Happy New Year!

Random image I found and edited :P
HAPPY NEW YEAR!

My Bedding

I always see small animals with some kind of wood shaving as bedding and I see it suggested many places. Since we had a HUGE bag of Carefresh in the basement I used that. We were going to use it for snakes but never did.

It's soft, has no smell and no dust that I notice. I also think they like the bigger fluffy size of the bedding to build walls around their hide box. Recently I found out it comes in Ultra (less dust...I guess the regular gets dusty toward the bottom of the bag?) and colors so you can make your little ratties home pretty too!

I like this stuff better than the typical bedding you see.

Something to keep in mind...

That's me! Giving Lucky a kiss!

In trying to handle and hand-tame the soft furred rats, be prepared to get pooed and peed on lots. This is just a natural reaction to being afraid. So if your hand suddenly feels warm or you end up with a few pellets in your pocket stay calm for your little rats sake and don't freak out. The poo pellets are easy enough to clean up and the pee luckily doesn't smell at all so no worries about left over smells after cleaning.

Another thing to remember is that they may bit on your finger nails. This will feel weird and it feels like they are biting pretty hard but stay calm. It's just your finger nail. They may also nibble on your fingers. Not in a way to hurt you but maybe your hand smells like food or they are trying to figure you out. I wouldn't call these nips as they do not hurt. I've been nipped once by Cupid and it wasn't hard enough to break my skin. That's what I get for sticking my finger in the toilet paper tube with her! Again, try to stay calm and don't jump or yell. This will only make your new little friend even more afraid.

Work slowly, be patient, and keep at it! Soon you will have your little rat climbing up onto your hand to be out with you.

Today was cage cleaing day

Cupid drinking some water

Cleaning the cage is an adventure. I wore a hoodie and put them inside my pocket pouch so I could dump all the bedding and when I got close to the counter, Cupid jumped out! I had to catch her before she ended up on the floor! She's a crazy little girl. Lucky on the other hand is such a cool, calm, cuddle bug. I was rubbing his head, ears and back. He was tilting his head from side to side so I could scratch "the spots" and he had his eyes closed, soaking in all the love! Apparently rats have hot spots like dogs. I found the spot on Cupid to get her to do it and she moves her little back paw just like a dog haha~

They are both doing really well. Healthy, happy, playful and mischievous! I usually sit on the bed with their cage to play with them (Cupid is still jumpy so I keep her as close to the cage as possible when I try to handle her) and at the same time, there was a box of pizza on the bed. All Lucky wanted to do was jump out the cage and BOLT toward the pizza box. After I gave him some crust he calmed down, happily munching away.

Not a natal rat but...

When i have the space I'd like to get me some dumbo rats. Very cute ears! Apparently the ears are a just a mutation. Besides it's ears, this rat is no different than what you can commonly find in pet shops.

New Foods

This is exactly what I got my little fuzz balls today. Hopefully they will take this new food without any problems. I preferred the big rat pellets as opposed to smaller foods because not only will they grind their teeth down on it but they like to carry their food around and the big blocks wont get wasted when I trash the bedding. As for the snacks, again, a bigger snack that wont get lost in the bedding.

UPDATE:
Well they like their new food! These little guys aren't picky at all it seems.

New pic

Recent picture of Lucky and Cupid. Cupid is still nervous and tries to dig through my hands but Lucky was the same way when he was that small. No bites from Cupid. There are soft nibbles but not enough to break the skin or even hurt.

Two heads are better than one

Since I never really thought I'd seriously be keeping Lucky as a pet, I thought keeping him alone would be ok. Wrong. He seems much more calm and happy now that he's got Cupid and Cupid is way more calm compared to how Lucky acted when I first had him as a baby.

They are also so much fun to watch. They play, chase, groom, and eat together. Much better than the lone Lucky hopping around aimlessly at night.

Some websites had said one rat is fine. Others stressed the importance of at least having two. I am happy I followed the advice of having more than one. So if you want to keep these as pets, you must plan for at least two.

Happy Holidays!

It's technically December 26th for me right now (12:30 am) But Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and all that jazz!

Some info I found online and can say yes or no to personally...

I saw on one website that soft furred rats can reach 5 inches long (not including he tail) Cupid's parents were indeed about 5 inches long so i can conclude:

Max size: 5 inches

I also saw online that they have virtually NO smell. I can conclude this information is indeed correct. These little guys have no smell and my most favorite thing to do is rub my nose into their fur.

I've read on a few sites that they are nippy and do not make good pets. Well that's not the case here. If you buy them pretty young like I have, they are extremely easy to tame as long as you are calm and slow and I believe any animal that is afraid will bite so just take your time, be gentle and present food to your little critter. The best way to start handling from what I've learned so far, is to scoop them up into your hands and cup them while keeping your hands close to the bottom of their cage in case they escape. Do this everyday and in a few weeks your little natal will climb up your arm to be with you.

Food and water seem pretty basic as far as what I've read on the internet. The usual rodent food pellets, seed treat sticks, and dry dog food is the bulk of what I feed them. They also get little pieces of bread, crackers, cereal (not the sugary kind), fruit and veggies here and there when I'm snacking. I read that they eat bugs like super worms but I haven't tried yet. So far they have eaten pretty much everything I've put in there.

Everything else like cage, water supply, bedding, toys, ect is basic rodent care. All around easy information to find.


Other Names for this rat include
Natal Multimammate Rat, Common African Rat, Soft-furred or African Soft-furred Rat. Mine were sold under the name Dwarf rat.

This site has some very good info!

Here they are! Introductions

Lucky is my male. He has red eyes, is about 3 inches long (without the tail) right now and was my first little rat. He's maybe around 8 weeks old. He's tame and will snuggle with you on a cold day in you pocket. Lucky also has recently been making lots of cute chittering sounds when he sits on my shoulder.

Cupid is my female. She is the newest one and is maybe 4 weeks old. She is tiny at 1.5 inches. We got Lucky at around this size. She is fairly tame right now and will let you pet her without any issues. Picking Cupid up however can be a bit more tricky. She may hop off of your hand so you have to be careful when holding her and not move too far up away from the cage.

Neither rat has ever bitten me though they do nip my finger nails. Probably trying to figure out what it is.

Welcome to Fuzzy Natals! A rat blog!

We (my boyfriend and I) own two snakes. A Kenyan sand boa named Cookie and a Rosy boa named Jasper.

We go to the pet shop as usual to pick up some feeders. Our usual place doesn't have any feeder mice. Apparently someone took them ALL so we go to another pet shop. While I am wandering around, my boyfriend picks out some mice for the snakes.

We take them home and feed the larger one to Jasper. He eats just fine. We then get the smaller "mouse" and try to feed it to Cookie who is all clouded with shedding. Cookie does not want ANY parts of this "mouse" so we put her away. Now what to do with this small fuzzy animal...I thought it was SO CUTE and decided to keep him.

After some time he began to grow some and then it hit me...This is NOT a mouse! So after a little web surfing I find out Lucky (his name after his luck of not becoming snake food) is a Praomys natalensis also called African soft furred rats or natal rats. I go and google some info on them as pets and I don't really find much. I just find that they are supposed to be nippy and are bred as ball python food mainly.

Well after getting my second one today, Cupid, like Santa's deer, I've decided to write a blog on my rattie adventure. I've never even kept hamsters so this will be a learning experience all around!