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thislittlerattie

Teeny baby rat bruxing ❤️

driesvand

judyjetsons

me abt to do my makeup

neurosciencestuff

(Image caption: A rat in the center of eight spices. IU scientists used over 00 spices in two circular “arenas” with different black-and-white patterns on the floor to gauge rat’s ability to remember information in specific contexts)

Study reveals rats have greater episodic memory than previously thought

Anyone who has ever spotted a familiar face at a party but been unable to place where or when they last met that person knows the difference between episodic memory and familiarity.

Familiarity is mere recognition. Episodic memory is the ability to recall a memory’s context — to remember where and when you saw that familiar face. It’s also the difference between sputtering your way through a reintroduction or smoothly referring back to details about the last time you talked to your acquaintance.

Although it’s easy to grasp the difference in these types of memory in ourselves, it’s not easy to know how animals see the world. Do their memories also take context into account?

A new study by Indiana University researchers that appears online in the journal Current Biology suggests that rats exhibit much stronger episodic memory than previously thought. It is the first study to show that these animals can remember more than 30 events in context.

The lead author on the study is Danielle Panoz-Brown, a graduate student in the lab of Jonathon Crystal, a professor in the IU Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, who is also an author on the paper.

“Most work shows that rats, and other animals, remember one, two or perhaps three events,” Crystal said. “This new work shows that rats remember many events — over 30 — and are likely able to remember many more using episodic memory.”

He added that the existence of episodic memory in lower animals has implications for research on human diseases that affect memory, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases, since the majority of research on the brain — and the drugs used to treat memory diseases and dementia — start out based on insights into how the brain works in rats.

So, if a pharmaceutical company creates an Alzheimer’s drug to target memory based on research into one type of memory — the part of the brain responsible for finding missing objects, for example — but doesn’t also have data on the type of memory that helps individuals remember the important people, places and things in their life, it runs the risk of producing a product that helps a person remember where they put the car keys, but not how they met their spouse.

That risk is the impetus behind several other studies published by Crystal over the past several years. In January, Crystal’s lab reported evidence that animals also possess independent working memory systems by showing that rats could remember a longer list of items when asked to recall a combination of physical locations and smells versus when they used only a single category of information. And prior to that, they found that rats also possess “source memory,” which is the ability to recall where a new piece of information was acquired.

To conduct the new study, Panoz-Brown and Crystal developed a series of challenges in which rats were asked to recall up to 30 different scents — basil, strawberry and banana, among many others — to earn a treat. However, they only earned the reward when they chose the correct scent in a certain context — one of two circular “arenas” with different black-and-white patterns on the floor.

The rats were exposed to a series of many odors and then taught to associate “new” odors — ones to which they had not been previously exposed — with food. After learning this “rule,” they were put into one arena and exposed to an odor (for example, a strawberry). They were then put into a second arena and exposed to two odors (such as blueberry and strawberry). Finally, they were placed back into the first arena and presented with two odors. They correctly chose blueberry as the “new” odor, despite their previous exposure in the other context.

The results suggest the rats realized the second odor counted as “new” since they had not yet encountered it in the second context. Moreover, the rats performed similarly on several other challenges, including a test designed to challenge their ability to recall these “rules” over time and an attempt to confuse them through rapidly switching the contexts.

“Our findings suggest that the ability to represent numerous episodic memories is quite old in the evolutionary timescale,” Crystal said. “More broadly, our work supports the view that rats may be used to model fundamental aspects of human memory.”

Unfortunately, not many researchers study these more-complex areas of memory. One major reason is that it’s just easier to target the parts of the brain that remember location. Automated technology used by many labs makes it easier to simply track a rat as it runs through a maze — a test of location-based memory — as opposed to studying more-sophisticated forms of memory.

healingwhiskers

“Has my stocking been filled yet?” -Jasper

Hairless rat care

Even though my last rat passed away about a month ago, my best friend just adopted a rat. I even convinced her to adopt two and the second one was a hairless dumbo.

This got me to thinking, what exactly are the extra requirements for hairless rats?

1. Skin moisturizing - It’s important to keep your hairless rat’s skin moisturized. This can be done on a daily or bi-daily basis. You can use coconut oil, olive oil, or commercial products made specifically for hairless rodents. Whatever you do, though, remember that rats lick themselves! Please only use natural products on your rats. (Avoid lotions and avoid anything with alcohol in it. Avoid getting any moisturizer in the rat’s eyes, ears, or nose.)

2. Skin cleansing - Can be done on a weekly basis. Use a very, very gentle shampoo such as tear-free baby shampoo. Or, if the rat seems very healthy, then you may not need to bathe them more than a couple times a year. It depends on the rat, to be honest (and their genetics).

3. Eye cleaning - Hairless rats don’t have as many eyelashes (if any) as a furry rat. For this reason, debris can become trapped in their eyes much more easily, thus producing drainage. Cleaning their eyes daily, or every other day, is a good idea. Use a soft material that’s been dampened, such as a cotton ball, cosmetic sponge, or a gentle fabric.

4. Diet - Hairless rats feel much warmer to the touch than furry rats because they must keep their body temperature elevated to compensate for the lack of fur. Because of this, they have higher metabolic needs and will need slightly more food than the furry rat. Feed them a higher-fat diet than the furry rat. (This can be maintained through supplemental foods such as fresh meat, nuts, vegetables, etc.) Some people say it is a good idea to feed your rats extra protein (such as cooked eggs, meat, cheese) but some say this will just build up over the years and lead to renal failure. I’m not going to claim to know the answer, but there are the two opposing view points. They will also drink more than the furry rat. Be sure to keep water available to rats at all times regardless of type.

5. Environment - For hairless rats it’s even more important to make sure that the temperature of their cage be above 60 degrees (if you have multiple rats) and 70 degrees if you have a single or a pair of rats. Make sure to keep the cage away from drafts such as from fans, AC, or windows. Clean the cage AT LEAST once a week. The urine that builds up in their bedding can lead to health problems if not properly taken care of (i.e. by cleaning weekly). Avoid using bedding that is super-absorbent if you rat has especially dry skin. Always avoid using bedding that creates dust or is scented (such a cedar) because this will greatly irritate the rats’ fragile lungs. If I left anything out, or you have any suggestions, let me know! Thanks!

#rats #hairless rats #ratties #rat care

theratbastards

Home-Made Rat Salad

Whether you feed them lab blocks or a homemade mix, it’s always best to complement your rats’ main diet with fresh fruit and vegetables, in order to keep vitamin levels effectively balanced. This is our (and our boys’) personal preferred mix, but of course it can always be customised to suit the needs and preferences of your own rats.

For this particular salad you will need:

Kale (makes up the main bulk of the recipe)

Spinach

Broccoli (our boys love this)

Sweetcorn (not too much)

Carrots

Parsley

Green beans

Cucumber (not much nutritional value, just a fav for our boys)

Blueberries (just a few)

The Rat Forum has a useful list here, detailing what fruits and vegetables rats should and should not eat - if you’re unsure about an ingredient, it’s always better to double-check first.

(Excuse the numerous coffee cups in the background. We are disgusting.)

hippiewizard

My favorite little man, Mr. Noodle!

archerandfriends-blog

I share my life with the most perfect little creatures.

Ectoparasites of rats

Let’s talk about ectoparasites.

Some of you may be thinking, sure my rat can get mites, I know that… but…? Yeah. But, you rat can also get fleas, ticks, and lice. And guess what? Somehow, my rat right now has lice. So, we’re going to talk about what each of these look like on your rat, what the signs and symptoms may be, how you diagnose them, and how you treat them.

First and foremost: mites. Radfordia ensifera

Mites are perhaps the most common skin ailment among rats, though the mites themselves are too small to see. So how would you know if your rat had mites? Incessant scratching.

Actually, most rats have mites, but are asymptomatic (meaning it’s not really a problem for them) for the most part. It’s when the rat begins scratching so much and so hard that the poor lil’ thing starts causing wounds that it’s an issue.

Incessant itching is a symptom of many of these ectoparasites, but unlike the others, you can’t see mites like I said. What you can see are open sores when you search through the rat’s fur using your finger, or, alternatively, if you wet your rat down, you’ll be able to see sores and scabs, but no actual “bugs.”

These mites are most commonly found around the shoulders, face, neck – basically the upper torso.

It’s important to note that scratching is not good. Scratching can cause open wounds, which can lead to an infection. To prevent this from happening, please trim your rat’s back toenails, but be caution NOT to cut the quick.

With mites you CAN see the scabs, you CANNOT see any bugs.

ALSO, these mites may get on you and mite cause some minor skin irritation for a very short amount of time, but will very soon die because they prefer rats, not humans, so please don’t think you’ll get a mite infestation yourself.

Unfortunately, to treat a bad mite infestation, you need Revolution as ivermectin doesn’t work. Revolution is not OTC (in the US at least). So, you have to go to vet and the vet has to do a skin scraping which is not accurate and can produce a false negative… this is all not very good.

The best way to prevent mites is make sure you’re freezing their wooden, cardboard, etc. toys as well as they’re bedding for two days before you give it to them.

Next: lice. Rat lice to be specific. Polyplax spinulosa

Note that unlike with mites, you can most definitely see the lice. They’re going to appear reddish-brown in color. Lice prefer the “bottom” half of your rat, or your rat’s bottom and underside, but will eventually spread to infest all of your rat.

Again, the main symptom is scratching, so another sign could be scabs or sores/wounds and/or hair loss in the most scratched places.

Diagnosis is fairly easy to do yourself because you can typically see the lice. However, if you’re uncertain that these are indeed lice, take your rat to the vet for an exam.

Treatment for lice is usually ivermection 1.87% orally, once a week for three weeks, but please look up what the specifics are for dosing for your particular rat. Don’t use this on baby rats unless advised by a vet otherwise.

By the way, these are NOT human lice. These are RAT lice.

Lastly: fleas.

We all (probably) know what fleas look like. A flea infestation is more indicative of a LARGER flea infestation, meaning you most likely have other pets (cats, dogs, etc.) and they have brought fleas into the house, the fleas have infested the house and now your rat. You can actually see fleas and flea droppings on your rats, unlike with mites. Also: fleas jump, lice don’t. To tell if something on your rat is dirt versus flea droppings, flea droppings turn red in water and dirt won’t. This is because fleas survive off of the blood of animals.

So, first: TREAT THE OTHER ANIMALS AND THE HOUSE.

Again, the rat will be scratching like crazy. The fleas will be easier to identify because they are much larger than lice. They are easily visible to the naked eye.

I know this sounds silly, but if your rat has fleas, please take him or her to the vet because the treatments for fleas can be extremely toxic to your rat. Some people have used things like Frontline for kittens, but the rat absolutely CANNOT ingest this. A commonly prescribed treatment are powders, but the rat can inhale these and that can be very toxic.

Please keep all your other animals in your house up to date on their flea/tick medication and always wash your hands after handling other rats. I’d also like to put a word in for maybe not taking your rat outside (my rats are not the brightest and so we don’t take them out anything) as this is a very easy way to pick up fleas and ticks.

No matter what the parasite, trim your rat’s nails, be sure to dose the rat PROPERLY, and clean the cage on a routine basis and after each treatment. When you’re not sure what to do, take your rat to the vet. Follow all your vet’s instructions.

Some good resources:

http://www.petmd.com/exotic/conditions

https://lilspazrats.wikispaces.com/Health+Care+-+What%27s+On+My+Rat%3F++(ectoparasites)

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

http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/exotic_and_laboratory_animals/rodents/mice_and_rats_as_pets.html

http://ratguide.com/health/integumentary_skin/ectoparasites.php

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=18+1804&aid=2419

#rats #pet rats #ectoparasites

Finally have a new (informational!) text post coming up tomorrow.

I’ve been overwhelmed with school and then one of our two rats passed away, so it seemed pointless to post since this was originally made for my boyfriend, but I feel like I have an obligation now :)

See you and your noodle booties tomorrow!