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Update on my ratties!

Daenerys

Daenerys

Mother of Dragons
So I posted back in December about a 5 rat family I was adopting from Petsmart. There was the mother, who I named Lucy, and her 4 babies (Autumn, Briar, Willow, and Nicodemus aka Nicky).

Well, since then my rat family has more than doubled! I think ratties are just as addictive as snakes, lol. They're just so fuzzy and adorable!

My next addition was Remus, a poor old boy rat that was stuck in Petsmart for a year because nobody wanted him. I got him half price. He is the buddy of my boy Nicky, since I keep the boys and girls separate.

The next addition was two sweet old girls that a local family could no longer give their time to since they just had a baby. They asked me to care for them and they will pay all their medical expenses. They came to me as Daisy and Petunia but I didn't really like those names so they are now Linnea and Gwyneira (aka Linnie and Gwynnie).

The next addition was a sweet little hairless girl that I got from a pet store just because I really wanted a hairless rat, lol. I named her Wren,

The next addition was an adorable baby boy hairless from the Raleigh reptile show at the beginning of the month. He was just too cute I couldn't put him down! His name is Theodore aka Theo.

The last addition is a tiny, very young baby boy rat that my fiance bought to feed his ball python, Ovid. Ovid had not been eating F/T even though we had been offering it to him so Brandon was gonna try a live baby rat. I instantly fell in love with the little thing, though, and made a deal with my fiance: If I could get Ovid to take a F/T rat I could keep the baby. Well, Ovid took that F/T right away, as soon as he smelled it! Hahah. So now the baby is mine, I call him Little Bear, because he reminds me of a black bear cub.

Picture time!!!

Lucy
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Nicky (still young here, he is much chubbier now, lol!)
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Autumn
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Briar
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Willow (she is very skittish still so no recent pictures)
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To be continued...
 
Now for my new babies!
Remus
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I can't seem to find one of Linnea except for this tiny one. She is also getting really really old looking, like all skin and bones...her skin is really saggy too. :'( Her and Gwynnie were both at least two years old when I got them and I've had them for at least 2 months now.
Linnea.jpg


Gwyneira
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Wren
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Theodore
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Little Bear
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Oh and I wanted to add that my ratty castle (or a bunch of cardboard boxes taped together with holes connecting them...you can see it in Linnea/Gwynnie/Wren pics) has grown a TON and now fills up my entire dining room table XD the rats love it! I should get a picture.
 
I love them! Thanks so much for the update!!
Way too cute (and smart, and clean) to be anybody's food :)
 
They are all so adorable!

I have 11 ratties and I love them all but after these ones I decided to keep the number lower because of any animal I've kept I've seen the vet more with these guys.
 
I decided to go take new pictures of Linnea, since if she is so old I want to make sure I have good pictures of her before her time comes :(

Here she is, hanging out in the cardboard rat condo:

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My girls prefer running madly about over cuddles, but are oh so soft when they get tired.
My boys are the real cuddle monsters though.
 
What cage do you have for them? I have been searching and searching for the one from our feeder bin im going to keep (we apparently suddenly started getting hairless rats after 8 months of no hairless rats). And yes post pics of the cardboard castle! Theodore is so cute.
 
They're looking great! Excellent pictures.


I can't stand rats as pets anymore. The constant chewing, pooping, and peeing just got to be too much. They make the snakes happy though. X)
 
ShenziSixaxis said:
They're looking great! Excellent pictures.


I can't stand rats as pets anymore. The constant chewing, pooping, and peeing just got to be too much. They make the snakes happy though. X)
Click to expand...

Ugh.
I have kept them as pets for 8 years now, and probably always will. In small numbers. As pets they have needs that must be met, which most people who have large numbers or only see them as food for something else don't meet.
Mine get ALOT of social interaction, are out of their cages at least an hour a day, get treats and go to the vet if they need to. Mine also will NEVER EVER be bred or fed to anything else.
I appreciate them for their intelligence and affection towards me. It's nice that they greet me when I get home from work and like chilling on the sofa with me to watch tv.

My snakes are perfectly happy with pre-killed non fatty MICE.
 
I like rats .... all of the adults I have met are sweet, affectionate and SMART. They are really neat pets, but I do agree need the right kind of care to reach their full potential.

I don't like the fact that they need to live in pairs, if not I would own one by now.
 
Calift said:
I like rats .... all of the adults I have met are sweet, affectionate and SMART. They are really neat pets, but I do agree need the right kind of care to reach their full potential.

I don't like the fact that they need to live in pairs, if not I would own one by now.
Click to expand...

Two are really not much more work than one is. I usually get 2 male babies. The hard part is when one dies, and the other one mourns. They get very attached to their cagemates! Usually the health of the survivor takes a sharp decline. When that happens I usually get 2 more babies, and introduce them slowly. Sometimes the survivor continues to decline, but in a few cases you can actually SEE them perk up. It is so heartwarming to see an old guy sharing a hammock with 2 teeny tiny bubs.
 
starsevol said:
Ugh.
I have kept them as pets for 8 years now, and probably always will. In small numbers. As pets they have needs that must be met, which most people who have large numbers or only see them as food for something else don't meet.
Mine get ALOT of social interaction, are out of their cages at least an hour a day, get treats and go to the vet if they need to. Mine also will NEVER EVER be bred or fed to anything else.
I appreciate them for their intelligence and affection towards me. It's nice that they greet me when I get home from work and like chilling on the sofa with me to watch tv.

My snakes are perfectly happy with pre-killed non fatty MICE.
Click to expand...

I didn't originally see them as just food, but like I said, the constant peeing/pooping/chewing just rubs me the wrong way. Personal preferences. Things like hearing the chewing on anything (even food) irks me to almost no end.

The short life span is also becoming something I don't want to deal with. The male I got to begin breeding with was a real cuddlebug but started acting like my first rat did before he got deathly sick and died despite 500 USD of treatment, and not too long ago one of his daughters that was a funny nutcase pretty much killed herself by not weaning pups.

:shrugs:
 
Daenerys said:
I decided to go take new pictures of Linnea, since if she is so old I want to make sure I have good pictures of her before her time comes :(

Here she is, hanging out in the cardboard rat condo:

DSC_0271-1.jpg


DSC_0268-1.jpg
Click to expand...

Speaking of short life spans....its a good thing I took these pictures. Poor Linnea passed away this morning :'( I found her because my dog was sitting next to the cage whining and staring at something. I look and there is poor Linnea, lying under the ramp in the corner of bottom level. Poor sweet old girl. I think she knew her time was coming because I had them out last night and out of nowhere she climbed up my arm to cuddle on my shoulder for about 10 minutes. Linnea never really liked cuddling, I always did it against her will for about a minute at a time and then I'd put her down. But that was a sweet moment, feeling her soft heart beat and rexy fur pressed against my neck. I will miss that girl, even though I only knew her for 2 months she has left footprints on my heart :'(

R.I.P. Linnea <3
 
Stormy said:
What cage do you have for them? I have been searching and searching for the one from our feeder bin im going to keep (we apparently suddenly started getting hairless rats after 8 months of no hairless rats). And yes post pics of the cardboard castle! Theodore is so cute.
Click to expand...

I have this super pet ferret cage to hold all my girls. I got it for free. However, the bar spacing is 1" and my smaller girls can get through that so I had to wrap it in hardware cloth.

pPETS-3762649t400.jpg


and this cage for the boys (bar spacing is 1/2" which is perfect for any size rat):

Cage+Deluxe+Myfirst+Home.jpg
 
I am so sorry, she was a beautiful girl.
And take comfort knowing that she had the best life ever with you.
One thing to remember is that to us, their lives are way too short, but not to them! They have no idea that 2 years is a short time, it is 80 years in their eyes.
When I lose a beloved bub, I remember that.
And I know that even though each individual can never be replaced, that there is another rattie out there that could use a really nice warm happy treat-filled life. Makes me feel good to be able to do that.
 
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