How do you bath a rat?/ What plants can rats eat?

Ok, I have two female ratties and I wanna give them a bath. It's their first ever bath. I have a few questions.





1. What temperature water should I use?


2. Can I use human shampoo?


3. How much water should I use?


4. Is there anything I should / shouldn't do?


5. Is there anything I need to know?





Also, I wanna know what sort of plants I can give them (veggies, fruit, flowers, leaves etc.) but I want them to stay healthy. I have a few questions about this as well.


1. So what plants can ratties eat?


2. Can they eat wild flowers?


3. Any tips?


4. Is there anything I should know?


5. Just out of curiosity, what would happen if I gave my rats chilli peppers? (of course, I wouldn't)





Thanks very much, I appriciate all the answers, I will be picking a best answer tomorrow probably, (20th May 2008) so please answer, and if you have any tips about bathing a ratty or what sort of plants can they eat, please don't hesitate to tell me! Thanks!





P.S. visit my website: www.freewebs.com/rattywatty

How do you bath a rat?/ What plants can rats eat?
How much research have you done on rats? Why do you feel the need to give the rats a bath? Why do you want to feed them plants and flowers?





The rats don't need regular bathing. They do that themselves, or to each other. IF by chance the rats smelled excessively bad, or jumped into a bowl of honey, you can bathe them.





1%26amp;2 - You would use warm water. You could use baby shampoo, but I use an organic puppy/kitten natural shampoo from the health food store that costs about $10 a bottle. You don't want to get water on the rat's face, in their ears or eyes. You want to wrap them in a towel and hold them to dry them. Don't blow dry them or you'll most likely freak them out - and they'll be freaked out enough from the bath. Make sure the room isn't too cold or too hot. Be prepared to get scratched and possibly even bit in the process.


3 - enough water to dunk the rat's body in - they're not going swimming.


4 - yeah, don't give them a bath.


5 - yeah, lots, but don't expect to learn it on here. Join a rat specific forum or mailing list. Or you can buy Debbie Ducommun's rat book:


http://www.ratfanclub.org/books.html





Don't feed them flowers and plants unless they're fruits and vegetables. Don't put them in hats and dresses. Don't stuff them in baby carriages. Don't think about putting a collar and leash on them.





P.S. Why do I need to visit your website? What does this have to do with your questions?
Reply:You have a website for rats, and yet you don't know that answers to your questions..





To answer your questions, you can check out the following link. I believe I covered them all. You'll find safe fruits/veggies that you can give your rats as treats, homemade diets, homemade treats, toys, housing, bathing, training, and more.





http://hubpages.com/_rats/hub/Caring-for...





You need to do A LOT more research... Buy a book.
Reply:Most rats HATE baths but some still need them, uses animal soap and be prepared to get scratched! the water should be warm, and i wash them in the sink but i guess the bathtub may work better. and for plants i know it is good for them to eat grass, i don't know why, but it is.
Reply:Aside from lettuce and carrots, etc... I never really fed my rats plants. They ate the grass outside once when I took em out, but that's about it, lol. I never messed with plants too much to avoid getting something that'd make them sick. If you plan on feeding fruits and veggies, avoid oranges, especially if you have a male. The flesh is okay, but the skin and white membrane around the orange, has been linked to cancer in male rats, and it's easier and safer to just avoid oranges altogether.





As far as bathing goes, use warm water (not hot and not super cold either), fill the bathtub with about an inch or two of water (no more then that, so long as your rat can still stand up, etc... and his feet touch the bottom of the bathtub, you're fine) and put the rattie in. Shampoo is not required, just let em swim around in there for a while, they'll clean themselves. This is what we did with our ratties, and they loved it. Use a towel to hand dry them a bit and wait a few minutes before putting them back in their cages. This would be a good time to change their bedding, etc... as well.
Reply:I tried to give mine baths about twice and gave up. They don't like it very much and it makes them poo in the water and scratch your arms while trying to get out.


If you still want to bathe them, use sensitive baby shampoo that won't burn if it gets in their eyes or anywhere else. Use lukewarm water because they are very sensitive and warm water to you may be burning to them.:)


Do NOT force them to stay in the water, it will cause them to be afraid of it forever; and they might not trust you anymore. Introduce them slowly into the water by sprinkling it on them, then gently lowering them into the water.


~~~


On the plants subject, pretty much any fruit and vegetable.


Lettuce, tomato, peaches, oranges, apples, celery, etc. But their diet should consist of more grainy foods. In buying one from a petstore make sure you look for vitamins and oats; not just the pretty seeds and colours. But back to the plants, some rats differ and may get an upset stomach from some sorts of fruits and vegetables; you'll know from their poo. Just don't feed them that or that much of it again.


I wouldn't give them wildflowers, but that's just my opinion. They're tame and all, and it might mess with their digestive system a bit.


And if you gave them anything like a chilli pepper it would probably give them very bad diarrhea, and they might not like you for a while or trust to take food from you.


Hope this was helpful, ;)





```Skittles!
Reply:(Alisha, What are your sources? I very seriously doubt that rubbing a rats tail the wrong way will give it cancer...)





As for baths, my rats generally enjoyed them. Use sensibly warm water without soap and don't force them to stay in the water. If you introduce them to baths slowly (repeated short encounters in which it can chose to leave the situation) they may get used to it and enjoy it. If you introduce it to a bath all at once and force it to stay, it will probably be traumatized and will resist a bath even more subsequent times. Unfortunately, if this happens it will probably associate the traumatic experience with you which can hurt your relationship with your pet. Just pay attention to the attitude of the rats and don't make them do something they don't want to do.





You should do some research on rat diets and suitable chew toys etc. There are numerous websites and a trip to your local pet store may be beneficial. The majority of rats are feral and eat everything from grains to trash. However, the things they insist on eating are not always good for them and there are definitely things that you shouldn't feed your pets so do some research. Good luck
Reply:honestly, I know you want to bath them. but unless a VET tells you to, do not get them wet at all. it can be bad for them, and get them sick. if you do bath them you can NEVER use ANY shapoo, soap, anything. same with washing they're cages or something. can never use soap. that willl get them sick. and can hurt they're skin. so if a vet does tell you to bath them, only do it in water, and just scrub them alittle bit. please don't bath them though, unless a vet says. if you vet does tell you to;; never use any soap, shapoo, anything. not even dog or cat shapoo. it will harm them. put it at a warm temperature. feel with your hand, and make it as if it would be comfortable for a baby. best thing to do, because 96% chance they will freak out. fill up the tub. just so at the one end that the water comes out of the fossit, is about, an inch high, so by time the middle of the bath it's half an ince. and at the end of the bathtub there is no water, so they can ease into it. have them walk in it, and if they don't like it, put them in the half inch, and make it so they're heads can lay on your hand, while they're feet are in the water, and rub they're cheeks or necks, to calm them. make sure when washing they're tail you NEVER brush with your hands or anything, from the bottom tip of the tail, up. only from they're butt downn the tail. if you rub up, it can give them cancer and other problems. they can eat any kind of veggies. basically any kind of fruit, but NO oranges, it can give them tumors. best thing is lettice, grapes, bananna, brocoli, tomatoes. you can also give them rice, mac and cheese, grain cereal, crackers, cooked noodles. just make sure whatever you give them give them a very small portion. the veggies you can give them as much as you want. but with fruit, every fruit is moist. which means if you give them too much, it can give them dirareah. so with fruit, give them about the size of half a grape. if they do good, give them fruit the SIZE of a full grape. and as for other food like cereal and noodles, as long as the cereals and crackers are grain, you can give them about as much can fir in your palm. NO cheese flavor or trix cereal or something like that.


sorry for that being so long, good luck.