Caring for a Rat: The Complete Guide to Rat Care

Rats make great pets, and the level of interaction and companionship they offer can be similar to a dog! They will rush to greet you at the front of their cage whenever you come home, and they tend to adapt their sleep schedule to maximise their contact with their favourite people.

These smart little critters make great pets for kids. They’re super social, usually love to be handled more than any other small pet – living comfortably indoors in a suitable cage. Once you meet their basic needs, they’re a great animal to have lots of interaction with.

Rats are sociable pals and thrive with the company of other rats, so it’s always recommended to make sure they have a companion. If they’re left alone, they can become depressed and develop unusual behaviours.

While it can be intimidating trying to make sure you have everything ready to care for your new four-legged friend, once you have the essentials, the rest can come easily. If you’re worrying about how to look after a rat, they’re actually pretty low-maintenance pets! They require food, water, and new toys from time to time. Overall, rats love human contact more than anything else!

The most rewarding thing you can do is get them out of their cage for a cuddle and some playtime. Rats really thrive on company and love to interact with their parents, so as long as you keep up those interactions, you’ll have a happy little rodent on your hands.

If you’re wondering how long does a pet rat live, their lifespan is different to wild rats. While wild rats tend to only reach 6 months to 1 year old, pet rats can live longer with good care and consistent, high-quality feeding. Pet rats will usually live between 2 and 3 years but the longest living pet rat made it to the grand old age of 7! With proper care, these little loving family additions can stay healthy for longer and live a nice full life. It is difficult to determine exactly how long will a pet rat live as different subspecies are affected by a variety of factors.

 

Dumbo rats also live between 2 and 3 years, but in some instances, they can live for 4 or 5 years. Their lifespan depends on a variety of factors, including exercise, diet and genetics.

Rats age very similar to humans; you can tell your beloved pet is getting older as the growth in their front teeth starts to slow down and lose some muscle mass. You might notice they look a little skinny on their back legs and don’t climb as quickly. Many rats can get arthritis as they grow older. To tend to that, add in a few lower-hanging hammocks and modify their cage to make it more accessible to them.

Just brought your new furry home? You might be wondering where to keep your rat, and there’s a couple of specifics you need to know before you settle them in.

Rats can’t live outside, and they must be kept out of draughts and out of direct sunlight. Make sure where you’re keeping your furry friend is quiet, as vibrations from music and TVs can cause stress in rats.

Rats will need a constant supply of water they can easily access. Parents should check their water is regularly topped up and change for fresh water every 1 to 2 days. Rats enjoy a varied diet as omnivores, they can eat vegetables, fruit, eggs, grain, and seeds with a small amount of meat!

You can supplement their diet with lots of healthy additions but high fat and foods high in sugar should be avoided for the most part. While our four-legged friends may love sweet and fatty foods, it’s easy to overfeed them and have a negative impact on their health. Foods like citrus fruits, raisins, onion, and chocolate should never be offered as a treat for your rodent friend as they are all toxic.

The most important thing to offer your beloved pet is good quality feed designed for their species, to provide the bulk of their daily calories and nutrients. The best rat food is always specifically formulated, as they tend to have different dietary needs from other rodents.

Supreme Reggie Rat Food boasts a nutritionally balanced diet that offers all the nutrients and minerals your little friend needs. It’s packed with staple ingredients like maize, oats, wheat, and peas to keep them healthy and happy throughout their life. With this colourful mix of different foods, it encourages their natural foraging behaviours.

Science Selective Rat Food has been formulated using soya as a main source of protein and contains key ingredients to keep their coat nice and shiny. The uniform pellets, discourages your rodent friend from only picking our bits of the diet and throwing it off balance by not eating all of the ingredients.

The Blue Cross recommend that rat cages should be a minimum of 90cm x 60cm x 120cm to give them plenty of room to climb and explore, but a general rule of thumb is the bigger the better. Especially if you want to have multiple rats to keep each other company together. 

Wire cages are the best habitat for your rodents as they offer plenty of ventilation. Tanks or plastic enclosures with solid sides can either be chewed through or might reduce the airflow around the cage and lead to potential respiratory difficulties.

Rats enjoy having lots of levels to explore and climb so something like the Liberta Explorer Large Double Rodent Cage is like the mansion of rat cages and will offer endless options to be able to add fun toys, hammocks and ladders for your pet to explore.

Once you have the perfect cage ready, filling it with everything your four-legged companion needs is your next task. Remember to include:

●      Bedding

●      Food

●      Water

●      Nesting boxes and beds

●      Toys and enrichment

It’s important to choose bedding that’s not toxic to rats, as there’s a slight chance your rat may have a nibble on their bedding from time to time. Avoid wood-based bedding and look to paper/cardboard-based. If you’re looking to natural litter, make sure to pick a rat-safe option, as the wrong one can cause harm to their respiratory system.

Rats love to climb so the more toys the merrier. Having a range of different toys and enrichment items to swap out from time to time and keep their cage fresh and exciting is the perfect way to keep your rats from getting too bored. Giving them lots of different levels to climb on like the Rosewood Rat & Ferret Cargo Net is a great way to maximise the space in their cage with different surfaces to explore. Tunnels and hanging toys to gnaw on are also great fun for them.

You can use extra enrichment like the Rosewood Snuffle Forage Mat to hide treats in and encourage them to search around for their food.  

 

We know it can get overwhelming with how much you need to pick up and arrange for your new pet, so we’ve put together a handy check list you can tick off as you get prepared for your furry family member.

-        Bedding

-        Food

-        Water bottle & food bowl

-        Insurance

-        Register at the vets

-        Cage

-        Travel cage

-        Treats

There’s a few different places you can get a pet rat of your own! From checking your local shelters to adopt one of your own to buying from local pet stores, there’s a range of places you can become parent to a rat.

The initial price of buying a rat depends on where you’ve bought it from, but can range anywhere between £15 and upwards. However, the lifetime cost of caring for a rat is no small expense. Like becoming parent to any pet, it’s a serious decision financially that must be considered. From vet care and insurance to food and bedding, there’s a range of costly factors that add up quickly over your rat’s lifetime. Vet bills over the duration of the average pet rat’s lifetime usually add up to £100-£200 and initial costs for housing, equipment and food usually add up to around £250.

Generally, you should clean the entirety of your rat’s cage weekly whilst spot cleaning soiled areas more regularly. It’s crucial to remove dirty bedding often as an unclean cage is detrimental to your pet’s health as bacteria turns their urine into ammonia which is dangerous for rats to inhale (it’s not good for humans either)!  Make sure to remove your rats from their cage to somewhere safe whilst you clean. Choose a rat-safe disinfectant, laundry detergent and dish soap for cleaning the cage, hammocks and any food or water bowls or bottles.  

Once your new rat has been quarantined, the best place to introduce your fur babies in neutral ground! They’ll be initially territorial if a first-meet takes place in their own cage, so it’s best to pick a small empty space for their introduction. Keep a close eye on their behaviour during the interaction, squeaking and wrestling is normal so only intervene in the event of extreme aggression or injury.

Once you have everything set up to bring your new beloved pet home, make sure you provide lots of interaction, cuddles and playtime. You can find everything you need to give your pet rat a happy and healthy life with our range of rat and mouse products in store.