Updated 8/21/11

While Social Rats is officially closed to rescue, adoption and breeding, at least for now,we will be continuing to provide rat related information for you here. I will be revamping a lot of the info here so you will have the best rat related info that I have available. I will also be continuing to sell the Social Rats Special Soy Free (99% corn free) food, which is of the highest quality (food quality, not pet quality) ingredients to make sure that your furry baby is as healthy as it can be.  

Updated 3/12/11

The Social Rats rattery is closed until further notice. However, we will still continue to fill internet and pick up food orders. Social Rats is aware that we are the only one who provides soy free rat food at the moment, although we will continue our fight to have soy removed from commercially produced rat foods.

I do not know when Social Rats will reopen to rescues and breeding.My health is getting to the point that it is not fair to my rats or my family to continue at this time.

This has not been an easy choice to make, but it is what is best. I will try (once I get a new computer) to continue to work with the Social Rats Rescue network, helping ppl to find homes for rats in need, but Social Rats, sadly, is no longer going to be a viable resource for adopting anymore.

f you need to contact me, the email me at the_ratlady@yahoo.com  

 Read our blog at socialrats.blogspot.com

Contact: the_ratlady@yahoo.com 

Bi-Odor & Food,
Meds,
Ingredient List for the Mix,
Testimonials,

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 Our Special Soy free, Corn free, no fillers diet is complete. It is available for pick up of shipping. Please click on the Rat Supplies page.

  Rats can survive on a basic block, but they can not thrive on that. (not to mention the amount of soy in the blocks) This is why I prefer to use and recommend for use, a grain mix, rather than a lab block.  Sometimes, rats crave certain foods because they are low on those vitamins, but lab blocks do not allow them to be able to balance their personal nutrient levels because there is no variety in it. Suppose, for instance, a rat is craving iron, because of anemia, if you are feeding lab blocks, a rat may become overweight just trying to satisfy their need for iron, which I believe is part of the reason why rats fed lab blocks tend to be overweight, because they are eating more to satisfy a nutritional craving.

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Also, the blog is unlocked and able to be read. I have been in contact with a rescue in Bedford, TX that is also now a part of the Social Rats Rescue network, that has been soy free for 4 years now and her average life span for soy free rats is 3.5 to 4.5 years old. Going soy free makes a huge difference in lifespan and her cancer rats has gone down by a whopping 90% as well. So, not only will the rats you adopt that are soy free live longer than most other places, but they are at a much lower cancer risk as well.

The cancer rate for the rescue in Bedford, TX is a meer 5% of her females. Her males almost never get cancer and the girls that do is rarely mammary tumors.

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Please take a moment to read the testimonials from some of our adopters. I think you will find it informative and helpful.  I am a rat lover at heart, not a lover of my rats only. I almost always reply within 24 hours unless I have to research something you ask or I am ill.

If you are interested in breeding please keep in mind, unless you are going to work it like a full time job, it will NOT be profitable to raise and adopt out pet rats. It took me a year, working with various distributors and such to maintain a line of products to help support my own rats and my rescue efforts. This is not something that you will get rich doing. 

If the only reason you do not want a male rat is because of the odor, then Bi-Odor will solve your problems.

We have created a new Soy Free, Corn Free, no fillers diet for our rats and it is available for purchase.  FM Brown's has added soy to the Tropical Carnival line of foods, so we are back to scratch. We were not warned of this issues until after our rats had been exposed to the food. We are also asking for a total Boycott of ALL FM Brown's items, especially the Tropical Carnival Line of foods because of them caring more about their bottom line than our animal's health. They were informed of the dangers of soy, they were flooded with emails and phone calls when they did this and it made no difference, all that mattered to them was the bottom line.

If you are thinking of only adopting or owning 1 rat, click the video. Rats do better in pairs or groups because of their social nature. Imagine living alone and no job, no store trips, only allowed outside for a short time and even then you only get to spend time with a dog or cat, no other humans. You would get lonely and this is how rats feel being housed alone, even with being played with for a few hours a day, every day, is still not the same as a ratty friend to cuddle with. 

I have been told that Arlington Heights Animal Hospital does neutering of male rats pretty cheap, $60 or so for everything. You can find their info here: www.ahah.biz  However, there is a waiting list because they only do surgeries on Mondays.

Rats are social animals are thrive better with that companionship, which is why we rather adopt them in same sex pairs. Because of the issues that can come with trying to introduce males to each other, we do ask that if you plan to adopt a male, we do recommend a baby rather than an adult.

Social Rats does NOT advocate fixing a rat unless it is medically necessary. Neutering a male may help with hormone aggression, but the research done about female aggression leads us to believe that spaying her will not help much if at all. If you wish to have a mixed colony (males and females) and are not planning on breeding, I would, however, advocate fixing at least one gender of your rats, males would usually be safer, less risk involved. Also, if you plan to spay to prevent tumors, if your rat is soy free, her chances of getting a tumor is very low as compared to a rat that is fed soy. Please keep this in mind when making the decision to put your rat through surgery.  

Besides being social, rats are also very intelligent. Rats like to explore, cuddle, groom, ect. If a rat is alone and bored, they will either become lazy and just lay around, this may be depression. Otherwise they will try to escape, putting all of their energy into finding a way out of their cage by chewing and finding ANY weakness in the cage and exploiting it. Rats, especially males, if left alone for too long may not take to a new cage mate too easily, if at all. This is why we suggest always making sure that you have a cage mate for your rat, unless you intend on spending 12+ hours a day with it. Keeping in mind that humans may have problems with grooming a rat like a companion can, including things like faces and ears.

I feel that most vets in our area are very limited in their rat experience and unless I come up with an issue that I am unable to deal with myself, then I do not take my rats to a vet. I have met too many vets that are more than willing to order unneeded tests and will intentionally misdiagnose rats to get the money for the treatment of them. Due to a vet like this, we lost a few rats and others were medicated needlessly. 

It is my recommendation that any pet store that will not allow you to hold a rat before adoption, that you reconsider purchasing from them. Please do not go to animal or reptile shows expecting to find pet rats there, as most of them are feeders with possibly very little socialization. If you are not willing to work with the rats for a significant amount of time and are not willing to risk getting bit and never having a rat that will be loving and social, then I suggest you avoid animal shows. 

 If you want to find a good tempered pet rat, look to rescues, shelters or breeders. These rats have been housed and cared for in a way to help to ensure that they are healthy and well tempered. Always make sure of the return policy when adopting. Cat Nap From the Heart does adopt out rats and does work with fosters to make sure their rats are social.

I hope that you will check back to read up on this info and learn more about this wonderful pet.