God help me where do I even start....

Just wanted to say - That's all the rats, except for one little escape artist who took off running and could not be recovered.

It's pretty amazing we got some out considering all odds were against us.

So with Tiana and Lynn who pulled rats previously we know that 42 rats will be going to good homes.

42 rats altogether. Not half bad. I think that's cause for celebration. I'm keeping an eye out for the news story to see what they have to say on the topic, I'll post it when I find it

Incidentally, for everybody who was spreading those nasty rumors about these guys being vicious and feral, I really wanted to videotape Beryl with David today. David's always been nervous about the rats and was especially concerned about these guys first coming in, but he warmed up to Beryl fast (I think it has something to do with his chubby cheeks and slightly-fluffier-than-average pelt) and has now claimed him as "his" rat. Nothing is more adorable than someone first falling in love with a rodent, and he had Beryl out with him for at least half the day, either in the carrier next to his computer while he played videogames (getting fed treats and given pets intermittently), carried around the house, or chilling with him on the couch, they were inseparable. "Babe, what's it mean when they chatter their teeth like this? What's it mean when he pees a little on me?" And little Beryl happily bruxxing away, grooming himself in David's hands. Sweetest thing I've ever seen in my life and made all of the rat-rescuing hell of this past week TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Thank you everyone for the support, and everyone involved. This was amazing.

:bow: to everyone who worked so hard for these homeless rats. Great ending!

A wonderful team effort! Kudos to all involved.

:joy: Great job guys!

The ratties flew to Los Alamos today and are now in their temp foster with Travis and his wife (some will stay there forever as they are adopting a bunch of them).

We're actually down to 28 as Scott who picked them up yesterday and housed them overnight fell in love with 3 who kept coming back to him wanting to be picked up. I guess it once again gives testament what these rats can overcome and still want to be with people. Amazing.

We have Revolution lined up so they will all be treated asap.

We have some e-spays lined up but are continuing to phone around and hope to line more up.

Phew. Such a relief.

Now I just worry about Wilma making it safe out of AB tomorrow and we can really start to relax (at least hoping)

You guys are awesome! Yay for so many ratties starting a new life!

I've read this from the beginning. You guys are amazing. My hats off to you all the work you just did/ are doing. My best wishes to the rats who now have homes (foster or other wise). Don't let anyone tell you what a poor job you're doing because of where these rats come from. You're being heroes.

fenshae: Sounds like he's got a heart rat. <3

fenshae said:

and has now claimed him as "his" rat. Nothing is more adorable than someone first falling in love with a rodent, and he had Beryl out with him for at least half the day, either in the carrier next to his computer while he played videogames (getting fed treats and given pets intermittently), carried around the house, or chilling with him on the couch, they were inseparable. "Babe, what's it mean when they chatter their teeth like this? What's it mean when he pees a little on me?" And little Beryl happily bruxxing away, grooming himself in David's hands.

Click to expand...

This is too funny. 2 pages ago, the bf was worried about these "wild rats" you brought home. Now one of them is his. I totally love his questions, like a curious child LOL.

:bow: Thanks everyone for everything you did to save the rats you could!!!

Is the shelter going to be investigated or charges laid? ... what they did goes against their mission statement etc as have posted on their website.
Great that so many people were able to make such a huge effort and you were able to help some of the ratties.
I'm not getting much sleep because I keep having nightmares about what the shelter did to most of them.

Quick update

5 rats went in for their spays within days of their arrival, unfortunately 2 passed away in surgery. Not good enough odds so we opted not to do any other spays. Heartbreaking. And nerve wrecking.. 20 intact females = poss. of lotsa babies.

To everyone's surprise none turned out to be pregnant... and we had lots of room for litters lined up, some people were willing to take 4 or 5 litters... still, huge relief....

Of the 32 remaining rats, 18, poss 20 have forever homes lined up in NM (the pilot is keeping 2, poss, 3), ID, OR, WA and here in BC. More apps are coming in. It's nice to see that these "monster rats" and PEWs on top of it are much wanted :dance:

Some pics of the boys

They are looking absolutely adorable. These are the guys at Lynn's house, right? they're looking really good.

Sorry to hear about the girls in the spays. It confirms a suspicion I have, though -- I don't know if you saw, but Locke passed away very suddenly yesterday and all signs *seem* point toward a heart problem of some sort. I'm assuming the exact cause of death on the girls is unknown? I would DEFINITELY advise all of our homes to keep an eye out for heart problems in these guys.

I think I'm in love with Mr. Notch-Ear, though.

They are all so beautiful. You're doing a fantastic job!

Yes, the boys are with Lynn now

I'm sorry to hear about Locke, I didn't see until just now... from the vet report I suspect heart issues but it's hard to tell and the vet wasn't all that experienced... it was a gamble we took and it didn't pay off unfortunately, we're just extremely lucky that none turned out to be pregnant. The ones that were spayed weren't pregnant either...

About 1 1/2 yrs ago we were involved in a rescue of ex lab rats... and they too all had heart issues and many died very fast. The NM are also from a lab strain or else we would have seen other colors pop up... because of the previous rescue and then the 2, now 3 deaths I really suspect heart issues.

*nod* I was wondering about that -- I was thinking with that many rats there would have to be a little color-variation, even if all of the starting rats were PEW. I'm obviously not sure where the lady would have gotten her rats to begin with, but I'm going to make a somewhat-educated guess that they came from the feeder bin at PetCo (Petsmart only carries females & never has PEWs, and the only other pet store I know of in town is a tiny Pets Barn that practically no one shops at -- Petco is definitely the biggest and best-known store in town). And if that's the case, I think they might get their always-white feeders from a different source than their "fancy" rats -- and I wouldn't be *entirely* surprised if that traced back to a lab strain. I'll have to ask sometime, although i doubt anybody there even knows where their stock comes from. They're not generally so bright.

But either way, I think you're right.

It IS very lucky that there were no litters! Although the cynic in me wonders if maybe that's a foreboding sign regarding the vitality of these rats.

Then again, keeping in mind that there seemed to be substantially more girls than boys (at least that was the case with OUR sample group) and how over-populated they were, it may just be that the boys didn't have the time or opportunity to breed.

Well guess what... the New Mexicans have arrived in WA yesterday after 4 of them were dropped off in ID.

The rest will be split up in the next few days and are going to homes in OR, WA and BC...

They all have forever homes

Good !

:joy: Great news!

Congrats, that's great!