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New baby rat with head sway

387 Views 10 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  PeekaBoo
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This morning we picked up two super cute beautiful girls from a good breader.
One of them, Smoezie, is beautiful argente with red(-ish) eyes. I noticed she is swaying her head when she sits still, I suspect because of poor eye sight.
Is there anything extra to keep in mind with intros and cage set up with this kind of girls?
She climbs and balances and act normal and healthy, bit skittish but she just moved today so that might change.
Rodent Fawn Pet supply Domestic pig Snout

Grass Rodent Fawn Wood Hamster

Thanks for tips to make this girls life the best we can!
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Hiya! Your girls are so cute! Welcome to the forum :D

For the cage, I can't tell if you made the cardboard bedding yourself but it's very hard to do so properly. The best beddings are aspen, kiln-dried pine, hemp, and equine-grade cardboard! The cardboard is usually hard to find in the US but I'm not sure about the Netherlands. Avoid paper bedding at all costs! Misinformation online about rats is rampant, especially with rat care changing because of increased research. Paper bedding is in no way safe for rats! Fleece is also not a good option unless it's for a hospital cage where bedding would stick to a rat's wound.

Hemp is the most hypoallergenic but it may be hard to find, I'm not super familiar with the Netherlands but I believe it's easier to find in some parts of Europe. Aspen and pine (kiln-dried) are absolutely wonderful though!

For cage cleaning, you'll need to change the bedding, wash hammocks (or put in clean hammocks), wipe down the bars of the cage, and wipe down other surfaces (surfaces of hides, bins, floors, etc.)! The wood will need to either be boiled once a week (it's notoriously hard to clean wood, especially with all the ammonia rats produce) or thrown out and replaced. The best cleaner to use is just soap and water! I use dawn dish soap like many other owners, but any kind of unscented dish soap is fine! You can go over the surfaces again with diluted vinegar (half vinegar, half water) if you're worried about the smell, as vinegar is an odor remover! It isn't suitable for cleaning everything though, since it doesn't really disinfect.

You'll need to have lots of hammocks, bins, baskets, and other hides to fill up the empty space in the cage! Any drop or open space more than the length of your hand (downward) can result in injury if the rat falls. I can send some good cage inspirations if you'd like! You can also diy hammocks and get cheap baskets from a dollar store! They don't need anything fancy.

You'll see wheels in some cages, and if you'd like to have one, make sure you get or make one that has a diameter of 14 inches for females or 16 inches for males. I can provide a website that sells suitable wheels if you're interested!

For food, I believe Science Selective Complete Rat and Mouse is the best in Europe! You'll feed 15-20g per rat per day. Pellets are the best kind of food since mixes are very difficult to get right and can be dangerous if they aren't made perfectly- and even a recipe that someone else has made will never be perfect. Treats like plain cheerios, dry pasta, baby puff snacks, and baby food are very good!

Here are some sources! The Google document is just a short version of care I wrote, with sources, and the other one is from a very reputable breeder!
rat explanation - Google Docs
Rats 101 | Silver's Rattery (silversrattery.co.uk)
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Thanks for your post, but I am not new to rats 😉

I just never owned a rat with (possibly) really bad eye sight so my question was if there is anything other than the normal care I can do for her and with starting intros with my other rats 😊

But I really appreciate your response!
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Thanks for your post, but I am not new to rats 😉

I just never owned a rat with (possibly) really bad eye sight so my question was if there is anything other than the normal care I can do for her and with starting intros with my other rats 😊

But I really appreciate your response!
No worries!! Give it a read-through anyways though, lots of rat care has changed and tons of stuff online is wrong!

For the head sway/bad eyesight, all rats have bad eyesight but red-eyed ones have even worse eyesight. You don't really need to do anything extra! Just make sure to fill up all those empty space in your cage so that they don't get hurt, since there are some spots with big gaps! 🥰
I had a rat with similar colouring to Smoezie's. She had dark red eyes and also did the head sway thing. I had her from 6 weeks old, til she died at 22 months old. She was actually quite a bit more agile than my other 2 rats and I never even thought to do anything different for her care. I did notice that as she got older she didn't sway her head as much as when she was a baby, and I assume that was from her becoming familiar with her environment.
I can't comment on doing intros with red eyed rats as she passed away before her cagemates and I never had to do intros with her. I don't imagine it would be much different though. Her nose will tell her what's up ;)
Good luck with the new babies!
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Thank you both for your responses!
Good to hear Foto, I was wondering what would happen with aging but for now I will just tread them like all the others :)

And Cheesefather, don't worry. This is nog the 'real' cage setup but the first few days I like to keep the cage super accessible so it's a bit easier to interact with them and get them used to us picking them up (or getting to them when needed) without having to 'hunt them down'. It will fill up soon enough with hammocks, plateaus, steps, ropes and space pods!
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Thank you both for your responses!
Good to hear Foto, I was wondering what would happen with aging but for now I will just tread them like all the others :)

And Cheesefather, don't worry. This is nog the 'real' cage setup but the first few days I like to keep the cage super accessible so it's a bit easier to interact with them and get them used to us picking them up (or getting to them when needed) without having to 'hunt them down'. It will fill up soon enough with hammocks, plateaus, steps, ropes and space pods!
Wonderful!! Good luck with your sweet girls 💜
@*Girl Head sway is incredibly common with ruby-eyed/pink eyed rats as a way to improve their limited vision. It’s meant to improve depth perception by letting the brain see the same area from different angles to better judge distance, kind of like old fashioned stereoscopes/View Masters used two different photos placed in front of the eyes to give an image a 3D effect. You’ll probably notice more head swaying when the rat is readying for a jump, since distance is more important to get correctly when jumping vs running or climbing. Quite a beautiful girl! I had two sisters with similar coloring before, one was deep ruby eyed and the other had very light pink eyes, and they were just exquisite… Myshka & Matty, seen here enjoying some herbs in a dig box…

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Thanks for your post, but I am not new to rats 😉 I just never owned a rat with (possibly) really bad eye sight so my question was if there is anything other than the normal care I can do for her and with starting intros with my other rats 😊 But I really appreciate your response!
Head sway appears to be normal in rats especially the red eyes. The sway is a type of echo location almost I think. She is really pretty!!! I don’t think there is anything you need to do special. They will adapt to their surroundings just like the others. Thanks for showing her off. I have a lot of Albinos. They often sway as well.
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Thanks for al the advice!
By now the 4 rats are al together in the dubbele cage, fully furnished with loads of stuff. The babies are super nimble and agile and have crazy energy. Nothing to worry about!
😂

Here some more pics of the pretty ladies. The dombo is Ippi, the other is Smoezie 😍
Rodent Whiskers Hamster Rat Fawn

Pet supply Rodent Fawn Whiskers Flooring

Head Eye Rat Rodent Whiskers

Pet supply Mesh Wood Gas Display case
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@*Girl They remind me so much of my sister rats Myshka and Matty — Myshka was a dumbo and Matty a top-ear, same gorgeous coloring… What lovely girls, so happy they have integrated well!
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