It's getting warm here now and all of my rats are showing the signs of being overheated that lilspaz has mentioned.
My Beatrix loves to have ice cubes put in her water dish, she'll pick them up in her paws and shave bits off with her teeth. I put ice cubes in Doris' water bottle as well, just to help keep her cool. I find their body odour gets to be more unpleasant in the heat as well, so the two girls I can handle, I give cool baths. They claw and get upset but it really cools them off when they get out of the bath and they seem much more comfortable afterwards.
The most important thing for you to do when it is very hot is to make sure their water is changed often and is always cool. Bacteria thrives in heat, and if you let their water sit for too long, it will become a cesspool, and they are much more likely to become ill.
I also buy Breyer's sugar-free real fruit popsicles (ice lolly's, whatever you call them) for myself, and the rats love a bit of that in the heat.
My Beatrix loves to have ice cubes put in her water dish, she'll pick them up in her paws and shave bits off with her teeth. I put ice cubes in Doris' water bottle as well, just to help keep her cool. I find their body odour gets to be more unpleasant in the heat as well, so the two girls I can handle, I give cool baths. They claw and get upset but it really cools them off when they get out of the bath and they seem much more comfortable afterwards.
The most important thing for you to do when it is very hot is to make sure their water is changed often and is always cool. Bacteria thrives in heat, and if you let their water sit for too long, it will become a cesspool, and they are much more likely to become ill.
I also buy Breyer's sugar-free real fruit popsicles (ice lolly's, whatever you call them) for myself, and the rats love a bit of that in the heat.
