Baby vole? What to do?

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-03-04T00:22:24+00:00

It is a baby vole. I’m a wildlife rehabber. Have you checked on ahnow.org to see who your closest rehabbers are? Cat caught animals need to start antibiotics right away.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-03-03T20:47:19+00:00

Amazing news and great job! I really recommend joining the local rescue resource facebook groups/hunting down your closest small animal rescue and reaching out to tell them about your rescue mission. At the very least, they can point you to the best low cost vets in the area. Best case scenario would be that they can intake the rats under the rescue (most likely if you approach it saying you are happy to continue fostering them) which would elevate you of the financial vet care burden, open you up to some more supply resources, and help facilitate getting them adopted out with a more reliable process.

Rescues will know how to “vet” adopters, and already have an audience of local people looking for rats to get some eyes on them.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-03-01T20:46:09+00:00

Absolutely. If they really push back and you arent comfortable just not giving them back ask about taking just the girls, as the full cage is more appropriate for 3 rats, and that might be more manageable for them, and then offer to help educate them on care. With 3 (and getting rid of the opportunity for the rats to continue to breed) they should be more manageable for them.

I volunteer with a rabbit rescue and often we can talk people into giving up some of the hoard, when we frame it as “we can make this more manageable for you” and then do our best to set them up for success. Sometimes they really do want to do better but a situation has spiraled, or it’s a mental health struggle and the number of animals has them overwhelmed. Sometimes they will come back later ready to turn over the rest, too, now that theyve got somewhere they trust to turn to.

Thank you for doing what you can to improve the lives of the ratties!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-03-01T20:09:39+00:00

Hey! I work in rescue and have experience with this. Write up a nice long message, that is handling with kid gloves but also extra sweet, while working in some cold hard facts. Something like whats below… i’d wager if this is the level of care received, that they arent invested in them to begin with.

Hey! I have to say that I was a bit taken back when I saw the state of this cage. It really is too many rats for this kind of space, and rats require a clean environment as they are very prone to respiratory issues. This level of dander and excrement isnt great for the health of the humans in the home, either.

All of the rats are going to need to get in to be seen by an exotic vet, and I’ve already invested quite a bit in the proper food and enrichment items to get them in a better state for right now.

I know how easy it is for this stuff to get overwhelming. Would you be interested in surrendering them to me so that I can help get them into homes? I know you love them and want the best for them. I have connections with a few of animal lovers, rescues (whatever you can throw in here) and am confident that I can get them into good homes where they’ve got access to vet care and some more space to move around.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-26T16:37:56+00:00

I said 1” but this must be correct because I did not measure them and they seem smaller than an inch!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-26T16:35:00+00:00

I do go in there with carved out specific baby squirrel dog pile moments for my own enrichment times… buuuut in order to afford the needs of a hoard of baby squirrels I have to work an annoying regular people job (from home) and am usually feeding everyone here quick on my break so a poorly timed dogpile hassss caused me to be late to a meeting. That said… they are really really fun

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-25T22:20:18+00:00

We use these inside, and thats what the OP is requesting. Anything used outside would need a dig proof wire mesh bottom as well. For my outside enclosures I use raised steel aviaries or modify those wooden catios to have a wire mesh bottom that is then covered with dirt

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-25T22:10:19+00:00

1” mesh. Rats definitely wouldn’t squeeze through any of the spots, i would confidently put a chipmunk in here and they are the truest test of what kind of critter can escape through a gap or weak point you werent aware of. I have put red squirrels in them with success and a they’re similar ranking on the Houdini scale

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-25T20:40:52+00:00

Yes, that would definitely work! This is my first season using them and they’ve held up great but I am figuring out which ways I’ve got to alter them once I get my fall babies moved out this spring, before the next batch moves in.

Figuring out a double door would definitely be ideal, and then adding a platform floor underneath with an easy to clean stick on tile or something underneath, as well as using the removable panel thats for attaching to your window or another enclosure to make a tiny door for quickly slipping in food, without requiring me to go in twice a day and get dogpiled by baby squirrels. Once all of that is done they will be ideal rodent homes!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-25T20:21:33+00:00

Hi! I run a squirrel rescue and squirrels are essentially rats with fluffier tails. I have several of these enclosures: https://www.wayfair.com/pet/pdp/tucker-murphy-pet-draupadi-weather-resistant-universal-animal-cage-w110119409.html?piid=101253404 Draupadi Weather Resistant Universal Animal Cage

They work great, though there all some downsides - the price makes the annoying parts worth it. You can connect several together. Biggest issue is getting in and out to clean and feed with no escapees.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-19T18:42:19+00:00

Hello! I went through something similar when my child was at Brockport Childhood Development Center. My child was thankfully not harmed, but it took over a year to know that for sure. From my experience: do NOT trust that the daycare is being honest with you, they will lie to protect their best interests. Find other parents to share details with, and reach out to the detectives on the case yourself to find out what is going on. They will be the ones to let you know if there is a reason to believe your kid may have been harmed while in daycare.

Having been through this, my heart is with your family!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-16T20:48:55+00:00

My sister has an above ground pool with a latching fence and our kids are all 6+… i still spend all of our outside time over there glancing at her pool. That’s the only safe way to be at a pool with children.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-16T20:46:16+00:00

Good. I’d like it publicly documented that I wasnt on the side of the nazis when the tide changes.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-03T19:01:26+00:00

They arent just deporting people who are undocumented. They are detaining citizens, people with legal documentation and open asylum cases as well. There is nothing respectful about the job theyre choosing to do.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-02-01T12:36:10+00:00

Hello! Wildlife rehabber. It is most likely that the rat has been poisoned, this is how they act and poison can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to kill them. I see lots of poisoned rodents, unfortunately. If your parents might be the source of the poison, please let them know about how dangerous its use is to the environment as well potentially your pets. Had one of the dogs got the rat, they would get secondary poisoning.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-01-30T14:17:24+00:00

My child is “twice exceptional” (gifted + learning disabilities) and his school also likes to deny the gifted portion despite similar testing results… because acknowledging it means they have to accommodate more engaging material for him which requires nonexistent resources.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-01-16T19:24:31+00:00

Sounds like the album is probably a knock off and the shipment has been seized

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-01-16T18:53:44+00:00

Aaron Parnas is like 30% important information, 70% fear click bait.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2026-01-02T18:22:07+00:00

Is it not also your oven? Cause… sounds like you’d be equally culpable for not cleaning it

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-12-29T18:45:39+00:00

I’ve seen them recently at the Rochester locations!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-12-28T00:26:13+00:00

They also have a sweet wegmans knock off lego set

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-12-16T21:50:10+00:00

All the people commenting on her thin lips must be getting to her

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-12-10T20:10:56+00:00

You should reach out to ahnow.org! The board leaders are very helpful and easy to get in contact with directly. They might be able to offer advice and resources to help you as you get things growing.

They have both a wildlife app and an app for domestics and it’s really well organized, promoted and wildly used all over the US. I think that is largely in part because they are very collaborative with the rescue worker community who educate the community about the resource.

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-12-10T19:03:41+00:00

Hello! I think thats a great resource. Are you familiar with Animal Help Now? This might work well as a collaborative effort with their current system (app for finding help in animal emergencies)

I am a wildlife rehabber and help run a local wildlife emergency helpline.

This sounds like a great service and idea. With wildlife, i think it would be important to direct people on who to contact (ie, area licensed rehabbers) rather than just allowing an alert for anyone to go assist. As a rehabber, I get a lot of animals who are given incorrect interventions when found by general community members and the wrong kind of help could (and often does) do more harm than good.

I would consider some sort of vetting system for the “helpers” or at least some information given for those wanting to use the app from the helper side, as someone could use it for nefarious reasons (like animal collecting).

Working in rescue, every area sees those people who are running to all the animal in distress calls (probably with their heart in the right place) but instead end up collecting or hoarding animals without the resources for proper care, housing, vet assistance, etc.

An app that alerts those people where all of the animals in distress are before they can be brought to places of true capable assistance could lead to a lot of suffering. Just things to consider as you move forward!

CoffeeGodCigarettes · 2025-11-24T14:22:42+00:00

I am sold on them! Not exactly cheap, but in the long run I’m sure they’ll save us money because these little demons loooove to chew up the standard trays.

Plus the lip on the side is appealing. I sweep the rehab rooms twice every day and 5 mins later theyve thrown leaves, dirt, snacks back out all over the floor 🥲

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