A common post I often see on social media is,

“I have a small baby in this litter, could it be a dwarf?”

Most likely not. If the baby has always been small, hitting all the milestones as it’s litter mates, such as pigment showing around same day and eyes opening, you most likely have a runt on your hands. Often a dwarf rat will not slow down in growth until around weeks 3 - 4 in an average litter. (It was recently brought to my attention by someone that had a smaller litter that their difference was more obvious much earlier.)   Sometimes you won’t notice a runt until the first week passes. Sometimes there are more than one in a litter. Runts will often catch up to their litter mates by weeks 9-12.  However, if you have a little one that is skinnier than it's litter mates, lagging, not hitting their milestones, you may have FTT (Failure to Thrive also known as 'ill thrift' by veterinarians.) They are often very skinny and weak; not able to absorb all the nutrients needed to meet those milestones. Most often FTT will not survive into adulthood. Either the mother will push them out of the nest, sensing something not right, or they will pass on their own before 2 weeks. There are exceptions, my 939 gram boy, CRUS Bennet, being one of them. He was FTT, ½ the size of his siblings and too weak to be able to push them off so he could nurse. If his breeder didn't make sure he latched on and supplemented him with extra formula he most likely would have never survived past 2 weeks. He was one of my biggest boys and lived to just shy of his 2nd birthday. 
​
As with CRUS Bennet (mentioned above), I have become known as 'The Collector of Runts'. I have a soft spot for the lil guy in a litter. This is simply as a pet lover, not a breeder. Wanting to keep runts or adopt runts from others, fills up the mischief rather quickly. This limits my space so I am not able to work with all the varieties I want. Often a breeder will have what they call a 'bucket list' of rats they would like to someday work with.  My list of those that I would like to someday have would include:  Harvel, Roan, Whiteside, & Rex.  I also love a beautiful Self rat. (All one color). I am trying to get the pigment of my lines all the way down to their toes. There will sometimes be an odd recessive blaze, or variegated popping up, keeping the litters even more entertaining.  The most recent marking surprise in a litter happened at the end of last year, in the 2016 Winter All Science Litter, appearing at 4 ½ weeks. OCRA Inertia was our very first Himalayan and OCRA Tesla ended up being a beautiful Burmese! Up until she showed up, I had never even seen a Burmese. WOW! I must say, my favorite look for sure.  Currently we are working with Standard & Satin coats in Burmese, Himalayan, Siamese, Mink, Russian Blue, Agouti, Blue, Chocolate, Black and all of their dilutes. I also loved our pets that were Hairless and enjoy the Drex but do not want to work with those as a breeder. Hairless often have lactation issues that would mean doubling up on my breeding so I would need a foster mother for the babies. With my 2 Drex rats that I love as pets, I have found a lot of issues such as the eyelashes growing wrong and extra pory due to the irritation. The constant shedding from coarse broken hairs also drives me batty but they are worth it. I love them dearly. 

​So back to the dwarf question mentioned above. Did you notice dwarf was not mentioned on my bucket list? Never in my wildest dreams, had I thought I would work with dwarf. This is a tough variety to work with. The babies are often the same size as standards so a dwarf mama could have difficulty birthing. For the female dwarf that do deliver, their litters are much smaller than the standard litters in number. Often 3-6 verses 8-15 with a full-size rat. Talking with other breeders, the best option would be to breed dwarf carriers or a dwarf male to a carrier female. Even then, you are not guaranteed dwarf when working with carriers.  Why all this talk about dwarf?  Well.... because of our Burmese, OCRA Tesla, in the 2016 litter, we wanted to pull more Burmese out to work with. To do that we bred her back to her father OCRA Galileo. Imagine my surprise when our 2017 Summer All Science Litter v2.0 hit 3.5 weeks and 3 boys (OCRA Tesla’s Coil, OCRA Electron and OCRA Luman) slowed down. I mean WAY DOWN in their growth compared to their siblings. First thought was FTT and I hit a bit of a panic. I began supplementing them with extra goodies hoping to get them back up to their siblings’ weight. All they ended up doing was getting round. As they hit 5.5 weeks old their weigh difference was ½ their siblings, 70-79 grams verses their siblings at 140-160 grams. They continued to grow and be VERY active.  Now at 5 months they weigh 132-180 grams and their siblings are over 560 grams! The two that are heavier are VERY round still but in every way, look like dwarf – looking at their little bellies they are about 25-35 grams overweight.  They all live with standard size males with no issues. Well, except for the Napoleon Syndrome they seem to be expressing (in fact one was renamed Napoleon by his adopter). It is amazing when you have a litter of 12 thinking you are just working with your standard line and you get a surprise. We have no idea where they came from, since I can track my lines back to 2010 with one other breeder, 2012 & 2013 with another. I may never know where the recessive dwarf came from but will have a lot of fun testing it out with another proven dwarf to see how this new line will develop. Here is a link to the album on fb so you can follow our dwarf adventure with OCRA Tesla and her next litter!
 

More info on Dwarf:

Study of growth hormone in spontaneous dwarf rat 
 
Great pictures for comparison

More information on dwarf rats

​Why all this information? Is it simply to talk about this amazing discovery in our mischief? No, it is to explain growth of babies and their hidden potential. A few breeders do not like their litters to be more than 6-8 in number, sometimes even smaller. Their theory is that it will be easier on the mama and their babies will be nice and FAT.  To achieve this there are a few things they will do. If they have another nursing mom they may place a few with her. Otherwise, they may hard cull (kill) certain babies depending on size, eye colors or wait until a bit older for pigment to show before they hard cull those colors that they do not want to work with. Often the breeders that do this are multipurpose breeders as well, called Feeder Breeders. They breed to feed animals for other owners and their own pets. Though I can't imagine doing this personally, I accept that other animals need to eat. Unfortunately, some breeders that do not have to feed other animals, will still hard cull down their littler size simply because they think it is the only way to get fat healthy baby rats.  I have chosen not to do this, after years of tracking their weights, I feel confident that our females have done a fabulous job with their litters no matter what size. Mama's should always keep their weight without struggles and bouncing back to post pregnancy weight by weaning is an important goal I have for all of the mama's.  Over the years, there have been a few times I have had to increase fat offered in hopes to help with dryer skin in the babies. Another time, we did need to give mama a bit extra from the beginning – she had 18 babies! Over the years a baby has passed in the first few days and only a few times have we lost one after the first week. It is a very difficult choice to have babies euthanized. One had an umbilical hernia that did not get better and another that had a skull injury. Both of those became FTT due to their injuries. We also lost on baby to megacolon (in a line I immediately took out of my program). After several years of breeding and tracking weights weekly, I have shown that the babies of larger litters (up to 18) have all gained and are around the same size as those of litters that are as small as 2. In fact, some of my smallest babies were from a litter of 2. Their genetics were simply for a more petite rat. Thankfully we allow our litters to develop naturally, if we didn’t, we may never had known about our Burmese or the Dwarf Boys. 
 
Below are a few interesting things I have found online about overweight babies and basic litter size. (Warning some of the scientific studies can get graphic in their descriptions of their testing and how they cull)  Often in scientific studies they will want to have same numbers of offspring and equal sex ratio to help them get to the outcomes for their studies. As a pet breeder I do not see the necessity to do this. Though I love a squishy fat baby, I do not want to simply focus on having equal sized litters to have the fat babies but rather overall healthy babies thinking of the long term health of the rat.  
  

• Long-term effect of early postnatal overnutrition on insulin resistance and serum fatty acid profiles in male rats

 

• How different litters size handle stressors 

 

• Developmental programming in skeletal muscle in response to overnourishment in the immediate postnatal life in rats

 

• This one shows many benefits for smaller litters but also a few for larger 

 

• Increase of Long-Term ‘Diabesity’ Risk, in Neonatally Overnourished ‘Small-For-Gestational-Age’ (SGA) Rats

 

• This one says though weight smaller in larger litters the brain development was greater in the larger litters than small

 

• Early redox imbalance is associated with liver dysfunction at weaning in overfed rats 

 

• Overnutrition in Prenatal and Neonatal Life: A Problem? 

 

• The more babies the more milk the female will make 

 

• The Prenatal diet will effect the babies until about 4 months

 

• Again huddling and the ability to do so if smaller vs obese baby

 

• Another about how much milk made by Dam less did not mean more milk 

 

• Interesting tidbit about litter size as rodents matured 

 

• Nutrition smaller litter had larger fat cells

If you are interested in more information about the average weights of our babies at different ages feel free to contact us.  

Many of you have asked if we will be selling our fun toys, hammocks and other rat goodies at the 2017 Fall Show. For this show I wanted to volunteer where needed and with daughters now working and into horses, looks like I will not have anyone to run the table. However, I can promise you there will be tons of other great rat goodies there along with some rescues for adoption. 

Here is the new link for the show information and registration. 

15th Annual RatsPacNW Fall Rat Show

If you have not entered before and are thinking about it, I encourage you to go for it! I have linked a few posts about past shows on here.

Our First Rat Show part 1
Our First Rat Show part 2
Our First Rat Show part 3

Our Second Rat Show

Our Third Rat Show Part 1 
Our Third Rat Show Part 2

Our Fourth Rat Show

This is such a touchy subject for so many. When is it time? There are a lot of resources out there to give you information on when quality of life is harder on our pets than allowing them to cross the rainbow bridge. Here is one I have seen shared on many of the rat groups I follow on facebook - Quality of Life Scale. Here is one more - Quality of Life Questionnaire. Often we have to make a hard decision for our furbabies. Do we allow them to continue to suffer or do we choose to euthanize?  We have had to make this decision more times than I ever thought I would. That is what happens when you have 42 rats plus many babies over the years.  It does not get easier over time.  Here is a letter written by Veterinarian Anthony A Pilny  - When it comes to euthanasia, the hardest part is deciding when.

Some vets will offer to euthanize an ill rat but the cost may be prohibitive to some. We have found out that the local humane society offers several options which include receiving either their body or ashes for home burial.  When I called them a few weeks ago to find out their prices The Oregon Humane Society charges $5.00 for euthanasia of a rat and will give you their body to bury at home. The will charge $25 for you to receive their ashes back with options in between for them to dispose of the body.  For some this may be a cheaper option than the vet.  One thing you must ask is how they will do it? You have to make sure they do not do intracardiac (IC; in the heart) injection on a conscious rat. This is extremely painful for the rat and illegal in some states. 

So often we do not know what to do with our beloved pets when they pass away. Many live in apartments or rent and do not have a resting place for their ratties once they crossed the rainbow bridge.  Whether you choose to bury or have ashes to scatter there are a couple options I have heard a few do. 

• Bury them in the ground - when you have as many as we do we had to come up with an idea on how to put them in a smaller area. Here is a link to an idea we came up with - multiple burial 
• Bury them in a deep pot planting bulbs and ground cover or perennials that come back every year.  
• Cremate them and use same options above
• Chose to allow the vet or humane society to dispose of the body

Since we have chosen to bury our beloved pets we have been looking for the right marker where they are buried. About a month ago we found a great site Hatchet Creek Pet Memorials that will actually engrave on a small marker. They have rat images (or any other pet you could imagine) to chose from or they can try to do a custom image from a photo you submit. We just received ours today. They were great to work with, sending us proofs and changing our little requests over 5 times.   They were very patient and wanted to get it right for us. I highly recommend this company.

I didn't realize until yesterday that it was going to hit 100*+ here this week for a couple days. A couple years ago another owner actually lost her rats due to the heat that was in her home. This is why I wanted to give you a couple ideas on how to keep your furbabies cool during the intense heat. 

First and foremost you have to make sure what ever you use to help keep them cool will not be toxic or a danger to them in any way. 

What we do:

•  I fully expect my husband to come home and question me as to why we have a half of dozen glass jars 3/4 full of water in the freezer. My reasoning is, even though we have a couple window units in our home, a malfunction could occur, or there could even be a  power failure. I choose glass because I stick them in the cage and do not want my chewers to cause a flooded mess. If my a.c. doesn't work well enough on the triple digit days, I will put a couple of them in the cages on different levels so the ratties can snuggle up if they are too hot. (Make sure to leave a few inches from the top of the jars when filling with water, I also leave the lids off the jars until I take them out of freezer to be extra safe - water expands when frozen)
• We also have several marble tiles for the rats to lay on (or rather puddle on like they have melted) These I can rotate in the freezer as well. Though the marble is the same temp as the surrounding air it does feel cooler to the rats because it is more efficient at absorbing their body heat.  Pulling them out of freezer/fridge will give them the quick option to cool off even more. 
• Freezing peas, fruit and other goodies into ice chunks for the rats to chew and eventually splash in to stay cool. It is pretty funny watching a rat pull an ice cube out of bowl and drag it up to their hammock to chew and cool off. 
• We have also misted their tails with cool water to help keep them cool. 

Signs of heatstroke in small animals

To begin with, rats cannot sweat nor do they pant to release heat. They actually use their tails as a thermal-regulator. Here is a great link that talks about how that works. The rats will begin to show signs of being too hot at around 80*+ This is when they start to lay flat on the shelves spreading out to help cool themselves. At above 90* the rats will be extremely uncomfortable and will need you to provide extra cooling relief.  If your home hits above 104* the rats could actually die from the heat.  These are in the case of a healthy rat. If you have a rat that is older, obese or struggling with URIs they will be even more sensitive to the temperature fluctuations. 


Things to look for:

• Puddle Rat - This really needs a visual but I do not have one. If you have ever seen a rat melt onto a surface you will know what I mean by Puddle Rat. This is when they lay on a flat surface, spreading out all of their body trying to get cool. 
• General lethargy and slow movements - Our rats are all over the place normally. Like us, when they get hot, they really do not want to move around. This is the first warning sign that your rats may be getting overheated.
• Stop eating and/or begin drinking excessive amounts of water - Like us, as they overheat they will crave fluids at first. 
• Their Tail, Nose or Ears become hot. I have only read this. I have not experienced this. Make sense to me those will become hot in the event the rat is becoming overheated. 

A rat's condition can turn quickly. If your rat actually goes unconscious from heat stroke, this is considered an EMERGENCY, your rat can die! You will need to immediately cool it off and call your vet for EMERGENCY help. To cool it off,  I have read first thing to do is to immerse the rat up to its neck in cool water (NOT ICE). Do not submerge it's head.  

I hope NO ONE has go through this, which is why I am also including a few links and other ideas I have seen online to help keep the rats cool! 

Other suggestions we have seen in facebook groups/ or online

*Keep your rats on the lower levels of your home*
This goes almost without saying. However, the lady I mentioned above had her rats in the upper story of her home. If it is too hot for you it is WAY too hot for them! 

*Fans are great but do not blow them directly on the rats cage*
Rats have very sensitive respiratory systems, the constant air on them may dry out their nasal passages and/or stir up excessive debris in their cage that can get into their lungs. 

*Make a rat air conditioner over a shelf or hammock (According to several people this works well)*
Ice Packs (if above the cage out of their reach)
IF doing this on a shelf in the cage make sure to use glass jar of frozen water
A smaller mixing bowl  or small plate
A larger mixing bowl
~~~~~~
Put ice container in small bowl/or small plate
Set small bowl over cage (or on shelf) where there is a hammock below it.
Place the larger bowl upside down over the smaller bowl/plate. This allows the cool air trapped in the larger bowl to flow down to the hammock directly beneath it. 

*A link to make your own A.C. for around $8.00*

*Cover your cage with towels and keep them wet (warning they will get chewed and pulled in)*

Hope this all gives you some ideas on how to keep your furbabies cool! 
​​

I had no idea July 22nd was Rat Rescuers' Day!! 

I received this a link to an article, This Animal Rights Activist Reminds Us That Rats Need Rescuing Too Basically it is a write up about someone that has worked and adopted lab rats. From reading the article, I do feel compelled to mention that I would not pay to rescue a feeder from a feeder breeder/pet store and consider them a rescue. In the life of that one rat you are rescuing them from a fate that is rather sad (I also understand that all creatures need to eat) but you are also lining the pockets of the store/feeder breeder to just supply more feeders that will have that same fate.


The one thing that upsets me, as a rat mama, is seeing all these posts on facebook with tiny 2-4 week old babies that people pull from the bins. These babies need to stay with their mamas to get the proper nutrition and mental development that happens within  the  first 5 weeks. Do not buy babies younger than 5 weeks, it will hurt them in the long run.   Here at our rattery, I do not like for our babies to leave until 6-8 weeks. We had a family emergency and needed to let a few go at 5.5 weeks but I felt so terrible not sticking to my own guidelines. Knowing they were all healthy and VERY close to our 6 week mark made me feel a bit better but still wanting them to have as much time as possible with the rest of our mischief to learn how to behave from the adults.  All the time babies can get, learning how to be proper ratties from more mature rats the better. Being at least 125 grams at 6 weeks will give their overall system a bit more protection from the stress a new home can cause them.  Right now I have 2 girls snuggled up in my neck wrap waiting for their adopter to show up, they are 194 grams at 6 weeks! They will have a GREAT start in their furever home!

Now back to Rat Rescuers' Day! If you are local to Oregon, Washington and British Columbia there are some great places to adopt/rescue ratties.

Oregon

•  The Oregon Humane Society 

Washington

• Best Friend Rodent Rescue

British Columbia

• Pitter Patter Rescue Society 
• Small Animal Rescue Society of BC

If you are interested in adopting Lab rats please keep in mind many do have serious issues due to their treatment and the testing they had to undergo. Also, unlike rats you can get from a rescue/or breeder these rats also do not have the same immunities. Think of a child starting preschool or kindergarten. Their poor systems are hit hard by the multiple viruses they are exposed to. Quarantine is not an option it is a MUST! You do not want them to join your mischief only to become ill from a nasty virus.  

So often we get applications where they say, "Not looking for a certain color or type of pattern but NO PINK or RED EYES!" Everyone is entitled to their preferences. It is just a shame how many miss out on some amazing rats because of this.

Whiskers are such an amazing tool for the rat. They are at times, better than our hands and fingers, telling them what is before them. I have seen a rat move their whiskers from laying back against their head to forward to feel an object in question. When we touch something, our fingers connected to our brain through nerves telling us what is before us and whether it is hot, cold, soft, or coarse. The whiskers do the exact same thing for the rat but in more detail. As they are wandering through a dark crawl space (with terrible eyesight as it is) they need their whiskers to survive. Moving close to a wall, they can feel the tiniest speck of food, their whiskers constantly sweeping around on the surface, will kind of bump over the speck, triggering their brain to realize there is something more there. Something we would have most likely just ‘squashed’ if we rubbed our fingertips gently over the surface.
 
Further studies have shown that whiskers also contribute to the hearing of their environment. The vibrations from sound are transmitted to their brain through their whiskers. 
 
I always wondered what happens with the curly whiskers from rex and drex or even the hairless. I am guessing their exploring of the world is a bit more cautious as they navigate with a limited reach.  
 
Below are some great links to further read about the rat’s whiskers:
 

Some further reading:

• Rat Whiskers
• Whiskers help in mapping the brain
• Whiskers helping them hear