# Escape Artists! Semi-Feral Rats.



## thecavycorner (Apr 22, 2014)

2 of my rats, Sadie and Marley have recently decided that they do not like to be contained.
In the last 3 days, they have chewed through and escaped from 2 cages, and somehow escaped from another one (without chewing it.. no idea how).
The girls have tons of toys, unlimited food and water, and they do get floor time at least once a day.
They are both semi-feral rats that I rescued a few months ago. They are not friendly, and do not like to be handled. Marley(the mother) clearly has some wild rat blood in her, considering her colour, size, and behaviour. Sadie(the daughter) has developed unsocial behaviour from her mom.
Neither of them have ever bitten me, but they do NOT enjoy being handled.

I am honestly so fearful that they are going to get loose one day, and I'm not going to be able to catch them. I am at a loss of what to do; I cold never release them into the wild, as their would surely die. But I can't adopt them out to anyone as pets because they simply are not really pet material.
I am completely fine with keeping them, but I have no idea how to keep them contained. They are currently in a thick plastic cat carrier, inside a guinea pig cage, inside a ferret nation cage. I am hoping that this will give me a few days to figure something out.

HELP PLEASE!


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Check immersion under rat behavior. 

Get a cage with a metal bottom, get a cake pan that would fit or get some hardware cloth and affix it to your plastic pans. 

Why cage do you have?


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

We had a part wild rat and she was a real sweetheart with us. She did escape into the wild and lived free for a whole summer, she terrorized the feral cats and turned up in my neighbor's house where she was living with his 4 pitbull terriers. She tore up his hand when he tried to catch her, but came to me when I called her out of his wall.

I let her lose in our house after she came home and she really didn't do any damage aside from putting a single hole into every piece of furniture so she could evaporate at will whenever she wanted to.... She really was a spooky rat... She loved high places and I'd often catch her leering down at us from on top of the fridge or some other high place... She could spread her ribs and go almost completely flat to slide under doors and she could run right up walls by putting her back against something... and she climbed extension cords like my domestic rats walked on the floor... and man could she jump... She was a really amazing animal, if a domestic pet rat is like a dog she was like having a pet wolf.... I might add that when I called my rats she was always first to show up. She loved creeping around in the shadows, so you never saw where she came from, but poof she would just pop up on my desk and to get down to the floor, she'd just jump off the desk and evaporate into thin air.

Now as to what to do with your part wild rats... first you have to get over the creep factor... it's just the way they are. Second you never grab them! Speak first then let them sniff you then pick them up.... Part wild rats don't bite like domestic rats they turn into a ball of fur, claws and fangs and tear you up. And when they bite they rip flesh. Third, you have one advantage, part wild rats are serious pack animals, they take their relationships very seriously. They bond very solidly with their humans if they bond at all. My part wild rat never liked or trusted humans in general, but she would sleep on my lap and my daughter could squish her into barbie doll costumes. 

So advise being free, your first priority is to bond with you wildlings. I'd recommend a very playful variant of immersion, wild type rats are very picky eaters so get them used to a treat they will like and reward them often, always speak softly and calmly, try to avoid loud noises or crunching wrappers and they hate hissing noises. I used a wire mesh aquarium top to keep her contained, she could bite her way right through the screen top and she trashed the plastic trimmed aquarium I tried to keep her in, a metal frame aquarium with a more sturdy mesh top worked. But as she didn't damage the house she was out of the cage most of the time... As she never came out when a stranger was around she was safe to be around my rat phobic wife. They were often in the same room and my wife never noticed the rat stalking her from the shadows... 

Lastly for liability reasons, keep your rats away from strangers! You can introduce them to other people after they pack bond with you, but if a stranger grabs them you might be paying for an emergency room visit.

So, most likely they can survive in the wild... not that I'm recommending setting them free, but you also won't lose them once you bond with them. They are actually smarter than most domestic rats and they can become very well trained, but remember they are pet wolves not dogs. Once you get to understand their quirks and realize they have special abilities no domestic rat has, part wild rats are awesome furry friends to have... They may never really be pets... but they will keep you on your toes and challenge your preconceptions and can come to really love you and enjoy your affection.

So find a big old metal frame aquarium and get a heavy mesh top (or a cage with very narrow bars and a sold lock on the door and no plastic parts) and start working with your girls. And keep in mind they may not be antisocial, they just might be harder to understand because they are part wild. If you aren't getting bitten, they must already like you. Trust me, if a part wild rat doesn't like you, your emergency room doctor will tell you for sure.

Best Luck.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I forgot to mention, keep your part wild rats away from any small animals... Mine killed mice on sight.


----------



## thecavycorner (Apr 22, 2014)

nanashi7 said:


> Check immersion under rat behavior.
> 
> Get a cage with a metal bottom, get a cake pan that would fit or get some hardware cloth and affix it to your plastic pans.
> 
> ...


I had them in just a small cage at first, (plastic "Kaytee" starter rat cage), which was only temporary anyway, but they chewed through it. Then I tried a larger rabbit cage, still plastic but very durable, they chewed through that as well.

I tried a small dog crate and they escaped, and they've escaped from my ferret nation as well.


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

I expect the latter two were due to bar spacing. Cover your ferret nation in hardware cloth and it should hold them tight. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Like I said, part wilds aren't dangerous to people they know and like, and they won't usually attack people that don't set them off, so their a lot safer than aggressive biting rats, and trust me... rats don't get lost. So don't be too worried about them getting out, part of their stealthy nature is not doing damage that might make their presence noticeable... But for sure they would rather live in your walls than in a cage.

Wild rats and part wild rats don't like to show off, they won't do much when they think you are watching until they really learn to trust you, but believe me when I tell you that most of the myths about wild rats are true. The can chew through screening pretty easily and can walk right through plastic, wood and sheetrock... They can fit through any place their head will fit and it really seems like even that compresses... But they can't chew through sheet metal, glass or heavy gauge steel mesh as far as I've seen. If you can get your girls properly socialized you are in for a real trip. Just wind them up, set them loose and enjoy the ride... you've never seen anything like them.

Another footnote, they can jump unpredictably, be very careful closing doors around them. They have a tendency to dive through closing doors last second and getting hit by a door is a pretty much lethal mistake for any rat.


----------



## thecavycorner (Apr 22, 2014)

Rat Daddy said:


> Like I said, part wilds aren't dangerous to people they know and like, and they won't usually attack people that don't set them off, so their a lot safer than aggressive biting rats, and trust me... rats don't get lost. So don't be too worried about them getting out, part of their stealthy nature is not doing damage that might make their presence noticeable... But for sure they would rather live in your walls than in a cage.
> 
> Wild rats and part wild rats don't like to show off, they won't do much when they think you are watching until they really learn to trust you, but believe me when I tell you that most of the myths about wild rats are true. The can chew through screening pretty easily and can walk right through plastic, wood and sheetrock... They can fit through any place their head will fit and it really seems like even that compresses... But they can't chew through sheet metal, glass or heavy gauge steel mesh as far as I've seen. If you can get your girls properly socialized you are in for a real trip. Just wind them up, set them loose and enjoy the ride... you've never seen anything like them.
> 
> Another footnote, they can jump unpredictably, be very careful closing doors around them. They have a tendency to dive through closing doors last second and getting hit by a door is a pretty much lethal mistake for any rat.


Unfortunately letting them loose really isn't an option. As much as I would LOVE to just have them free range around the home, I do have other rats in the house that I need to be mindful of. If they ever ended up in a cage with my males that would be a complete disaster, and I have an isolation room for new/sick rats that I would NOT want them getting in to.

They are very sweet and as I say they have never bitten me, although they squeal and scream when you touch them. They HATE being in a cage, all they do is climb about searching for an opening. I am going to pick up some hardware cloth this weekend and I will give the 2 of them the entire double ferret nation. Hopefully that will keep them entertained and more importantly, CONTAINED!


----------



## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

Try to set it up semi-naturally; offer climbing opportunities with perches and burrowing activities. If you get one those plastic shoeboxes you could cut a hole in it and fill it with substrate for a digging box. 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I met a lady that owned rats and lived several blocks from my house, she claims her son saw our part wild rat around dusk in her yard when she was free ranging outdoors for the summer... She was a rat owner and I believed her... Wild rats free range over many acres to find food and water and shelter and dig a series of burrows along their travel routes. While domestic rats are thinking a big cage is a home, wild rats are thinking small home town feels like a cage...

All you can do is the best you can... do as much free range as possible and try and keep them busy... I suppose I actually got lucky that my part wild spent the summer outdoors or I would have had the same problems you have now, when she was over a year old and it was winter outside, she calmed down and was pretty content to forage about in our house... The house is 100 years old and she still might have snuck outside through some of the larger openings into and out of the basement, but she came when called more times than not so for the most part she was usually nesting behind the lateral file cabinets or at least I'm happy to believe that.

She did like to nest in dark places and seemed most content when no one could see her... Try tossing in a closed box and a lot of scraps of paper and cloth, put a small hole in the box and see if your part wilds build a nest in it... That might give them a place to relax away from human eyes.


----------



## thecavycorner (Apr 22, 2014)

nanashi7 said:


> Try to set it up semi-naturally; offer climbing opportunities with perches and burrowing activities. If you get one those plastic shoeboxes you could cut a hole in it and fill it with substrate for a digging box.
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


I'm definitely going to make it as natural as possible. It's a HUGE cage so thankfully I will be able to give them lots of space. It won't be ideal, but it's the best I can do. My big group of girls will be mad to be losing their giant cage, but they can suck it up hahaha.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I just want to add one minor thought, that after you get your wilder children socialized to you they should learn to get along with your domestic girls... 

After a series of fights and powergrooming our part wild rat grabbed Fuzzy Rat by the throat, leaving two deep and lasting impressions on either side of Fuzzy Rat's trachea. That pretty much ended any pushing around by either rat. Fuzzy Rat was on a power trip and was 1/3 larger, our part wild girl really put up with a lot as a favor to us, but when enough was enough she made her point that she wanted to be left alone, but she really never tried to dominate Fuzzy Rat. The two lived in harmony and became fast friends....

Part wild rats can easily kill their domestic counterparts, but at least the one we had preferred to get along in a healthy social structure with her humans in charge and a cage mate that respected her.

So you might be able to get all your same sex rats together eventually... just be careful... I did the intro on my lap and wound up with lots of little pinpoint marks all over my hands and arms... from when I kept my hands between the rats until they got the message that they weren't supposed to kill each other.


----------



## ksaxton (Apr 20, 2014)

Rat Daddy said:


> Like I said, part wilds aren't dangerous to people they know and like, and they won't usually attack people that don't set them off, so their a lot safer than aggressive biting rats, and trust me... rats don't get lost. So don't be too worried about them getting out, part of their stealthy nature is not doing damage that might make their presence noticeable... But for sure they would rather live in your walls than in a cage.
> 
> Wild rats and part wild rats don't like to show off, they won't do much when they think you are watching until they really learn to trust you, but believe me when I tell you that most of the myths about wild rats are true. The can chew through screening pretty easily and can walk right through plastic, wood and sheetrock... They can fit through any place their head will fit and it really seems like even that compresses... But they can't chew through sheet metal, glass or heavy gauge steel mesh as far as I've seen. If you can get your girls properly socialized you are in for a real trip. Just wind them up, set them loose and enjoy the ride... you've never seen anything like them.
> 
> Another footnote, they can jump unpredictably, be very careful closing doors around them. They have a tendency to dive through closing doors last second and getting hit by a door is a pretty much lethal mistake for any rat.


What is a part wild rat exactly? Does that mean a wild rat that has become a pet? 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


----------



## thecavycorner (Apr 22, 2014)

ksaxton said:


> What is a part wild rat exactly? Does that mean a wild rat that has become a pet?
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


My girl Marley SEEMS to be the offspring of a wild rat bred with a domestic rat. She looks just like a wild rat and has a lot of the behaviours of a wild rat. I don't know for sure if she is one, but from what I can tell, she's definitely got wild blood in her.
Marley was bred to a domestic rat (before I got her) and gave birth to Sadie (along with other siblings). Sadie is a little less "wild" looking than her mother, but because she was raised by a "wild" acting rat, she acts wild as well.


----------



## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

For whatever reason some people breed their domestic rats to wild rats. Some breeders do this to "improve or deepen the gene pool" or as an experiment. Sometimes wild rats get into the house and find your free range girl. I had a friend with two pet rats and 37 wild ones living in the basement... she got lucky and they didn't get together, but you can imagine how an accident could happen.

While the idea of deepening the gene pool is a good one in theory, it brings back those wild behaviors and abilities normally bred out of our domestic rats... To be clear, I've known people who have raised wild rat pups with good success. In fact originally all rats in the fancy came from wild stock. So the first rat fanciers were keeping wild rats essentially. Now with every cross back to a domestic rat the half wild becomes a part wild and more like a domestic rat and less like a wild rat... Our part wild already looked domestic in coloration, but was only 2/3 the size of a domestic rat. She was still smaller and sleeker and she still had all of her wild abilities and instincts. The pet shop I got her from took in breeder culls and customer donations for their feeder bins. The store told us she had been brought in and wasn't from a commercial source. They didn't tell us she was part wild. I'm guessing she was a third or fourth generation mix. I'm assuming the breeder was keeping certain offspring for the project and culling the rest by dumping them into the store's feeder bin. I found other culls there too that didn't come from normal commercial sources.

I know we like to think all breeders are ethical, but the fact is that some work on side projects that produce rats they can't sell as premium. I'm guessing that the breeder kept one or two rats from the litter that fit his or her program and culled the rest to the pet store. Knowing that the babies were all part wild, selling them to unsuspecting customers was out of the question so snake food was the next best option. If they did get adopted at least it wouldn't hurt the breeder's reputation.


Wild rats, half wild rats and early generation part wild rats are very much like pet wolves rather than dogs.


----------



## Jackie (Jan 31, 2013)

All metal cages are a good thing. I have a petco rat manor but I don't know if you can get that in canada?


----------

