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Clipping Toenails

Cutting rat's nails can be a tricky business as they are very squirmy during this process. The best tools to use are human fingernail clippers. If you are right handed, with your left hand, hold your rat on your lap facing left. Press him against your stomach with your left forearm to hold him still and hold his foot in your left hand. Pull his foot backward and clip the nails with your right hand. Clip the white part at the top of the nail. If you look closely you will see toward the base of the nail it is pink. This pink part is the quick; if you cut it, it will bleed. If you accidentally cut too far down, to stop the bleeding use some styptic powder. If your rat really squirms, do a few nails at a time and try again another day. Reward him/her with a treat afterward.

Bathing/Shampooing Your Rat

Rats usually keep their coats scrupulously clean by themselves but some of the lighter varieties may need a little help with those deep down stains from bedding etc. Hand wash only!! If you do need to give them a bath, use a kitten shampoo (you can even get a rat shampoo at some pet shops), or even children’s tearless shampoo. Trim your rat’s nails…this will cause you less scratches on your hands in the end, for those with rats who aren’t really hip on being bathed. Use either the bathroom or kitchen sink. Turn on the faucet so that you have a stream of warm, but not hot water. Gently hold the rat under the stream of water until it is thoroughly wet. Use your hand to scoop water onto the rat’s head, being sure to keep it out of the eyes, ears, mouth, and nose. I use my kitchen sink and I use the spray hose, being careful to keep it not on full blast. Using this hose has made it much easier and faster for. Set the rat on a towel and gently lather it with shampoo, being careful to keep it off the face. On dirtier rats, take a soft toothbrush and comb its fur from behind the ears to the base of the tail (or repeatedly over the soiled area). This may need to be repeated. Dip the toothbrush in shampoo and gently scrub the rat’s tail until it is clean. Be very gentle, it’s easy to damage the tail skin, and always rub from base to tip, not the other way around. Hold the rat under the running water and thoroughly rinse out the shampoo (avoiding sensitive areas on the face). Again, be sure to rinse all of the shampoo out of their coats as the residue may irritate their skin. Repeat shampooing and rinsing as needed until the rat is clean. Place the rat on a dry towel and briskly dry. Depending on the weather, your preferences, and the rat’s temperament, you may want to use a blow dryer and a brush to completely dry the rat. Use a low, cool setting, and brush while drying. Often the rat will feel more comfortable sitting on your lap during this process. Give your rat a treat and let him know how good he’s been.

Litter Box Training

Rats are highly intelligent creatures and can be trained to do many simple tasks.  Litter training is something that is well worth a little effort on your part, as it can save you lots of time in cleaning up and also money in buying bedding.

The whole training methodology works on the premise that rats are clean creatures and will go to the toilet where they smell that they, or other rats, have already gone.  The procedure is as follows:

1.  Find the corner of the cage that your rats usually go to the toilet, then place a tray filled with litter there.  I use flat tupperware containers available from discount stores.
2.  Toss in any rattie raisins or wet litter you can find in the cage to make it smell like a rat toilet area.
3.  Now this is the most important part...  Remove all litter from the rest of the cage, or use a different bedding.  It's essential that your rats can          distinguish between the toilet area and the living area.  e.g. I use ground walnut shells from the bird section of petstore for litter and Aspen shaving for bedding.
4.  Place your rats in the tray to show them it's there.  If they go elsewhere in their cage, say "No!" and place the rat (and the raisins) in the litter tray.   If they go in the tray, praise them like crazy and give them their favorite treat.   They'll soon get the idea.

Often this training method will only work for raisins, not pee... especially with male rats who are determined to keep their cage well scented.   You can try removing pee smells by using products like Nilodor or vanilla, but often it just makes them more determined to re-scent it.  Of course, there's also those stubborn rats who simply will not use a tray no matter how hard you try.   Persist... after all, every raisin in the tray is one less you have to pick up later.

Litter training makes things so much easier on you.   It's much simpler to clean out the cage (just scoop out soiled litter and replace as needed) and certainly cheaper.  I think the rats much prefer the fabric and towels to live on anyway... it's less dusty, cleaner, softer on ratty feet, more fun to dig in and much quieter during those midnight skirmishes.

It's a good idea to have a litter tray for their use when outside their cage too... either as a separate play area tray, or simply access to their cage.  When you get them out to play, place them in the tray so they know where it is.  Every half hour or so, place them back in the tray to remind them it's there.   If they use it, praise them like crazy and offer them treats.  When I had free-range ratties, I found the corner they were pooping in and put a corner litter box there....and soon enough that is where they were always going!!

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For more information on Rattie-Express or any of our animals, please email me (Tara) at rattie.express@comcast.net.