Heya!

Hi there! My name is Jobey or Jo or really whatever you feel like calling me. I'm from Minnesota, USA and I am 26 years old.

Brand new here on this forum, decided I could use some tips/advice on raising my first rats. I originally only wanted one rat when I went into the pet store but not only did I find out that rats require a rat companion but I couldn't separate brothers. I took Splinter and Wedge home and have become obsessed. I love my babies. They are the best thing to happen to me in a very long time. I have suffered from clinical depression for 13 years and these guys have been better than any medicine ever was at balancing my emotions.

I am so happy to find a place full of people who love rats as much as I am learning to. Please feel free to initiate conversation with me. I love meeting like minded people.

Thanks and hope to hear from you all in the coming days/weeks/months/years. =)

Hi Jo, welcome to the shack. These so many lovely rat people in this group, hope you enjoy it here.

Welcome to the shack.

:welcome4: to the Rat Shack!

welcome your rat is adorable ( from your avatar)

Welcome, love your boys names :heart: Was a mom of 5 until this weekend, now I have a 12 pack :laugh4:

Thank you for all the welcoming replies! I took a bunch of pictures of my rat mans but the majority of them were blurry [I used my cell phone] I will upload the ones that turned out alright.

Welcome !! I look forward to seeing your babies hope you like the shack

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Welcome!
Your boys are such cuties! Rats definitely help balance our moods. There's nothing like cuddling a rat or even watching them play.

Can anyone tell what kind of rats these are from the pictures? They were in the "dumbo" cage at the pet store.

Howdy and Welcome! I like the Star Wars reference

Ohhh they are gorgeous.

Thank you all. I love them so much.

Are they black hooded? Only Wedge seems to fit the standard description but they are brothers so does that mean they both would be ?

Welcome to the forum! Thank you for joining us and sharing your boys

They are both top-eared, not dumbo. Many stores just use the "dumbo" naming to differentiate from feeder rats, or to be able to charge more money. Some places don't know the difference between "fancy" and "dumbo". But that's not a big deal!

I *think* Wedge would be considered a mismarked blazed hooded rat, and Splinter a blazed veriberk. But I'm rusty and haven't done a marking identification in a REALLY long time, LOL. Hooded is just a marking, related rats can be very different markings depending on the breeding.