# my kimmo



## kimmon

hi, here is kimmo


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## Corpseflower

That first pic looks like it's of a crab...


But the second one is adorable!


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## kimmon

sorry, post wrongly...hehe

it was my pet crab


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## chiklet1503

way too cute  still so little!


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## kimmon

yea, he was very small and adorable...the pet store owner said he almost him max size
i after i have seen the rat here...i then realise they can grow so much bigger then i will ever expected


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## Stace87

If you didn't realise they grow so large when you got him, will the cage you have still be suitable? The recommended space per rat is 2 cubic feet. You can enter the dimensions of your cage into this cage calculator, to see if the cage is large enough - http://www.rattycorner.com/odds/calc.shtml


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## Iron Gypsy

Such a cute young man.
And yes, they do grow rather large - be prepared!

Oh, and more photos please! ​


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## kimmon

hi, got a problem here...

i just notice that there is a big( about 5 mm diameter ) growht like pimple excactly at the stomach...yesterday it was a little reddish, but turn dark to day?

anybody can enlighten me on whatt is that?
is it a dangerous growth or some thing? or is it the umbilical chord ?

another thing i notice, today evening, the fur look a little loose...
i mean it looks like the fur is getting thinner and lesser...i can see the pinkish skin underneath

is he okay?
anyway, can you tell how old is he?
thanks alot for the comments and advises...


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## Stace87

It could be an abscess, especially as you mentioned there's a dark spot appeared on the lump. Is it like a dark scab? Was he in with any other rats when you got him? He could have been nipped leading to an abscess forming. Could you post a photo of the lump? 

Info on abscesses - http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/abscess.php


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## Lauren_22

I agree with Stace that it could be an abscess. I would read up on absecess and how to treat them, but I would look into getting this little guy to a vet since he is having so many problems so young.

The thinning fur could be from mites, but only a vet would be able to tell for sure.

He looks to be about 4 weeks? He looks very young to me :-\

Hope he gets better.
-Lauren


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## begoodtoanimals

Does he have a ratty friend? Hope so.


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## Stace87

begoodtoanimals said:


> Does he have a ratty friend? Hope so.


He doesn't . I mentioned that in the OP's thread in the "Say Hello" section.


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## kimmon

i will try to post the picture tonight, but it is like a black nut inthe stomach
it is defenatelu under the skin, not liek pimple that is on the skin
it is really really at the middle of the stomach

i am finding another rat for his company...
but have not able to get one yet...i hope to be soon...


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## kimmon

hi,this is the picture of the lump
hope it is clear


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## Stace87

There is no picture.


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## kimmon

sorry,i guessi forgot to paste it










here the pic


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## begoodtoanimals

Maybe it could be a hernia. Sometimes the mothers chew the umbilical cord off too close to the skin. I know that happens sometimes with puppies. If you decide to neuter him the vet can fix that too, if that's what it is.
He seems too young for tumors.
let us know when you find him a friend.


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## jarchi

Ok, so this might sound obvious, but we just got our ratties and were a bit surprised by this.... so I'm going to put it out there..... 

You sure it's not just his penis? Sometimes it shows more than other times, and they clean it a lot (actually pull the thing out and clean it!), so the fur around it might look different.

good luck

and sorry if this suggestion seems too obvious, but you're a new rat owner and so I am, so I thought you might be surprised by that as we were


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## Gabrielle B

By the description, the lump is in the middle of his belly, the sheath (is it called a sheath in rats??) of a rats penis is right at the top of the scrotum, so it would be hard to get the two confused


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## kimmon

what i just find out was
i think kimmo is not a male, its a he

i just visit a friends and saw his rat baby
the male have an obvious scrotum, kimmo does not have, so i think it is not the penis

can any one suggest how old is he?
he is doing really find with the taming process, eating well and very very active though

the vet do not take in rat,...unfortunately


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## Stace87

If you post a photo we can tell you if Kimmo is male or female, in case you add a friend and add in the opposite sex by mistake. 

There will be a vet that will see rats, you'll just have to search around. I'd advise you get a vet lined up asap, as you don't want to be searching around wasting time in the case of an emergency. Where are you located? Someone may be able to suggest a good vets.


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## kimmon

i brought him to the pet shop, the person say it is the umbilican chord...
and it is a confirm female...thanks alot...

o ya, about the vet, there is no body wana take in the rat...


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## Stace87

Where are you located?


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## kimmon

indonesia


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## begoodtoanimals

kimmon said:


> i brought him to the pet shop, the person say it is the umbilican chord...
> and it is a confirm female...thanks alot...
> 
> o ya, about the vet, there is no body wana take in the rat...


If that is correct , it is a hernia and it is not an emergency. You have to be careful as his intestines will not have much protection as it's only the skin covering them. So remove all the potential sharp objects from his cage or free range area.


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## kimmon

hi...i have bought the friend for kimmo
he is creamino white
will post the pic later

he is only 3 weeks, they get along extremely well, even sleep together already


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## elizabethrae.

kimmon said:


> hi...i have bought the friend for kimmo
> he is creamino white
> will post the pic later
> 
> he is only 3 weeks, they get along extremely well, even sleep together already


At three weeks they would still be with their mother  They can't leave her until 4-5 weeks so she is probably around that age. Your new friend is a girl right? Have you named her yet


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## kimmon

im not too sure about that,but the seller said they can be seperated fromthe mother already
i give them some milk and bird's hand feeding formula
kimmo is a female, the 1 i just got, hmm, im not sure about the gender, but we pick the healtiest and the nicest, and the oldest...the seller said it is a female, i havent think of any name yet

here is the picture of the baby


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## Corpseflower

How precious!

You should probably make sure it's a female... if not poor little Kimmo might end up being a mommy.


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## Stace87

Just for future reference in case you get any more rats, here is a sticky with information on quarantine and introductions: http://www.ratforum.com/index.php/topic,3991.0.html Quarantine is recommended and it goes through proper introductions procedures.

Definitely find out for sure the sex of the new rat. You could just post photos showing both rats so we can clarify their sex. You don't want to end up with a rat having a litter! 

I think it's about 6 weeks that people seem to state is the age a litter should be weaned. It is possible the rat could have been separated from it's mother at 3 weeks old - I don't know how the "seller" you went to goes about things. Where I carry out work experience at an animal research unit, the babies are weaned at 3 weeks old.


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## Gabrielle B

So gorgeous ;D I would say the new bub is at least 8 weeks old, maybe older, because it is a Mink right at the end of moulting ;D



ETA: His manly bits would be really obvious by now, as you can see with my boy, who is the same age, things are quite obvious


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## areoseek

kimmon said:


> hi,this is the picture of the lump
> hope it is clear


No pic hun


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## Stace87

areoseek said:


> kimmon said:
> 
> 
> 
> hi,this is the picture of the lump
> hope it is clear
> 
> 
> 
> No pic hun
Click to expand...

The OP posted the pic again later in the thread.


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## chiklet1503

I would guess the new girl is about 5 weeks old by the looks of it- love her tan coloring!  They are both soo cute! Glad Kimmo has a buddy! Hopefully the new rat is indeed a female!


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## kimmon

OMG, just now i was changing the bedding...guess what i see,
the new rat is a male,he has 2 small testical!!
i name him mokki,for a female

what should i do?
i dont think i cant change him, i have grow the bond with both of them


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## FeffOx

Seperate them now otherwise you will end up with rat babies, could you neuter the male and put him back with Kimmo?


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## Corpseflower

Separate them ASAP! Don't let Kimmo become a mommy, she's still a baby herself.


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## Lauren_22

kimmon said:


> OMG, just now i was changing the bedding...guess what i see,
> the new rat is a male,he has 2 small testical!!
> i name him mokki,for a female
> 
> what should i do?
> i dont think i cant change him, i have grow the bond with both of them


You can post a pic just to make sure, but if you see them then he is most likely a male.

You need to definitely seperate them so you don't end up with more babies. Since Kimmo is so young, if she is to get pregnant there could be serious problems with the birth and she could potentially die.

Your options are to either neuter the boy so that they can live together with no babies (this might be hard in your case however since you live in Indonesia), or you can get them each a cage mate of the correct gender and have 2 seperate cages with 2 females and 2 males. Just make sure to check the gender so that this doesn't happen again.


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## Stace87

Oh dear... definitely separate them now. As Lauren_22 said, post a photo so we can double check for you. You could post a photo of both Kimmo and Mokki just to be sure. 

I'm also not too sure how good an idea, or how feasible it would be, to neuter or spay a rat due to your location. I don't know if you have any good rat vets there? I know you mentioned previously you couldn't find a vet that would even treat rats... have you managed to find one yet?

If it does turn out that you definitely do have one male and one female, then the best idea in your situation would probably be to get another male and another female to have two pairs of rats. Obviously this would mean you'd have two separate cages, but I think this may be the best option.


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## kimmon

yup, i could not find a good vet here
i was thinking i just put the partition on the cage

how old can a female safely reproduce?
and how old can she reproduce?

im afraid i could not do it instantly, at least for another 2 weeks
im having exam now

i think its kind of confirm about the gender...kimmo have develop nipples where mokki develop testical


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## Lauren_22

kimmon said:


> yup, i could not find a good vet here
> i was thinking i just put the partition on the cage
> 
> how old can a female safely reproduce?
> and how old can she reproduce?
> 
> im afraid i could not do it instantly, at least for another 2 weeks
> im having exam now
> 
> i think its kind of confirm about the gender...kimmo have develop nipples where mokki develop testical


Rats can reproduce through cage bars so just putting up a partition wouldn't keep them from mating.

At any age for a female there are always going to be possible complications, and you wouldn't want to bring more rats into the world where there are already so many so breeding her would be a bad idea all around. Plus you don't know her medical and genetic backround so you don't know what could be wrong with the babies and since you have no vet around you wouldn't be able to help them or the mom if someting were to go wrong during or after birth.

Another 2 weeks won't hurt them to be alone. Just make sure they are not together now because as young as 5 weeks of age they can breed. You can look up ways to build a temporary cage out of a tub to keep the younger one in untill you can get him a bigger cage and cagemate.


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## Stace87

Lauren_22 said:


> Rats can reproduce through cage bars so just putting up a partition wouldn't keep them from mating.


Apparently this is just a myth and not actually possible. I've spotted many members on forums say it's not possible.


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## Lauren_22

Stace87 said:


> Lauren_22 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Rats can reproduce through cage bars so just putting up a partition wouldn't keep them from mating.
> 
> 
> 
> Apparently this is just a myth and not actually possible. I've spotted many members on forums say it's not possible.
Click to expand...

Thanks! I had not heard that.

Regardless though, living each on one side of the partition wouldn't give them the proper social interactions that rats need (ie wrestling, cuddling, etc). It might work until you can get another cage and a cagemate for each one though.


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## kimmon

i am afrain my house is too smal for another cage...i think the best way is to exhange the male one to another female...

really sad have to be seperated


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## Stace87

You don't still have them together... do you? 

If you aren't able to have a second cage, what are you going to do if you keep the female and she does turn out to be pregnant? She would need to be kept alone with her babies for 5 weeks and then you'd have to house the males and females in separate cages so they don't breed, until you were able to find them good homes. 

If you really have no way to keep both rats, can you not find a good home for one of the rats yourself opposed to taking one back to a pet store?


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## kimmon

for the time being they are still together, but are seperated by mash wire
i do not have other cage and an unable to get one for the time being

as the mash wire is quiet fine, i think it should prevent them from mating


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