I'm sure this isn't the right place to post this, but I just signed up so I can only post here. My boyfriend adopted a three month old male rat. He's been very sweet, friendly, inquisitive and cuddly since we got him a few days ago. He seems to sleep quite a bit, he often crawls into our laps and falls right asleep after a bit of eye boggling. I was a little concerned that it seemed like he was sleeping too much, but when he's not being held he seems alert and happily explores his surroundings. He'll even wrestle our hands and groom us. He came from PetSmart (I know, bad.) and I couldn't resist getting him, he has a great personality.
He seems overall healthy, but I'm a little concerned. He doesn't seem too interested in eating or drinking much. At the PetSmart they were feeding him Oxbow, which we're also feeding him. He'll take a few bites out of the block before tossing it down. Maybe he's eating more and we're just not seeing it, because he does poop a seemingly normal amount, and it's solid poop, not fear poop. He hasn't touched his water bottle, but surely he knows how to use it as that's what he had at PetSmart. I've tried tapping it and leading him to it, but he's not interested. I put a water bowl in his cage, and every once in awhile I'll see him lap at it a few times. I just thought this was a little strange, because I have two male rats that are a year old now, and at his age it seemed they were eating/drinking more. I know males can be lazy, but my rats were all over the place when they were younger and now. He has no signs of illness - no gunk around his eyes, not sneezing excessively, breathing fine, pooping fine. I'm worried he may be depressed because he's by himself. Someone else adopted his brother and he was all alone at the pet store. We're planning on getting him a friend as soon as possible. There's not a lot of good places to get rats around here I don't think, but there are a few local (not chain) pet stores that take in unwanted litters. He's in a rather small cage at the moment, but he's pretty small and we've been getting him out for most of the day since he could probably use the extra attention since he doesn't have another rat friend. We just ordered a Critter Nation, so that should be here soon. I might just be worrying too much, but it's better to be safe than sorry!
He seems overall healthy, but I'm a little concerned. He doesn't seem too interested in eating or drinking much. At the PetSmart they were feeding him Oxbow, which we're also feeding him. He'll take a few bites out of the block before tossing it down. Maybe he's eating more and we're just not seeing it, because he does poop a seemingly normal amount, and it's solid poop, not fear poop. He hasn't touched his water bottle, but surely he knows how to use it as that's what he had at PetSmart. I've tried tapping it and leading him to it, but he's not interested. I put a water bowl in his cage, and every once in awhile I'll see him lap at it a few times. I just thought this was a little strange, because I have two male rats that are a year old now, and at his age it seemed they were eating/drinking more. I know males can be lazy, but my rats were all over the place when they were younger and now. He has no signs of illness - no gunk around his eyes, not sneezing excessively, breathing fine, pooping fine. I'm worried he may be depressed because he's by himself. Someone else adopted his brother and he was all alone at the pet store. We're planning on getting him a friend as soon as possible. There's not a lot of good places to get rats around here I don't think, but there are a few local (not chain) pet stores that take in unwanted litters. He's in a rather small cage at the moment, but he's pretty small and we've been getting him out for most of the day since he could probably use the extra attention since he doesn't have another rat friend. We just ordered a Critter Nation, so that should be here soon. I might just be worrying too much, but it's better to be safe than sorry!
