8 hours dark, 8 hours light

I bought three kinds of Harlan blocks to test on my crew.  They don't touch the 8604, LOVE the 2018, and I'm still waiting on a bag of the 2016 to get to me.

I don't know if Kim's Ark regularly stocks the 2016, but I got mine from here: http://www.shadowbrookrats.com/ if they don't.

The 2018 and the 8604 smell different, so I imagine you might want to try the 8604 before the 2016... simply because I bet the 2016 smells similar to the 2018.  Does that make sense? lol

what book says this?  I know all life needs regular cycles of light/dark.  it even affects womens' fertility.  but 100% darkness?  creeps me out.  hehe

Robin

And the other 8 hours? 

I agree that all living things need light and dark cycles, but if the night light is just one of those very faint plug in types I can't see it providing enough light to upset anything.  It would be different if you were leaving a lamp on or something, I'm sure.

As for the Harlan.  Are you feeding your rats anything else?  If so, cut everything else out and only give them Harlan.  It sounds a bit mean, but they should eat when they are hungry.  If you are giving them other treats or food they are probably holding out on you in the hopes that something else is still going to be coming.

You can kind of work around the darkness part. Since rats are generally more active during night (although they can and will adjust to YOUR schedule), you can put cages away from windows, in rooms where its generally dark for most of the day (like in an office room and just close the blinds for the day). Giving them a box or something similar also provides them darkness if they need it during day. My girls dont seem to care about light/dark issue as long as there's no direct sunlight or any bright light on them. If rats REALLY cared about being in the dark, they wouldn't sleep in the hammocks lol

I thought the 2014 was for unhealthy rats?

Actually, 2016 is the recommended diet by HT for adult healthy rats. The 2014 is for very overweight rats.

This is my girl, Belle. Belle is very overweight, and she's slowly losing weight on 2014. Slowly, which is the healthiest way to do it.


I don't post her can pics very often, so please I'd rather not see the "Whoah! That's a big rat!" comments.

2018 is recommended for lactating and pregnant moms, 8604 is actually recommended as a general rodent block (Hamsters, Gerbils, Mice, Rats, etc). If I had healthy adult rats, I'd feed 2016.

i love her color. i have such a soft spot for orange coloring on a rat (which usually means fawns).

hmmm. eight hours light, eight hours dark, eight hours play?...

rats will adapt to whatever light cycle you have. if you have a night light, and they want darkness, they can always snuggle away in an empty kleenux box. heck, they can even do that during the day. i like to hang two hammocks on top of each other so they can choose if they want to climb between them or lay on top. i also prefer to use my table top lamp instead of the over head light because it creates a more inviting mood for my rats to come out and play in. come to think of it, when i started using that lamp, elise got much braver and joined in free roam time more.

the best thing is to give them options. if you give them access to places with bright lights, also provide places where they can choose to be in dark. sometimes that can be as simple as an empty kleenux box, or a thick towel.

My rats sleep by my bed during the week when the other bedroom/weight room is being used. (I'd rather they interrupt my sleep than someone else's). I still find it funny that while I'm reading they're usually quiet. Sometimes puttering about, or eating. But when I turn out the light - Whoa! Within 5 seconds they're battering around in the cage, making a racket! The first few times I laughed about it, then it got annoying cuz I kept getting woken up in the night. Now I'm used to it and pretty much sleep through it.
I know. It didn't really answer your question, but the fact that darkness really ramps up their activity tells me they need some kind of darkness each day.
BTW,how DO they run around their cage in the dark without serious injury?

I guess I am pretty lucky then!     I have 34 rats in my bedroom, and they are loud and banging around until I turn the light off between 11-12 pm..sometimes earlier.  Within 1/2 an hour its fairly quiet and they have mostly settled down, except the Baby Cage where someone is still running on a wheel...young rats are not considerate of sleep patterns.   

I just realised my guys havent got any dark places to go at the moment as it's very hot and humid so I took their rodey house out after seeing one too many pathetic looking rats slide out of it. But even when it's in there they sleep most of the time in the open. I think the darkness thing is a comfort for rats that arent too sure of their surrondings if their new or just a bit unsure from time to time.

The new little guy sleeps in a pipe all the time but the others sleep in piles in the open.

LOL My girls are the same way. They generally wake up when I first wake up in the morning (so they can get their scratches and treats) then they wake up again when I get home. For the rest of the evening, they are sometimes up and about and sometimes just laying there with their eyes open. The moment the lights go off though, the crunching and jumping and redecorating of the cage begins! I do NOT keep rats in the bedroom anymore lol especially young rats...i'm such a light sleeper, every little noise wakes me up.

My ratties have a wheel to play in and I give them empty paper towel rolls, empty tp rolls, and boxes of kleenex (with the tissues inside).