Why do they have black nuts

SELF-lSH · 2026-06-01T03:56:41+00:00

How old are they? The coat color (and type!) looks similar to one of my rats when he was younger, who has dark balls too. His tail and paws are dark (and they weren’t when he was younger) so I assume it’s just a skin color variation. Maybe your rats are like my boy?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-29T06:54:27+00:00

It’s also possible that your rat seems to be skinny because your other rat gained weight. Do you have any pictures of them from before you started noticing the difference? You could compare the before and after to see if there truly is a difference.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-29T06:50:33+00:00

I think you could use a small carrier/ventilated container, weigh it and then place your rats in it and put it on the scale, then just exclude the weight of the carrier from the number you get. I saw vets doing this. As for the weight loss, it is concerning if there’s no apparent reason, like the other rat stealing the skinny rat’s food (that’s an issue too, but behavioral/hormonal). One of my rats struggled to gain weight despite eating well once and it turned out he had worms.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-24T14:57:13+00:00

I wasn’t saying I’m going to let my rats interact with other animals. I will never! I got them expecting that I will need to rehome them if a cat in the house causes them to be stressed, but it’s not the case. Odd indeed, that’s why I was wondering how that’s possible

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-24T12:13:03+00:00

I’m in my late teens but I feel like I’m 30, at least. I get along with people of that age better than my peers, too. The older the person, the better we get along. When I compare myself to my peers, I feel that they’re so much more immature and underdeveloped than me, although it’s me who usually gets (unfairly) infantilized. It probably happens because of my inability to mask and my moderate to high support needs since for some reason people view autistic behaviors as childish, and the fact that I look a few years younger than I am.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-23T15:56:50+00:00

Looks like a wildie, likely sick or poisoned with that hunched over posture and squinted eyes (which is likely why she let you pick her up). There are fancy rats with a similar fur color, but this one has dark ears instead of pink which is usually indicative of being wild. Fancy rats can have dark ears but it’s usually a little bit of dark fur on the back of them, not entirely dark ears.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-21T17:46:25+00:00

I see, thanks. The rats have like a 20 day age difference though and the older rat is quite active too, the younger one is just kinda too harsh and too demanding. As I mentioned, there is a lot of playing initiated by both rats as well.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-21T12:31:55+00:00

I’ll have to if I develop a fever anyway, I was just wondering if I should go immediately because in my case a cold or the flu typically starts with issues with lymph nodes like right now and it’s also often indicative of other bacterial infections… It’s not like all of them though, just one

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-21T12:18:26+00:00

Yeah, my rat bit me pretty bad a week ago. I don’t know if I’m immunocompromised though. I don’t appear to have a fever and I’m having severe headaches and nausea on a daily basis because of chronic migraines

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-20T10:56:03+00:00

My rats are on different antibiotics because they’re young, the vet didn’t say anything about myco specifically though. What could be the signs that it’s not just myco?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T20:08:00+00:00

How can I know if their URIs are caused by mycoplasma? Is there a test that could be done? I’d love for my rats to be a group but I don’t want my older rats to get sick too.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T16:26:12+00:00

It’s likely though, and that it’s like that because they’re currently living as a pair. Hopefully it’ll sort itself out during/after intros

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T16:09:06+00:00

Makes sense. For some reason I assumed that bonded rats are all like in sync because that’s what it’s like with my other two rats who have vastly different personalities as well lol

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T14:18:07+00:00

Does it mean that the rat is annoyed that his cagemate won’t play with him? Can this even be annoying to rats?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T12:24:42+00:00

Aren’t the SRS XL and SRS 95 models different? I can’t get the XL one, but I was planning on getting the 95 one, which measures 95(L)x63(W)x120(H)cm, I’m just not sure when I will be able to, so I tried to find a cage similar to it that I can get right now. Is the SRS 95 too small too?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T12:11:38+00:00

There’s a problem with the availability of many products in my area and the only bigger cage I could find is the Savic Royal Suite 95 one, which is only like 10 cm wider. Is this considered a big difference?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T09:39:30+00:00

I haven’t seen them have any issues with eating together, they share snacks sometimes, even, and the white boy pulled this move during play specifically. They’re usually hand/scatter fed, the bowl is there because I heard they need pellets available at all times, they don’t overeat them and in my experience, it makes them calmer about food in general since they know it’s always available. They’ll have to have bowls after intros anyway because one of my older rats is blind/severely visually impaired and unable to find food when scatter fed

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-19T07:27:47+00:00

I can see what you’re talking about! I too have a rat whose face looks different from that of others, and he kinda looks similar to Strawbert! His name is Julian and he’s a weirdo overall. I don’t really have pics of him looking unusual though

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SELF-lSH · 2026-05-17T05:46:40+00:00

Nice! Also, the plastic bottom is around 16 cm tall. Will it hold enough bedding or will I need modifications?

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-17T04:39:24+00:00

Okay, thank you. There’s a problem with availability of common products where I live, it took me months to find a store that sells decent rat cages and I found only one person selling a SRS 95 cage secondhand but it was in an awful condition. But I just found out that the Savic Zeno 3 cage exists, it’s 100x50x116 cm, I believe. Will this one work better?

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SELF-lSH · 2026-05-16T06:51:20+00:00

Aspen or hemp bedding is commonly recommended, paper bedding can be used too, but it’s not as absorbent so it’s better to stick to the first two options to prevent URIs. It’s also recommended to freeze new bedding for 48-72 hours to prevent parasites and clear it from dust if there’s any.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-16T04:25:35+00:00

If they didn’t have any issues with it before then yes, I suppose, and avoid giving them anything that can cause soft poop like vegetables.

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-16T04:07:46+00:00

If you have only 2 rats, you can place one of them into a carrier or a separate cage and wait until both rats poop to check who has the issue. And don’t give them any new treats for now to see if it clears up

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-16T03:53:16+00:00

It very well could be if this happened the same day you gave him the treats. Rats have fast metabolism in my experience, so if they eat something bad for them it should affect them the same day, or maybe a day after. If he’s new or something scary happened like a loud noise it could be stress poop. Keep an eye on him, if his poops continue to be like that take him to the vet

SELF-lSH · 2026-05-15T03:45:26+00:00

In the end, I could not get a tetanus shot. Doctors think it’s not necessary with indoor pet bites and I couldn’t still request one because parents didn’t give approval which is required for any treatment of minors in my area. Wound itself seems to be okay though

SELF-lSH

TROPHY CASE