# Questions About New Rats



## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

Hello everyone,

I am somewhat new to rat ownership. I haven't had any rats in about 15 years, so I'm just considering myself "new" all over again.  

I just got two female russian blue rats 4 days ago. One is quite adventurous, always exploring their tank (I haven't let them explore the house too much yet, mainly just my bed) and is more than willing to take treats from my hand. The other one is pretty much the opposite though. She will hide pretty much all the time, whether it's burying herself in the bedding or hiding in their little house. If she does come out, if I move at all (even if it's on the other side of the room) she will run back to the hide house. She won't take treats from my hand and as far as I can tell, she doesn't eat them at all. The other rat isn't a bully, she doesn't steal the treats from her. I have no way of knowing if the shy rat (sorry, I haven't named them yet, I wanted to see their personalities first) is eating. They both let me hold them with no problems, but I am worried about the shy one. 

Does this sound normal, or should I be concerned? Any suggestions and advice is greatly appreciated. 









(The light one on the left is the adventurous one and the darker one on the right is the shy one.)


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## nanashi7 (Jun 5, 2013)

It's normal while they aren't socialized. I'd check out the sticky on immersion under rat behavior. Also invest in yogurt. Start tucking her in your hoodie and watching movies or catching up on tv shows, just wuiet time together. The yogurt is a nice treat that can't be run off win but the spoon provides distance so the rat doesn't immediately have to interact with you. 

Other than that, I thought I'd mention tanks aren't really suitable for housing rats. 

Cute girls!


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## DustyRat (Jul 9, 2012)

One of my newer rats is rediculously shy. First shy rattie I have ever owned. Not to worry about shyness. They all have their individual ratalities (personalities), lol.


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

nanashi7 said:


> It's normal while they aren't socialized. I'd check out the sticky on immersion under rat behavior. Also invest in yogurt. Start tucking her in your hoodie and watching movies or catching up on tv shows, just wuiet time together. The yogurt is a nice treat that can't be run off win but the spoon provides distance so the rat doesn't immediately have to interact with you.
> 
> Other than that, I thought I'd mention tanks aren't really suitable for housing rats.
> 
> Cute girls!


Thank you for your reply nanashi7. I will look into a better cage for them. Also, thank you for leading me to the immersion post. After reading though that, I started right away.


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

DustyRat said:


> One of my newer rats is rediculously shy. First shy rattie I have ever owned. Not to worry about shyness. They all have their individual ratalities (personalities), lol.


Thank you DustyRat. "Ratalities" I like that.


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

I just bought this cage for them. (http://www.amazon.com/Kaytee-Habita...UTF8&qid=1394458016&sr=1-19&keywords=rat+cage)  Thank you for telling me that tanks aren't good for them.


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## NeeNee (Feb 5, 2014)

Is that cage 30.5x18.5x8.5? I think thats too small, even for one rat. I believe they say the depth of the cage should at least be 14 inches.

(Your girls are super cute btw )


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

I think it is normal for only having them 4 days. One of my girls was really shy at first. Now, she is the most social out of all of my girls. It looks like they could be siblings did you get them from the same place/litter? My girl who was shy at first came from a different place, so she wasn't bonded to my other girl. If your girls are bonded already then this could be a totally different case. I feel like my girl was just shy at first because she was in a new home and was really stressed.

As far as the cage, I have a similar one, same brand but only has 2 storys and is purple. I use it for my new baby dwarf because she can't be in the CN cage with my other girls (shes too small the bar spacing is too big). It is a nice cage, really easy to clean, but I can see that one being too small for 2 rats. I can imagine it is a little cramped and there isn't much room for hammocks and such. Also, whenever I let my older girls in there (I'll keep the babys cage open on the bed and they like to explore it), they are always knocking the food bowl over and get the food all over the place lol. If you are looking for a similar cage at a decent price, look into the petco rat manor. It has a similar design but more roomy and my girls loved it. They liked it more than the CN, it was just a little too difficult for me because I didn't realize how easy it was to take apart until after I got my CN. Only 90 bucks at petco!


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## MimiSkye (Feb 3, 2014)

PS...do you know what bedding that is? It is cute I like it! I've been in the market for new bedding cuz one of my girls was a little too sensitive to carefresh. I switched to green dreamzzz bedding but it is messy and gets everywhere


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

NeeNee said:


> Is that cage 30.5x18.5x8.5? I think thats too small, even for one rat. I believe they say the depth of the cage should at least be 14 inches.
> 
> (Your girls are super cute btw )


The box on the listing says that it's 30.5 x 18 x 30. I hope that's the one that I get, if not it's getting returned.


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

I got them at the same time from the same store. They were the only two in there, so of course I had to buy both. Good thing there weren't only three rats! LOL

Do you really think that the 30 x 18 x 30 is too small for them? These ones aren't nearly as big as other rats in my experience. My other rats that I used to have were huge compared to these girls. I'm not sure how old these two are though either. From what I've seen, rats are generally pretty big. I was drawn to these two because they were smaller and their fur was a lot softer than the others. Completely stretched out, these ones are 7 inches long.

Here is a pic of the bedding I am using for them.


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## NeeNee (Feb 5, 2014)

anolan1984 said:


> Do you really think that the 30 x 18 x 30 is too small for them?


If it is indeed 30 x 18 x 30, then that is a great size!  It was the 8.5 that is toooo small - cages should have a depth of something like 17 inches in best case senerios. I think some say 14 is ok too.


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## anolan1984 (Mar 10, 2014)

This is definitely large enough.  I'm so happy with it. I ordered it yesterday morning and I just got it and set it up. (I love Amazon Prime!!) This thing is HUGE!!  They are having so much fun exploring their new house. 








I know you can't see much, but they are definitely happy in there.


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