How to Care for pet rats

Rats as Pets

Pet rats are intelligent, social and genuinely affectionate animals that bond closely with their owners. They typically live around 2 to 3 years, and with regular handling and a bit of patience, most become confident, friendly pets that enjoy company, play, and even simple tricks. They have poor eyesight but an excellent sense of smell and hearing, which shapes how they read the world and how you should approach them.

Owning a Pet Rat

Despite an undeserved reputation, pet rats are clean, sensitive, playful animals that are rarely aggressive when properly handled. Nearly all domestic rats carry a bacteria called mycoplasma, which can cause respiratory symptoms to flare up from time to time regardless of how well they’re cared for. This isn’t a sign of poor husbandry, just a trait of the species (more on this under Common Health Concerns below). Children should be taught not to put their fingers in the cage smelling of food, since even a friendly rat may be tempted to take a taste.

Handling & Bonding

Give a new rat a day or two to settle before handling begins, and wait until it’s eating and drinking normally. Handle gently, in short sessions, always supporting the body with two hands. Rats can jump and shouldn’t be dropped, as this can cause serious injury. Before touching or picking up your rat, let it see and smell you first. This reassures it that you’re not a threat and builds trust faster than reaching straight in. Once bonded, most rats love a face massage, a cuddle, and a treat while they’re being handled.

Devote a little time daily to interaction. Two short sessions a day, using your rat’s favourite treat, gets the best results for building trust and for basic training like coming when called or sitting on command.

Bringing Your Rat Home

Have the enclosure fully set up and ready before you bring your rat home, with food, water and a hide already in place, so they can settle in straight away without you needing to disturb them. Transport your rat in a secure carry cage, and keep the trip home as calm and quiet as possible.

Once home, place the enclosure somewhere quiet, away from heavy foot traffic, loud noises and other pets, and let your rat settle in undisturbed for a day or two. Resist the urge to handle them straight away, even though it’s tempting. Let them explore the enclosure and get used to new sounds and smells first, and wait until they’re eating, drinking and moving around normally before starting to handle them.

Keep the household calm during this settling-in period, and introduce children or other pets gradually and gently once your rat seems comfortable, rather than all at once.

Harness Training

Use a harness made specifically for rats, never a collar. Get your rat used to wearing it indoors for a few minutes at a time before attaching a leash, and build up gradually. Keep outings occasional and low-key once your rat is comfortable, rather than long or daily.

Litter Training

Use a litter tray with a different substrate to the one in the main enclosure, ideally highly absorbent and unscented. Fill it a few centimetres deep, place it where your rat already tends to toilet, and move any droppings you find elsewhere into the tray to encourage the habit. Reward success with a treat. It can take a few weeks, and trays don’t need daily cleaning, once a week is generally enough.

Setting Up: What You’ll Need

Carry cage, for safe transport home and to the vet. Enclosure sized appropriately for your rat’s age, with wire spacing too narrow for a baby rat to squeeze through (see Enclosures below). Quality rat pellet mix, such as Vetafarm Rodent Origins, Selective Rat Pellets, or our in-store Birdsville Rat Mix. Drink bottle, which keeps water cleaner than an open bowl. Heavy, tip-proof food bowl. Salt or mineral lick, genuinely optional if your rat’s diet is already balanced, but a reasonable extra safeguard. A good variety of toys, including chew toys, rat wheel, tubes and climbing items, aim for at least four. A hide or tent, a snug, enclosed space to feel safe in, sized with future growth in mind. Substrate, a low-dust option such as hemp or Kaytee. Cage cleaner, a rat-safe, non-toxic disinfectant. A wormer and lice and mite spray, see Parasite Control below.

Worth adding: spare bowls, small animal vitamins if feeding a lower-quality diet, rat-safe shampoo, a soft bed, a synbiotic or probiotic supplement, a basic first-aid kit, and a harness if you’d like to take your rat on outings.

Rat Enclosures

Rats grow larger than most people expect, so give them room to move, climb and explore. The minimum enclosure size we recommend is 60cm x 42cm x 61cm high, though bigger is always better, and a cage with multiple levels suits their love of climbing well. Set it up with enrichment in mind: hanging toys, a hammock and a hide up top; perches, a drink bottle and salt lick in the middle; tunnels, food bowls and chew toys at the bottom.

Always check wire spacing before buying, as baby rats can squeeze through gaps in cages sized for adults. If you’re unsure, our team can help you choose a suitable enclosure and you’re welcome to test the spacing in store.

Substrate & Bedding

Rats are prone to respiratory irritation, so stick to dust-free, absorbent bedding such as hemp or Kaytee. Bedding depth of around 5 to 15cm works well, and deeper bedding needs changing less often. Litter trays should use a different substrate to the main enclosure.

Toys & Enrichment

Rats are playful and need regular mental stimulation. Without it, boredom can lead to problem chewing or low mood over time. They love tubes, tunnels, hides and boxes to climb through, along with balls and soft toys to chew or pull apart. Bird perches and ladders make a great crossover addition to a rat enclosure, and hammocks are a favourite for both play and sleeping. Rats also benefit from an exercise rat wheel, which is larger than a mouse or hamster wheel to suit their size. Rotate toys regularly, and replace anything that’s been chewed apart, that’s usually a sign they liked it. Toys also help keep teeth worn down, which matters more than it might seem (see Teeth Health below).

Rat Diet & Feeding

A high-quality rat pellet or balanced mix should make up around 90 to 95% of your rat’s diet, with the remaining 5 to 10% coming from fresh treats, fruit and vegetables. We recommend and stock premium options such as Vetafarm Rodent Origins, Selective Rat Pellets, and our own Birdsville Rat Mix, all formulated by nutritionists and vets with a balance of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Avoid supermarket or low-quality commercial rat food, which often contains fillers, artificial additives and poorly digestible ingredients. If you do use one, supplement your rat’s water with Small Animal Vitamins. Rats should be fed an all you can eat diet in a bowl or feeder that is not easy to tip over.

Fruits & Veggie Guide (Examples, not limited to:)

Fruits

Apple, pear, blueberries, strawberries, watermelon and apricot.

Vegetables

Pumpkin, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, carrots, celery, sweet potato, cucumber, spinach, romaine lettuce and squash.

Protein & Treats

Cooked chicken (soft bones only), beef, tuna, salmon, eggs and small amounts of liver as whole protein sources. Liver is nutrient-dense, so keep it occasional rather than regular. Other occasional treats include plain cooked rice or pasta, oatmeal, rice cakes, small pieces of cheese, dog biscuits, plain baby food and a small amount of soy milk.

Avoid Entirely

Excessive cheese, peanut butter (a choking risk, as rats cannot vomit), dried corn (which can develop mould), iceberg lettuce (little nutritional value), orange juice or peel, blue cheese dressing, licorice, rhubarb, potato skins, green or unripe potatoes, poppy seeds (can cause neurological damage), and processed junk food. Red cabbage and artichokes can cause gas. Chocolate should only ever be given in an extremely small amount, if at all.

Providing Water to Your Rats

Fresh water is very important, as many pet rodents presented as “sick” are actually just dehydrated. Fresh water should be made constantly available and kept free from contamination. Water is best provided in bottle drinkers, available in store at Birdsville. The tubes can become clogged with food debris, so check them if the water level hasn’t changed recently.

Mineral Supplements and Vitamins

Salt licks and mineral licks are important for your rat’s health and wellbeing. The need depends on diet, as some quality produce and good diets simply lack a high enough salt content depending on where the produce is grown. Salt and minerals are necessary in a rat’s diet but must be consumed in moderation, which your rat will instinctively know when their body needs it. A salt lick aids digestion, muscles, nerves and fluid regulation.

Hygiene

Rats live in close contact with their bedding, so keep it clean and free of toxins. Ammonia from urine irritates the respiratory tract and increases infection risk. Clean the cage regularly with a rat-safe disinfectant. If it starts to smell, it’s overdue for a clean.

Parasite Control

Spray with lice and mite treatment every 3 months as a preventative. Mites and lice can be transmitted even without other pets in the house. Fleas are rare but treatable with a flea shampoo or powder alongside a full cage and bedding wash.

Teeth Health

A rat’s teeth grow constantly throughout its life. Without an appropriate diet and plenty to chew on, teeth can overgrow and dig into the face, causing pain, trauma, infection, and difficulty eating. In serious cases, this can even cause death from an inability to chew or swallow. Keep a wooden chew toy available at all times to help keep teeth worn down naturally.

Common Health Concerns

Respiratory Disease (Mycoplasma)

Nearly every pet rat carries this bacteria, so occasional wheeziness, sneezing or nasal discharge can come and go even in a well-cared-for rat. Dust-free bedding, regular cleaning, and good ventilation all help reduce flare-ups. Watch for weight loss, lethargy or open-mouth breathing, and see a vet if symptoms are ongoing or severe.

Tumours

Cancers and tumours are relatively common in pet rats and are often serious without early vet intervention. A health check habit (see below) helps catch these early.

Red, Orange or Pink Eye/Nose Discharge (Chromodacryorrhea)

A small amount can be a normal pigment in rat tears, but an increase can signal an underlying issue and is worth a vet check.

Bumblefoot

Sores on the feet, usually linked to unclean or wire-bottomed cages without enough to walk on. Adding wooden perches, ladders or ramps over a wire base helps prevent it.

Coat Dandruff or Fur Loss

Can indicate mites, or less commonly fleas. Regular preventative treatment and a good multivitamin usually resolve it.

Weight Loss

Often linked to overgrown teeth, but can also point to illness, injury, or other underlying conditions. A vet visit is the right call if it continues.

Sudden Death

Rare but possible in small animals, sometimes with no clear cause found even after a vet examination. It’s an upsetting but recognised risk with any small pet.

Health Checks

A simple weekly check, running your hands from head to tail, checking ribs aren’t overly prominent, and looking for clear eyes and a clean nose and mouth, helps you catch problems early. Our team can show you how, but we’re not vets, so anything of concern should go to one of the vets listed below.

Sexing Your Rat

Our rats are not DNA sexed. We do our best to separate males and females and give an opinion on sex, but this isn’t guaranteed, particularly in young rats. We keep males and females in separate enclosures in store to minimise the risk of surprises.

History of Domestic Rats

The domestic rat (Rattus norvegicus) descends from a wild brown rat native to southern Asia, which spread along trade routes and reached Europe by the mid-1300s. Selective breeding in captivity, beginning in earnest in France in the 1840s, produced calmer, more tameable rats, and a white-coated litter born in 1906 became the foundation for many of today’s pet and laboratory bloodlines. Because of this shared ancestry, all domestic rats carry some predisposition to the same handful of conditions, including the respiratory mycoplasma mentioned above.

Boarding

Boarding is available throughout the year. Visit Petsville Hotel to book your stay. Come see us in store if you have any concerns or questions, and feel free to bring your rat for us to see.