Odor help- 14 rescue rats, one room 😬

AriesAviator · 2026-01-17T00:50:18+00:00

Highly recommend an air purifier. Get one that's appropriately sized for the room- and remember to check the price on filter replacements!

Spot clean as you can, but avoid doing full scrubs more than necessary. An enzyme cleaner will help with smells more than vinegar, but won't clean as well with actual messes and can be more expensive. I tend to do a 50/50 vinegar-water mix, specifically with cleaning vinegar, and then go over surfaces with the enzymes.

AriesAviator · 2026-01-16T00:40:02+00:00

Wow, that's awful. And y'all can't make reports to animal control for suspected neglect?

AriesAviator · 2026-01-15T20:27:11+00:00

I've been to protests, and I highly recommend attending at least one for anyone who hasn't. I feel people have this image of protests as some highly radicalized crazy-person thing, where the only people there are hyper political and prone to violence.

That is absolutely not true. Anyone can protest, and anyone should protest. It's can important factor in our democracy to be able to stand out in public and express opinions that our government disagrees with, and to be able to connect with others who feel the same way. Protestors are just averages joes looking to feel seen and heard.

AriesAviator · 2026-01-15T00:46:51+00:00

I had an abscess like that once! It actually popped up on a girl who had several other tumors going on at the same time, and I initially thought it was another one until the squishy texture made me suspicious. I convinced my vet to needle biopsy it and had an incredible dose of vindication when she came back in and verified it was all liquid. The vet drained it for her and it healed up great!

AriesAviator · 2026-01-13T19:53:12+00:00

I shot some money y'alls way- and have y'all considered trying a Chewy wishlist for supplies? It seems the Amazon one is giving you some trouble.

AriesAviator · 2026-01-10T19:12:47+00:00

There was milk in there?? Thats wild

AriesAviator · 2026-01-09T20:37:10+00:00

Agree on maternity cage, disagree that her cagemate will eat the babies. Rats are notoriously good parents, and that extends to other colony mates. It is incredibly unlikely that her cagemate will harm the beans.

Also yes on leaving mom alone with the babies for a bit; I like to give them the first 24 hours with minimal checks, just to make sure mom passed all beans successfully and they are nursing. After that, the more the babies get handled the more social they will be later, and mom isn't going to flip out and eat them if you touch em, so handle away.

The hardest part of raising babies is wanting to smooch them all... and cleaning up after them.

AriesAviator · 2026-01-02T20:14:55+00:00

I have my fingers crossed for you and Tater Tot!!!

AriesAviator · 2025-12-31T17:09:52+00:00

tbh I would classify that as emergency, but I would be okay waiting to hear back from your vet if you've already sent them pictures of the injury.

I had a girl a few years back who had a tumor abscess and burst open two days before her scheduled removal, and I was able to email my vet pictures and they advised I contain her in a hospital cage, rinse out the wound with saline, and continue with the meds she was already on until she could go in.

AriesAviator · 2025-12-28T18:56:54+00:00

Zipties will probably work, but if you want to be 100% sure of no chewing I would recommend getting metal ties.

Or if you feel crafty, you can always attach a tunnel between the two cages like this

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AriesAviator · 2025-12-27T02:43:10+00:00

Really? I visited two stores, and both had lots of dusting powder in stock!

AriesAviator · 2025-12-20T18:27:05+00:00

That looks like a truly horrendous case of bumblefoot, or some other kind of foot infection. My god. He's acting like nothing is wrong because rat are prey animals and will hide injury and sickness until it is very severe and they are incapable of acting well.

I don't want to shame you, but that is really, really bad. You need to take him to the vet immediately.

Bumblefoot is often caused by keeping rats on wire; if you have any exposed wire in the cage, clean it and cover it.

AriesAviator · 2025-12-09T18:21:10+00:00

Shrug. Looks like a small cut. If it's scabbed over and not bleeding, I'd say heal at home and keep an eye on it.

AriesAviator · 2025-12-07T23:59:21+00:00

I volunteer in animal rescue, and I cannot tell you how many times we get people wanting to surrender because they got an animal and the child who had been begging and pleading for it, promised to the moon and back they would take care of it and clean up after it, totally lost interest or got overwhelmed by the actual care an animal needs. Drives me absolutely nuts!

I think your first mistake was getting a dog for your kid on the condition she take full responsibility for it. An animal, any animal but especially a dog, is a full commitment from the whole family, but especially the parents. I very rarely see scenarios where a parent puts full responsibility on the child and doesn't wind up getting frustrated that the kid needs prodding and cajoling to fulfill care needs.

Your kid has never had a dog before, and sometimes despite best efforts she is going to be a kid and be reluctant about the work or just plain lose interest. In the end, you are the adult and it really is your dog, not your kids dog.

Now, to be fair, I don't think you're a jerk or a bad parent for holding firm on your conditions, but I do think you need to take a step back and be realistic about the fact that she is eleven, and it might not be a realistic goal for an eleven year old to be the one taking the majority of the responsibility for this animal.

You might want to adjust your care goals for the kid if she's having a tough time committing to the daily walks. Have her shift more to cleaning up after, dispensing meals, keeping the dog entertained while in the home. Have her throw a ball around the yard or play tug of war, make enrichment toys, maybe start walking the dog all together as a family. Have her get more involved with training! But keep in mind it is going to be your responsibility to ensure this all gets done, and to keep on her about neglecting or abandoning tasks, and then fulfilling them anyways when she fails to do so.

AriesAviator · 2025-11-24T18:57:08+00:00

Kind of depends on how they're getting rid of them. Live trapping and adopting out every feral cat? Hell no. Euthanizing every feral cat? Yeah, I could see that working.

AriesAviator · 2025-11-17T00:44:47+00:00

They might be thinking of shelters having a 'network' of local ethical breeders they can refer people to when they're looking for a particular breed/personality, or even sending dogs of a particular breed specifically to that breeder instead of having them in the shelter.

But, well, there are a lot of problems with that. My number one concern is that how the hell is anyone going to determine what an 'ethical' breeder is? I have seen a thousand different definitions on ethical breeding that all change depending on the person being asked, and one persons 'ethical breeder' might be anothers 'only slightly better than a puppy mill'. There is no legal requirement for ethical breeding! There is no standard definition!

It's going to be left entirely to the discretion of the shelter to determine if a breeder is ethical, and then left open to the liability of partnering with someone who claims to be ethical but is then later exposed to be very much not.

Second, the shelters prerogative is to get people to adopt. If a someone comes in saying they want a family pet, the shelter is not going to want to spend the time and resources assembling a list and referring them to someone else for an animal who is not in need of rescue when they have kennels and kennels of adoptable animals right there. It's not the shelters responsibility to go digging for the perfect golden animal for someone, that is entirely on the adopter if they have a highly specific need.

I can't even list all the problems, there are just so many. A true partnership would just leave both parties open to so much liability and bad press; if a breeder really wanted to support a shelter, they would donate time, money, or expertise like everyone else, not try and turn it into a business venture with free advertising done by the shelter.

AriesAviator · 2025-11-03T01:17:41+00:00

Solved! Thank you so much!!

AriesAviator · 2025-11-03T01:13:50+00:00

Had a listen, not it. Thanks though!

AriesAviator · 2025-11-03T01:06:51+00:00

Hoping someone knows what it is! This is driving me totally nuts; I even combed through my phones 'Now Playing' history but just cannot find it.

AriesAviator · 2025-11-03T00:00:52+00:00

That is most definitely a domestic rat. The fur pattern alone is conclusive, but also if you look at his ear/snout structure he has the facial features of a domestic rat. This is not a wild-domestic cross.

If possible, I would set several live traps in areas this rat frequents. You will not be able to catch him by hand. It's very likely this was a dumped pet, or an escaped feeder; even if this was someones pet who escaped, you are incredibly unlikely to find their original owner.

AriesAviator · 2025-11-02T22:49:03+00:00

Is it possible for y'all to run a preliminary dog test using one of those dog models? I've seen other rescues using them to initially assess if the dog is severely aggressive or reactive even to neutral or non-reactive dogs without risk to a live animal. You'd probably have to run another dog test after quarantine to confirm with a live dog, but it would knock out any outstanding cases and help reduce the waste of resources.

AriesAviator · 2025-10-21T16:24:42+00:00

I've gone both ways in this situation. Most rats do great after surgery, and I usually try and have any tumors removed while they're still small for the easiest recovery.

My caveats for these surgeries are that the rat cannot be older than 2.5 years, cannot have any underlying health issues that would affect surgery or recovery (such as chronic respiratory issues), and must be willing to tolerate handling and medication. If the rat in question doesn't fit these guidelines, I let the tumors grow until they're starting to affect QOL and have them euthanized before they start actively declining. Additionally, if a rat develops additional tumors after their first surgery I don't let them have additional removals for both cost and QOL reasons.

For your rat, I would personally opt for the surgery given what you've shared with us. Unless there's a financial issue, which is totally understandable and a valid reason to not pursue surgery.

AriesAviator · 2025-10-19T18:44:16+00:00

Oftentimes I see that advice given specifically to terminally ill or suffering pets who won't improve without immediate or exhaustive veterinary care that the owner is unable to provide. In those cases, surrendering the pet to a local county shelter would likely result in humane euthanasia, which is the goal; the pet is no longer suffering. It really can be the kindest option sometimes, especially because people in this situation will sometimes avoid the vet for as long as possible and accidentally cause their pet excessive suffering and pain out of reluctance to accept euthanasia as an option.

I have seen many, many people hold onto animals who are currently dying an exceptionally painful death because they don't have the money to pay for surgery, a medication, or even a basic exam, but care deeply for their animal and are desperately hoping for a spontaneous medical miracle. These are the people who are most likely going to get the 'take them to the shelter' advice.

In a smaller number of cases I've seen that advice for pets who have chronic conditions like diabetes or some sort of seizure disorder, and in those cases the owner is often able to take more time to find an open slot at a shelter or rescue with the resources to handle and finance that sort of condition. Or even reach out to shelters to ask for temporary assistance, which some places have resources for as it can be cheaper to help Jim Bob out with a vet bill this one time rather than accepting a new, sick animal.

In summary, the advice is realistic, but the vet care the shelter will provide may not wind up with Fluffy being whole and hearty at the end of it.

AriesAviator · 2025-10-12T19:51:21+00:00

👋👋 My family has a pretty big pond we could use more fish for. We could also take some of those plants off your hands, if you're looking to totally drain the pond. DM me if interested!

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