EVERYTHING you need for pet Rats

Hello! So today I thought I'd tell you everything you need to have when owning rats, whether you've already got rats or you're thinking of owning rats, this is going to be a big list of everything you need. Now of course you don't have to go crazy to start with and buy lots and lots of things, you can and you will collect these gradually but these are just the basics. So god forbid I forget anything important, hopefully I've not, but if I do I will leave that in a pinned comment, but let's start with everything you will need for the enclosure itself. So the first thing you will need is obviously the cage itself and this has to be a suitable size. A lot of people will fall for starter cages, these aren't really necessary and often they are far too small. At least here in the UK the minimum is around 80 by 50 by 80 centimetres for two to three rats and you really want to aim to go with that size or more. I can't believe I'm still having to say this in 2022 but rats cannot be kept in tanks or aquariums, even on a temporary basis whilst you save money to get a barred cage, any amount of time is unacceptable because they produce too much ammonia for the lack of ventilation that tanks have, it's just not healthy for them. So no tanks or aquariums, barred cages only. However I do recommend straight away just buying the best quality cages if you're able to, things like Cretinations or Laberto Explorers that have big double doors and are easy to access because trust me in six months time or a year's time you're probably going to want one of these anyway and especially if you fall in love with rats and you want to get more rats, you are going to need a bigger cage. So I do recommend just straight away, if you can, buying a good quality cage. But if you do find yourself with a slightly smaller plastic based cage that is also okay because you are also going to need to have spare cages and separate cages for things like getting new rats or getting baby rats to house them in temporarily while they have to be separate or things like hospital cages for sick rats or rats that have had surgery and also for introductions. You are going to want to have various different size cages so these are quite easy to find on things like Facebook Marketplace or secondhand or Gumtree. You are going to want to have multiple cages just in case you have to separate your rats and also in case you get new ones. Alongside the cage itself you're also going to have to either buy or make a deeper tray for the base of the cage just because most cages either come with a very very shallow base or they're also completely mesh on the bottom which is going to need covering so you can either do this by buying cement trays or plastic storage tubs or you can make your own using sheets of perspex which is what I do and I will have a video coming on that very very soon hopefully so when that's up I will link that in the description. But these are a lot more important than people tend to recognize things like digging, foraging, even burrowing are really important behaviors the rats should be able to express and they can't do that in this much bedding. Speaking of beddings you are going to want to have three different types of beddings really the first one is the main bedding to cover most of the base of the cage the second one is a different one to the first one that goes into their litter trays and then also a nesting material for them to make beds in. Now I'm not going to go too much into detail onto which beddings to use or which beddings are safe just because I have made a whole separate video covering all of that so I'll leave them in the i-cards and the description. But just to give you an example of what I use with my rats on the base of the cage they have hemp shavings but I am switching them to dust extracted kiln dried safe shavings instead. They then also have paper-based pallets in their litter trays called back to nature and for nesting they have dust extracted hay. So in terms of kitting out the cage with accessories the first things are climbing toys things like ropes ladders bridges ikea tie holders just make sure if you have a big tall cage to start with you're putting in plenty of climbing toys because otherwise if you have big gaps between things you are at risk of your rats falling and hurting themselves so make sure you've got plenty of things to climb on especially if you have a big cage. Next you want to provide your rats with places to sleep and give them multiple places to choose from things like plastic hidey houses or wooden houses or hammocks like this. I do recommend putting in multiple hammocks especially if you have a very tall cage because again if they slip and fall these are going to give them a soft landing but these you can find sellers on etsy that are hand making them or even on facebook selling groups for rats or you can try to make your own. Next you're going to want to have some litter trays in the cage most people tend to use the plastic corner ones but you can just use plastic storage tubs if you want to and I do recommend if you have lots of rats or a slightly bigger cage having multiple of these in enclosure but if you only have two to three rats you can just get away with having one. You also want to give them things to chew on in the cage so chew toys these come in a variety of different shapes and sizes things like willow ones or loofah ones these are really good idea to give them something to do in the cage but also directs them away from chewing things that you might not want them to chew as much like their hammocks or their water bowls giving them chew toys is also a really good idea. The next thing some people tend to skip out on but I would argue is essential in a rat cage just because of how intelligent they are as animals and that is foraging toys these again come in many different shapes and sizes things like foraging wheels or foraging balls bamboo ones all different shapes and sizes of them and I do recommend having multiple different options to switch them out so they don't get bored or too used to them and these are really good all you do is hide food or treats inside of them and it'll keep their brain active and busy for hours. The next thing is optional but it is really enriching and I do think if you are going to choose to use fleas as a substrate for whatever reason then it is essential just to make sure they can still express their natural behaviours and that is a dig box. Basically all this is is a plastic storage tub or bin with a substrate inside for them to dig and forage in and that's really fun for them. Inside this you can use things like coco fiber or topsoil that has no additives and fertilizers or if you don't want to use a soil for whatever reason you can also use things like shredded cardboard or paper bedding instead. You might be wondering if you need to give your rats a wheel or not and while it's not an essential especially for male rats because most male rats are not going to use one you can of course always try it and see some males do surprise you and use them but they are going to need at least 16 inches of wheel especially for larger males and female rats I do recommend giving them a wheel inside of their enclosure because they are a lot more active but they again will need at least 14 inches of wheel which might be difficult for you to find so I recommend if you can't find one big enough no wheel is better than a wheel that's too small. Then you're also going to want some water bottles and water bowls if you're deciding between which one to get I do recommend having both and just giving them the option of choosing which one they want to use and just in case one of them either tips over or stops working it is a good idea to have both so these ones are these 600 milliliter ones I sell these on my store and water bowls things like stainless steel or cute cups made for parrots are really good too. You don't need to have any food bowls for their main food it is better to just scatter this in their bedding or use things like foraging toys but it is a good idea to have a few ceramic bowls on hand things like vegetables or wet food these are good to have just in case. So moving on to health and cleaning you are going to want to have a carrier of course for things like vet visits bringing them home and emergencies this one aimed at small animals is fine if you have three four five rats at a push I do recommend if you have six plus rats especially if they're male rats you probably have to go for a plastic cat carrier instead but having a carrier on hand and keeping this close by is really important. Taking a look in my drawer of medical supplies it is a good idea to have a mite treatment on hand before the rats start to flare up with mites so the one I use is just the one that I sell on my store which is the bifa anti-parasite spot on but there's many of the ones on the market you can use and I always recommend having some on hand. You also want to have some small animal nail clippers I don't have mine with me at the moment but these are really handy some rats you don't have to trim their nails some will trim their own but others will have very very sharp nails so those I would say are also an essential. I also recommend having a pack of urine test strips these are just human ones you can get from ebay or amazon these are really good because you can pick up on things like infections by testing for protein or blood in their pee so I recommend having those. I also recommend having something like hibiscus or similar on hand just in case your rats have any cysts or abscesses or other open wounds that don't always require vet treatment but of course will need cleaning to prevent infection things like this which is an antiseptic can be really useful. I do also recommend buying some one milliliter or two milliliter syringes just in case your rats require any medications sometimes when you get medications from the vets a lot of medications are aimed at cats or dogs that can also be used as rats but they don't always give you small enough syringes to give them so I recommend buying some just in case. Speaking of medications I also really recommend having either baby food on hand or powder foods that you mix to make a liquid and then mix them with medications just in case your rats suddenly have to have a medication and you need something to mix it with. The one I use is from rat rations and I'll link it in the description. You will also need something to clean their enclosure and their cage items with either a pet safe disinfectant like safe 4 for example or also you can just use a white vinegar solution so 50% white vinegar 50% water and then of course put this into a spray bottle that works too. You might also want to buy a dedicated dust brush to clean your rats with you might not want to or your parents might not want you using the one for the rest of the house so this is also a good idea too. So in terms of extra things that are not the cage or health and cleaning you of course also want to buy food for your rats now I'm not going to talk too much again about this in this video because I have made a dedicated video all about which rat foods are good or maybe not good for you to make you can either make your own rat food or buy one instead so that video talking all about rat diet will be in the icards and the description you might also want to buy them some treats especially with new rats you're trying to bond with I really recommend things like malt paste but also in terms of treats that I give my rats I tend to stick to things that don't have many ingredients things like banana chips or apple chips or carrot chips they tend to like those a lot too. You probably also want to buy some storage to put all of your rat things in I am surrounded by storage boxes and I could still do with some more but all of them are from Ikea if you can get to an Ikea they do really good cheap storage boxes you also want to buy them toys and accessories for their free roam so not only are you trying to fill the cage with toys but also they're play area as well so this can be anything from cardboard boxes you can make them little houses and forts to things like puzzle toys I do recommend using different accessories outside of the cage just to mix it up and make it a bit more interesting you can also use things like this tunnels like this this is a cat tunnel I think things you probably wouldn't put inside of the cage because they would destroy this and wreck this but when you're monitoring them and sitting with them during their free roam things like this are okay too if you don't have a safe rat-proof room to free roam them in you are going to have to buy some sort of play pen most play pens sold at pet stores are just too small they're going to escape them in seconds so a lot of people use I think they're called song mix they're like storage units storage cubes you can slot together I do recommend buying a lot of these from Amazon or something because you are going to have to make this very very tall rats are going to test this and try to jump out and if it's not tall enough they are going to so those are the ones I recommend they are technically storage units but they work really well the next two things are not really physical things they are still really important so I still wanted to mention them first one is a vet fund really important to make sure you have a vet fund behind you because rats are so prone to various different illnesses and emergency vets or emergency surgeries can be quite pricey so for a couple of rats I recommend having around 200 or 300 pounds or dollars in your vet fund you also need to have an exotic vet rats are considered exotic pets and most cat or dog vets are not going to know how to treat them so it's really important to find one of these that you can use before getting rats and getting stuck having nowhere to take them so as much as all these things that you do need there's also many unsafe products out there and things that you just don't need to buy things like salt licks shampoo brushes harness and you just don't need them so don't waste your money buying them also when it comes to things like pet insurance at least here in the UK it doesn't really work out to be worth it for things like rats and mice there is a really good post I'll link in the description where someone worked out how much it would cost if they didn't have pet insurance for rats compared to actually having it and it worked out to be a lot more expensive having the insurance so that's why I just recommend having a vet fund and having savings for your rats instead but that is everything the basics that you will need when owning rats I'll put the full comprehensive list of everything I've just mentioned on screen for you guys to look at or screenshot if you want to but it is a responsible thing to make sure you've got most of the things I've just mentioned before getting rats and bringing them home but I hope this has been helpful don't forget to subscribe and I'll see you in my next video bye