Saving an animal’s life shouldn’t have to be costly. This is my comprehensive, no frills account of wild rat rearing based off my own experience.
If you have been following my blog you will know I recently adopted two baby wild rats. As you might imagine, there isn’t all that information online on how to rescue and rear wild rats (most focus on eradication), so I had to make do with a selection of articles and blogs and piece it all together. In addition to this, all blogs/articles assume you have access to a wide range of products and vets to help you along the way, which I was without. What I have chosen to do is share my experience on how to save a rat sans vet, sans fancy soy formula or fancy heating pad. This is a rat rearing help guide for living out in the sticks; from capture to release.
1. Return them to their mother.
So you’ve found some baby rats. If you have found rat babies in a nest, leave them there, their mother will be sure to return soon and will move them to a new nest if need be. Taking on rat babies should only be attempted if there is immediate danger, or you have clearly identified that the mother has died. In my case it appeared that they had been pulled out of their nest, I suspect by birds, and left exposed in an open area where they were being pecked at. I was unable to locate their nest and I couldn’t have left them where they were without there being a risk to their lives.
Don’t interfere unless necessary.
2. So you’ve decided to become a rat mother and you don’t have access to a vet.
At this stage most blogs suggest you take your kittens to a vet. I found Pip and Ratty at approximately 6 days old. Their eyes and ears were still closed and they had signs of fur breaking through. After my initial, unquestioning impulse of rescuing them it began to dawn on me that I may not have picked the “cleanest” of creatures to save. Rats are known to be prolific disease vectors, meaning that they carry bacteria or parasites in their blood or through third party travellers such as fleas. The rats themselves are not affected by these pathogens and appear healthy yet these can be transferred onto humans through close contact. This social conditioning was further compounded when I identified Pip and Ratty as Rattus rattus, the black rat, also known as the roof rat, as opposed to the brown, larger, sewer rat. Something about having a plague harboring creature in your home doesn’t feel like a grand idea.
When talking in scientific terms its hard to remain emotionally attached. My experience with Pip and Ratty however couldn’t have been any further from that fact, and was a greatly rewarding experience where they taught me much about their own cleanliness, intelligence, playfulness and innate natures. Should you have found this blog because you too find yourself in a similar experience I’m certain you too will become bonded to your rat kittens.
The only information I could find on baby rats carrying diseases suggested that at least until 1 week old they are simply too small to harbour anything nasty. This makes sense when you consider that parasites and bacteria require their host to survive in order for themselves to survive. A baby rat will not be able to provide the sustenance these pathogens require to survive without killing their host and therefore themselves. It is of course recommended to practice safe hygiene, wash your hands thoroughly and don’t have them up near your face.
If there is any serious defect or injury to them, it is my own personal philosophy that it would be kinder to place them somewhere warm and quiet and allow them to move on. It so happened that at week 3 Pip picked up a suspected chest infection and within 24 hours passed away. You can read more about this in my previous blog “What Is Death?”. Pip and Ratty both came to me with cuts to their skin from bird pecks which I gave a gentle wash with warm water using a cotton bud – these healed quickly.
3. Keeping your kitten warm.
Until they start to develop their fur at around 2 weeks old, your kitten will be unable to keep itself warm. If you, like me, don’t have access to a heating pad or a thermometer to monitor the temperature of their new box home, you can use a hot water bottle wrapped in cloth and a little common sense. Ensure its not too hot as not only would it be painful to rest on but it can also dehydrate them. I opted for a little warmer than lukewarm and regularly checked it and refreshed it once it had cooled. This is a 24 hour job until they’ve grown enough fur to self-regulate. I placed them in a small-medium sized cardboard box along with some cushion wadding and hair from a hair cut for them to cosy up in! Make sure that whatever material you place in their box that they can’t accidentally become entangled in; felt or fleece are a good option if you have it. Whichever option you use for keeping them warm, ensure there is enough room for them to move away from the heat source if they need to cool down. Another thing to note is that your cardboard box should have enough height and a lid, you’ll be surprised at how much a blind rat explores and the speed at which they do, and they will climb out if the opportunity presents itself. Do not be complacent!
4. Keeping your kitten fed.
The thing I struggled with most at the start was knowing whether or not they were dehydrated. If they’ve been separated from their mother for some time it’s likely they will be. If you scrunch up the skin around their neck and it remains in that position after more than a couple of seconds its likely they are dehydrated. Whilst this is likely to be true I did also think that perhaps they’re simply wrinkly with plenty of extra skin. When I wasn’t sure I tended to water down their feed a little more.
For the first 12 hours I only had cows milk and evaporated milk on offer so offered this up via the means of a cotton wool bud as I had no pipette on hand. Like with most creatures, cows milk is not the best substitute for their mother’s as the compositon of milk is very different. The closest replication to rat milk is actually human baby formula, with soy being the better option. In my case it was the regular lactose based formula for ages 0-1 that was on offer and it worked perfectly fine.
I found this blog to be helpful to know how much to feed my kittens as well as what their feed cycle should be. As I lacked a pipette initially I had no way of accurately calculating this so I relied on the kittens showing disinterest to determine when they’d had enough. Using a cotton bud was awfully slow and tedious and I did worry that it wasn’t working for them either as there’s only so much volume it can hold. So relatively early on (before reaching week 2), I added in a little mashed banana to the formula making it denser, which was a success. Over time I increased the mashed banana to formula ratio until they were weaned. I did eventually get a pipette which made feeding much quicker. The drawback to this method is being careful that you don’t force the food down too fast which can result in either forcing air into their stomachs causing a painful bloat, or forcing food into their lungs which will either cause suffocation or a chest infection. Whilst using a cotton bud it was certainly easier to avoid either of those things. You may notice that your kitten will open it’s mouth like a baby bird, this is a sign that it’s ready to power suck, a move that is possible when feeding with a pipette but not so much with a cotton bud.
In terms of how to hold your kitten during feeds. You may find them to wriggle. You can hold them firmly upright by the scruff of the neck or you can encase them in your hand, keeping their legs tucked in. Patience is a virtue.
Until week 2 they are unable to defecate by themselves and would have received stimulation from their mother to elicit a bowel movement. Before or after each feed you’ll need to stimulate their genitals, using a cotton bud dipped in warm water, to encourage them to poop out a small pellet and urinate. If its too runny they have diarrhea and you’ll need to make sure they don’t dehydrate. If they don’t urinate it’s likely they are dehydrated.
Once their eyes had opened at approximately 2.5 weeks, I steadily introduced soft, whole foods such as bananas and cucumbers in a tin lid laid on the floor of their cage (until their eyes open you will need to keep feeding them by hand to avoid them accidentally inhaling food/liquids through their nose). It wasn’t long before their range of foods widened and they could handle seeds, nuts, hard veg and meat. I avoided giving them any cooked food as much as possible. I did get a hold of hamster biscuits (as rat biscuits weren’t available) which I gave in small portions, as well as dried alfalfa to keep their fibre intake high.
The final note in terms of feeding is that once they were fully weaned I had to cycle through many different foods to keep it varied. After week 4, I searched for insects and beetles from the garden to feed Ratty.
5. Deciding on releasing or keeping your kittens.
It’s important to know from the start what you plan on doing with them once they’re weaned. Of the articles and blogs I could find most people suggested they kept the rats as pets, not many rewilded them. Depending on your goal will affect how you handle them. Up until approx week 3, you will be hands on with them as you hold them for feeding, cleaning etc. Once their eyes have opened and they have good motor control there is less need for you to handle them unless you intend to keep them as a pet. If this is your intention ensure you handle them regularly as their wild instincts will be dominant and if left unhandled will not make for good pets. If not, you want to try and limit how much you handle them so that they remain wild and independent. What will also influence how much you physically interact with your kittens is how many you have. If you have two or more, they will bond with one another and will be less likely to interact with you. In my case, Pip passed away at 3 weeks old leaving Ratty on his own. Rats are social creatures and find it stressful being on their own. I tried to find a balance between keeping some physical contact but trying not to tame him. I can’t be certain I found the right balance. I would find that he would play with me much like you would with a dog and he would gently nibble my fingers as if practicing fighting off a snake. Should Pip have survived, Ratty would not have needed my attention as he would have bonded with Pip.
From weeks 3-4 I released Ratty in the garden each afternoon to allow him to explore and run around. After a few days of this he became much bolder and without a sealed enclosure to keep him in it seemed like I might lose him. At his age of only 4 weeks I felt him still too young to leave the nest so I unfortunately had to keep him in his cage until the day of his release around week 6. At 6 weeks of age you rat will have its adult coat and will have ballooned in size making them more capable of surviving in the wild.
6. Housing your kittens.
Until their eyes opened I kept them in a medium sized cardboard box with bedding and a hot water bottle. During this time I worked on building a cage for them. I tried to make it as exciting as possible so they could practice climbing and jumping, as well as walking along unstable surfaces. I lined the floors of the cage with duck tape to avoid Ratty’s urine soaking into the wood and covered it with saw dust, occasionally also adding barks, leaves and grass from the garden. If you opt to buy a cage you’ll want to choose metal over plastic as plastic can be chewed through.
I added various, homemade toys to place in their cage to keep them entertained with a digging pit being the greatest success. Other games involved hiding their food under rocks or bark, or inside stuffed toys, or hanging their food where some problem solving was required to get to it. A list of inexpensive rat toys can be found here.
7. Helping your kittens leave their nest (and you).
With the aim of releasing Ratty at week 6, I introduced him to more and more items from the garden including leaves, stones, insects (if I could find them) and I would also provide him with a tray of soil and grass which he could dig in. Digging was by far one of his favorite activities and if there were insects or seeds hidden in there, even better.
His releasing happened very naturally when one day as I was cleaning out his cage in the garden, he managed to pull himself out of the top hatch. I allowed him to decide what he would do next, which was to jump back inside the box. A short while after he managed it again, this time climbing down the outside of the cage and running to the nearest shelter in the garden. This happened in the late afternoon when I found him to be most active after sleeping mostly during the day. He spent roughly one hour exploring a small area of the garden and still interacted with us. We were still able to touch him and pick him up however we chose to leave him free, with access to his cage and food if he wanted it. After leaving him sheltering under a plant pot with a couple of fleece blanket cuttings and food that was the last we saw of him for about 2 weeks. Since then he regularly visits our bird table for snacks. It was a wonderful experience caring for him and it was with a selfishly, heavy heart that I released him.
8. Don’t be hard on yourself if they don’t make it.
Lastly, understand that death is a part of life. If despite your valiant efforts they don’t make it, take solace in the experience you shared of providing kindness and compassion. Your life and theirs will have been greatly enriched.
9. Helpful links.
I found the below articles and blogs to be helpful in terms of caring for baby rats.
http://www.ratfanclub.org/orphans.html
TheForceOfDao 