The rat care is mostly appropriate. However mazuri rat and mouse is too high in protein for adult rats, especially males. It can lead to kidney failure. It can be a great food if mixed with cereals and pastas. Added fruits and veggies are great, but given in proper amounts they won't balance out the protein properly. Babies do need more protein, but rats are considered adults for the purposes of nutrition at 6 months. These boys should be fed a protein content closer to around 15%. Mazuri has more than 20%. These guys are probably still okay as they're pretty young, but this diet is dangerous going forward. Just wanted to flag the food. It has good ingredients and is great for baby rats, but is not safe on its own for adults.

I would never keep my chinchilla in that cage, it’s wayy too small, they need so much room

I have a male chinchilla I've had for 12 years. He has a 4 tier cage and I have to sweep it out, change/turn his fleece, and clean it up at least every other day or it gets disgusting! I could not imagine have 3 in such a small cage. The amount of poop and the smell, those poor chins.

You look stunning in this video! I was trying to figure out what you might have done differently but I couldn't figure it out! Something about your hair or makeup looks like it has that professional touch to it.

I have chinnies. For 3 chins I have a cage that is 140 cm high, 92 cm and 67 cm depth. I have a aluminium wheel 46 cm (that way bigger then that chin has). As well plastic is not at all recommended in a chinchilla cage. Chins chew on plastic and it stays in their body and that can lead to death.

I recently adopted a hamster from a rescue off of Craigslist and I have to say, it was the BEST Craigslist ad I’ve ever seen on there. They had pictures of the hamster on there, told about it’s story, it’s personality (they had a few listed, so they gave details on each, good and bad), and each came with a 40 gallon long tank (2 20 gal long tanks DIY’d together to make a 5 ft long tank, similar to a detolf but skinnier), a wheel, bedding, sand, food, hides, and the hamster for $25. It also said if you have housing for the hamster that is 450 sq feet or more then the adoption fee is $10 with hamster, wheel, hides, etc. They also had a care sheet that all adopters must agree to follow which was all proper care! She had her personal info listed, as well as the Facebook page for her rescue. She was super nice, and while I wasn’t looking to add a new hamster to my family at this exact moment, I simply couldn’t pass it up. I wish posts like those were more common these days!

I love these videos, but its so sad about the poor mis-treated animals :(

I just wanted to point out the cat toy at the bottom. Those kinds of cat toys with the track and ball are great for rats because they provide extra enrichment and stimulation. I absolutely love that this person went and got a big puzzle toy for their boys! I just wanted to touch on that.

today, in my english lesson, my english teacher told us how she used to have hamsters, but one was unfortunately eaten by her previous dog, who used to hunt, after escaping from a hamster ball. and the other hamster that she had, escaped from it's cage and was accidentally hit by a door, which she thought was socks in the way. some people laughed, but i was kinda frustrated by it

6:57 If neutered, male mice can be together even in groups. If you think about putting together a neutered male mouse with females make sure the castration has happened 3-4 weeks before that as they can still impregnate them until that point.

Munchie that chinchilla cage is not good for even one chinchilla! The minimum is at least a five foot tall cage! Love your videos tho! Keep up the good work!

I feel like these videos are helping a lot of people all over the world it's been helping me upgrade my hamsters enclosure and learning a lot more

Rat owner, commenting on the fleece. A lot of people think fleece is a good bedding option. I was in that group at first. It REALLY isn't, unless you can change their fleece daily. Fleece does not hold in any moisture, and simply passes the moisture through it. It needs to have some sort of absorbant layer underneath to pick up the pee, or else the ammonia will build up. However, even with the absorbant layer, the ammonia still builds up too quickly as the urine will pool on the fleece no matter what. And if you know anything about rats, its going to be how sensitive their respiratory systems are. I spent hundreds on medication to treat multiple URI's (And i changed my fleece every 2-3 days) because my girls simply couldn't get away from the ammonia (and they are in a double critter nation, so it wasn't cage type or size either! Kiln-dried pine or aspen are your best options. Paper based bedding has been shown to have similar levels of ammonia as fleece (not as bad, but nearly). And Cedar or untreated pine is absolutley toxic. Don't use fleece, it is SO much work, and will lead to SO many vet bills. Also, the rest of their cage needs a lot more enrichment. Rats are hella active and love to explore. Even boys. There isn't enough to explore in their cage. it's ok, but could very easily be improved.

Omg that’s so weird I was wishing for u to post another Craigslist ad bc I binged them last week. 😳😱

Rat rescuer here 🙋‍♀️ for the cage that had the 2 rat boys in them... yes, in the rat community, we do ask for bigger cages as those kind of cages can cause fighting especially with males. If you look at the shelves, they’re quite small and if the rats get into a fight, there’s really not a ton of room for them to space themselves out and find a safe place and possibly fall off trying to get away. With 23 rescue rats, we had 4 Double Critter Nations and they did well with minimal fighting. I do like that these people did make sure their rats were in a pair but I would definitely opt for a larger cage to ensure that each rat has plenty of room to escape confrontation if need be. Food wise, rats are omnivores so fruits and veggies are great but be sure to be giving them hard boiled or unsalted scrambled eggs, live mealworms or small super worms, boiled chicken, etc. Doing a mix with a lab block for food is also good as they do enjoy having an array and to forage just as hammies do just as long as the mix is made of appropriate foods. Other than that, they look good.

I was showing my grandma my mouse bernard in his bin cage and shes like "Aaw he looks lonely you should get him a friend." That was an instant "No" from my mom and I. I had to tell her that male mice usually prefer to be solitary and females are the ones who need companionship with other females.

I would say that rat cage is a good size for two. It could use a little more enrichment, but they probably have time outside the cage daily where they get to play and explore a safe area. Sad they had to be given up but it was done right in my opinion.

You are such a talented and thoughtful person! Thank you for helping Helen (my hamster) and I. Have a great day! 🐹❤️

your dog hiding behind your pillows is like 'mum stop filming me!! you're so embarressing!! moooommmm!!!'

As a ratty owner, I used to have a cage very similar to that black cage for my first rat. Once my first rat reached adult size, that cage was way too small. After I got my second rat, I got both of my bois a 4 level hutch cage which is by far waaaay bigger than that small cage. Also, I’m not sure about fleece. Rats like deep bedding for their digging instincts. And the food? Rats are opportunistic eaters (omnivores). She did great at feeding veggies and fruits and the commercialized food but I would add a lot more. Super worms, cooked meat, raw pasta, oatmeal, Cheerios and a lot more. Get em chunky!

Dang I’ve never clicked so fast

Yay! My favorite type of video!

Wait so with the tall gerbil tank setup, how do you clean that?? Like if they’re making burrows and dens in there, do you just have to mess up the dens to clean out the enclosure ? I don’t want gerbils or anything, i’m just curious lol

Let's show munchie how much we love her and please continue subscribing to her KZfaq channel

I do guinea pig rescue with a friend, though we're closed to non-emergency rescues right now just because life got a bit weird for us. I did have one foster boy early on who stayed with me for a year because nobody was interested. He had a good life with me; I had three boys of my own at the time, and they all lived separately for a while but had floor time together. The older boys taught this little foster boy how to guinea pig and put up with a lot from him. I was eventually able to get him adopted out, and that match was brilliant. His new buddy was a special needs pig who had mobility problems, and they got on fantastically from the start. I think they were together for three years, and they were so bonded that when the older boy passed away, the one they adopted from me didn't even last a week. I currently have two foster girls living with my own two girls, and I'm happy to keep them if need be. We do also offer a rehoming/matching service, where people can send us the info about their pigs and we will post about them, and then people who are interested in adopting the pigs can fill out a form with their information and we pass on contact information.

I'm pretty sure those first mice were spiney mice, in which case their care is different to Normal mice. Possibly why they have a heat pad 😊

You look beautiful with them glasses, Not hipster HAMSTER!

I saw a guinea pig on Craigslist for free and I was like nooooo 😭

I love your videos! The begging cracked me up! *Me dancing along* Lol!

Best use of hamster balls are beds. Rats love using exercise balls as bed

I recently got a hamster from Craigslist from someone who couldn't afford to take care of him due to the pandemic, and I got him plus a 50 gallon bin for $25 He was in great health and he's not skittish at all c:

Their hasnt been any hamsters rehomed locally on sites for about 6 months now and our rescue hasnt had any in over a year. I guess I'm lucky to live in an area where people love their pets but its annoying when tour trying to find one to adopt 😂

I like your energy 😁 it’s the highlight of my day

my most recent gerbil(who passed in april) was from a backyard breeder. i was informed that she was kept in a plastic tupperware container. then a family got just her from them. Then they surrendered her to petco, where i adopted her from their adoption program. Rest in Peace Zoey.

Yay, I was so excited about this video! As a loving rat mom, I have to give my opinion on this cage: It is too small. Rats need at least 100 x 60 x 200 cm cages. The platforms are tiny, giving the boys even less unbroken floorspace, and it could be dangerous to fall from the top. Even if (most) boys will eventually slow down, they are just as active as females when they're young. Another issue is that the platform at the water bottle doesn't have fleece, which is dangerous and can cause bumblefoot. I'd also strongly advice against keeping rats in pairs, a pack structure starts at three rats and they can develop behavioral issues, aggression against each other, cage aggression and other problems when kept in pairs. Also - if one rat dies, the other one is alone and can pass away as well before you can get a new companion. These are just my two cents and I'm from Germany, where minimun requirements are a little bit stricter, but I'd put rats only in double critter nations, preferably with added full size tiers instead of the tiny platforms. Rats are wonderful little guys and they deserve the happiest life.

That cage isnt good for chinchillas and they are very sensitive love yall

My favorite videos

I love how you talk about multiple pets and how you do your research about this animals more people need to be like you

Love what u do!!

I looked at some hamster ads on my local Craigslist and they all looked good so that’s good.

chinnie owner here, regarding the chinchilla ad, i have a few things to say. the wheel is too small for them. if it's a 12 inch silent spinner like they said, it's 2-4 inches too small. chinnies get rather large for a rodent and need about 14-16 inches. also, i noticed the plastic hut and the spinner is plastic too. plastic is a big no for chinchillas, especially soft plastic like that, since it is easy to chew and they sometimes swallow what they're chewing on. plastic can cause blockages in their systems, which almost always turn out bad. chinchillas are insane when it comes to chewing, so i find that incredibly chewed bridge to be pretty normal. my chinnies have a hut that they've chewed a massive hole in over the past almost 2 years. they're crazy. wire is terrible for chinchilla feet, like hamsters. sometimes chinnies can get their feet caught on wire when trying to jump or land after jumping and get their legs caught in the wire, possibly breaking their leg if they try to struggle. that is the absolute worse case scenario and highly unlikely to happen, but they can get sores on their feet if they're exposed to wire like that. i may be going crazy, but the chinnies looked slightly greasy, like they haven't had a dust bath in... probably a week and a half? chinnies should get dust baths every 2 days, but this isn't terribly dire and probably shouldn't effect your score, unless their fur just looks like the hair of a human that hadn't bathed for a month, i'm not too picky about that. yeah that's all i can really pick up. my chinnies have a really tall cage that's about as tall as i am (5'5", 5'6"), so that cage is definitely rather small, especially for the amount they're housing. still a score of 3 to me, don't worry.

Ive been watching your videos for so long. Im 25 and just got my first hamster. Ive learned a lot from your videos and finally felt ready to get a hammy.

the chinchillas in the video. as a chinchilla owner let me explain how abusive that is: 1. THE PLASTIC!! As you mentioned chinchillas are big chewers and they will chew anything. it looks like they HAVE chewed their plastic food dish a TON and its just heartbreaking. A chinchilla that eats too much plastic can SOO easily go into stasis (an intestinal blockage that prevents waste from passing through) and die :( 2. THE WHEEL. my two chinnies are on a twelve inch and it doesn't cause them to curve their backs at all. BUT I actually know that wheel and it's an eleven inch one, which can cause them to bend their backs and it will cause arthritis. also, MORE PLASTIC. 3. THE CAGE. OH MY GOD THE CAGE. this is what makes it abusive more than anything else. as you mentioned, chinchillas NEED SO MUCH HEIGHT. a four-foot tall cage with a minimum of three levels is suitable for ONE TO TWO CHINCHILLAS. three?? in a cage barely big enough for a hamster?? that's plain abuse. furthermore, you were correct. chinchillas should never walk on wire-bottomed cages. it will cause arthritis and inflammation. just a heartbreaking scenario. I hope action is taken and these three sweet chins find a good home. sending love to all the poor animals featured on this video. Keep up with the series

Hi I love this series!!!!!🐹

The chinchilla cage isn't even big enough for 1 the bottom needs to be 3 feet by 2.5 feet and that cage doesn't fit that but then height is a must

Hi!! I have watched all your vids. Great work :))

My 4 female gerbils are in a 4x2x2 tank with 14 inches on bedding (a mix of hays, different textures of aspen, wooden chews and houses they hid and buried, scatter feeding) on the 2/3 section of the tank and the 1/3 section has a 12inch wooden wheel, wooden houses, wooden chews and 2 inches deep of safe natural sanitized sand. I have a ceramic water bowl but I really need an aesthetic wooden bottle holder for my glass water bottle lol

Thank you so much for the information on gerbils. I have had my gerbils for about 4 months now. I struggled finding information before I stumbled across your KZfaq. I will be getting a topper for my 20 gallon tank now. I have two female (black and brown). I have found a bag of medium chews that are safe at my local pet store that give 12 pieces. It take my gerbils about 3-4 days to go through one block.

Took me a year to find a good home for a rabbit that someone dropped in front of my house. I'm not a rescue, I don't call myself a rescue but I do rescue stray rabbits (I catch them, I get them the vet care they need and neuter than find a good home) and volunteer at my local rabbit shelter. So yes it's possible to rescue an animal and it taking a year.

i have a 50 gallon tank for 4 gerbils and a bunch of 12 inch wheels

Love your videos!!!

Yes a new CL video! I got a wooden Rodipet wheel for Sir Hambert and he loves it. It was expensive but worth every penny, it's so quiet. I'd love a review but I don't know how hard they are to get outside Europe 😞

honestly I don't get why people think it's appropriate to house any animal on metal grating. That stuff even hurts my feet and my dog will not walk on it either.

Chinchillas are known to develop dry and cracked paws, so adding bars to the mix can cause a lot of extra problems.

These are my favorite videos because it’s crazy how many bad pet care there is out there and that this video helps inform others on proper care.

I love the song you made for these types of discussions, its so catchy!

The issue is not every one can look at Instagram because it requires login and some of us hate the website. I personally just wait till you post about it here. I never comment "Where is the next video " Cause it's rude in general. I just wait.

Rat and guinea pig owners’ opinion on the Rat ad here! The rat post seems mostly good, although I would recommend a rat mix rather than a lab block for variety, and it allows you to control the protein % as young rats need much more than adults - excess protein can increase risk of tumours and other health issues. The only other thing I would say is that in the uk and most of Europe fleece is STRONGLY warned against for rats because ammonia can build up in the fabric very quickly and lead to respiratory distress and infections as rats are much more sensitive to it that guinea pigs and bigger rodents. Fleece is great for other rodents, I personally use fleece liners for my 4 guinea pigs, but defo not recommend for rats. I’d recommend a good few inches of dust extracted shredded cardboard or shredded hemp bedding as it encourages natural digging behaviour and if you scatter feed it really encourages foraging which keeps them entertained. - plus they are super destructive and will easily shred a fleece pad in one night to build nests if the mood takes them which can be super expensive to replace in the long term!

i just wanted you to know i am the adopter of scarface! she is doing very well and seems happy and is making so many burrows and her new name is scarlett!!

The recommended amount for bedding for gerbils is 9-10 now and unfortunately the community does say that 10 gal is fine for up to 4 gerbils :(

I love these videos so much! They're really sad sometimes but very educational. I also love your videos in general. I got a hanster a few days ago and your channel has been very useful

Just loving your energy and passion, Munchie 💗. Please never stop being you 🙂❤️

For the rats, I would personally prefer more floor space, as rats are not arboreal animals by nature, but mostly terrestrial. Yes, they like to climb, but they need that floor space. Secondly, if you're going to use fleece for rats, it needs to be changed DAILY, as they will constantly dribble urine as they walk, and fleece is absolutely not absorbent. Not to mention, rats love to dig! So if you provide fleece for flooring, give them a digging box as a form of enrichment. The cage also needs to be busier - rats (yes, even boys!) are active animals, and they really enjoy a variety of things to climb (fill that empty vertical space - they don't have wings!) such as ropes, ladders, sticks, etc. But really clutter up the cage - the more clutter in the vertical space, the better.

Hey Munchie! If you have the time in the near future would you consider making a video about how to start and efficiently run a small pet rescue? Ive watched practically all youre videos and am personally a pretty experienced hamster owner and, as I live in a southern state which are sadly usually really bad with animal care in general let alone small animal care, I was considering starting my own rescue but I dont want to come off sounding like the guinea pig "rescuer" featured in this video haha

Rats need to be able to dig, so if they don't want to use some sort of substrate in the bottom of the cage then they should provide a dig box. Personally, I have two, one for a natural coconut fiber terrarium soil and one for hay. I like oat hay because it has seed heads for foraging. It's also hard to tell how big that cage actually is, but it might be bare minimum size at most. In the US, the standard minimum is 2.5 cubic feet for the first rat and an additional 2 cubic feet per additional rat, so that's a minimum of 4.5 cubic feet because rats can't be housed alone. Males often need a little bit more space than females just because they tend be bigger. But more space is always better. My 5 rats stay in almost 40 cubic feet, which is admittedly pretty indulgent of me. Also, that cage looks pretty bare with very little enrichment. Rats are so, so smart and they need so much to do or they'll get bored, especially with such a small cage they need way more to do. They should also not be fed from a bowl because it's way too boring for them. And as someone else already said, you need to pay close attention to the nutrition of their food because any food that says rat AND mouse will almost always have the wrong balance of protein and fat. Even when they're babies you can just feed a food that says it's for adult rats and if you need to you can supplement with boiled egg or something a couple times a week, but as long as the food is good quality and the rats are healthy they should be fine. Also, I just realized we have no idea if there's anything absorbent underneath the fleece. To use a fleece lined cage you have to have something absorbent beneath, and also change it out for washing every few days, and they don't give an indication that there's an absorbent layer. So I would have rated that Needs Improvement.

When I bred gerbils,I used a cotton based bedding and somehow it coiled around several of the pups legs and they ended up losing feet and two died from getting the cotton wrapped around their snouts. Edit: spelling.

I danced with you at the beginning, very badly and I am not ashamed 😂

These videos are my fav! its so sad that there are people that mistreat their animals :(

CAN WE JUST TALK ABOUT THOSE EPIC EARINGS- lol this has nothing to do with the video but really!

Funfact : In germany the rat cage is a big nononono! Here you have to keep your rats in packs (a pack starts at 3) and it has to have at LEAST 0,5m2 where the length cant be under 80cm the width can't be under 50cm and the height shouldn't be under 100cm too. So this cage would be considered highly inappropriate haha! Really interesting how different the care is in every country ❤️

I like watching your videos and I'm glad you are getting correct information out there. I have a lone male gerbil in a 70 gallon fish tank and still think it's not big enough for him 😂

I use hamster balls but only when cleaning their habitats. So they are only in there for at most 8 minutes. And I clean it after every use. I can’t free roam them because I can’t watch them while cleaning their cages. But that is the only time I use those balls.

Chinchillas SHOULD NOT be given plastic as it can rip up there insides

Even with a demon voice youre cute lol

Rehoming my guinea pigs when we had to move into a rental that didn’t allow them was so nerve racking I would have been over the moon if there had been a small animal rescue to take them so it’s definitely confusing to hear people don’t want to give them to a rescue. They were my first guineas and my first time rehoming so it would have felt better to give them to someone who had experience with those things.

Im in a bunch of rabbit groups and this one couple was taking in pet rabbits to eat them. They told people they were gonna free roam them and give them the best life only to lie about it :(

you are totally right those rats are in a great set up. Paper bedding isn't suitable for rats as it doesn't control their ammonia well enough and is too dusty for most of them. The pelleted paper is fine for litter boxes so long as changed every few days. Fleece is often used and changed every few days, pine or aspen bedding is also safe and acceptable. Though there is still a lot of people who quote older studies saying pine isn't safe, but it is now as it's kiln dried. Didn't used to be the case with it though and non kiln dried is very unsafe. I really love when you post these videos as I don't know much about other animals besides rats and Guinea pigs and I love learning about the other critters like mice, gerbils and hammies of course. :) The chinchilla one was interesting too.

I just got my notification

The rat cage is definitely too small and not full enough but you can really tell that they were trying

I find these so informative. Thanks. Do you have tips for us looking at rescues in our areas? What are red flags we should be looking out for when looking to adopt some tiny little fur friends?

The chinchilla set up was absolutely awful! It is downright neglectful 😭 It’s amazing they have suffered from impaction yet with all that plastic in their cage.

You should NEVER house a chinchilla with a plastic hide. They are such active chewers and they can’t pass plastic, it’s one of the most common ailments they get from people who don’t know much about chinnies, besides heatstroke. :( so sad to see three babies in such a small cage with little to no climbing room.

She needs more views and supporters, she deserves themmmm

I don't know the exact measurements of that rat cage, but looks like it is unfortunately too small (it should be longer). Male rats tend to be less active than females, but they still need quite alot of space (even if they are free roaming for at least 2 hr a day). ^^^^From what I know the minimum cage size may vary from country to country and where I live the minimum is 80x50x80 cm for 2 to 3 rats. The cage still looks better than what most people would assume is good for 2 rats. I really like that they are using correct bedding and hammocks. My last complain is the uncovered shelf under the water bottle, as it may cause some serious foot injuries. :)

Love the channel and love your cute dog

I like to think I rescue animals. By which I mean I adopt them from the adoption sections of pets at home or have seen they have been housed in bad care on line on similar sites to craigslist and will buy them from people on there.

As a fancy rat owner My personal opinion the you and me rat Manor is bare minimum specially for female rats I say that became 1 There's just not enough room to put everything a rat needs to live a fulfilled enriching life 2 you can't really have a colony of rats in this cage 3rd and my biggest pet peeve is that there is no warning / description on the Box of the health risks of using wire flooring on rats (the health risk is bumblefoot)

Would you recommend 2 male gerbils or 2 female gerbils google said male but Idk if I should trust it

I got two Roborovski hamsters last week and I’m hoping they won’t fight. They have more than 1900 square inches and they seem O.K so far.

That chinchilla cage is absolutely horrible!

i love your makeup!

And if too small of a wheel it can hurt bar back and make their back

You should do videos separately of how to do a proper hamster, gerbil, mouse and rat cages.

Never keep just one mouse or chinchilla! Please don't! They are social animals. It's like keeping a human solitary.

Creglist and facebook are great places to re-home animals but please ask questions I recently had to re-home a couple goldfish I thought I'd be hard to find an appropriate home but upon asking all the right questions I found the perfect home for them

Boy am I early

I would say that rat cage is the bare minimum for two rats.

You glasses on your head looks so good on you. Weird comment ok but ur so pretty 🥺💕

I love you videos but I think that the squares where tile prices instead of a nesting material

Omg the male mice should be by themselves. Male mice should be solitary to avoid fighting