# Wont drink water!



## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

Soooo he's not drinking water and I did the skin 'pull' test and it looks like he is dehydrated. I tried to force feed him some water through a syringe and only managed a couple of drops. 

I called that place where I got him and they said that they use a bottle to feed all of their rats but he is not taking from the bottle or the shallow dish I put in there. Again, I am at a loss....


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## zoe9 (Oct 3, 2007)

Just because you're not seeing him drink doesn't necessarily mean he isn't. A few of my rats I could count the number of times I've seen them at the water bottle on one hand, but they are drinking. They're just not doing it when I'm watching.

If you're concerned he's dehydrated you can water down his apple sauce/baby food a bit and offer him fruit like grapes or melon.


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## AvaAdoreSmashing (Dec 31, 2009)

What kind of bottle is it? some of the spring loaded ones are hard for them to use. I had one in my cage and the girls never touched it, they always used the regular bottle.


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## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

Crap....it's spring loaded....  I bought him some watermelon and big globe grapes and he ate those. I did water down his applesauce already but he doesn't seem that interested in it. But he did (as far as I know, unless he stached it somewhere) eat the globe grape and I did catch him eating the watermelon, so I'm not that worried. I'm just concerned because I did the "back skin"stretch thing and he does seem dehydrated (the skin took a while to snap back).


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## lilspaz68 (Feb 24, 2007)

I would worry, this is a sick very young baby. You can make a rehydration formula and try syringing that as well. Its better for dehydrated rats and they often find it tasty.

Homemade rehydrating formula: 10 oz warm water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/3 tsp salt. Mix well, refrigerate extra, warm up to feed.

You could try baby cereal (flavoured), or Ensure/Boost (strawberry is the flavor my crews love)


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## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

He is eating the watermelon and I think he took a little bit out of the water bottle. I'm just still worried because his skin is still not snapping back. Now, I don't know if this is because he is so skinny or because he is actually dehydrated. 

The rehydration formula sounds like it could work but because of the mdicine that I give him, he basically doesn't trust anything I give him. I could try to force feed through a syrine but he will wind up resenting me more. How can I build his trust and hope that he comes to accept me when I am forcing things on him all the time? :-[


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## BumblebeexSweat (Mar 10, 2010)

I will buy ensure but I don't know if he will trust me enough to take it... :-\ I'll let you guys know how it goes!


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