I apologize, as I am mainly fan blog and not rat care blog, but I’ve tried to scroll past this several times. I have really tried to. I’ve even scrolled past notes to see if people told something so I don’t pile up on this poor poster, but I’ve found nothing. Something has to be saied.
As you may or may not know, I am proud rat mom for several years now, been through multiple generations of rats, even lightly&ocassionally helped out as foster home. I belive I have enough experience to ask. You do know those are obviously stressed rats right? Its NOT funny. Its like that video with poor rodent who is washing itself in shower from soap ALL OVER AGAIN. Those are stressed rats and it should not be treated as fun or rat party like most of comments suggest.
While its okay to let your rats run around in shallow water to cool themself, especially now with summer in full swing. But they should always have an opportunity to climb out and not be forced to just jump up and down like they do in this video. Those rats obviously do not like it and they are desperately trying to escape. They can seriously hurt themself atop of being stressed as hell!!
Rats should NEVER be given bath like this. It can hurt them both mentally and physically. Water getting into their ears can cause serious ear infections which has to be treated with IMMEDIATELY otherwise it can cause permanent head tilt or even balance problems. Thats is just one of many issues along with upper respiratory infections or even heart attack if saied rat is old or has freagile heart. It also damages their bond they have with you as owner or parent or friend or whatever you prefer to call yourself. It literaly teaches them that you are not to be fully trusted. And that hurts, does it not?
So. Please. Never bath your rats like this. Pool fun such as pea fishing is ok as long as they have an opportunity to climb out. This. Is. NOT. Under ANY circumstance.
If they stink, upgrade your cleaning routine - simple rule of thumb “if they sleep in stinky, they will be stinky” and no amount of baths will help with it. Many rat owners stress that overcleaning causes them to stink more, which is true. But daily spotclean is still needed, in a way that does not causes them feeling like their home does not smell like them anymore. Then, they will obliviously mark and stink more.
If your rats have buck gease, start watching how you feed them. Its often caused by high protein intake, meaning you are probably offering something like dog treats, eggs, chicken meat and other tasty things ATOP of feeding with kibble like Oxbow for example, which already covers their protein intake as it is. Its often little bit of here and lil bits of there that cause skin problems like buck gease and its just a start. I’ve met rats which kidneys stopped working and they died early because of high protein intake. Please, RETHINK what are you feeding and in what amounts. They live short as it is and its not worth it to shorten it more just because “they love it!”. I know numbers are boring but there is safety in them. Use it. And if they have a medical skin condition that requieres them to bath (which I doubt this is the case since there is whole mischief together and not just one of them), retcheck with rat community about correct treatment and to see how to stress-free bathe a ratty.
If your rat is covered with food, let them wash it off. They will do so overnight ussualy. If rat is too old to be able to wash properly, help them with baby wipes or warm moist cloth. Treat it as spa and sprinkle it with some gentle massage if you are able. It helps blood flowing better, lessens stiffening of muscle and your oldie will be feeling better together with being finally clean.
But please, PLEASE! Never bath them like this. This is NOT okay. Baths are most of the time literaly just for comfort of us humans, be it to lesser stink or make them look cleaner. What causes it often has different and better solutions in long term. Ones that are not stressfull and hurtful to your pet. And if you absolutely HAVE TO bath them, do it PROPERLY, in calm, warm enviroment, with lot of reassurment, treats and snuggles.
Once its yours, take care of it. You bound it to yourself, you tamed it, its your responsibility now, like certain fox once saied to Little Prince.
Thank you for listening and reading through whole thing.
kianamaiart
theartofmadeline
turnnoffyourmind
