nonos

I figure I have written enough about what you SHOULD do with your rat that I should atleast outline what you SHOULDN'T do with them. ENJOY!

Firstly I will outline what you shouldnt do with furry (and furless) rats. Below that I will outline a few spacific no-no's for furless rats.
1)NEVER house your rats on pine or cedar. This can cause serious respitory problems from the oils (phenols) in these that can possably even kill your rat.

2)NEVER feed chocolate, caffinated or carborated food. Also keep sugery food to a minimum as well as gasy food as rats can not...er... "pass gas"

3)NEVER keep your rat anywhere where the tempature exceeds 90 degrees. If you live in a hot climate please get an air conditioner or use ice and other cool objects in the cage to keep them cool. Otherwise they will get heat stroke.

4)Don't give them wire wheels to run on. They can easily get their appendages stuck in these and potentially break their tales or feet. There is something called a wodent wheel that is solid and will work well. If you have a spoked wheel you don't want to get rid of at the very least weave cardboard in it to make it solid.

5) Do not let your rats near anything like electrical cords or other things that potentially shock them, cause a fire, or do other damage.

6)Try to keep them away from drapes and other tempting "chewable" items!

7)DON'T leave a male and female together unless you want them to breed or the male has been neautered for atleast a month. Or else you will have a litter.

8) DO NOT leave babies with the mother past 5 weeks or you'll have another litter (or even many litters, from the daughters!!)

9)When breeding NEVER leave the male in the cage until the babies are born, if you do so the mother will be mated again right after she gives birth and she'll not only have 2 litters, she'll be very stressed and tired out!

10) NEVER ship a rat for what ever reason by UPS, USPS or any other mail carrier. This not only is highly illegal it is also detramental and dangerous. You may end up with a dead rat. :/
Please use DeltaDash or other air carriers. (That's the ONLY legal way! It's expensive though)

11)NEVER leave a rat in while another rat that is drawing blood or seriously injuring their oponent. Separate them until you can find the root of the problem and solve it!

12)NEVER have surgery done on a rat by a vet whom you don't personally trust or have a bad feeling about. Rats can respond badly to anestesia and other surgical things and may die while on the operating table.

FURLESS RAT NO-NO's
1)Do not leave your rat where it can get too cold or too hot. Rats can not sweat and being furless they can not keep warm as well. give them extra blankets.

2)Try not to give them a wire cage as they can have sharp edges that can scar them easier than furry rats. Aquariums and powder coated cages is your best options!

3)Try to keep furless rats with furless rats. Furry rats tend to be more rough with furless and not as sensative and a scratch them up more.