lilspaz68
Well-Known Member
Gatsby came into my life entirely unexpectedly.
It all started with an ad on March 15, 2016 on our local buy & sell called Kijiji.
"Free baby rats and free adult rats
My pet rat has had too many babies with his girlfriend and they all need to go. There's about 10 babies I think. Bring a container, come and get them!"
I contact him and start making arrangements to come after 10 that night (he gets home from work then). My wonder friends and fellow rescuers Trish and John here that I am going and insist on driving me (REALLY bad part of the city). John comes up with me and at first there's no answer to our buzzing the highrise apartment, then we sneak in, and go knock at the door. Of course Kyle wasn't home, but he did show up about 10 mins later thankfully!!
The male, his girlfriend and 10 baby rats "I think" became, 19 baby rats, 1 adult male, 1 adult female and a very young female (their daughter) who all lived together in a cobbled up bird cage. Oh and a mouse. Yep, when we were pulling out babies in the darkened corner, I pulled out a wee black one and said "you are so tiny you look like a mouse!". That's when I was told a mouse was living in there too!!! It was insane! A tiny frail, unwell little black mouse living with a huge group of rats like he was one! When I got him home and split up the male from his extended family, the mouse I named Gatsby (thanks Kat for his name!) or Gatsby Rat-Mouse because he really did think he was a mouse! He adored the oldest female making me think as a baby he was tossed in with her first litter and she adopted him. He actually would sleep on or near the most current litter and when things went sideways later on, he was there to try to protect "his babies". When the male babies joined Dad (who was thrilled) I left Gatsby with the girls. He slept with them, and they groomed him and tried not to step on the wee man.
Unfortunately poor Gats was a sick little fellow, and even though he took both his meds like a champ he never got over it fully, in the end it took him away from us.
I have had some super wonderful mice before but Gats was just a bit different. One day when I had forgotten to fill up his family's food bowl, he climbed out of the top of the CN, came toddling along the floor and climbed up on the bed to remind me. His family was a bit ravenous...chunky little girls now He actually did this twice.
When he got sick and cold, and was gasping, he let me inject him with dex to open up his lungs with not a sound or a movement, then he cuddled on my neck or under my hand until he felt better.
Last weekend he was starting to fail again, and living with his foster siblings I couldn't give him the supportive care he needed. He needed soft food, warm places, a nice little house...but they stole his food and knocked over any houses. By Monday morning I decided he could meet my elderly old lady mice, and they took him in with open mousey arms. He was eating baby cereal and then cuddled up with Bella on one side and Lutine on the other.
When I got home from work that night I knew something was wrong. Bella and Lutine ALWAYS slept up in the top pocket hammock (thanks Althea!) but this time Lutine came out from the tiny igloo and Bella was sleeping in the bottom cube of the stacked mouse cubes (thanks Nic!)...and in between was Gats body I felt they were watching over him. So in the end Gatsby got the best of both his worlds and I have to be content with that.
With his "Mom" Siobhan not long ago
Recovering from his first respiratory attack
and his last
It all started with an ad on March 15, 2016 on our local buy & sell called Kijiji.
"Free baby rats and free adult rats
My pet rat has had too many babies with his girlfriend and they all need to go. There's about 10 babies I think. Bring a container, come and get them!"
I contact him and start making arrangements to come after 10 that night (he gets home from work then). My wonder friends and fellow rescuers Trish and John here that I am going and insist on driving me (REALLY bad part of the city). John comes up with me and at first there's no answer to our buzzing the highrise apartment, then we sneak in, and go knock at the door. Of course Kyle wasn't home, but he did show up about 10 mins later thankfully!!
The male, his girlfriend and 10 baby rats "I think" became, 19 baby rats, 1 adult male, 1 adult female and a very young female (their daughter) who all lived together in a cobbled up bird cage. Oh and a mouse. Yep, when we were pulling out babies in the darkened corner, I pulled out a wee black one and said "you are so tiny you look like a mouse!". That's when I was told a mouse was living in there too!!! It was insane! A tiny frail, unwell little black mouse living with a huge group of rats like he was one! When I got him home and split up the male from his extended family, the mouse I named Gatsby (thanks Kat for his name!) or Gatsby Rat-Mouse because he really did think he was a mouse! He adored the oldest female making me think as a baby he was tossed in with her first litter and she adopted him. He actually would sleep on or near the most current litter and when things went sideways later on, he was there to try to protect "his babies". When the male babies joined Dad (who was thrilled) I left Gatsby with the girls. He slept with them, and they groomed him and tried not to step on the wee man.
Unfortunately poor Gats was a sick little fellow, and even though he took both his meds like a champ he never got over it fully, in the end it took him away from us. I have had some super wonderful mice before but Gats was just a bit different. One day when I had forgotten to fill up his family's food bowl, he climbed out of the top of the CN, came toddling along the floor and climbed up on the bed to remind me. His family was a bit ravenous...chunky little girls now
He actually did this twice. When he got sick and cold, and was gasping, he let me inject him with dex to open up his lungs with not a sound or a movement, then he cuddled on my neck or under my hand until he felt better.
Last weekend he was starting to fail again, and living with his foster siblings I couldn't give him the supportive care he needed. He needed soft food, warm places, a nice little house...but they stole his food and knocked over any houses. By Monday morning I decided he could meet my elderly old lady mice, and they took him in with open mousey arms. He was eating baby cereal and then cuddled up with Bella on one side and Lutine on the other.
When I got home from work that night I knew something was wrong. Bella and Lutine ALWAYS slept up in the top pocket hammock (thanks Althea!) but this time Lutine came out from the tiny igloo and Bella was sleeping in the bottom cube of the stacked mouse cubes (thanks Nic!)...and in between was Gats body
I felt they were watching over him. So in the end Gatsby got the best of both his worlds and I have to be content with that.With his "Mom" Siobhan not long ago
Recovering from his first respiratory attack
and his last
Last edited:
