[Lesath]

I was keeping one of my cages with 3 boys in the bathroom while I try to convince my mother in law not to smoke in the same room with them, she thinks just holding a cigarette behind her back protects anyone in the room from her smoke. Anyway, shes a grown woman and can do what she wants, but I worry the smoke aggrevates the ratties URI (they are taking baytril right now).

So anyway, I've been keeping them in the bathroom and giving them free time every night for a while. I was cleaning the cage yesterday and when I picked up the base of it to stick it in the bathtub a small brown mouse was under it! It ran under the counter and snuck into a small little hole. The first thing I thought was "great, it was probably crawling into the rat cage and getting food!"

Obviously I already took the ratties out of the bathroom, but should I be really concerned about them being exposed to a wild mouse? They had been out on the floor and Sydney had been going insane near the little hole in the counter (made sense after I saw the mouse).

It sure was a cute little thing. :roll:

 

[chrisstrikeagain]

If the mouse goes in the cage, its a goner. I would def avoid them contacting at all costs because there is a risk of disease and such.

 

[Stephanie]

Honestly I would be more worried about the smoke and the ratties!!! I am a smoker so i know how hard it is but i NEVER smoke in the house unless I am in my room with no animals or kids, the door is shut, the blanket is in front of the door,, the sliding glass door is open with two fans pointing out and i am sitting in front of it blowing all smoke out via the fans. And that is only when it is pouring down rain!!!

As far as the mouse goes I would just plug up that hole really well and then keep the ratties outof that room.

 

[renay]

hm. I wouldn't plug up the hole.. that could be its only way out. Catch it. They're really not hard to catch at all.. I've caught them my whole life lol.. catch and release, its great. I usually keep them for a while to :s I'm kinda evil like that, I think of how cute it is, and my heart just creates a brand new place for it, and then I think of all of the problems i'm causing for it, and all of the potential problems it could cause for me

 

[mopydream44]

seems like a lot of trouble to go through to smoke. not smoking might be easier..............and better for you

 

[OnlyOno]

ha ha mopy. i've tried for years to get my dad to stop smoking and my friend josh, and they tell you (and it's true) that the more crap they get for smoking, the less they feel like quitting. the best thing is just to hope that they find something that they love enough they'd give up smoking for. my dad's little sister quit after her 3 children, but not every smoker can get pregnant to stop smoking, lol, and my other aunt started right back up again after her son was born. i think my daddy has finally quit though, thank heaven! <333

but lesath! (ADD can kill, lol) i would def be wary that the wild mouse could get your ratties sick, even though it's not fair to say "oh he's wild he's got disease", it's truly more likely. see if you can catch it since poison is out of the question if you have rats (*somehow* they will get into it, probably), although chrisstrikes is also right that if the rats caught that mouse in their cage it would be deaders.

 

[mopydream44]

.......... ..........I can't help myself. I used to try to get all of my friends to quit but I have committed to a new approach. I remind people ONCE that they CAN quit if they'd like because it is harmful to them, and then I stop.

I know I probably won't change anyones mind as they have to do it for themselves but a little friendly reminder can't hurt :wink:

 

[Wench]

I wouldn't worry too much about your rats attacking the mouse as much as I would worry about the mouse eating all of their food. I lived in a house that was infested with mice for a long time before I realized it wasn't my rat that was eating her food, it was them. They would squeeze through the bars of her cage in the night and eat all of her food.

It wasn't until I got up one morning and went out, and two darted out of her cage and under the stove that I realized what was going on.

You never know when your rat might decide to attack another creature, but other than the mice getting into her food (which is pretty unsanitary in itself), there was never any real issue. I used to let my first rat use my old PC shell as a maze and I lifted it up one day to find a mouse underneath it with her. Nothing really happened. She ran around. The mouse ran around. They ran over eachother. I scared the mouse away and Doris went about her business as usual.

Rats are strange little creatures.

 

[Stephanie]

seems like a lot of trouble to go through to smoke. not smoking might be easier..............and better for you

Yeah i have tried to quit you name it i have tried it. I get more stressed and WAY too unhappy when I am not smoking LoL I will quit one day maybe LoL i am just glad my kids don't hide my cigarettes yet. I also know that smoking is HORRIBLE around kids and animals hence the jumping through hoops to make sure they are all safe.

 

[nepenthes]

You know when your Pets start hiding them, thats when you have to quit.

I smoke to so i know where you are coming from. But I get more **** from my mom about it than any thing.