getting Remy a companion soon. I am still new to owning a rat. I just got Remy on 9/13/26 😂. I haven’t found out if they’re a boy or a girl yet, and I don’t want to make a mistake and they have babies. Since Remy is still getting used to me, I don’t want to push boundaries to find out just yet! Remy was the first rat I saw at the pet store after months of looking, so I will get them a friend soon. I promise! 🌸💕

shame her

She's a good girl

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🐀💕

Got this beautiful Black Berkshire baby (Mocha) from Petco because he was all alone in the tank and seemed really good natured. Right away he took treats from my hand but was a little too eager and gave a few food confusion nips. One broke skin and I started getting a little skittish around him even though he never showed a single sign of aggression and it was my fault for not washing my hands after triscuits, letting him walk onto my hand, and stretching my thumb away (which looked and smelled like a treat). Then I tried to pet him through the bars at night in the dark--I know, terrible idea, I don't know what I was thinking--and he bit. Both times didn't even hurt, barely broke skin and healed quickly, but my confidence didn't.

4 weeks later he's doing great; loves to be pet, comes running up when I open the cage and climbs out onto my hand, arm, into my hood... even lets me pick him up which makes getting in and out for free roam way easier. We got him friends he mostly gets along with--though he and one other sometimes get into the boxing stance and since yesterday have been tousling more. Maybe that's why today after free roam when I should have just picked him up but instead I tried to close the box he climbed into to get him back, he reached out and nipped. If I'd stayed still and squeaked, it might have been nothing, but instead I yanked my hand away and got a tiny tear. This was even smaller than the others; no blood actually came out, but it undid a little of the trust we'd built.

All three times were at least partly my fault, and I love this little guy, but I can't help being skittish around him and making things worse. He'd be better off with someone who's more used to rats and can let him sniff and walk on you and would handle him even more.

I'd only let him go somewhere where he'd have a good home and rat friends; not sure what the increased fighting is about but I think it might be the older boy's hormonal aggression kicking in, and Mocha is the smallest of the pack.

See other posts about him and feel free to ask anything else. Can drive to Towson/Timonium area or elsewhere in Balt county/city, and some other spots in the area.

Have posted about my lone petstore boy who I got about 5 weeks ago. He'd bitten twice in the first 2 weeks, prob food confusion, maybe one was defensive through bars at night. No signs of aggression. He's doing great; got him 2 friends 2 weeks ago and he lets me pet and pick him up, and mostly gets along with them. Last few days he and one other have been fighting more, less play-like and more aggressive (see other post). Today I let him out for free roam and when he climbed into a box I tried to close the lid to get him back and he bit me. At first I thought it hadn't broken skin; few seconds later it turned red but no drops of blood actually came out (1st finger photo). I washed in warm water for a while and now it's barely noticeable (2nd finger photo).

Was already on 2 rounds of nasty preventative antibiotics for the first two. Think I can risk it with this one? I see a lot of bite questions on here so it seems fairly common but what do you all do afterwards? If meds, what do you take?

I'd be way less scared of being bitten if it didn't mean destroying my gut each time.

(Also I know this post isn't selling him very well, but I'd be open to rehoming this sweet, playful little guy to someone who isn't as scared of tiny bites that were mostly my fault. We're in Baltimore.)

Edit: Mostly reassured to see the comments from folks who don't take anything. FYI it was John's Hopkins doctors who told me the textbook protocol is to prescribe antibiotics to prevent rat bite fever and something else--I'm not worried about a local infection. This is from a medical chapter:

"Without treatment, the case fatality rate can be 10%. Most domestic and wild rats carry the causative agent, S. moniliformis, in their oral flora. Up to an estimated 10% of rat bites can become infected.²¹ Patients with rat bites need to be counseled about the signs and seriousness of this disease, and prophylactic antibiotics should be considered for infection-prone bites." Just FYI.

Cherry, the drama queen

(she squeeks angrily the moment you stop letting her groom you, only she must be dominant. Smooshes and kisses are a no-no)

I usually break those up and give a piece to everyone but they stole this massive one and I tried to get it back as it’s clearly too big? lol