I'm not sorry to say that most definitely YES, he is mistreating his rat. Please confront him, with your other roommate and the information here, and get him to listen. Explain that yes, there are ways to take his rat with him, but that they are safer than how he is doing it. If he gets a carrier that fits into his backpack, he can leaave it partly unzipped without fear of his rat getting out. Make sure he takes something like watermelon or another type of meloon with him for some liquid, along with some solid food. He does need to put his bud with his brothers when he's home, and have his brothers with him on the couch if that's where his rat is going to be. It may just be a lack of knowledge on his part, but tell him if he continues you may have to insist on letting you and your knowledgeable roomie care for him. Hopefully he will listen. You can bring him here, and to a couple other websites, such as
http://www.ratfanclub.org, as well as
http://www.rmca.org. Both of these sites will reinforce the need for his boy to have time with his brothers, and may cut down on the amount of travel. Also, emphasize the fact that his rat needs time during the day to be comfortable, to be able to sllep in a place that's not cramped, and in danger of being crushed. He needs to be able to stretch out, curl up with his brothers, and have access to food and water whenever he wants. If you have a good vet in the area, maybe you could make an appointment for an informational session. The vet can reinforce the fact that your roommates current treatment is dangerous, and creating social/emotional problems for the little guy. At the moment, he's creating a single rat, which creates a lonely and bored rat which is more prone to illness and a shortened life, especially in a stuffy, cramped space with no adequate ventilation and probably dusty and dirty to boot. He is unintentionally killing his rat slowly and inhumanely.
I have a medium sized carrier that I found in the ferret section of Petsmart. I have a small fleece blanket inside, and fixed up a fleece blandet to snaps around the carrier handle, it keeps out the wind and keeps some warmth in. I never take them outside for more than a few minutes when I go someplace with them, another very serious concern with your roommates behavior. If he continues this behavior in the colder weather, his rat will die of exposure within a day. He may put a healthy rat in his backpack in the morning, and have a dead one by the time he gets home. The rat can literally freeze to death, especially with the high metabolism and a lack of food or water to keep that metabolism going. Rats live in social groups for many reasons, and they will use the body heat of the entire colony to keep warm at times. A single rat doesn't have that insulation, and will run out of steam trying to stay warm.
Please, please, please educate him, make him listen, bring him here to this thread, or print the responses. Take him to the other sites that I gave you, they'll even give you the proper temp to keep your rats at.
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