A bath when the weather is warm isnt such a bad idea if you have smelly rats. Males can get particularly smelly with “buck grease”. Just be extra sure to keep your fresh, clean, and presumably wet rat warm, and dry him/her VERY WELL afterwards. It’s too easy for them to get sick from draughts on damp fur. Its also not advisable to blow dry them with a hair dryer, as the noise for them is horrific.
A shampoo suitable for puppies and kittens is OK to use, as well as one for babies (i.e. Johnson’s and Johnson’s No Tears Baby Shampoo). RATANOOGA recommends Enchantrix Dog Shampoo as its 100% natural. Click here for a list of their stockists.
| lather, rinse and repeat; mind yourself for scratches! |
Fill the bath shallow enough for your rat to stand in. They must not have to swim! Make sure the water is luke warm (use your elbow to test the temperature).
When you put your rat in, speak gently to him/her cos they’ll be pretty scared, and chances are they’ll poop a lot from fear (don’t worry, this is normal). Your rat will most likely look for any means of escape, and you will get lots of scratches on your hands and possibly. Be prepared for this, its inevitable! You might be lucky and have found a rat that actually likes water, in which case consider yourself blessed. Please, no matter how “naughty” your rat is while being bathed, never yell or scold them.
Gently massage the shampoo in well, and rinse repeatedly with gentle, slow movements of cupping the water over the body (never use a shower spray). Make sure to rinse out ALL the shampoo when you’re done (I normally rinse four times) as leaving this in could cause itchiness. The tail can be gently brushed with a soft toothbrush in the direction from BASE TO TIP – never the other way around!! If the tail is still “dirty”, don’t worry too much about it – never scrub scrub scrub!
| gently towel dry them very well |
When you’ve gently squeezed the water off the coat (and I mean gently! No wringing out of rats, please) then dry very well in a towel. Keep the rat out of a draft while he/she grooms and dries themselves (because to a rat, your job of drying will never be up to their standards of course)
Then give him/her a nice treat and say what a beautiful rat he/she is!
PS: A soft baby brush is fine for brushing coats too.