I love the way you talk about rats! So thoughtful, respectful, kind and loving!🥰

I'm convinced my rats, particularly one, were far too young. I was told several times they would be eight weeks, but they were so tiny. The one had a mop of chicken fluff, and even now nearly a year later, he's so tense all the time, like he thinks he's going to be nabbed at any moment. I asked the breeder after a month to confirm thier birth date, and finally got her to admit the one was about 5 weeks to the day when I picked him up. And that she wasn't entirely sure about the other two but "she was sure they were 8 weeks." Long story short, I have since found out they were feeder rats on top of that. So it was just a case of lies on top of lies. So thank you so much for all your videos, my next batch of rats I will know what to look for age wise, and not to be so gullible.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

This is sadly the way many people find out, it’s so hard. I took a rescue girl in once that was missexed by her breeder (not a good breeder), by the time she got to me she’d been through tall homes and was at most 7 weeks old. That meant she was 3 weeks when homed. She was introduced to some of my kittens then to my adults once settled. She was terrified and really struggled to relate to them, fling herself round the intro cage in an absolute panic. I’ve never had a rat her so upset by adults who were actually being very nice to her. I did have to leave it another month with just kittens and then try again and it did work out that time but it was clear through her life she struggled socially. In fact if you watch my carrier method video for adults she was the black hooded dumbo Trix. Even after well over a year in my care she still struggled with social situations though she did have a happy life in the most.

@bowsercastle4612

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare It's so upsetting seeing him having all this tension, when if the breeder had just been honest about his age I'd have been more than willing to wait. I remember Trix! I'm going to have to re-watch that video now. Wow that's so much worse, three weeks is crazy! That sounds so similar to my Otis, whenever the other two groom him he gets tense and starts squeaking like mad. He's turned into a ripped drama queen. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's done this though. I felt so guilty when I first realised, and saw how it affected him.

@CreepyMcSteezerson

3 жыл бұрын

I have a similar situation... Mine still have the cute fluffy kitten coat and I asked for the birthday and he gave me a "guess" which is that they were born on oct 11 (?) So yeah....I've had them about two and a half weeks now

Oh I love the kitten care bags you do! How thoughtful!!

I came across you thanks to Emiology recommending you for a food mix. I myself do not have rats but hope to by the end of next year as I am so behind my renovations at the moment. You are so knowledgeable, I am slowly getting through the many videos you have uploaded and it is helping feed my much wanted knowledge for rats. Because of you sharing your knowledge I am happy that any rats I get in the future will be very happy. Thank you kindly and stay safe :)

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you this means a lot to hear and is very much why I have this channel

@mooseandfredvr6928

3 жыл бұрын

I also found this channel off of Emiology, and I’m sort of in an “Isamu rat care faze” it’s all I do in my free time 😂😳

I rescued a rat from someone who had her in a hamster cage, no food, water etc. She was smaller than those babies. Very thin. My 1st sight if a pet rat, but even I knew she needed better. She's doing well now been here since August. She's still very shy of handling. But very interested in me and loves her big home, toys etc.

Thanks for sharing this. The last rat I got, I adopted from someone who had an accidental litter. He was SO tiny. He was the size of an adult mouse when I got him. I figured the owner knew when the babies could leave their mom but looking back he was way too young. I thought maybe he was just a runt but he turned out to be the largest rat out of my 7 when he fully grew.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Bless him, yes I expect he was too young to home. I remember many years ago when I was still quite new to rats going into a pet shop to get a pair and they could both fit into the palm of my hand, I assumed the pet shop knew what they were doing. I now know they were probably around 3 weeks old and should not even have been weaned never mind sold. Not to mention the ethics of getting them from a pet shop in the first place. That’s why I think it’s so important to share stuff like that. There’s no way a person who hasn’t seen a lot of baby rats grow up can judge that

Thankyou for such an informative video, this is so important, some babies are sold way too early and owners don’t realise how vital it is for them to stay with mum a bit longer.💜🐀

I love when you post❤️

As always very informative and helpful. Such cute little ratties 🤍

I wish there were more breeders state side that care as much as you do about the rats' well being

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you, I think most breeders do, they just may go about things a bit differently or not understand some of the options available yet.

@heatherdera

3 жыл бұрын

You're probably right. I have a few friends who are breeders and I know that they care

Pretty kits, the first two. I'd like a couple of your homers ..(?) But Im in the states. Thanks for the share. :) good video

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah sadly not very practical lol. Though I did recently have a friend who lived in the states move to Germany and get rats off me! It’s still a rather epic journey but doable lol

Thanks for this. I don't know the exact age of any of my rats. My youngest look to be about 7-8 weeks according to you're video. I've had them 3 weeks. I adopted them from someone who saved them from a feeder bin. Poor guys were probably very young when leaving thier mom's.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Bless them they probably were, I would make sure you give them plenty of extra protein to help them recover and grow well

Me and my partner are in a similar situation. We were told by breeder I’d have 4 boys, 8 weeks old. After leaving them be overnight to adjust, next morning I went to check them and oh my word one of them didn’t have testicles. Took the other three out and guess what? We ended up with 3 females and 1 male. How can someone be so irresponsible?! It did seem like a good breeder, We even got the chance to look at the facilities were she keeps them and they’re lovely. Anyway, went back to breeder and on top of not being the rats reserved for us, it turns out they’re actually 6 weeks old. In the end we decided to keep the females (after exchanging the male) because we were worried they’d be rehomed pregnant and not looked after properly. Almost 3 weeks after that, We’ve got a very pregnant ratty (luckily just one). We put her in her birthing cage yesterday because we don’t know when she mated. Hopefully it’ll all be alright, and I have a lot to thank you and the National Fancy Rat Society for putting all this info out there.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Feel free to get in touch via Facebook if you need any help with mum and birthing/ babies, I’m fastest to respond on there. It is sad that people do this to the rats and owners, sadly it seems more common than ever now

Idk why but i thought the title said "How old rats should be homed" as in how to house rats when they get older.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I’m not always the best at these things lol but there is another video on that elsewhere lol

Do you think it helps with taming when you take them home at an older age (8-10 weeks)? I got two from a rescue and looking back they were about 5 weeks old. They were hard to tame and so jumpy, and in fact still jumpy (although quite tame now). I had previously gotten other rats that were more like 8-10 wks old when I brought them home, and it took some time to get them used to being picked up and handled but they just weren’t as jumpy. They actually were healthier than mine that were brought home at 5 wks, although a lot of factors could affect that. Love your videos.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Yes in that I think well socialised rats will have better ability to deal with all the changes thrust on them, plus if you time the fear period with going to a new home there first knowledge of you is going to be when they are scared of everything.

Thank you for these videos. I haven't owned rats in over 30 years and watching you helped me prepare. I would have probably only got two rats and a much smaller cage without your education. The "breeder" we got our rats from was vague about the age of our guys and I'm pretty sure they're from at least two, if not three litters based on the difference in sizes. I have a question about one of my guys. He's definitely the oldest based on size although not the alpha. We've had them 6 weeks and I'm guessing Riker is about 14 weeks but he's still very skittish about being handled. Two weeks ago I tried to weigh him but when I picked him up he squealed, wriggled out of my hand and ended up on the floor, hiding under a bookshelf until I coaxed him into his carrying case. I free range my guys on the love seat which is right beside their cage. They have to climb over me to get to the play area. They other two let me pick them up although they don't love it. Riker will now allow me to stroke him with one finger but if I do more he either runs away or gives me fuck off bites or grabs my finger with his mouth and shoves it away. They don't hurt, they're just expressive bites. Should I be doing more to move him along with the handling or just let it progress on his pace? He runs to the door when I approach the cage at free range time, takes food from my hand, climbs over me on free range, even licks my fingers. He just doesn't want me handling him.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I would probably push things a little more with him, though you don’t want to push him to the point he freezes. I’d probably try and do some one on one stuff outside the cage just with him on you whilst you wander around and such. Also keep an eye on the mouthing, if it starts turning to nips then it may need you to show him it’s not acceptable. I do tend to work with rats that don’t want to be picked up because for me it’s a safety issue, I need to be able to pick them up quickly in an emergency, but don’t need them to love it just tolerate it

@mooseandfredvr6928

3 жыл бұрын

I have a similar situation, and the problem with one of my boys is that he doesnt like things touching his back, but he does enjoy crawling into my sweatshirt sleeve, so that is how I get him used to the back touching, so when he is in my sleeve I am constantly touching his back

Thank you for this video! I’m wondering once you get them home is there an ideal age for the new rats to be introduced and blended to the main cage . My existing 2 boys are 18 months and the new babies will be 9 weeks when they come home!

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

It depends on what group size you want to aim for and the individuals themselves. So say you want a rolling group of 4-6 and want to add in pairs then you’d look to add every roughly 9 months. However if you’ve got Bucks and one off going through the hormonal phase around 9 months you might choose to leave it a couple extra months to let them settle down. Plus if you get your rats from good breeders timing is rarely in your (or the breeders) hands as rats very much have there own thoughts on the matter lol so you tend to add them when they are ready

If you are ever running low on video ideas I would love to know (if there is any) what the difference between a rat who is sneezing and a rat who has an actual respiratory infection, and at what point to take them to the vet 🤔

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah respiratory is one I definitely need to do a series on. Possibly after Christmas I’ll start as I’ve got the 12 days off 2020 to get on with. It will need more than one I think

This problem is sadly showing up more and more on Australian FB pages, too. There is one horrible pair who are homing baby rats at 3 weeks.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah I have seen the odd place here homing at 3 weeks which is frankly shocking, really horrible to see as it does such long term damage to the babies

@ratified7105

3 жыл бұрын

@Donna Ryan , I’ve noticed that too,so sad and cruel and people have no idea, I bought two very young babies from a pet shop in Queensland recently just because I knew they were too young, I spoiled them with baby food, they’re doing really well. 💜🐀

Hi, do you know what age pet stores (Petco, Petsmart) tend to sell rats? I got two of my rats from a pet store when I didn't know better and am trying to calculate their age.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I could tell you in the UK (normally 8-12 weeks) but not in the US I’m afraid

Oh no.... So what can you do when someone gave you rats that were much younger than they should've been? Is there any way to help them?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

The Jerry thing is to feed them plenty of protein (and not to go back to that breeder). There’s a video in the feeding playlist which looks at how to feed kittens which may help

My young bucks are definitely 8 weeks old I've had them since 6 weeks but still have there baby coats. Is there something I should be doing to help them along? I've been feeding them an adult mix with extra mealworms or kitten food added is there something else I should be giving them?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

I have seen this in rescue litters where the mum was very young, they do eventually catch up but it can take a while bless them. Keep up the high protein extras s they will need them to eventually moult into there adult coat

@shannibeth

3 жыл бұрын

OK thanks. So so long as it isn't me 🥰

This is slightly irrelevant and maybe being very thick, but how do you tell your rats apart? I can see what looks like a sharpie on one of their tails? But how do you tell them apart when they get to adult-age?

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

By adult age I find it pretty easy as they have different face shapes, shades etc, they sometimes also help me out by nibbling another’s ears lol. I also don’t have loads of overlap in terms of varieties at the moment, I’ve got 2adult topaz bucks but one has a hamster head and short body (Sol) and the other a nice long head and body (Bobby). With the girls I’ve got 2 agoutis, one is an old lady (Snufkin) and the other a young nut case (Jubi aka flying rat). It’s much the same with my topaz girls, Foo and Fai, though Foo isn’t that old but Fai is tiny and has one minute eye from her glaucoma.

@Emily-vk7kk

3 жыл бұрын

​@@IsamuRatCareAh okay thank you for answering! I guess just like humans they'll have their individual differences. I've been binge-watching all your videos in preparation for getting my first rats on Saturday. Somehow can't manage even 45 minutes of my own university lectures, but will happily sit through hours and hours of yours! First rats are different varieties but hoping if I get more in future, I'm not restricted by my inability to tell ratties apart :)

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

You’ll find the more rats you see and know the more easy you will find it. I was pretty lucky in that I got my first rats when I was only 5 so still learning to recognise human faces, I think it taught me a lot. They were identical pink eyed whites too lol

@CreepyMcSteezerson

3 жыл бұрын

My two girls are so similar I sometimes have this issue but as they age it does seem to get easier, you learn their individual personalities and get to know their markings better

I have two female baby rats who are now 12 weeks old and I got them when they were 8 weeks old. It’s been a month with no progress they are absolutely terrified one of them freezers in fear if I go near her. I’ve had 5 boys before a few years ago and they were nothing like this. It’s as though these girls are traumatised 😭 Like I can’t believe how calm yours are. If I pick them up they will just try leaping off me 😂

@IsamuRatCare

2 жыл бұрын

You need to remember with mine that they’ve been born and raised with lots of handling from very stable well bred lines and so tend to be pretty bomb proof from very early on (unless they smell cat! Mine aren’t used to it so can end up terrified for a few days until they get used to the smell). With work you can get your rats there too. Have you watched my socialisation series in the behaviours play list. It might help

Hi, I have 8 rats but I'm Not sure on what there patterns and colours are called, is there any social midia that I could message you on so maybe you could help me? 😊

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

Facebook tends to be the best bet, I’m fastest to respond on there

@honeybearxoxo9004

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare okay, can I have your facebook name please? 😊

Oi. Seems my two youngest bucks were very young then :(

5weeks? In other videos you say they can breed at 4 and have stressed the importance of seperation at 4wks. Your rules are the ones I follow to be honest so this video has me confused. I guess I'll be uping my seperation time to 5 wks. And sell at 7.

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

So it varies by line, if you genuinely don’t know the line and how fast it matures then go 4.5 weeks unless they are very tiny and under developed. Once you do know the line though (or talk to the breeder you’re getting your foundations from) you’ll have a good idea when the does will open up. For instance mine tend to be around 6-7 weeks so I separate my lot at 5-5.5 weeks. I’ve come across rare cases of rescues litters that matured earlier than 5 weeks (tend to be feeder lines as they are bred to develop quickly)

How old or how can you tell when to ween the babies from mom. I adopted a pregnant rat and her partner from a pet store they had come from a home who couldn't take care of them. The pet store actually wasn't going to let me have her but they are a pretty awesome pet shop. I have been doing a ton of research on having rats also I am new at having rat but I want to do the best I can by them

@IsamuRatCare

3 жыл бұрын

So with a line that’s unknown like this you have 2 main options. The first is to separate as a precaution around 4.5 weeks old. The other is to check the does vaginas to see when they look ready to open and separate then (normally a little later than this, my line don’t open up until about 6 weeks, many lines are earlier than this though). I would have a watch of my breeding series, particularly week 5 discusses this. One thing that’s very important though is you separate mum from dad immediately, before the babies are born. If dad stays in with mum she can get pregnant again immediately and then may be forced to have back to back litters (eg births lower when the first is only 3-4 weeks old) which is very hard on the mum and means you have to wean the babies early which is hard on the babies

@ashleeroe6348

3 жыл бұрын

@@IsamuRatCare Thank you so much. I didn't know about mom immediately being able to get pregnant that is good to know I did separate mom and dad because I was afraid dad would eat the babies your information is great thank you 😊