Adult sizeUsually between 40 and 80 grams (30 to 150 grams are not that unusual).
Name
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The scientific name of the natal rat is Praomys natalensis. This little rathas changed names many times and still goes under older namnes in older litterature (they don't take the books back and reprint them just because the scientists have changed their minds). Also there are a few closely related species in captivity, that are kept in the laboratory, and are almost impossible to separate from the natal rat just by looking at them. As far as I have been able to determine only the natal rat exists in Sweden, not any of its relatives so far.
The natal rat is related to both rats and mice, but they are a bit closer related to rats than mice, scientifically speaking.
Adult size
Usually between 40 and 80 grams (30 to 150 grams are not that unusual).
Normal lifespan
Between 3 and 5 years (from what I have been told, none of mine lived that long).
Natural behaviour and social organisation
The natal rat is usually active at night and they move mosttly on the ground, but they are good at climbing trees. They have nests under ground and in nature they have no inter species aggression, ie they do not show aggression amongst themselves. They do not defend a territory against eachother. The natal rat is highly social. In some African countries they are usual and unwelcome as our brown rats and house mice. And just like those they can make a lot of damage to crops in agricultural areas.
Cages and environment
The natal rat likes high bird cages just as well as low aquariua and plastic cages, the only demand they have is that the cage is rather big. At least the cage has to be 60 cm long or the natal rats will spend all their time gnawing to get out. And they are good at it! If they do get a big cage, then they don't gnaw on the cage at all, none of mine did anyways :-) They like to have some branches, ladders and houses and such in their cage. Just like so many other small pets these are tropical animals and need to be kept in indoor temperatures.
The natal rats love to take a sand bathe in fine bird sand. They love to have hay to eat. They don't dig and they like to use the food bowl (or sand bowl) as a toilet. They need to be given fine nesting material since they are very bad at making nests. They absolutely need sleeping houses, only in really hot weather do they sleep outside the sleeping houses - remember that this an African species!
Escape proof cages
Since the natal rats is a rat in a mousey shape they need bars that will keep mice inside the cage or they will get out. They babies ger mobile very early and can actually get out though bars in the roof of the cage if the cage is not totally mouseproofed! If a baby mouse can get out so can a baby natal rat :-) And the natal rats climbs better at an earlier age...
Social organisation in captivity
This species prefer to live in social packs. It is absolutely not recommended to have less than two natal rats, actually I can recommend getting a same sex group of them :-)
The natal rats have no inter species aggression in nature and only some in captivity. It is often easy to put two new natal rats together, often there is no fighting.
Handling Natal Rats
natal rats ought be caught in cupped hands. If you grab a natal rat ypou will probably get bitten, they don't like being held. In contrast to this usually all natal rats are not afraid of hands inside the cage and willingly let themselves pe åpetted - inside the cage! As long you don't try to catch them they they generally never bites, and they don't defend their babies against humans. If you lift them out of the cage they usually jump away :-)
Nutritional requirements
In nature the natal rat eats mainly grasses and seeds, and also some insects. If you forget to feed them they might actually eat eachother, which is what they do in nature when food is scarse! These animals are dependent on access to fine drinking water. They need to eat both fresh and dry food, since they eat so much of booth in nature, and you will soon realize that they like vegetables just as much as dry seeds.
The dry food can consist of oats, rye, wheat and barley, hay, bird seeds for small birds (the kinds with lots of millet in them), and lots of millet. Since they eat insects in nature you can try to give them dried insects.
The fresh food can consist of mainly fruit and vegetables, they really love vegetables! Also they will eat some cooked pasta, cooked potatoes, gruel, and maybe even some live mealworms.
Do not give them fat seeds! Their fur will soon become greasy if they eat too much fat.
When there is lots of food in nature their diet usually consists of 1/3 fresh fruits and vegetables, which is rather a lot for a rat! In captivity it is easy to see how much they love vegetables :-) Mine just loved carrots and cucumber...
Their favotite food is hay, vegetables, fine seeds, lots of millet and dry hard bred. A few natal rats can eat a whole big carrot in just couple of days.
Breeding
Gestation is 23 days. Normally the female give bitrth to around 12 babies. During good conditions they have up to 22 babies in a litter. The babies can stay with the mother for at least 6 weeks, but then the male should be removed before birth. If given too little food, bad food or food that the mother does not like she might just as well eat the babies.
Environmental changes
This species is not very sensitive to environmental changes.
Common signs of disease
As usual for small pets.
Common diseases
The natal rat is sensitive to osteoarthritis, and older individuals are prone to develop stomack tumours.
Natal Rat clubs?
There is no natal rat club that I know of, but the Swedish Mouse Club (SVEMUS) arranges shows where natal rats can enter! We also have written standards for natal rats in SVEMUS (I know since I wrote them).
Copyright Eva Johansson.
Latest update: 13th of April 2007.