The Rats I Have Known And Loved -My Rats

This is Sativa. She'll be 28 months at the end of August. She's the oldest rat I have ever had. Sativa is my only remaining SITH girl and one of the sweetest rats I have ever known. Sativa is a little attention whore but she's so cute that she gets away with it. She's friendly to everyone she meets and I do mean everyone. We are cherishing her in her old age and of course she's loving it.



This is Orchid. Orchid and her sister Nisa had a tragic beginning. They were separated from their mom when they were around 3 weeks old and spent a considerable amount of time with a snake that refused to eat them prior to us rescuing them. Orchid is more friendly and confident than Nisa. Orchid loves Sativa and is protective of her sister. She is learning to love attention and has become pretty attached to us already.



This is Nisa. She's my little scaredy rat but with good reason so I sympathize. I have worked with Nisa very slowly over the past two months. I started with talking to her in soothing voice, then placing my hand in the cage, and eventually petting her inside the cage and offering treats. Over time Nisa and I have developed a bond and she has started to trust me. She will now come out of the cage and enjoys attention. It is clear she is still emotionally fragile and fearful but I am so proud of how far she has come.

So this is my rat family as of today. We are a growing family so I'm sure I'll be updating soon enough.

Oh my goodness, those poor girls...and now, hurray, they have won the rat lottery by getting a second chance with you, that is so wonderful! They are such beauties and their photos were so sweet. Poor little ones...I am so happy you got them and I know they are grateful for a loving home and a wonderful and caring rat mommy to love them. So nice to see a happy ending for these sweethearts! Send them my love! Here is a kiss for them! :kisskiss:

Nice to meet your ratties! It's wonderful your old lady is still chugging along. What does she think of the babies?

Such beautiful ladies! Sativa looks wonderful for her age.

Thanks guys!

Sativa is amazing. She still popcorns and runs. She's still almost always in a good mood.

Joanne - Our colony went from 4 down to 3 within about a month. We lost Chloe (her sister) a few days before we picked up the new girls. Within that time it was obvious Sativa was starting to get depressed. So she's happy to not be alone anymore. but the girls think of her as their surrogate mom so they're always hanging off of her. We give her lots of time where she can be be left alone if she wants to.

Vlandina - They give kisses back. Well Sativa does. The other two may still be a little shy haha.

Awww, ha ha, that's okay....shy ones are so sweet in their own special way and I love them so much!

As some of you may know Sativa passed away on October 6, 2014. She was 28.5 months old and the oldest rat I have ever had. Sativa and her sister Chloe were very special to Aaron and I. I included this poem in her memorial but I'd like it in my rat thread as well.


You are the nicest rat I have ever known
I do not say this simply because you were my own
You and your sister were my dream come true
My life changed the day I met you

You are gone but not forgotten now
And I have to find a way to carry on somehow
But you will remain in my heart forever
I could never forget the precious time we spent together
My love will be undying too
For I will love others in the memory of you.

I also had a request for some pictures of Sativa and I would rather have those here as a celebration of her life than in the memorial a place where I could grieve

Sativa's first picture.


I feel like this one really captures her mischievous personality.


She was also very sweet.


Sativa's last picture.


Goodbye beautiful girl. You are already so very missed.

Thank you for sharing about Sativa and her friends
Your poem is a wonderful tribute to Sativa
and her pictures are beautiful.
She sounds like an amazing girl
I am so very sorry for your loss

{{hugs}}

Beautiful pictures of her! It is neat to see the change in her expression as she got older.

Such precious pictures of your beloved Sativa...I just loved them. She was such a beautiful girl, inside and out. You are right, this was a great place to post pics of her, to celebrate her life. Thank you for posting these and for sharing her with us. A very special and beautiful lady was Sativa. We will not forget her. (sending kisses up to Sativa). :love11:

I totally thought I had responded to this. Thanks you guys. Of course I miss her but I'm thankful for all the great memories I have of her. She was so special and so loved.

We knew Sativa's time was near we just weren't sure when. As luck would have it Sativa was with us until our two groups were one and everyone became friends. Although the intros were a little more difficult than we were used to you would not know that now. The best part is my lil Nisa who had a rough start to life has become more brave since we added our new additions.


This is Coco.


She was born on July 10, 2014. Coco is a mink self dumbo. She is very sweet but a little shy. I love rats like that because it's so rewarding when they start to open up as Coco has.

This is her sister Penelope.


She was also born July 10, 2014. She is a siamese dumbo rex. Penelope is more outgoing than Coco. She is very playful and loving.

These girls have been an excellent addition to our family.

Interesting fact: My first two female rats were sisters one was a mink dumbo and the other was a siamese rex dumbo.

Such beautiful girls! :heart:

Your rats are gorgeous! Where did you get the sputnik!?

Beautiful Sativa:love5:
Beautiful Poem :heart: -- it catches my thoughts exactly about my special rattie who passed also.
Beautiful Ratties :love7:

I am so sorry for your loss. I can totally relate.

minnieflower said:

Your rats are gorgeous! Where did you get the sputnik!?

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I hate sputniks. Most worthless things I have bought.
I bought the large ones & my boys are too big to get in them & the girls piss too much in them. But I am glad they work out for some people !

All my rats have always loved their sputniks! Until they get too big for them, ha ha. I think rats like the cool feel of the plastic under their bodies and the cozy feel of being protected by the sputnik but able to look out and see the world from their cozy den.

For some reason, my boys never peed in their sputniks...they always chose a different place to do that. Lucky!

Trihkal, Coco and Penelope are just darlings! Such pretty girls, and wow, they are exactly like your first two girls...that is amazing. Maybe there is a little bit of your first two girls in them...like part of them came back to be with you again.

2Rats said:

I hate sputniks. Most worthless things I have bought.
I bought the large ones & my boys are too big to get in them & the girls piss too much in them. But I am glad they work out for some people !

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Aw that sucks! My girls almost always pee in the same few places so hopefully they wouldnt be too bad

Thanks you guys. I really love my girls.

Minnieflower I got the sputnik from Montreal Critters.http://montrealcritters.com/. All of my rats have loved it. There hasn't been a problem with them peeing in it either.

2Rats - As nice as it is to know I'm not alone in my grief I'm sorry that you can relate. That being said I'm sure you would agree the relationships we had with our special ratties is so worth it.

Vlandina - I think that's exactly why they love the sputnik. Possibly a part of Asia and Olivia has come back. Although I was never a bad rat owner I was still pretty new to rats when we got them. I'm glad I have improved so much since then.