# Help. Baby in couch



## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

So my baby rat has been missing for three hours. She ran away when I opened her cage door to give her older sister something. I've been on a crazy search and recently my couch has been making noises so I'm pretty sure she crawled inside it and went to sleep. How do I get her out? She's young and I haven't had her very long. I think she knows her name but she doesn't come when I call it. Like I said I haven't had her very long and she's not well trained yet.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

I would try placing treats on the couch or around it she may come out to get them. Some people leave their cage near where ever their rat is hiding and eventually they rat goes back to the cage. A couple years ago one of my hamsters were in our couch and he managed to get down to the side of it and we found him because he was scratching at it from the inside we ended up cuting a hole in the side of the couch. Hopefully your baby comes out on its own and you don't have to do that. Good luck!


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

Placed a bunch of treats around but nothing so far. Cut a hole in it but when I went to grab her she just kept dodging my hand  ... Eventually she's bound to get hungry and come out for food. I also tried having her bestfriend run on top to see of that'd coax her out... Nothing


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## PurpleGirl (Oct 12, 2012)

I would actually go with not leaving treats lying around, I know it seems the best idea in theory but if you don't put treats out, when she gets hungry she can't just nip out and grab one and then flee back to her couch fortress, it will force her to go back to the cage for food if you set the cage down close to the couch. If you want to coax her back to the cage quicker, putting a strong-smelling treat IN the cage might be helpful, like a piece of warm boiled egg.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

She will eventually come out to get food one of my rats were under my dresser and every time I went to get her she would do the same thing she came out to get food and then I grabbed her. I guess your couch must be fun haha. Hopefully she comes out soon I know the feeling.


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## Daize (Jun 8, 2013)

Can't you just reach in and pull her out? 
She had to get in there somehow? That means there's a hole. Well, not a hole, but a place that allows access to the inside of the couch. Sometimes it's at the armrest, or at the back of the seat cushion if the cushions are permanently attached. Sometimes, if you have an overstuffed couch it's at the back. Just behind the overstuffed cushions. Some couches have divided backs. Fabric goes from one side to the other and slightly cross at the back/center of the couch. If you have one of those couches, it's very easy to get pets out of them. 

Just try to find the way she got into the couch and maybe you can get her out the same way. 

I've seen a lot of couches and they've all had "natural access points". Find it and you can get your rat back.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

You could try to reach in the couch that way but the chances of the rat being in the amount of space you can reach if they try to get away is probably very small. Liesel any luck on getting your baby back?


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## Laura Gene (Nov 13, 2012)

I would put out some tuna or something that has a strong smell and watch it like a hawk. Maybe put the tuna in the cage and on the couch (if its small enough). 


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

if you can find a way to sit or lay down w/out risking squishing ive found if you hang out or pretend to nap runaways come to you when your "asleep" if your close. just what worked for me in other peoples homes w/loose rats.


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

Update - it took me 12 hours but she finally came out. I tried to reach in and grab her but my arms weren't long enough and she would intentionally run away from them. I think she thought it was fun to avoid me, made it into a game. Eventually I had to go out so I rat proofed the room with the couch and shut all doors so she couldn't leave it (my doors are low enough to the ground she cant crawl under them thankfully). Apparently once I left she crawled out of the couch. I found her in the closet. When I went to catch her though in the closet she had a bunch of stress poops and threw up what looked to be digested couch cushions. I guess she ate part of the couch, but I dont know why because there's no holes to suggest she ate her way out or anything. She seems perfectly healthy though since then. I guess when she threw up she got it all out of her system? She is a lot more anxious to always be let out now though which is nice to see because she definitely use to just ran away from the cage door whenever it was opened.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

im glad she is out of the couch.


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Ii didn't think rats could throw up? That's where the soda myth originated from. They can't burp so they shouldn't be able to throw up, should they?


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

*I, and also I'm glad she's out. Little booger 


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

theres apparently a difference between active muscles in vomiting or regurgitating or something. I heard they can do one not the other but its easier to just plan that its not possible & take extra care. I get the difference physically one is active where the other is passive, ive felt both as migraines=head in the toilet a lot but I just cant verbalize the difference as I have a migraine now&its eating my brain. its easier to take the extra care&assume once ingested it cannot come out so as not to foul up. I may be wrong&they cant do either, it may be misinformation hence playing it safe. I was never able to vet that.


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Ohh... Ok. Still a bit confused but I think I get the idea.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

I'll let someone else be more scientific here but rats can't throw up but they can regurgitate. In any event when Fuzzy Rat ate a poison mushroom I had a neat, and smelly pile of vomit or rather regurgitation on my back seat floor... so what ever you call it, what goes down most definitely can come back up. And whatever it is, I'm glad for it it saved my rat's life.


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Okay... So really what's the difference  ? Is it undigested, but throw up IS digested? Sorry for drawing this out, just curious...


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

thanks rat daddy I didn't know how to explain it I just knew the feel to define the difference&was in the middle of a raging migraine.


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

Okay I suppose in that case she didn't throw up the couch cushion but regurgitated it instead.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Honestly, I thought my rat threw up too... but that caused lots of debate because rats are not supposed to be able to throw up... then it turns out they can regurgitate... 

In any event there's no difference in what comes up, in my case it was yellowish partially digested mushroom mashed into a sort of paste. It smelled much like the human variety of the similar occurrence... For over an hour after eating the mushrooms Fuzzy Rat looked rather happy playing with the children at the play ground Then she started acting a little off balance, but no big deal. Then on the ride home there came the odor up from the rear seat floor, by the time we got home and recovered her from the back seat floor she was completely limp and barely moved. 

We called the night vets and they said that we should take her to the regional 24 hour hospital a couple of hours away, so we called them first and were told that all they could do was to keep her hydrated and hope for the best. I gave Fuzzy Rat water and she drank eagerly even though she couldn't stand or walk, so hydration wasn't a problem. I did some research and found that milk thistle was used in the UK to protect the liver against poison mushroom damage, so I took Fuzzy Rat to the all night pharmacy to get some milk thistle caps... I couldn't just leave her home.

I'm sure we were quite a sight at 2:00 AM The crazy man dragging his droopy semiconscious rat around the store. Despite clearly thinking I had lost my mind, the night shift pharmacist was quite helpful at helping me find the medication and getting me out of the store quickly.

Fuzzy Rat won't touch mushrooms since that incident. And after seeing that there really is something Fuzzy Rat won't eat, Amelia won't eat mushrooms either. Unlike humans, some thrice divorced, rats really won't make the same mistake twice. In this regard the are smarter than we are.


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

Wow that's crazy so glad my rats have never gotten into anything like that. Sounds crazy. My girls regurgitation did seem a lot like what u described though - yellowish paste like. But unlike fuzzy rat after she regurgitated she just walked away completely fine like nothing had happened. Interesting how you mention they don't make the same mistake twice. I noticed yesterday when she got out of her cage again (her sister chewed a hole through the plastic) she had no desire to go anywhere near the couch, wonder if that had something to do with her remembering eating it made her sick or maybe the fact that I think for at least a little bit she was actually stuck in and couldn't find her way out.


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

Oh, wow that's interesting. And that seems really scary, Rat Daddy


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Liesel,

Never underestimate your rats intelligence! Your rat may have learned that you don't want her in your couch or eating your couch and is just being a good rat for you.

Lesti,

Yes getting your rat poisoned is about as scary as it gets. And my 5 year old daughter even said I should stop Fuzzy Rat from eating the mushrooms... But stupidly I remembered my mom telling me that animals know what they can and can't eat and I even repeated that to my daughter... "Don't worry...." I said. We had our part-wild rat with us that day too and she avoided the mushrooms like a plague. So yes, wild and wild-mix rats may very well know what they can and can't eat, but domestic rats don't! So seriously watch what your domestic rats eat, they have lost the ability to test their food before eating it.

We have learned a great deal from shoulder ratting. It's wonderful to have a rat that's outdoor competent, that will free range with you at the park and eat at restaurants and go shopping with you. But the thing you learn first is that the world is a very dangerous place for shoulder rats and your first priority is not to get them killed. And when things go wrong it's always something you didn't expect and it's usually lethal.


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

You make a good point Rat Daddy. Now that you mention it maybe that is what it is, she did also watch her sister get a lesson in boundaries the day after when i trained her not to go in the couch. Between the two of them her sisters alpha and actually trained at this point so perhaps that also contributed to her figuring things out.


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## Lesti (Jun 25, 2013)

I'll be making sure Stitch doesn't eat anything outside. I did find him eating a spider the other day though, and had to pry it away from him. Lol, I think he gave me the stinkiest stink eye ever given by a rat. He squawked at me too 


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

My part wild rat ate mice and vacuumed up bugs as she went along, Fuzzy Rat won't eat anything that's moving but will eat anything that is standing still for too long. Naturally we didn't feed our part-wild rat mice, but I actually got my hand badly bit coming between her and her intended snackmate. Bugs and smaller animals are part of a wild rat's natural diet, but as domestic rats can't tell the difference between what's food and what's not, it's best not to let them eat everything they come across. Fuzzy Rat does eat dandelions and certain weeds, those have never harmed her so far so I don't stop her.

Wild mice will exterminate roaches and moths in your house so they can be quite useful, I don't know if wild rats are similarly useful. But I will add that when we had a mouse in the house recently my wife made me set Amelia free to catch the mouse (while she stayed on the other floor). "If you are going to keep rats, at least they should be useful," she said. Amelia is a domestic rat and couldn't catch a mouse even if she wanted, but after letting Amelia free range for a few days the wild mice disappeared on their own. They apparently couldn't tell the difference between a wild rat and a big precocious domestic one that just wanted to play. Amelia was actually carting off food and hiding it under things, she might have been trying to feed them, but it looked like the wild mice weren't taking any chances and decided they would be better off taking their chances with the stray cats in the yard.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

I lived in a place wild mice crept in, most gruesome sight to wake up to when my rats caught them by luring them into the cage w/treats they tossed out the open topped cage when I went to bed, they protect their home that's for sure. one girl used to put her kills on a wastecan lid under the trash can up on a stool where she deposited things she wanted taken away. my pet rats are mouse killers for sure im glad I haven't had to deal w/it again


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## liesel (Feb 13, 2013)

Never had to deal with wild mice yet, but I think one my girls have been killing ants recently. After she free runs sometimes I've found a dead ant or two. The thing I never understood is why she kills them but never eats them, but at the same time Im probably really grateful about that. Its kind of nice actually been trying to get rid of these stupid ants for a bit, but I really dont want to put ant poison out cause Im afraid the rats will try to eat it when Im not looking. Havent been seeing as many around though recently so maybe they finally left.


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## ratclaws (Nov 11, 2012)

My girlfriend's rat Bella once grabbed a daddy-long legs (Crane Fly) before my own two eyes when I was looking after her, and began to eat it. There was no stopping her either as when I tried to grab her, she ran away behind my TV stand! Seemed to enjoy the extra bit of protein though.


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Lturkey

I love the image of your rats luring the mice into their cage with treats. So few rat owners think of their ratties as trappers and hunters. Or in their natural role as pest control and scavengers. Few people realize that rats actually have very few predators in nature that they don't regularly outwit or overcome. Sometimes, having had a part wild rat that went native and a shoulder rat, I chuckle to myself when I read some threads about rats being helpless little house pets. They really are amazing big animals in small packages.


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## Ltukey (May 28, 2013)

my rats apparently think im the helpless one! I make them dinner&they try to feed me, they think I don't groom my eyebrows or hairline properly, they bring the dishes to me to refill or stack them neatly...im pretty sure they think theyre meant to keep me in line. when I was badly ill years ago I taught them to fetch tissues&chapstick, im sure the girls then thought I was near death the way they hovered. at least these now have stopped the bell ringing they did to alert me to my grams bell(the baby moniter sufficed but i'll not tell them that)when she was alive&i was her sole caregiver. when I moved here the neighbors bird rang bells that started the rats up, it didn't help that someone watched the fly w/the bird(2am "help me...help meeeeee")they don't seem to realize they are small&i am meant to care for them, its really sweet. I still get a laugh when I have take out coffee they lug over a teacup&keep tossing it at me until they get their taste. of course if they kill the odd spider I am grateful as I am deathly allergic to arachnids.


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