Aww, who cares if they're spoiled, they look like they have the bestest house ever. ♥

I really do love rats-I'd love to have one~

Get two!

No really, they need a ratty partner or they can suffer depression. :(

Aww, yeah, that's what I've heard!

I would love to get some...would it be better getting two of the same gender? :O

DEFINITELY.
Do NOT get two of opposite genders! ;n; Rats are very good at what they do and babies are a large chore.
I've heard that getting your male neutered can allow them to live together, buuuuuuuut.... instincts are what they are. I still wouldn't, personally.
Besides, all my rats are lesbians. XD

xD
I figured that's what you'd wanna do.

I'd honestly wanna get girls...cause, I dunno, it always seems like if you don't get the males neutered they gave biiiiig balls...and I kinda don't like the idea of them dragging those all over me when they crawl around. ^^lll

Just be prepared for the gender differences. If you want a laprat who will let you pet them and loves you like woah, get a boy. If you want a curious, hyper, uppity rat, get a girl.
In retrospect, I probably would have preferred boys because I tend to work at my desk a lot and having girls running around causing trouble is... well. troublesome XD
You wouldn't notice the balls after a while. The girls still have their bits everywhere and my dom girl (oldest in the heirarchy) leaves a pee trail on me whenever she walks on me.
I'd prefer the balls if I could choose between the two. XD

LOL

That DOES seem like it could be a problem...but, yeah, I do suppose one could get past bits hanging around...lol
Not like I'm gonna let him walk on my face and get tea bagged or something....Thanks for answering my dumb little questions though. ^o^

No problem! Feel free to note me if you have any other questions.

Just a few other tips that every single rat person will tell you but the help books might skip;
Never use woodchips for bedding. the toxins are really bad for their lungs.
Which leads into their upper resp; rats are very prone to upper resp infections that can turn quite serious. They usually need vet treatment pronto.
While ratties are cheap on the get-go (depending, of course, on cage type), their vet bills can get pricey. Females are prone to mammary tumors and males can't eat citrus or they risk cancer too.
Average lifespan is 2-3 years. ;w;

Otherwise, I absolutely love having them. <3 They're playful, sweet, and absolutely entertaining when they have playtime. Very inquisitive and smart. All of mine know their names and to come when called. I'm working on the other tricks, still. -w-

One last thing that just has me curious-since they ARE smart do they ever try to make a break from their cages?

And that is kinda sad that their life span is so little. :c

Oh yes, they'll go on little exploring exhibitions. It depends on the personality you get, as they're all different. Yuki is a computer rat and would make a break for the back of my desk every chance she could. If it weren't for her habit of chewing cables, it would have been fine. XD
If you handle them a lot early on and teach them to come when called (make clicks or soft smoochies, and if they come to you give them a treat. they'll associate the sound and reward), they're fine to let free-roam in a safe place.

So, when it kinda comes down to it, they sound like tiny dogs with big teeth and lil footsies!~ ♥

kinda, yeah! I've never been bitten when it wasn't my fault except for my clever yuki's nipple fascination. Srsly, not sure where she learned that. ono; But Momo is seriously attached to me and grabs my hand to lick it XD just all 'omgawsh mamarat, ilu~'

LOL
I dunno why but just thinking about a little rat's tongue....that's really cute.

I kept 3 girls in a 1 level critter nation with fleece, it really did help my mycho girl breathe better. It's a great choice of habitat, you could get a 4th or 5th in that cage with plenty of space.

I found that some of the bird toys are cheaper than rodent toys most of the time and just as safe for rats btw.

p.s. if they don't chew the fleece too badly you can wash and re-use it.

I'd just go to the store and buy their fleece scraps for my girls and it was so much cheaper than using the bedding you buy in stores, the girls didn't care the fleece was mis-matched, they chewed it all anyway.

That's the idea! I have puppy pads underneath it to absorb the pee (because fleece usually doesn't hold it too much) and I'll get another two yards cut to match so I can switch out during wash day. c:

I'm really hoping!
She really didn't respond well to her antibiotics or they didn't help for long. The vet wanted to do a very expensive x-ray to see if her lungs are scarred (I'm almost certain they are because she had a bad upper resp under 3 months old), so I'm going to play the wait-and-see game with the new fleece place. She's also out of the way of a pretty big draft, so I'm looking forward to improvement!

http://www.rmca.org/Articles/myco.htm

It isn't your fault if she has myco, but the extra air and more sterile environment you gave her will for sure help her with this incurable condition.

Yeah, I know it's not my fault... But the vet telling me to get a pricey test for it seems a bit out there.
I'll jump to treat my animals at the first sign of trouble unless it's a persistent trouble that medicine just isn't helping. She's healthy in every other way save the sneezies and grunts, so just removing the stress should make her life much more pleasant. c:

"let me charge you all this money to tell you something we already know"

She should be much better off, just like an asthmatic.

Meanwhile my other girls never get sick. Noodle, my runty dumbo, got mites pretty bad, but goddamnit Yuki has never gotten sick once.
And she's the one I got at Petco, of all places.

Whhhhhy. XD

Very clean and tidy, Nice work~

That's because it's just been set up. give it a few days XD They'll tear it apart.

How long did it take to put together?
I remember when I got my new desk (this one http://i.imgur.com/4fIukma.jpg)
I had to put it together myself and it took allll day.

My roomie was a huge help. Still took 3 hours. XD

What a nice set up. I lived in places that werent this clean and spacious when I was in college. Bet the girls love it!

My rats have a better lifestyle than I do sometimes XD

That looks nearly identical to a friend ferret cage!

It's the same brand! Only this one has smaller cage bar spacing so ratties can't get out as babies. ;w;

Reminds me of my mouse cage...got 5 mice in a 3 story cage...^^

Mice are adorable! I had two as a kid. ;w;

We also had mice when I was little, but...they were snake food. ;_;

However, these ones I have now aren't! :3

They're also the silliest (and cutest) bunch of mice I've had experience with.

I didn't know rats liked exercise wheels. I'd heard they didn't.

It depends! Momo can't get enough. She's a running junkie. My other two have no interest whatsoever. XD

Dear sir, your 'fuzzballs' are not fuzzy at all D:

Well, momo has peachfuzz ;n;
The other two are pretty fuzzy~

I want a critter nation so bad!

Also, wire wheels are bad since they can break toes and tails in them. Since you have the room I'd really look into a Wodent Wheel or other solid plastic wheel for them.

Tried those. She wouldn't touch it at all. This is the only one she'll use. If there is an incident I'll ducttape the wheel, but until then I won't because it'd remove traction and cause even more trouble!

Hope there isn't an incident then.

Bruxbruxbrux.. <3

Boggleboggle~

When my sister had 3 rats she had a cage similar to that.
It had a plastic tube in a sort of curved L shape to get from one level to another and the three of them would often smoosh in together with their heads sticking out one end, it was pretty adorable :D

Mind you I think this one is even bigger, plenty of space, lots of things to interact with, looks like a really good set up ^^

So awesome... I love my ratties... I let them run around my room as much as they want when I'm in it ^^ They should be treated like dogs. Mine come when they are called and are so good!

My only worry is that I have space under my bed and too many cables to fully trust them to do no harm. Being in an apartment and all. But I put down a sheet on my bed and they can run there and on my desk as long as I'm watching!

*nodnodnod* They are awesome. And you can teach them to not chew cables. Putting things that they don't like like a smell, or scent around things helps. Or some rats hate getting squirted with a water bottle so use that as punishment if they go where they are not allowed. ^^

Hehe, very spoiled indeed! I have the ferretnation(very very similar if not the exact same really) cage for my little girl, spoiled demon she is with the entire thing to herself. I've always been curious as to owning rats myself, hearing how great they are, though their life spans are even shorter than ferrets sadly. Just means they get more love in less time though!

The critter nation has smaller space between the bars compared to the ferret. c: I think they're half inch instead of full inch.
Rats are awesome~ I like flopping ferrets around and think they're awfully cute and smart, but I wouldn't trade. -w-

Haha, my little girl will be such a brat and use her cuteness to try and flirt with me to get something very often. I can certainly understand the affection many have for rats from all I have heard and one day may experience it for myself. :3

Gangsta Rats.

I had the same cage for my six ratties. ^^

I only have three but heavily considering a fourth if everyone manages a month without the vet being needed. XD

Spoiled ratties! But very cool digs for 'em. :D

WOW! This is so spectacular!
Reminds me of when I had my rabbit. We built her a 4 story condo and the top floor was practically a spa. She had a pool and a heating pad up there XD Gosh, that was a really spoiled rabbit....

omfg if my rats liked water XD
I'd be scared to give them a heating pad because they might chew it through

Oh yeah that's a good point. We never left it in there when we were out, but she had so many chew toys she was never very interested in it. She was this massive 13 lb velveteen rex rabbit X3

hah, cause the motion blur the one in the cage doesn't look like it has fur at all and is all skin

......... no, really, she's hairless. XD

Fantastic set up!!!

My rat babies have that. I kept my two girls in it, but then neither of them wanted to back down on whom is dominant (you would think with that size of cage it could be worked out!). So in the end I had to separate them :(

need more hammocks XD haha, love this cage i really want one :) you have cyte ratties :) i just got two new girls making my total upto 7 girls and 6 boys.

Omg I would love a cage like this for my boys. x3 How much did that cost?

Like, 200 bucks. XD

Oh.

There is a single unit that's 100, I believe. It's plenty big for two rats. c: Half the cage.
It's a critter nation

Hmm I might be moving soon, so maybe we will get a house with an extra room for the rats. x3

I just really don't have any extra space right now. :c