Are they curly whiskered? Rexes (curly ones) can have baldy patches or it can be poor diet or mites - I would get some Beaphar spot on and treat everyon ejust to be sure!

Take the cage apart as well as you can and scrub the edges - cages can stink!!!
Within a few days of nice clean bedding and good care I am sure the ratties themselves will be less smelly soon - and once you are bonded you could bath them ...

Wire floors used to be believed to cause bumblefoot but I think that Idea has changed now and most think it is OK as long as they have other places to be - make some teatowel hammocks if they don't have any - they will love you for it
I would cover the floor were they mine as it can't be comfy - but I am a softie

As Cava14una says - we need pictures So exciting!!

What food are they on? General rat food isn't the greatest usually ..

Oh duh!! How daft am I never thought of rexy boys I love wonky whiskers too.

Oh now I have no idea if they are hoodies or not, they are dark grey with white bellys. As for the skin thing, having looked closer and taken the two baldy ones out it it just seems to be the type of the coat they have, it's quite thin and patchy.

The two baldy ones seem to be happier to be handled, I've had both of them dozing on me (one at a time). The other two ones are going to take longer.

I still can't think of names, Scooty matches one of the baldies cause he keeps trying to scoot down behind my back, and perhaps Nobby for the other one. The other two boys I really want to get to know before I come up with names

Curly whiskers mean Rex... they have curly coats too, that can often thin a bit in places especially when older.... like a well-loved teddy bear

If they have any little scabs around the neck & shoulders, that does indicate mites. All rats have mites in general but they do flare up under times of stress or illness and cause a problem.... no need to sterilise anything, just treat the rats.

The Beaphar spot-on as mentioned before will do the trick.... better still if you know anyone with cavies or a good local rat breeder, a TINY tiny spot of Ivomec on the back of the ear will do it. Do not let a vet inject anything... that's a risky and very old-fashioned treatment that can lead to other issues. If the vet gets the dosage wrong, it's not a nice way for a rat to suffer.

I think we do need pics here! Come on, I wanna see yer ratties!

If I can persuade Photobucket to accept my pics I'll get them on here, oh and I have to load the camera software onto this netbook too.

They are on this stuff she gets from the local supplier, get a big bag of it for around £20. They get fed once every two days, plus fresh fruit and veg. I read they need protein too and I'm not sure they have been getting it. I'll see if I can get them to take some meat (if you guys think that's advisable).

You won't have to persuade them... the love a bit of meat! If you are not a veggie, try them with some leftover chicken bones. No worries about choking on cooked bones - rats gnaw... they do not crush like cats & dogs, their teeth deal with bones in an entirely different way.

They also love tuna, sardines, eggs raw or cooked, and lots of leftovers including pasta, rice and veg peelings. Spaghetti is fun... put it on top if the cage & watch them pull it in and nom it up. Very like dogs in that respect - they adore any food and get all excited about it and grateful! And chocolate, grapes and raisins are NOT poisonous to them.

Rats are fun and I miss having them!

and they like to wear spaghetti like wigs while they eat it

I forgot about the Spaghetti Wigs!

I was thinking more how they pull the spaghetti through, holding it in their hands, paw over paw, and eating it up like feeding a cable into their mouths.

I did have one once that was scared of spaghetti! She was terrified and ran away, while her bros and sisters just went nuts and hauled away pulling it all in like a load of demented fishermen.

Rats are funny!

Woo, got a proper look at the two baldy boys They have both got curly whiskers so looks like you guys were right. Thanks so much for answering all my daft questions. I've been making friends with them and have had three of them so far sleeping on my knee one at a time

They are so sweet and cute, and they are becoming very interested in what I'm doing. I've had them having a nose to see what I'm doing when I was cleaning in the hall. OH has gone from ignoring them to trying to take one of them out, which promptly escaped Don't worry we caught him again...which made us come up with a name...Houdini. So we have Houdini, Bumble (he has a gammy leg and is quite slow), Carrot (he has light ginger tints going down his tail) and Nobby With Houdini and Carrot I can see me getting them mixed up cause they do look quite alike.

Our cats, well, Mocha ran a mile as soon as she saw them, and although kinda interested, if they move she's off like a shot, Minx has no clue what to make of them, and Dougal is wondering what on earth they are.

Oh and as I said earlier, as soon as I can work out how to get the camera software on here I'll post pics. They are very cute