Welcome To The Ratzo Info Page

What You Should Feed Your Rats:

I am so glad you asked that! So many people think that if you go into a pet store and buy any product that says rodent diet that it must be good for your rattie - WRONG! Rodent diet consists mainly of bird seed and some nuts. Are rats birds? Um, i don't think so! It is best that you create your own home made rattie diet for the best nutrition you can offer your furry friend. Here is what our rattie diet consists of:

In A Large Container Mix:

Wellness Dry Puppy Chow
Parrot Fruit Blend
Parrot Seed Blend
Rodent Mix
Rodent Blocks
Cat Dental Diet
Total Cereal with Raisins
Plain Cheerios
Dry Rolled Oats
Roasted, Unsalted Soy Nuts
Dry, Uncooked Pasta



Great Treats:

Monkey Chow - To help wear down teeth
Wellness Canned Dog Food
Wellness Dog Biscuits - Great healthy treats
Pepperidge Farm Cheese Fish
Yogies (Real, not from pet stores - pet store yogies are all sugar!)
Unsalted, No Butter Popped Pop Corn
Raisins
Unsalted, No Sugar Banana Chips
Fresh Fruits and Veggies
(Frozen Fruits & Veggies on Hot Days)

How To Bathe Your Rats:

Yes. First buy the necessities:
1. Chain male gloves
2. A poncho
3. Salad tongs
4. A fishing net
5. A rat straight jacket
6. A flotation device
7. A hockey mask
8. Ear plugs (to mask the sound of screaming rattie's)
9. Baby shampoo or kitten shampoo (non flea and tick)
10. A soft or medium bristle tooth brush
11. Soft clean towels

Directions:
1. Bring all your materials into the bathroom (be sure to close door, Houdini Ratzo himself has been known to disappear from bathrooms, even under strict supervision)
2. Put on your poncho, hockey mask & gloves (at this point your rattie knows something cheesy is amiss)
3. Say a prayer (dear god, please let my sweet little rattie forgive me for what i am about to do. As well lord, please let me get through this ordeal with all my fingers and eye balls intact)
4. Put in your ear plugs (after hearing little rattie screams, one may wimp out and not go through with the process)
5. Grab unsuspecting rattie with left hand, dunk under shower facet (with warmer than normal water - DO NOT over cook your rattie!)
6. Apply baby shampoo, lather, apply shampoo to tooth brush, gently wash tail (be sure to do this quickly as rattie may turn and nibble your digits off, jump onto your hockey mask screeching in a mad rage, reach for an eyeball or two and with a great quickness only known to those on Fear Factor itself, will remove each eye ball before one can know what is happening, also beware of the rattie who can fit between your face and the hockey mask - sure disaster shall then follow)
7. Now that rattie is slippery and full of bubbles get your fishing net and salad tongs ready - it's time to rinse (Beware- this is when escapes usually happen) keep floatation device handy incase you accidentally drop your rattie into bottom of the bubble filled tub
8. Now speak gently to your rattie, "I love you, I love you so much, your are a great sweet rattie, look how clean and fresh you are, what a beautiful rattie" (kissing up helps allot!)
9. Now take your clean fresh rattie and place him/ her onto the soft towel and snuggle till dry
10. Offer your rattie some yogies, pop corn or favorite treat, if your rattie is still unforgiving you may have to use McDonalds french fries (bribery is the key to this whole ordeal!)
May the force be with you!

Some Things You Should Always Teach Your Rattie:

1. His or her name
2. To come when you make the kissy kissy noise
3. To stay on your shoulder as you walk around or sit at the computer
4. To take treats nicely. If they nip, a light poke on the nose and a stern NO!

Things You Should Never Do To Or With Your Rattie:

1. Never feed your rattie treats through the cage bars (that will teach them to nip fingers)
2. When feeding your rattie treats always say "treats" when you are feeding them
3. Never leave rattie out of cage unsupervised
4. Never leave rattie cage in direct sunlight or under a window
5. Rats can die from heat stroke, if you don't have air conditioning put a fan on your rattie and give him or her frozen fruits and veggies
6. Never teach your rattie how to use the computer, that has been known to result in odd purchases on your credit cards, and viruses on your pc due to rodent porno sites & rodent shopping network
7. Never go cross country skiing with your rattie. Ratcycles are very unappealing.

How To Teach Your Rattie The Basics of Potty Training:

Yes. Believe it or not, you can potty train rats and it is fairly simple. Rats are very smart critters, they can do most anything a dog can do. This is what you will need to do: remove all bedding and sleeping boxes. Put down plain white paper towels. Put down a small box filled with critter litter (not cat litter, not Yesterdays News). Now, every day for a week go through your rattie's cage and pick up all the rat raisins and put them into the litter box. After a week, clean the litter box. Start over again and again until rattie gets the hang of it. Usually takes less than a month. Soon you will be able to let rattie run around a small room and make sure he / she has open access to their cage, you will find that you little critter will return to the cage to go potty. Is that neato or what?

Age of Rattie Maturity:

I have recently come across a local pet store that is selling their baby rattie's at an unusually young age (three weeks old) which they say is fine. I seriously disagree with their store ethics. Rats do NOT come into maturity until they are at least 5 weeks old. It is paramount that baby rattie's stay with their mommy and nurse until then. Like any baby, mommy's milk is the best source of nutrition. Most people who purchase rats at a pet store think that the basic rat diet is just fine to feed any rat - WRONG! If you are going to adopt a baby rat, younger than 5 weeks old, you should feed them a mixture of canned puppy milk and high quality canned puppy food. Since the cans of puppy milk come in a size that is far to large for one rattie to eat in a week it is best to make ice cubes out of the milk and warm as needed so the milk stays fresh. Please take careful consideration when purchasing rats from pet stores. Pet store rats are breed as feeders, meaning they are mated with sisters, mothers, brothers, fathers, etc. The quality as a pet is simply unacceptable. Pet rats should be breed for temperament, blood lines (no inbreeding), breeders should take note of tumors, do not breed the males or females that have them. Do not breed rats with less than friendly temperaments.

Feeding Pregnant Rats & New Born Babies:

Pregnant mommies need a top notch diet to be able to keep their unborn babies happy and healthy. As well, after mommy gives birth it is very important to have a good diet so mommy can have grade A+ milk for nursing babies. So what am i getting at? It is a great idea to give mommy rat puppy milk while pregnant and after giving birth as well. Puppy milk and high quality canned puppy food are a great source of helpful nutrients that mommy and babies need. So, help em out! Squeak, squeak!

Introducing A New Rattie To Your Current Rattie

First make sure both rattie's are the same sex - You do NOT need babies! Now take your new rattie and put him or her in a clean dry bathtub. Then take your current rattie and place her in there. Pet both rattie's and tell them they are nice and you love them both. Have your rattie's meet every day this way (on neutral ground) for at least 15 min. a day for about a week. Try to give both rattie's some treats as you do this each day. Now if you are going to put your new rattie in the cage with your current rattie you must completely clean out the current rattie's cage and wash with soap and water. Now take some vanilla extract and put a tiny dab either on each forehead, between the ears or between the eyes (be careful). Now your rattie's will think they smell the same - that is a good thing. Now put both your rattie's in the nice clean cage (make sure everything has been washed, toys, water bottle, bed, etc.) The reason for washing the cage and toys is so that the cage will now seem like neutral territory to both. Watch closely, it is commin for the original rattie to show dominance over your new rattie, there will be some screaming, minor gnawing, hopping, standing face to face as if boxing, etc. even humping can occur - but its actually a show of dominance. If there is no blood shed and things don't look horrible let them be, if it looks like a blood bath is soon to occur, put on your chain male gloves and take out your new rattie. Repeat intro process and try it all again until your kids get along. Good luck!

Why Do Male Rattie's Smell More Than Girls?

Hey now, isn't that true even in humans? LOL Ok, well male rats have something called Buck Musk. When rats sweat they sweat all over their body. The male rats sweat is like a greasy smelly sweat, sometimes your male rattie will not feel as soft and snuggly as he used to, that means that he has a build up of Buck Musk. This could cause skin problems and irritations. Male rats can get pimples and or clogged pours due to this - very uncomfortable. So, what you will have to do is look above on how to bathe your rattie. Now to keep the Buck Musk at a minimum you can wipe down your rattie with a baby wipe every now and then to keep him smelling clean and fresh, and of course looking as handsome as can be! wink, wink!

The above info is true to the best of my knowledge. If you have questions or would like me to address a topic on this site just email me and i shall post it. Questions & Comments