# Why is my rat so small?



## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

I have a rat that I got from the psychology club in like march...she's cute as a button and I've always wanted a rat, anyway after a while I noticed she's a bit smaller than a lot of the rat I see in pet stores (especially one pet store in particular, but they make me na so I'm not going to talk about it) anyway so I got a harness for her (I've wanted a rat on a harness since I was like six) and I thought it would be fine because its fairly adjustable but even at its smallest she just wiggles out of it...without even wiggling....why is she so small? Is it a health concern?


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## allieykatt (Jun 7, 2013)

mabey she's a dwarf. I think i heard abou them somewhere. also girls are smaller than the boys plus she could be younger. so you could be compairing her to older males when shes a little baby girly. and the harnesses aren't really escape proof, if they want to get out they can get out.

hope i helped a little


Allonsy!


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## kyzer (Apr 28, 2013)

Some rats can be much smaller just down to how they were bred and genetics. Females can vary from 200 grams to 400, quite a variety of sizes. How old is she? They usually don't stop growing until they reach around six months of age.


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

I don't really know her age....and I meant the harness essentially falls off as soon as I put it on....I got her in march from the psychology club, they had rats because they trained them to run a maze...I assume all the rats were close to the same age...and one of them had babies.....how do I weigh a rat? Weighing my overweight cat is pretty straightforward but my smaller than average rat? How?


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Here are some pics















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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

And some of the rats at the worst pet store ever are "mostly female" an still like twice her size


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## Sahnonnah (May 19, 2013)

She looks like the size of my girl Minkie or maybe even bigger. Minkie is also smaller than her sisters and mother, she was the runt of the litter and was twice as small as the rest from birth on. Maybe that's also the case with your rat. Although I have no idea why Minkie, or your rat, is small, as long as they're happy and active it's fine by me and I don't worry about it. 

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## Chuck (Jul 15, 2013)

My 3 girls are all very small. I can't even begin to fit those harnesses on them. Don't worry if she is on the small size as long as she is healthy. 


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Ok thanks you guys!!!! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one with a small rat lol


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

She is the same size as my 8 month old Lilly, don't worry about her size, she looks like she is in excellent health


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## mnesson (Jun 18, 2013)

Off topic.. But your little girl is adorable!


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## Hey-Fay (Jul 8, 2013)

Also does she have a companion? If not I seriously suggest you get another younger female for her, rats are pack animals and live a happier life when with another of their kind


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## Grawrisher (Sep 10, 2013)

Man hey-Fay you're replying to all my threads! I just got a younger female today and she's in qt on top of a curio cabinet in the living room 

Were you saying mine was adorable? Or someone else's? Either way I agree lol, I think just about all rats are adorable 


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## LauraSFantasy (Jan 17, 2014)

I have three rats, all of which are about the same size. They're all almost a year old, and smaller than my friend's grown female rats (somewhere between half and two-thirds the weight of the others). The thing is, they aren't genetically similar, so it's obviously something I've done as they grew up that's stunted their growth. Do you think I fed them too little protein as they went through puberty? I know that can stunt puppy growth.

Do you think this will reduce my ability to breed the one I want to breed (due to her absolutely fabulous temperament, plus dumbo ears are hard to come by around here)?


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## ratbasket (Apr 26, 2014)

Well, I use a food scale to weigh my girls because it can measure in grams, the biggest issue is that given the chance they jump right off. So I found that those supermarket strawberry boxes are just the right size to hold a squirmy rat on the scale long enough for me to weight them  Once you have the weight you will want to get them out of there right away because they hate being confined...


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## Jaguar (Nov 15, 2009)

This thread is almost a year old... please watch the thread dates before bumping.

Also LauraSFantasy, please read the site rules and keep in mind we do not support the discussion of intentional breeding so your questions will have to be asked elsewhere. 

Thanks!


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