Health Management

on the follicular tumour, from a highly experienced rat breeder on the NFRS forum. There are apparently different types and some contain hair follicules. They can get quite big, which I can imagine as Charlotte's was growing fairly quickly and there's no particular reason why some rats get them. The good news is that it's unlikely to reoccur.

I have been thinking some more about my cages and groups today and have come to a sort-of decision. When I get beau castrated i'm going to put him in with my younger girls (Sugar's 'babies' and Fogwatt) which will be a group of 5. I will then have the group of 4 boys and a group of 7, which will be my six 'oldies' who are all now older than a year, and Sugar. I'm going to split the Duetto and put the boys in the bottom, and the girls and Beau in the top and put the 'oldies' in the Tommy. I'm going to put the Tommy back to how it should be with levels and ramps though to make it easier for them to get about (not that they really need help!). That's the current plan anyway! Obviously depends on Beau getting on with the girls.

I also have noticed recently that Mustard is putting on weight and not being quite as kamikazee as usual, so I weighed her today and she is 352g, which is about 70g heavier than the 280ish g she's been forever! I'm not sure why this is, hopefully she's just getting old and a bit slower so not burning up quite as many calories. Really hoping she's not pregnant, which i think is unlikely as i'm sure if she was going to get into the boys cage she would have done it before now and, coz I always think of the worse, another option could be pyometra which is a pus-filled uterus so causes ratty to look pregnant. I will definitely be keeping an eye on her over the next few days.