Why Do My Rats Fight At Night?

Have you ever woken up to a battle royale going on in your rats’ cages? For many rat owners, this isn’t an uncommon occurrence.

Rats are nocturnal animals by nature, meaning they’re much more active at night. You’ll frequently see them napping the day away.

When you’re home, you’ll notice they’re much more active when you wake in the morning, return from work or school, and when you’re eating (go figure, they want a nibble!)

If you’re consistently waking up to squeaking each and every night, it’s probably time to figure out why…

HEADS UP: Hot Printable Pet Coupons

Latest & Greatest Printable Pet Coupons to Print Now & Redeem Later

I just wanted to stop in and give you guys a quick heads up on the latest coupons up for pets. Coupons tend to come and go quickly, and there are some great deals to snag currently.

Between the buy one get one free Friskies cans of food and the $2 off Kibbles & Bits, I know you ratty owners will find one you need with the many other pets that most of us have. This weekend, I’ll be coupling many of these coupons with Dollar General’s save $5 on $25 on Saturday.  Coupon match ups coming soon- however, don’t forget to print 2 copies of the ones you like before they’re taken down from Coupons.com.


Adult Coloring Books: Check Out These Pet Rat Titles!

Adult Coloring Books: Check Out These Pet Rat Titles!

Adult coloring books are taking the world by storm. One great sector of the coloring world we’d like to point out is… well… the corner with the ratties! Pet rats have made their big debut in these adult coloring books, and I’m about to show you some of the cool ones that have popped up. Clicking on each image will tell you page counts, give you samples, and prices as well as reviews. They’re worth the mention here, that’s for sure!

Doodle Artist- Fanciful Rats

Annette, the author, has truly outdone herself with Fanciful Rats. This coloring book is 62 pages long, plenty enough to last the average coloring enthusiast. The incredibly intricate designs and textures will take the average person quite some time to complete. Time consuming coloring books are the BEST ones, with more bang for your buck.

Unique & Exotic Pets

This coloring book emphasizes on exotic pets more, but there are plenty of ratty coloring opportunities in here too! This is a more recent release, and has great reviews already. Since exotic pets are not “mainstream”, it can be relatively hard to find coloring opportunities or novelty items that include them.

 

For the General Animal Lovers: The Art of Zendoodle


Since the ratty market is still kind of slow, I’d like to include one more coloring book: it has many different animals within its pages! Zendoodle still has only 3 ratings, but you can see some sample pages in those reviews. I love the intricate designs within this title as well! I figured it was a worthy mention since a majority of us love nearly any pet!

 

Hopefully as new titles are produced and released, we’ll be able to add them here for your viewing pleasure. Do any currently own and use adult coloring books? If so, tell us which one your personal favorite is!! We’d love to know what our readers think.

adult rat owner coloring book gift idea

Do Rats Sleep with Their Eyes Open?

juvenile roan blaze rat sleeping

Do Rats Sleep with Their Eyes Open?

Sleeping rat has its eyes closed. Sometimes, rats will sleep with their eyes open; but it isn't very common. Photo Credit: Starsandspirals via Flickr

Sleeping rat has its eyes closed. Sometimes, rats will sleep with their eyes open; but it isn’t very common. Photo Credit: Starsandspirals via Flickr

Whether you believe it or not, rats can in fact sleep with their eyes open. It might be one of the creepiest things an owner will ever see. The ratty’s owner might actually think that their rat is potentially dead. In a panic, the owner will go running to the cage, yelling the rat’s name over and over. As the rat fails to respond, the owner may begin smacking the cage to create more noise in an effort to wake up the rat. Then, when the owner finally reaches into the cage to grab the rat, it wakes up in a confused, half asleep daze; oh, the joys of being a rat parent! Read more

Rattus norvegicus: Brown Rat History

history of the pet brown rat Rattus norvegicus

Rattus norvegicus: Brown Rat History

Rats have been kept as pets since the 18th century, when they were originally bred for bloodsport. These rats were domesticated and eventually, the tamest wriggled their way into the hearts of their keepers and caretakers. Thus, the pet fancy rat was born! Rattus norvegicus is the scientific, latin name for the most common species of pet rat, and is better known as the Brown Rat. Read more

HEARTBREAKING: Cruel Chicago Woman Puts Rats In Washer, Potentially Killing Them

HEARTBREAKING: Cruel Woman Puts Rats In Washer, Potentially Killing Them

This is a screenshot of the rats being abused in a washer- the poor animals are being soaked with a hose as Mary Louski narrates in an obscene manner. These are the rats struggling to get out of the washer.

This is a screenshot of the rats being abused in a washer- the poor animals are being soaked with a hose as Mary Louski narrates in an obscene manner. These are the rats struggling to get out of the washer.

This video is DEVASTATING. I do not recommend that any animal lover watches it- hearing about what she did is incredibly heartbreaking, and seeing it will leave you in shock. However, I’m going to POST the video for you to watch at the END of this blog post. And while I don’t recommend watching it… I hope a majority of you do. Why? Because I SUPPORT THIS PETITION. If this outrageous act stirs a hatred within you, I beg that you sign the petition to put this animal abusing sicko in jail.  It’s a Change.org petition, and they are looking for 5,000 signatures. I think we need WAY more than this. So PLEASE share this post so people can see the HORRIFIC acts that have taken place and JOIN the fight to put this woman under the jail!  Read more

Pet Rat Coats: Hairless, Rex, and Harley

harley coated rat

Have you ever wondered what some of the more common and the most sought after rat coat varieties were? Pet rats come in all sorts of varieties, with the standard coat being the most common. The standard coat is about 0.5 inches in length, lays flat against the body, and it tends to be glossy or slick. This is the coat type that you will see on a majority of rats. The other coat types tend to be slightly harder to find, with the rex being the most common of the three special coats and the harley rat coat being the most rare.

Read more

Understanding Pet Fancy Rats

Welcome to Understanding Pet Fancy Rats!

Now that I have your attention, it’s time for you to enter our realm: the realm of the fancy rat! These creatures are far from the diseased sewer monsters that many believe them to be, and it’s our job to prove it! Therefore, we welcome anyone and everyone to attempt to understand this drastically misunderstood pet and give them a touch the rat fever!
Here, we will discuss nearly anything “rat”. From blue rex rats to dumbo hairless rats, we will cover any type of rat. Any type of rat behavior issue. Maybe you want to know why your rat is bruxing, or why your pet only wants to sleep in its litter box. Rats can be difficult to understand sometimes, just like humans! Either way, we love them just the same.
If you are coming by to find out some information regarding what rats eat, then we can help with that too! There are many things that rats should eat and things that they shouldn’t eat, which every new and seasoned rat keeper should be aware of. We’ll even release recipes for you guys to try at home! If you have any recipes you would like to recommend, we’d be happy to share them with the other readers!
I myself have over 14 years of experience with pet rats, and there isn’t much that I have not come across. I have raised many different litters. I have even performed plenty of rescues. I’ve been through tragic losses, and am always here for anyone to talk with. Drop in and ask us questions; we might just write an entire post to answer your questions! I have answers from breeding to introduction issues; no matter what is going wrong, we will try to help. Thank you all for visiting, and please poke around; you never know what crazy things you will find here!

Are You a Rescue Organization? Need Help?

If you are a rescue, we would LOVE to help spread word among readers, raise awareness for the public, and assist with any other favors that you might need. All animals and rescues are a soft spot with me; and this is ESPECIALLY true of pet rats. If I can even help just one ratty soul find his or her permanent, loving spot in this world, I’m definitely up for the task. I wouldn’t think twice about it!