There was so much to this story and yet not as much as was initially thought.
Here is the true story:
Family got 2 rats a boy and a girl
Not sure where from as Mom could not name where, kids didn't remember (I only asked to find out where they might be breeding harleys and where would sell some family a male and female together and not try to educate in the least).
BOTH litters were oopsies. First litter popped and they didn't know dad could get mom pregnant again right after so....as it commonly happens among the ignorant (which is not a derogatory term it just means they didn't have a clue about breeding) she had 2 litters 4 weeks apart.
Now as for being 'Monstrous' mill breeders. Not at all. Again just uneducated.
I was asked to make sure there were no females 'hiding' anywhere. They may have tried (though I highly doubt it) but their 2-3yr old daughter wasn't keeping them hidden from me. She couldn't hand me rats fast enough.
Here is the sweetest part. The male 'Yeti' (so amazingly perfect for this giant white spikey haired boy) belongs to the toddler. She lugged him out of the cage like a child does with a puppy from a crate and hands him to me "ee a go" she'd say every time she plopped a rat in my arms. Mom says a few things in hungarian and then says Yeti pointing to him. I laugh and say perfect and she laughed.
We decided it was most important to get the females out for 2 reasons.
1) to prevent any more being born in that house
2) they looked the smallest and most in need of some tlc
Now the babies were all a little underweight but mom had also been taken from them a week ago and they were force weaned.
The Dad, Mr. Yeti was huge and no concerns over his weight and health.
I don't know about mom but in the photos she looked almost as big as dad so I doubt she was right emaciated. They do love the rats.
I said they should keep the last 2 for Dad to have friends and the oldest daughter (11 or so) said if he would let them live there she would like that. (they didn't know a male would be happy with other males, thought it was more like hamsters). I said Dad would be very happy to always have rat buddies around. Boys are safe because they can't have babies together. And the son says "Yah mom doesn't want any more of this happening."
I look at mom and she looks exhausted and relieved to have these babies leaving.
So we picked out two boys and triple checked they were boys. If I was unsure I would say I really liked that one or that it was a girl. And the kids were happy with the end. And mom gave us 7 for the price of 6 because it was the last of them.
I never once got the feeling any of that was on purpose. I understood mom wanted the babies out and wanted to make some money to support her 3 lovely kids.
No one was hesitant or dodgey answering questions. They were having lots of fun showing me all the babies and daddy Yeti.
We have named the smallest boy Squatch who looks just like dad
1 baby girl already has a home with 4 of my recently adopted babies from the last 2 litters.
All boys have homes also between two past adopters. They are only going to previous adopters that I have a continued good relationship with. I think I will keep the remaining girls here with Godess and Oracle as Godess has taken to the baby girls so well. She tucked them in last night in her bucket house and then when they came out to eat the cereal i made for them She guarded the bowl so Oracle couldn't push them out.
Hopefully she grooms them and helps them get bigger and stronger. Their names are
Quinn
Blossom
Busy and Fat Amy (who is ironically the smallest)
The boys joined Bumper and Benji and the other white boys. Its such a flurry of white fur in their cage! Names are
Davidson
Marlboro or Lil Mo
Squatch or Samsquanch (trailer park boys reference)
Happy endings. No more drama