I've contacted a lady that wants to re home her 2 female "pet" rats. According to her, she did buy one of the rats to feed to her snake. For some reason the snake couldn't kill the rat but in the process the rat got her back leg broken.

I don't know how badly her leg is broken or how she knows the rats leg is broken. I'll be speaking to this lady in the morning but wanted some input for you all before making the decision to take these rat girlies.

If rat girls leg is broken, is there any way to have it fixed? If it's broken and healed but she is showing no signs of pain should I let it be (other then a regular vet check up)? If it's badly broken (as in just hanging there or being dragged) should I consider having it amputated? Does anyone have any tri-pod ratties? Will she still be able to have a good quality life if she does loose her leg?

Also, if anyone has any links to info on amputation please post them as I couldn't find any. I know with guinea pigs who need amputation it should be done higher up near the shoulder or hip area to prevent ulcerations on the stump. I need to know if this is the same for rats.

I will be calling my vet tomorrow to see if this is anything she has done before or if I will need to take her to the exotic vet.

I hope amputation is not the course of action we will have to take but my gut is telling me it is. 

I need input. Even my children are saying we need to help this rat girl/girls.

My gut tells me that this rat needs to be removed from this woman's possession anyways.  Take the rat to the vet and see what happens.  Often times they'll try to splint the leg, which typically the rat chews the splint off.  Most times, the leg heals just fine.

Good luck on the new additions! 

I'm so pleased these girls have found a new home with you... Good luck to you all for the future.

I finally got my new rat girls tonight. Their new names are Hannah & Savannah. Unfortunately not until my vet was already closed, so Hannah will go to the vets tomorrow or on Monday.

Hannah's leg doesn't look too bad. She's walking with just a little limp and she doesn't seem to be in pain while walking on it. But it's painful if I try to look at the sore on her knee area. She won't let me got a good look at it but it appears to be a snake bite or maybe she had chewed at the knee when it was hurting her. It's about the size of a pea, a little red and raw looking. It doesn't appear to be infected or any signs of pus. It almost looks like a burn minus the blister. There's still some inflammation in the knee area that is noticeable. I'll find out more of what it is when she goes to the vets.

These poor, poor girls. They are almost 4 months old. Hannah weighs 152 grams and Savannah weighs 162 grams. They look so small compaired to their sister Chloe & Zoey. They are malnourished and very thin looking, specially Hannah. I don't think they were fed very often.

They are sweet girls considering what they have been threw. Hannah was fed to a snake, thank god the snake couldn't kill her. They were living in a cage that was too small for even a Finch! Living on hamster food and nothing else. And the kicker to the story, they were living in this tiny cage on the lady's front porch.

Now for a few questions:
I have some Metacam but I can't get a hold of my vet to find out what dose to give Hannah. Can anyone help me with the dose? I'm sure it would help with the inflammation in her knee.

Also, since they were living outside should I treat them with Ivermectin? I have 1% (ProMection 1% injection for cattle and swine) injectable ivermectin but I would use it topically. Is it OK to use on the girls?

Sorry for the questions but I'm used to medicating 2-3 lb guinea pigs not tiny rats.

I just got off the phone with my vet. They are booked today, so Hannah will be going in on Monday at 1:30pm. I really can't complain because she's been waitting for me to get these girls all week. In the mean time, she having my cousin (who works for her) bring me some Amoxicillin to start her on. Plus, she want me to continue the Metacam until she sees Hannah on Monday.

Hannah & Savannah don't know what good food is. They won't touch their SueBee mix but at least they're eatting their lab blocks. I tried some Chicken noodle baby food with some oatmeal cereal last night and they eat a little. Hopefully it won't take them long to realise what good food is.

Your post brought tears to my eyes! I'm so relieved these 2 sweet girls are with you now! What a good person you are for taking them in! I've had 2 rats with broken bones. Keeping them quiet long enough to heal was the biggest challenge! One was a rehomed girl whose bone was broken as a baby and had healed very strangely but she got along just fine. The other was my boy rat, Sammy. who fell off the couch and broke his elbow! We tried the e-collar, splint, etc. but after putting it back on for the 20th time we gave up and just kept him in a small cage. He regained full use of it in a few weeks. Good luck with her! Sending her love and healing!

I'm so glad these girls have found a good home. I actually suggested to Stacey that she talk to PVR and see if they could get them and hold them for her lol

Sounds like this woman should be reported. Not only for the horrible condition of the rats you recieved, but the likely conditions of the animals in her care. Sounds like my neighbors. They have had tons of cats, kittens, puppies, and so on. They are all either killed, dropped, or eventually die in the owners care of sickness because they don't feed them properly. They have a miniature poodle and chihuahua mix girl whose only about 5 lbs that they intend to breed with a great dane mix who is at least 25lbs! It'll kill her, but I know they're not going to listen to me. We had an opportunity to make the great dane boy disappear.. but we had no where to send him and no where to put him. That and it's really illegal    These are the same neighbors that killed our outside cats years ago, vandalize our cars and house, have beer parties, yell sexual inuendos, shoot fireworks onto our roof and at us, play loud music well into the night on school nights, and are friends with the local police.

Hopefully the woman will soon tire of having so many animals and quit altogether. But at least Hannah and Savannah are safe with you and can enjoy their siblings. You should tell the woman you adopted them from what happened. Maybe next time she'll be more careful with her adopters and breeding in general!

How old was Hannah during the attempted feeding to the corn snake? Depending on the snake and her age, she may have been to big.  And that would explain the attempted, but unsuccessful eating and broken leg.

Yeesh, another person who doesn't believe in vet care. And pets are not a tool for teaching children responsibility or caring. Hopefully she'll realize that..

Hannah was just a little over 3 months old when the attack happened. Differently too big for a corn snake to eat.

Hannah did let me look at her leg a little better today. It looks the same and I've actually seen her extend it all the way straight out to clean it. I'm thinking more and more that the sore on her knee is a snake bit. Is it possible that the bit was so painful that it would cause her not to use her leg? I'll have to ask the vet on Monday.

I feel like a bad rat mommy. I wasn't thinking last night when Hannah & Savannah came to me in an empty tiny cage. All I could think about was getting them some bedding, food, water and weighing them. Not thinking I put them on Carefresh. Hannah was doing great until about an hour ago then she started limping pretty bad. So now I have them on towels and Hannah is doing better. Why didn't I think of that last night? I will continue to use towels and fleece until her leg heals.

I put some cut up pieces of fleece in their cage and they didn't know what to do with it. Not having an extra cuddle cup on hand, I took one of Chloe & Zoey's (they have lots of other stuff) from them and gave it to Hannah & Savannah. When they smalled the other girls they went nuts! Started looking all over for them acting very excited. I wonder if they remember their sister's smell or if it was just because they smelled another rat?

Hannah & Savannah are going great. They're both gaining weight. Hannah's gained 8 grams and Savannah's gained 10 grams since I got them Friday night. They're starting to try their Suebee mix too.

Last nights dinner was some vegtable & rice baby food, mashed potatoe's and mixed veggies. Hannah decided that she liked the mashed potatoe's so much that after she was done she hid them with some fleece strips. I guess she didn't want to share them with Savannah. They seem to really like trying different kinds of food.

Now, how to I explain to them what a cuddle cup is for? They can seem to figure out if it's to sleep in or sleep under. Savannah did sleep in it for a little bit yesterday but ever since they've have be sleeping under it. Silly girls!

I'll up date tomorrow after Hannah is back fom the vet.

So, wait, am I understanding this right?  The bone is still coming through the skin if she moves the leg?   

Kendra, No the bone is not coming threw the skin now. What busted open was some of the new skin growing over it (no the bone didn't come threw again) and I guess there was a small abscess/pus under the skin. The bones have already started to fuse together. As long as Hannah doesn't have anymore major trauma to the leg she will be fine, just a little deformed.

I'm going to keep them in their small cage (not the one they came in) for at least another month (or until the sore on her knee heals) after quarantine to help restrick her movement. I don't want her climbing ladders and ropes yet. Plus I'll need to build a larger cage for when I introduce them to their sisters.