Dirty Rat

[Linds]

OK, so a few weeks ago I had a rat get loose in my basement. I had seen him laughing at me on several occassions but was unable to catch him.... until last night! Well, that I have him in a temporary container because I am unsure as to what I should do with him. He's kinda gross now, his tail is totally black, not sure what it is, but he's pretty dirty - and quite angry as well! I don't want to feed him off (not in that state), but I don't know what kind of idea it is to put him back in with the others either. Any suggestions?

[SilverTongue]

release him in the woods, mariena, hehe any local restaraunt. Or you can put him to sleep. But make sure not to release him within a mile of your house. He will come back...WITH FRIENDS

[josefg]

I think that the best option is to put him to sleep. IMO you shouldn't release it anywhere cause although it may be cute, it is still a pest. Like you said, you couldn't feed him to any of your snakes (and you shouldn't consider giving him a bath as angry rats are dangerous).

[Linds]

OK... here's the angle I am coming from. I refuse to kill any animal for the reason of convenience. He's no longer feeder material and he is not suffering in pain, so there is no good reason for me to waste him. I am not going to be letting him go, I'm not going to be amongst the population of people that let their critters go because they don't want them anymore.

That being said, I think I am going to set him up in a hamster cage I found for a few week and treat him with fenbendazole to clean him up on the chance that he picked up something. Maybe he will calm down enough for me to give him a bath later on :confused: I might just put him in a bucket of shallow water and then dump him in another bucket of rinse water then toss him in a different bucket to dry off...lol :p

[josefg]

I refuse to kill any animal for the reason of convenience

That's cool Linds, and if killing an animal can be avoided everyone should avoid that. However I think that you should keep him far (not just seperated) from your other rats in case he picked up something.

As for using the buckets to wash the rat, it's a good idea but take care, it may make him even angrier.

[shimbathesnake]

My son has pet rats and they love having a bath! But then again they are used to it.
You could put some warm water in your bath and let him have a swim around. He should not be able to climb the sides (But i'm only guessing here!)
Clem

[shimbathesnake]

PS

Can someone please show me how to insert quotes from other posts! Thanks

Clem...

[rattekonigin]

The bath is a good idea, but the rats can definitely get out...my pet rats HATE baths and I hold them and wash them in the sink because once I tried letting them swim around in the bathtub and what I ended up with was soaking wet rocket-rats shooting out of the tub and onto me!

[lance]

haha thats hilarious rat rockets lol

[casacrow]

I have had a few rat rockets when I used to bath my pets when I was younger. That brings back funny memories for me.

[Linds]

LOL :p

[Syst3m]

Perhaps you need to not think of it as convience, since you breed and kill them for your convience all of them time. If he is angry, then he is possibly a danger. If he doesn't bite then I doubt its anything to worry about. Otherwise I think that you do need to put him to sleep. I don't keep vicious pets, cats, dogs, rats, mice. If he can't be tamed you dont have any other options.
Releasing him is not safe, keeping him is not either.

Killing him may not be the best thing in your interest. But over all if he can not be tamed, and isn't suitable for breeding or feeding. Then its your responisbilty to. Unless you want to keep him as a un tamed pet for the next three years because you can not find any other means to deal with him.

Don't get me wrong. If he calms down and he is able to go back thats fine. I don't want you just to kill him because he is in a bad mood. But if you can't get the wild out of him again, for your safety and health killing might be the right solution.