When Choosing and Adopting Your Rats OK, so you've decided on what kind of rats you would like, and you have all the equipment you need. It is finally time for you to go find your new rats! This process can vary slightly depending on where you have chosen to adopt your new rats from. Keep in Mind... Try not to make any snap decisions based on looks alone. You may not like white rats with red eyes, but if you have a choice between a really friendly red eyed white rat, and a completely unsocial beautifully colored blue rat, you will be sooooo much happier in the end with the white rat. Personality is much more important than appearance. Try and adopt your rats from the same place and the same enclosure. This allows you to skip the hassle of doing introductions. You can't just throw two strange rats together. That would have serious consequences. See "Introducing New Rats to Your Colony" within this Guidebook to learn more. We ourselves have purposely adopted rats that are sick and rats that are unsocial to give them a good home. However, we do not recommend that a first time rat owner attempt this. Your first experience should not be so challenging. We stress that if you are adopting rats for the very first time, that you only adopt healthy, well socialized rats to make your first experience a smooth and happy one. Judging Their Health... Before getting help, observe the rats for a little while. Most likely they will be sleeping, so it might be hard to tell anything, but try to look for any signs of sickness. (You can look more closely for these signs later when you get a chance to handle them one on one.) What You Want to See... Bright, clear, eyes. A clean, clear, nose. Clean looking ears. If they are not hairless rats, a healthy looking coat. (Although, it is common for rexes to have bald spots while they grow.) Well formed poops. (Not runny.) That their urine is free from any blood. (Check the litter for signs of this) Normal, healthy looking body movements. (No limps or anything) Alertness and curiosity. Warning Signs That Something is Wrong.... Frequent sneezing. (Although this could be caused by them being on improper litter.) A wheezing sound when they breath. (When you get a chance to hear them breath, they should make no clearly audible sound.) If they are skinny and bony. If they look bloated. If they have sores on the bottom of their feet. If they hold their head at a constant tilt. If they seem lethargic even after you pick them up. If they seem hunched up in pain. If they have a build up of discharge around their eyes/nose. Rat tears are brick red in color. (A small amount of sleep in the corner of the eyes is ok though.) If they are obsessively scratching. (Could indicate mites or allergies.) If they have crooked or overgrown teeth. (Rats with crooked or miss formed teeth will not be able to keep their teeth trim on their own. You will have to take them to the vet every month to have their teeth trimmed.) If you are looking for females, it is VERY important to find out if the shop separates their males and females by five weeks of age, or if at all. If they do not, go somewhere else. Otherwise you might end up with a lot more rats than you bargained for by taking home a pregnant female! Judging Their Socialization... Ask for the person who knows the most about the rats to help you out. Ask if they know the rats' ages. Ask if these rats have been socialized/handled at all. If they haven't, move on. Remember, the more socialized your rats are the better. It will make a huge difference in just how fun your first experience will be. Ask if you can be the one to open up the cage or tank and handle the rats so that you can judge their personalities. What did the rats do when you opened the cage or tank? Did they run and hide, or freeze in fear? This could possibly mean that they have not been socialized much. Did they show fear at first, but then show signs of investigating who you are? This is a very good sign. Did they jump up at the opening of the cage or tank as soon as they saw a chance to be taken out and held? This is the best sign you can get. This is the ultimate rat choice for a beginner! Next, place your hand into the cage or tank at the opposite end from where the rats are. What do they do? Are they cowering as far from your hand as possible? Then they probably have not been socialized much. This might be a challenging rat for a beginner. Do they slowly calm down and then start to work their way over to investigate your hand? These rats have probably been socialized to a degree and may be very appropriate for beginners. Are they scrambling up your arm before you can even barely get your hand into the cage or tank. Bingo! You should adopt these rats! Note: If the rats haven't moved from the position they had been sleeping in by this time, it could indicate illness, or that they are just well socialized rats who are sleepy and unimpressed with your presence. Now it is time to actually pick up and handle one of them. Be gentle, and keep your grip loose and unrestrictive, but firm enough to keep hold of the chosen rat. It is a good idea to hold the rat very close to your body. This will help make the rat feel more secure and comfortable. (See "Tips on Handling Your Rat" within this Guidebook for more information.) How does he/she respond to this? If the rat runs from your hand, then squirms to try and get away from you in sheer terror as you pick him/her up and refuses to calm down, then this rat has not been well socialized. Avoid this rat. If the rat poops/pees on you, it is an obvious sign that he/she is scared, however if he/she is otherwise seemingly calm, this could still be a good choice. If he/she is squirmy and wiggly (maybe trying to explore you) yet calm and friendly, then he/she is just being a typical active youngster who dislikes being held in a restrictive manner. This can be a very suitable choice. If he/she is calm and will sit in your hands and investigate, and especially if he/she starts grooming themselves, or even starts licking you, then he/she has been well handled. This is definitely a good rat to choose! What it comes down to, is that a little show of fear can be expected because you are a total stranger to them (although a truly well socialized rat will show no fear of you.) However the real question is, are they handleable? If they have been socialized to some degree, you should be able to handle and hold them without trouble. So boiled down, if you can easily handle and hold a chosen rat, then that rat would probably be an appropriate choice for you. The calmer they are with you, the better the choice. One test some people use, is they will "dangle" a rat to judge how well socialized he/she is. A well handled rat should be relaxed and hang there for at least a good 2-5 seconds. A less handled rat will be tense and kick and struggle in this position. However I don't find this test to be totally accurate, because my girl Peanut has absolutely no fear of people and in fact loves them to death, but she is a very wiggly rat and won't hold still for this test. Judging Their Temperament... Besides looking for signs of sickness and socialization, you will also want to keep an eye out for any signs of aggression. Even though rats are the least aggressive of all the small pets, this is ONLY the case if they have been bred and/or handled properly. Rats that have been bred from an aggressive stock or that have been handled in an abusive manner, can end up being very ill-tempered or just plain fearful of humans. When looking to bring ANY animal into your home, it is important that you take the time to first look for an appropriate temperament. From hamsters to horses, to rabbits and dogs, it doesn't matter. Any animal, no matter how benign they usually are known to be, if purchased from the above situation, has a high chance of being a problem pet. This is why proper breeding and handling practices are so crucial to avoid creating these kinds of inappropriate pets. Although some ill tempered rats can be rehabilitated with time, patients, and experience, I do not recommend these kinds of rats for beginners. Just keep in mind that aggressive rats are a complete exception to the rule, NOT the norm. I just want to make you aware that some bad rats do exist. If while checking them out, a rat bites or nips you causing pain, avoid getting that rat. If the rat only mouths you (this is where a rat puts their mouth around you, but hardly uses any pressure), you do not need to be worried. Rats commonly use their mouths to explore different things in their environment to better tell what an item is. A rat may also start to groom you, which is a VERY good sign. This is were a rat licks and nibbles at your skin. Things to Remember... Bring a bag and ask if you can have a small scoop of their dirty litter. You can than throw this litter into their new cage at home before placing your rats in there. The familiar smell will make them feel more at ease. Try to get both your rats from the same place. This saves you from having to quarantine them, or going through the process of new introductions. Expect some rats to produce a runny stool while you look at them and/or produce runny stools on the way home. This diarrhea is caused by the stress of what is happening to them, not because they are ill. As long as all their cage poops looked solid, don't worry if this happens. As a personal preference, we like to bring our own travel cage to bring new rats home in if possible. Rats can chew their way out of those little cardboard boxes pet stores/shelters/breeders provide. A travel cage is a much more secure way to transport your new rats home. Plus travel cages are good to have on hand for vet visits, as a place to put your rats when you clean their home, and for introductions. They are worth the money and are usually really cheap. We recommend a couple traveling cages to choose from in the "Reviews" section of this site. We also recommend bringing a towel to cover the cage up with while transporting them home. Rats feel safer in the dark.