Petey the rat needs a home in Western MA

The Rat Shack Forum

Help Support The Rat Shack Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

YokaiRatRAR

Active Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
26
Location
NULL
When i met petey, he must have just barely been ready to leave his mum. He was being sold in the "small rats" tank. Which I learned is really bad petstore-ease for "they're just ickle bebbies, please give us your money anyway!"

I didn't think much of him, until I noticed dried blood on his wrists. To this day, I'm not sure how he hurt them, but he had sores on his wrists. His sibs were clobbering him, the group of them fighting over the one water bottle. 12 thirsty young rats, just barely grown up, 1 very unsteady looking water bottle, and Petey was trying in turns to fight for his share and escape up on top of the bottle.

Then he climbed the cieling and started snuffling at my hand, placed on the tank's top for balence. It was as if he was saying "Help me! Please? Its crazy in here I just want some peace and quiet! And food, food would be nice!"

So I went to the lady at the counter at Fin and Feather, which seems to favor their fish and reptiles over their small animals and birds and charge way too much for their supplies, always sell the poorest quality food, ect.

She was unimpressed. "So he got them in the cage fighting his siblings, it happens, its no big deal." There was an empty quarantine tank not a foot underneath Petey's tank. Just put him there overnight and clean the sores I told her. No dice. Of course there wouldn't be. They only keep rats to feed their snakes and they needed that empty tank for keeping the litters of rats who's breeding they refused to control.

A lot went through my head "i have a spare cage, I have rat food, I have bedding, and I know how to take care of and socialize a rat." "But mum will be pissed, I have too many critters already and I really want a second guinea pig to keep my sow happy, she already needs a bigger cage..." "Which can house Petey when he grows too big for the tank, and you don't have to keep him, just heal him." "I'm running late as it is, I just came by to get an extra thing of hay for the guinea pig so I can give her that instead of wood shavings, the rats need the shavings and newspaper to keep the sulpher smell they give off when they need changing from going all over." "Mum's gonna throw a fit..."

"Ma'am? I'll take him."

When I got Petey home and into the bath, he was so thirsty he tried to drink the bathwater. The water revealed how rake thin he was under the fur, as I could feel his ribs beneath my fingers once I got to examine Petey more closely. A raspberry rolled down his cage ramp disappeared into his mouth and was never seen again. So did the second one, and the third. The fourth raspberry was briskly stashed under the cage ramp and he came back for another as though he hadn't eaten in his life and was planning contingencies just in case he never got food again. Then petey passed out, sleeping like a rock, while I argued with my brother over my buying him and mentally prepared myself to face my mother's irritation over my getting /another/ critter!

Well, Petey's wrists have healed. He's grown enough that he'd qualify as a "medium rat" at the store instead of a small. Now I need to get him a new home, preference going to 1. A teacher, where he'll be a beloved class pet who will teach children to respect animals. 2. a family with a child on the autism spectrum (just like mwa! I want other folks on the spectrum to get the chance to interact with their own little buddy.) Or 3. a hopeless spiderman fan, because thats who he's named after, who will give him a custom climbing gym he can indulge his daring highwire skills on.

Petey comes to the cage door when called, loves to climb, is fast as lightning, loves eating summer berries, has been taught to shoulder, and is as soft as down. He doesn't get the point of a rat ball yet but is growing fast enough to need one. He comes with 10 gallon tank and tank topper but will need a new cage soon, when he does, I suggest using the tank as a rat garden. Get organic wheat berries, sow them in clean unfertilized potting soil, let them grow to a foot or so high, then let him loose. He loves eating the stalks and the grains, and his eyes will likely boggle in joy at having nice cool grass beneath his feet (i cut some for him to lay on, but it just dies back! Have used cage panels that can go with him, comes with his own bottle.

You will have to come get him. I have no car and no liscence and do not fancy using my "granny cart" and the bus to transport him myself.

So please if you're looking for a class pet, a first pet, or a buddy who likes climbing and jumping as much as spiderman does, please consider little Petey in Pittsfield MA.

And if you're an employee, owner, co owner or sponsor of the Fin and Feather Petstore SHAME ON YOU YOU COLD HEARTED *censored*! Honestly! A NICKEL would have paid for the alcohol swab to clean those sores! A NICKEL!
 
Petey really needs a buddy and shouldn't be forced to live alone. I hope you will consider adopting him out only to someone who already has a buddy for him. Rats are extremely social and no amount of human companionship can replace that.
BTW, please don't use alcohol swabs on any pet skin. That can actually kill the skin. Next time, all you need is peroxide or better yet, salt and warm water will do the trick.
 
I found 100% botanically based shampoo. Good thing I did, he tried to drink the damn bath water. Although I like alcohol sting on my cuts, I remembered a very painful encounter with peroxide burns that made me think twice about strong first aid supply stuff and reached for the natural botanical shampoo instead. It worked. Petey healed and didn't get hurt trying to drink the bathwater.

His cage is next to the girls, I see them 'talking' to each other with rat ultrasonic. They'll sit up on their hind legs near each other's cages, head in the air going up and down. I know my buddies only speak in a way i can hear when they want me to hear them and have a language all their own that only they can hear.

Not the same though, I have no issue with him going to a home with another rat, I just don't want him being bred unless he has genetic markers that will improve the offspring, and knowing Fin and Feather, he probably doesn't. Wrote the humane society to see if they can help me with finding a home for him.

Either way, i want to get rid of the tank and topper along with him. The tank will make a good terrarium when he outgrows it, in a sunny window you could get lettuce greens or wheatgrass going quite easily in that tank so finding a use once he gets a new cage isn't an issue.

But for me the issue is space. I have three fishtanks, one with tomatoes, one with compost, and one with Petey. I need one of them to go. Of course, if a private home takes him, they can take the 2.5 gal with the tomato plants and maple seedling in it as well. I don't need it.
 
Great that you saved his life !! :)

Here is some important info on rehoming rats
http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23041

Petey does need a same sex friend to live with
Petey also needs to be in a cage - min standard for 1 to 2 rats is at least 4 cubic feet in size with a base of at least 30 in by 18 in and height with levels

You might consider having him neutered if you have a good vet experienced in surgery on rats. http://www.ratshackforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7691
Then after a few weeks, he could be gradually introduced to your girls (there are established gradual intro steps to follow so that no one is hurt)

Having two intact sexes in the same household is an accident waiting to happen
Rats are very motivated when girls are in heat and they are very smart ..... and people are no perfect 100% of the time
 
Hello! I'm super excited to have seen this post. I have been looking to adopt a rat for my little Caesar. His cage mate just passed and he is inconsolable. I have a three level cage with wooden chews and ramps. My rats always go to the vet when they are not feeling well, and I have just graduated from the vet tech program at HCC so he would be in good hands. Hopefully I'll hear from you soon! I would love to give your little guy a new home with a big brother. Oh, I'm a huge marvel fan, love the name. :)
-Lindsay
 
@Sheldon He's got a tank topper, which he, like the girls before him, seems to spend most of his time in. He likes to sleep up there more than the tank and seems instinctively to know "hey, flowing air=good feeling lungs!"

@SQ why do you think i'm not interested in keeping him. I'd rather have a third lady though i'd never have any new animals with Oracle sick (routine abscess) its getting bigger though and she's getting livelier and a few cooked veggies nicked out of my dinner tend to perk her up immensely. Sadly our vets are the normal sort. The only place i'd trust to give him rat specific care would be the humane society, simply because the local humane society has access to centers across the country /and/ the information they collect (knowledge is power after all!)

@Lindsay sorry i've been so late getting back to you. sounds like a great home. Plz take the tank and cage topper too. I don't need them anymore if Petey is going. (i reccomend starting up a rat garden in the tank, put it on a south facing window. Put wheat in with a bit of rye. Or put clean sand in it and set the sweeties loose!) I'll get right to your pm!

ty guys!
 
I understand keeping him in the tank for now, it's certainly better than what he was in before! I do agree with others though about getting him out of the tank as soon as you can, even if he has a tank topper. And you might want to reconsider adopting him out to a classroom. Classroom pets are often neglected because teachers are busy as is (and most people don't know rat care), and the rat is given up when the school year ends. I think your best bet is finding another rat-passionate person! They will know to house him with another male rat. He's young so introductions should be easy.

Also, hello fellow autistic person! It's so nice to have rats as little friends <3 (Also in MA, but the other end lol).
 
@Sheldon He's got a tank topper, which he, like the girls before him, seems to spend most of his time in. He likes to sleep up there more than the tank and seems instinctively to know "hey, flowing air=good feeling lungs!"

@SQ why do you think i'm not interested in keeping him. I'd rather have a third lady though i'd never have any new animals with Oracle sick (routine abscess) its getting bigger though and she's getting livelier and a few cooked veggies nicked out of my dinner tend to perk her up immensely. Sadly our vets are the normal sort. The only place i'd trust to give him rat specific care would be the humane society, simply because the local humane society has access to centers across the country /and/ the information they collect (knowledge is power after all!)

@Lindsay sorry i've been so late getting back to you. sounds like a great home. Plz take the tank and cage topper too. I don't need them anymore if Petey is going. (i reccomend starting up a rat garden in the tank, put it on a south facing window. Put wheat in with a bit of rye. Or put clean sand in it and set the sweeties loose!) I'll get right to your pm!

ty guys!
I know this thread is closed but I wanted to let you know that Petey is doing great! Caesar passed in January and Petey has decided since then that he is an only rat. I tried him with three others, two of which were babies, and he's all set by himself. He has become one of the most affectionate, playful rats I have ever met and I love him. Thank you so much for allowing me to take this sweet little man. I'm attaching a few pictures of him so you can see how big he got. The last one is of him on the ride to my house :)
-Lindsay

View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1448947688187.jpg

View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1448947700181.jpg

View attachment uploadfromtaptalk1448947720476.jpg
 
Oh I did. This is not my first rodeo, lol. He is just too rough with other rats and it ends in fights. He hangs out with me enough that it's not a problem. I would love for him to have a cagemate but he's almost two now and set in his ways lol.
 
I introed my Christmas to some babies (over 8 weeks old) several years ago.
He was a bit rough with them but they accepted it because they were used to their mothers dragging them around,
pinning them down and grooming them, and basically being in charge.
Up until that point Christmas had tried to kill other rats but the babies were none threatening,
he loved them and was a very content boy ...
 
Back
Top