# Found a domesticated (I think) white rat out in my chicken coop; what should I do?



## ratinchickencoop (Aug 15, 2011)

A few days ago I found a white rat with red eyes inside the chicken coop in my back yard -- it seems tame and hasn't bothered the chickens or their eggs and seems to just be using their hen house for shelter and eating their food and the sunflower seed on the ground. It also looks healthy and pretty fat and hasn't run away any time I've gotten near it, so I'm thinking it may be somebody's escaped pet, especially since I've never seen an albino rat in the wild before. It looks similar to the one in this picture:









My question is, assuming it *is* someone's lost pet, what should I do with it? I've never dealt with rats before and know nothing about them. I've left it alone for 3 days now and it's still out there every night but there's a pest service that comes out to my house once a month to fill bait traps with rat poison to kill off all the rats on the premises (since the "wild" big brown rats have been a major problem in and around the house, crawling inside the walls and even climbing out from the ceiling fan in my bedroom at night etc) so I'm afraid if I just leave the white rat there sooner or later it'll eat the poison and die and I'd feel guilty if I let that happen to somebody's pet. I put up a poster at the local general store saying I'd found a white rat but so far no calls to claim it. What else should I do, if anything? If I caught it I wouldn't be sure what to do with it after that. I have a rabbit hutch I could put it in but I wouldn't know what to feed it or how to water it and I don't really have a lot of extra time to take care of someone else's lost pet, either. Is there a number I could call that would take care of it or something? I'm afraid any animal service I call about it would just come out and kill it.

Thanks; any help or advice would be much appreciated!


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## killybutt (Nov 22, 2010)

What area do you live in? Have you considered calling any animal rescue places or no-kill shelters? There might even be a pet rat rescue in the area. Even if the rat is not aggressive, it may not be tame in terms of being handled and may become frightened and try to bite you if you pick it up. You can try using a humane animal trap to capture it (the kind they use for catching feral cats and dogs, where you put food inside). You should also try posting about the rat on craigslist in the lost pets section. Good luck!


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## 1a1a (May 6, 2011)

Ha ha ha, you don't get that every day.

Catch him, definitely catch him. If he's very tame you may be able to lure him onto your hand with food (but that's being wishful), better off getting a humane rat trap, you'd need to bait it with something smelly and delicious if it's to compete with the other food available in the chicken coop, perhaps tuna.

Surrendering him to a rat rescue should be an option (what's you location?) Or adopting him out over something like craigs list or gumtree or the rat forum (or another notice at the local general store). 

In the mean time ratty care 101

Can keep in the hutch (as long as the wire is not too widely spaced), preferably don't keep the hutch outside though as rats can't handle extreme temperatures (heat especially). If the wire spacing on the hutch turns out to be too wide, you could make a tub cage http://www.freewebs.com/critterjittersrattery/theinexpensiveeasycage.htm

Water can be provided in a bowl or (less cleaning and replenishing involved) a dropper bottle, maybe you have one left over from the rabbit? That will do.

At a pinch rats need seeds and fresh veg/fruit, I used to use something called large parrot mix, sunflower seeds, corn, a couple of other kinds of seeds I never learnt the name of. They're also partial to nuts, yogurt (in small amounts), a bit of whatever you're eating (mine always get left over dinner as a treat), most food really.

In the interest of easy cleaning, I recommend newspaper, also, most rats can be prompted to use a litter tray, most of the time, making your life easier (there are the few obstinate lazy ones who can't be bothered though). Additionally, the rat being smaller than a rabbit, he might appreciate a shoebox or icecream container tipped upside down with a doorway cut into it to hide in, and shredded paper to nest with.

Probably once we know where you live, some people more local can give you better advice about rehoming 

Good luck and would love to see pics, can't wait to see how this pans out :-D.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

Get him out of your coop -now-. He is in danger from your birds, and your birds are in danger from him. 

Bring him in and cage him in something, he can eat dog food, seeds, veggies, and low sugar cereals until you figure something else out.


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## ratjes (Mar 26, 2011)

and if no one claims him, you just got yourself a rat, sent to you by who knows. Welcome to the wonderful world of rats. If you keep him, keep him for a few weeks by himself to make sure he is healthy. You could call him Leghorn  and then give him a same sex friend.


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## ratinchickencoop (Aug 15, 2011)

killybutt said:


> What area do you live in? Have you considered calling any animal rescue places or no-kill shelters? There might even be a pet rat rescue in the area. Even if the rat is not aggressive, it may not be tame in terms of being handled and may become frightened and try to bite you if you pick it up. You can try using a humane animal trap to capture it (the kind they use for catching feral cats and dogs, where you put food inside). You should also try posting about the rat on craigslist in the lost pets section. Good luck!


I live in central Maine; the nearest city is Augusta. I tried calling the local Humane Society here but they're closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I called the second-nearest Humane Society location but they wouldn't take him since my town isn't a part of their catchment area.

I posted a "Found" ad on the Lost + Found section of Craigslist so I'll see if I get any responses to that. I had a Havahart trap at some point but I'm not sure what's happened to it. I also have a minnow net I was thinking of catching him with, but he only comes out into the open every now and then (I think he may be living underneath the henhouse) so he could be hard to catch with that.

I forgot that I had a medium-sized dog crate...that may be a better temporary home for him than the rabbit hutch. It looks like this:









Thanks for all the help and tips so far, it's much appreciated!


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## purple rat (Nov 9, 2010)

You can try contacting Mainely Rat Rescue http://mainelyratrescue.org/rattieblog2/. They might be able to take him.....or you could check out the rats they have for adoption and get a few friends for your new guy . Good luck!


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

He/she may be able to escape the dog crate, how big is the bar spacing?

Be careful with the found ad, leave out details such as sex and color, so people looking for feeders don't respond.

MRR is not taking any new intakes, but contact them and see if they can do a courtesy listing or something.


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