YokaiRatRAR
Active Member
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!
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!