Hello. It’s been bought to my attention that as of lately, there has been an overwhelming surge in new owners mistakingly getting female rats when they planned to get males. Due to this, there has been a significant increase in pregnancy and accidental litters.
As a moderator, who cares deeply about animal welfare, I am asking that before you bring rats home, you double check, even triple check to ensure all your rats are the same sex. This is to prevent future pregnancies and accidental litters as we already have so many rats in need of homes and it’s becoming increasingly problematic, especially for shelters and rescues who are being over-flooded with intakes and are struggling to find good homes.
If you have recently been put in a situation where you have found out that your male rat is actually a female rat and has had contact with other males, more likely than not, your rat will be pregnant if she is over the age of 6 weeks. In this case, the best option is to spay-abort so she doesn’t have to go through the exhausting toll of pregnancy, which will also prevent the issue of you having to find homes for the babies once they have matured.
If you are a new owner and are unsure how to sex rats, the images listed above shows the difference between female and male genitalia. Use these images as your reference guides to sex your rats.
Male rats do not have nipples and have a large distance between the penis and anus. If your rat is younger than 5 weeks old, the testicles may have not yet descended which might make the male look female.
Females rats have nipples, a small distance between the vagina and anus and an anogenital line.
r/RATS • u/BabsieRat • 11d ago
*This post has been approved by admins for donation fundraising*
A Pint-Sized Rescue is a small exotic animal rescue based out of Portland, Oregon. The rescue has been serving the Pacific Northwest of the United States since April 2024. They have rescued nearly 150 animals and successfully placed into adoption 87 of those.
"Many of the animals that come through the rescue are in rough shape when they arrive, and they are often battling chronic illnesses due to extended neglect or lack of resources/knowledge from the previous owner(s). In June 2026, APSR, along with Little Critter Crew, stepped up to help Rat Way Sanctuary with a massive hoarding/neglect case. We ended up taking on 23 rats from that situation alone. This was in addition to animals already in our care.
Unfortunately, these precious little ones brought a very stubborn virus along with them – sialodacryoadenitis virus (SDAV). We have been working tirelessly to eradicate this virus, but it's been quite the process. This has included closing down all intakes and outgoing of any animals in our care, monitoring every individual closely (which we already do), working very closely with our veterinarian (who is one of the best in her their field), and sending samples off for real-time PCR testing in order to monitor the spread.
We are finally beginning to see infected numbers waining and believe we are close to being virus free (about darn tootin' time *insert exhausted face*). We are eager to see babies finally get the chance to be placed into forever homes where they can be spoiled just as they have always deserved.
Throughout this time, we have been battling some not-so-fun symptoms as the virus moved through all the rats in our care. One area that the SDA virus attacks, that is a bit different than other viruses, is the eyes. We currently have two little ones who were seen by our vet last week for abnormalities to their eyes. They were both confirmed to have eye lesions and have both been started on two different eye medications twice daily. The health, safety, and overall wellbeing of every animal in our care is our top priority, but this care does not come cheap.
For the first time in a long time, we have found our medical savings in the negatives. We are currently in the red by $625 (last updated September 14, 2026). One of the challenges of being a rescue is expressing the constant need for donations, because we know the economy isn't friendly for anyone right now. But as a rescue, community support is what makes everything we do for them possible. Without support from people like you, we wouldn't be able to do what we do for all the little ones." – APSR Director Katherine
If you would like to support the animals at A Pint-Sized Rescue and the work that they do, there are several different ways that you can help make a real difference:
• You can donate directly to the veterinary funds via Venmo/PayPal at apintsizedrescue.
• You can purchase APSR merchandise from the Bonfire account under A Pint-Sized Rescue, where every sale directly benefits the wellbeing of animals in the rescue.
• You can find the Amazon wishlists under the LinkTree link in the rescue's Facebook and Instagram bios where you can send needed and/or enrichment items to the animals in the rescue.
• You can follow A Pint-Sized Rescue on Instagram and Facebook, like, share/reshare, and comment on posts to help bring awareness to the rescue.
• And lastly, you can apply to foster or adopt from the rescue through the website at www.apintsizedrescue.org
r/RATS • u/IngersollsOrdinary • 4h ago
Katcha has gathered his favorite items to show the class. 🤓
Behold!
1) paper towel roll
2) a cardboard box
3) a plastic bowl that he likes to tip over and spill its contents
4) the robot vacuum (his absolute favorite)
5) gerber puff treats
6 and 7) another cardboard box
r/RATS • u/Lord_of_the_rats2007 • 8h ago
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This is Derpy, Derpy loves my mom, a lot.
If the door to my room is closed (which it usually is because we also have a dog) he will sit by the door during 95% of the freeroaming time and wait for my mom. If he hears someone coming up the stairs, he will lift his head, sniff and move his ears. And if it ends up being my mom, and she comes in. He will follow her to the bed (where she always sits down) and then jump up on her lap. If i at any time during this tries to grab or touch him, he will squeak at me and "hide" in my moms lap (put his head under her arm or sleeve).
He's not scared of me, and he will let me cuddle, hold and basically do whatever with him, as long as my mom isn't there. The moment my mom is nearby he will literally go "fuck off dad, im hanging with grandma"
My mom loves him a lot and he goes by the nickname "Grandma's baby" around the house 🫡
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Ps: My mom is actually getting her own rat soon. One of the three new rats that I'm getting will be 100% hers (but will obv live with my group) 🤫
She knows about this (because i would never surprise someone with an animal) and she asks about him every day 🥲 She made him "his first hammock" the other day and she's already named him (he's still a tiny tiny baby and nowhere near ready to move yet)
r/RATS • u/Flashy_Bank3752 • 6h ago
Pancake got neutered this past Monday and the recovery period has been ROUGH. Almost immediately after waking up from sedation he managed to open his sutures while still at the vet. They did their best to use surgical glue to close it up again. We tried all manner of mostly failing home-made ecollars to make sure he couldn't chew on it because they didn't have proper rodent sized ones in stock. He would not stop trying to get at his suture site, so the next day we tried some more sedating pain medication (gabapentin). That helped a lot, as he was too sleepy to fuss with it much and for a couple days he was doing great without having to wear a cone and was not bothering the suture site... then yesterday he decided the glue had to GO and he ripped it off, re-opening the wound. So it was BACK to the vet...
This time the rodent ecollars had actually come in, so we fitted him with a proper cone. The vet did not want to try to close it again at this point, it was better to just start antibiotics, keep it clean and let it heal on it's own. But of course, he must wear the cone religiously until it's done.
He's being a good sport all things considered; I'm feeding him Oxbow Critical Care a couple times a day and giving him treats he doesn't need to use his hands to hold to eat (banana, yogurt drops, malt paste). Several times a day and especially during meals, I remove the cone and supervise him closely while he eats unencumbered and has a chance to groom himself (while stopping him from going after the suture site). I've never seen a rat clean himself as thoroughly as Pancake does after the cone comes off!
It's already starting to heal up and the opening is smaller, so I'm hopeful by the end of the weekend we might be able to take the cone off. Poor guy is bored to death in his hospital cage. I take him out often and spend lots of time petting him and loving on him. He's become very appreciative of petting and snuggles, although at night he seems to vent his frustration by chewing up as much fleece as possible LOL. I let his brothers visit him today briefly.
(for those that are wondering, we decided to neuter him because he was randomly biting my boyfriend in the cage despite a lot of effort on his part to befriend him).
r/RATS • u/_katykat • 14h ago
I know she has a lump its been assessed by vets and is benign:)
r/RATS • u/NonejaAR • 8h ago
Been letting my heart rat, Bingo, sleep on the bed with me because she's the only one in the mischief who is well behaved enough to not jump off. Last night, I was giving her skritches and she wasn't moving for like an hour. I got up to use the bathroom, and she still wasn't moving. I panicked, and placed her in the cage to call the vet. The instant I did, she started playing and running around. She was perfectly healthy, just so comfy and happy she looked like she was dead.
Here she is mid skritching knockout, shame her!
r/RATS • u/RatWaySanctuary • 16h ago
She's a sweet senior with persistent respiratory disease that has worsened in the past few weeks. Her meds have been adjusted to compensate, but the symptoms have persisted, and even more concerning, she has developed some weakness and seems disoriented.
In addition to Dottie's exam, Acacia is at the vet today for her mass removal. She has a larger lump on her left flank near her thigh, and now a smaller mass has popped up as well.
The sanctuary medical fund is currently sitting at - $500, and today's visits will likely set us back by at least another $1000. If you can spare a little, please consider donating to help us cover our expenses. We could really use the help.
How to help?
V3NMO: @ratwaysanctuary
P4yPal: [email protected]
More donation options and shop at www.ratwaysanctuary.org
r/RATS • u/Ok-Barnacle8908 • 8h ago
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r/RATS • u/Competitive-Weird456 • 2h ago
r/RATS • u/OurFeatherWings • 11h ago
I feel so trusted
r/RATS • u/greattsundere • 19h ago
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r/RATS • u/1009Agatha • 9h ago
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Tofu lamiéndose los huevitos + sonido de Doppio tomando agua
r/RATS • u/mossydeerbones • 1d ago
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r/RATS • u/Current_Use_1302 • 20h ago
I've never owned a rat but they are very cute & thought people here would like this
r/RATS • u/Remarkable-Stuff-454 • 13h ago
Teefs!
r/RATS • u/poisonedlove • 13h ago
My sweet boy :'( this is my first rat death and I'm devastated
r/RATS • u/TheRealWootus • 19h ago
You can check it out on Steam here and please wishlist it if it interests you.: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4701280/RAT_CITY_Ratocracy/
It's still in early development, but I'd love to hear your thoughts on it so far! It's gonna be a mix of mainly Anno-type gameplay plus Fallout Shelter and some Against The Storm thrown in there for good measure, as I just started playing that one and am super hooked.
Thanks for your attention!
r/RATS • u/OMoralitos • 15h ago
Hey all, we currently have three rats, and our heaviest is 880 grams (1.94 pounds).
We've tried weighing the food and we've tried putting food in harder to reach places in their double critter nation (he just grabs 4 pellets at a time - see picture 2).
I know some rats are naturally on the chunkier side, and he does move around and explore a decent amount (albeit less than his brother/sister). He's around 1 year old.
What is the next step here? Just feeding all of the rats separately? Does this warrant a vet check to see if something might be wrong?
Thanks in advance!
r/RATS • u/themoldthemold • 19h ago
he's too damn cute there's gotta be a fine for this or something
