Road Trips With Rats

I bet a lot of you have been mulling over your summer plans. I love getting away from my blistering hot city during this time of year, but I always dreaded leaving my rats. Trusting someone to stay in your home or take your beloved fur children into theirs can be rather stressful. And being a rat owner adds extra complications. Even if you know people who like your rats, they may not have any actual experience in caring for them or be willing to watch them.

If you’re finding it difficult to line up a pet sitter, have you considered taking your rats with you? Hold on — hear me out. If your trip doesn’t involve flying and you’re driving to your destination, it may not be soooo crazy to work your rats into your summer plans.

We’ve taken rats on NUMEROUS road trips to Northern Arizona, Southern California, Colorado, and even on a cross-country trip to multiple states. Sometimes it’s just easier to take them with you than deal with the stress of leaving them behind.

OK, “easier” may be a bit of an overstatement, but it does make a trip much more memorable and adventurous!

Easing Your Rats In

In general, rats do best with predictability and familiar environments. So, it’s understandable that an out-of-town trip may not be their favorite thing. But there are ways to make travel as painless as possible for them.

Try to get them used to leaving your home first. I found that taking a rat or two on an evening walk around our neighborhood helped. I’d put them in a bonding pouch or a small cloth bag with fleece scraps inside. Then throughout the walk I’d take them out and either hold them close to my chest or put them on my shoulder. This depended on whether they showed signs of apprehension or curiosity. I talked to them and reassured them they were safe and continually pet them (inside the bag, too). Some of my rats needed extra time to feel at ease, but many were eager to be perched on my shoulder right from the start.

Also, try taking them on short car rides. When my son was young, I liked taking a couple rats with me to pick him up from school. These rides were usually less than 30 minutes and gave me a chance to assess how my rats would react. They were always curious and excited to smell new things, which made car rides less scary for them.

Just be mindful of the weather and temperature when doing this. It’s not worth it during extreme temperatures.

Choosing The Right Travel Cage

The real key to a safe and low-stress travel experience starts with having the right travel cage. Your rats will feel less upheaval if the cage setup is similar to what they have at home, and they have room to move and climb.

In 2018, my husband got the opportunity to work at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., for five weeks. We decided to turn it into a seven-week road trip and visit various friends and family on the way there and back. Seven weeks without my rats sounded like torture, though, and there was absolutely no way I was going without them. This required a lot of planning and figuring out a cage that my rats would be comfortable and happy in for almost two months.

It had to be big enough to hold four rats but also short enough to fit in our small car, while not being too wide to fit through the car door. I also knew the rats would get less time out of the cage than at home, so I didn’t want them to feel cramped and bored all day; it had to be their home away from home.

I decided to prioritize size over portability and got the largest cage that would (barely) fit in our car. It had two extra half levels and was roomy enough for a hammock, a space pod, an igloo, and a litter box. Since it was going to be extra work to get this thing in and out of the car (it took two people), I also brought along a cat carrier for shorter durations. Like, when we stopped at rest stops or parks for a quick leg stretch and lunch.

This cage was an investment and was far too big to be called a travel cage, but we got a lot of use out of it over the years. It was used the one time I fostered a litter of rats, the few times we had to flee our house because our AC broke during a heat wave, and during many more trips. It gave me peace of mind when the rats traveled with us because they acted much more normal and relaxed in it than they did in the smaller, portable cage I used for trips to the vet.

Unfortunately, my cage, The Rat Lodge by Martin’s Cage, is no longer being made, but you might find one on Craigslist or eBay.

Packing For Your Rats

Even if your trip is only a few days, you need to pack a bag for your rats, too. I’m of the mind that having too much is better than not being prepared, especially if necessary items are difficult to find while traveling.

Items I always packed:

• 2 or more water bottles, including their cage attachments
• Food dishes (for dry food and fresh food)
• A container of dry rat food (bring more than needed just in case)
• 1 to 2 gallons of filtered water
• Small ice cooler with fresh fruits and veggies already cut
• Rat snacks
• Bananas
• Small bottle of dish soap, a scrubber, and a bottle brush
• Extra rat bedding (fleece, litter box bedding, hammocks)
• Bonding pouches, huts, or pillowcases for holding scared rats and out-of-cage time
• Large rat blankets
• A towel or blanket to cover the cage and/or windshield shade
• Paper towels AND unscented wet wipes (seriously, don’t forget these)
• Antibacterial wipes (for your hands)
• Trash bags for waste and dirty bedding storage
• Emergency medicine kit (especially if your rats are elderly or ill)

The Why Behind Packing For Your Rats

When traveling with pets, it’s imperative to be prepared for unexpected emergencies. So, having extra food and water for your rats is essential if your car breaks down, especially in the heat. And separately, rats should always be given filtered water to drink rather than tap water, especially when you don’t know the quality of the water at your destination.

Water bottles should also be emptied and thoroughly cleaned every day to avoid bacteria growth, hence the cleaning products. Having two bottles allows you to swap them out quicker during a busy trip, or serve as a backup if one breaks, which has happened to me.

The sun gets really intense during certain parts of the day and can expose your rats to too much UV rays and/or cause them to overheat if the cage is directly in it. Bright sunlight can also bother their eyes. So, have something to protect the cage, especially if it’s next to a window during the drive. You can do this by propping a windshield shade in front of the window or rigging up a blanket or towel. You can also lay them over the cage to shield the rats when blasting the AC. If your trip is during the winter, the blanket or towel can be wrapped around the base of the cage for extra warmth.

The large rat blankets are for protecting furniture when giving your rats time outside of their cage at the place you stay. And having a hut or bonding pouch provides a hiding place for nervous rats and extra protection for furniture. I also used them to hold the rats safely in my lap for short durations in the car while my husband drove.

You’ll likely need to clean the cage at least once during your trip, if not more. Wet wipes are great for spot cleaning, and you can use a trash bag to store the soiled materials that need to come back home with you.

Some rats get nervous tummies during the drive. I also suspect that some get car sick, although they don’t actually vomit. Regardless of cause, stomach upset can give them mushy stool, which smells much worse, and can become a real mess when they walk through it. If this happens to one of your rats, you’ll thank me for suggesting the paper towels, wet wipes, extra bedding, trash bags, and antibacterial wipes.

This brings me to the bananas. Back in the ’90s, during a road trip with my great grandma (and my rat Rory), she shared some old-school wisdom that I’ve never forgotten: Bananas help stop diarrhea! And bless my GG for having some with her because Rory had those mushy poos. And a chunk of banana, every couple of hours, did the trick! His poops had firmed up by the end of the day, and by the end of the trip, Rory was used to the car and he became one of my best and most frequent travelers.

In my article Rat Safety During Evacuation And Emergencies, I provided a similar list of items to keep in an emergency go bag, along with an emergency medicine kit. Not all the items in the kit are necessary for a road trip but look through it for ideas on what to pack if you’re traveling with seniors or ill rats.

Pet-Friendly Lodging

I haven’t personally used this site, but PetsWelcome claims to be a “Pet-Friendly Road Trip Planner” helping owners find hotels that accept pets. Just make sure to confirm with the hotel that they are, indeed, OK with rats. I also recommend putting up the “Do Not Disturb” sign on your door to keep housekeeping out anytime you’re gone. It’s just safer for your rats if strangers don’t have access to them. Oh, and check the thermostat before leaving them so they stay comfortable.

Warnings For Car Travel

This should be obvious, but I’m going to say it anyway: NEVER leave your rats in the car unattended! There are too many “what ifs” to list.

Rats also have a small window of temperature tolerance. So, you’ll also need to leave the car running with the AC or heater during stops to prevent them from getting heatstroke or getting too cold if it’s winter.

Keep an eye on their water bottle during the drive as well. Sometimes if the cage isn’t level, it can affect the pressure in the bottle, causing it to leak, or become impossible to drink from.

An Adventure Worth Having

The idea of travelling with your rats may sound crazy and exhausting, but I really loved every trip I took with mine, and I cherish those memories. I even found that it strengthened bonds with some of my more standoffish rats. Although it’s easier to travel without rats, I honestly miss having travel buddies!