Probably Stolen rats are the game's livestock line: you keep them in a cage, feed them, breed the best ones and butcher the rest for meat. The Rat Wrangler start asks one question, "can you grow a healthy 2x3 rat?", and the developer has not published a guide to the system, so this page collects the official cage changes with the numbers one Steam forum player posted from the game, which we label as player reports. Treat those figures as unconfirmed until the developer or a second source repeats them.
Probably Stolen rats: the setup
The Rat Wrangler scenario started as a secret scenario in the playtest and was unhidden on August 7, 2026. A demo-era vendors guide lists a Friday visitor, the Retired Rancher, who sells a rat cage, a livestock feed dispenser, a meat cleaver, a blue labeller, a cleaner robot, wire cutters, small Nutrifruit, four rats with random stats, a Gene Scanner and livestock steroid and immunity serums. That stock is marked as missing 1.0 information, and hotfix 1.0.0.5 notes that the Inventor now also stocks the Gene Scanner once Rat Ranching is unlocked. The Rat Wrangler scenario page has the start itself, and starting it unlocks We Have Rats!, an achievement 3.2% of players had at launch; see Probably Stolen achievements.
Feeding works through the dispenser on the right side of the cage: a forum player says you put food in and press start to add it to the stockpile, that a standard rat eats 65 calories, and that the info panel shows each rat's weight and needs. Heavier rats give more meat, which they call worth a lot of money. If cash is short while you build up the colony, Probably Stolen tips and tricks covers the first-week budget.
Cage wear, disease and overcrowding
The Probably Stolen patch notes list the changes in order. Update 049 reworked the animal cage. Durability wear now scales with the size of the living animals inside, dead animals, cage equipment and other stored items cause none, each ingot size upgrade adds 20 maximum durability, repairing with scrap restores 50% of the maximum, and only cage equipment such as the Vacuum Robot and feed dispenser can go inside. The Vacuum Robot can take a Common Electronic upgrade for an incinerator that destroys feces in its storage, at double power use. Mouse Traps can now be stored in bags.
The forum numbers cover what the notes do not. According to one player, feces and dead animals raise disease risk once they cover a quarter of the cage, and overcrowding has three levels as the animals fill 55%, 70% and 90% of it. A rat that gains 30 g or more in a night leaves feces. A diseased rat loses 25% of its maximum health a night and recovers with a chance equal to its Immunity, and below 50 Immunity a rat has a 5% to 25% nightly chance to fall ill. At overcrowding level 2 a heavier rat has a 5% nightly chance to kill a lighter one; at level 3 it is 15%. Clearing dead animals and feces promptly is the obvious counter.
Growth, feeding and when to butcher
The same player says growth slows by up to 50% while hunger is under 400, halves while a rat is starving, stops after 14 days unless Longevity is above 1, and never drops a rat below 25% of its stage target. Update 049 also changed the Gene Scanner so allele colors respect stat direction: a low Hunger Rate roll shows green and a high one red. Use the scanner on newborns to choose parents, which is the core of the loop. When to butcher is a judgment call, and the sources do not publish a best day.
Rat droppings also appear in one pure-water method that Owlie's Steam guide calls a possible exploit; the standard routes are in how to make pure water in Probably Stolen. For fish, which the developer calls the gentler production line, see the Aquafarmer scenario.
Probably Stolen Rats FAQ
How do you feed rats in Probably Stolen?
Put food into the livestock feed dispenser on the cage and press start to add it to the stockpile, according to a Steam forum player. A standard rat eats 65 calories.
Why do my rats keep dying?
The forum numbers point to disease from feces and dead animals, overcrowding that lets heavy rats kill light ones, and hunger. Clear the cage and keep it below the overcrowding levels.
Does the Rat Wrangler start with a cage?
The developer does not itemize the start, so its contents are unconfirmed. The only stock list is the demo-era Retired Rancher's, quoted above.
Is rat ranching harder than fish?
Yes, by the developer's own description: aquaculture is slower, needs less maintenance and is more beginner friendly than rat ranching.