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ViciousCurse

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Messages
80
Location
Minnesota, USA
Hey, I'm a new member, I'm sure you've seen me around, but I've been too shy to formally introduce myself. I live in the States, Minnesota specifically. I'm currently under about three feet of snow thanks to the snowiest February in MN's history... I've managed to keep myself from not freezing!
I attend college part-time and currently have no job (I work in the summer and then save for my "off time"). I live with my mother for the time being.
I currently have eight male rats. Three of which will be two in July. I have two more adults that just turned a year old last December. They're my rescues. I have three new babies, who were born in November. All male and all unneutered currently.
As for the two rescues I mentioned, they came to me missing parts of their tails, one has a nick in his eyelid, one has a nick in his ear. I have no idea how any of this could happen. They're very afraid of people. Part of me wonders if they were abused... Thankfully they're in good health now, but they're still shy. I just don't understand how they could be abused or neglected, they're such sweethearts.
I had three rats before all of these boys. One of which was my heart rat and my little lovebug.
I'd love to have females, but I don't have the room for TWO DCNs and I just think that would be too much for me to handle. If I did ever get the time or space, I'd dedicate that to mostly rescue rats. I very rarely ever see male rats in need of homes, just females. Living in Minnesota, an awkward pat of my country, I don't see very many rat rescues. The closest one to me in one is 100+miles away. Our local Animal Humane Societies take in rats, but they get adopted out so quickly, I can't call and reserve those rats in time (which is a great thing).

I have my male rats in a Double Critter Nation with fleece and litterboxes. I recently put pee rocks into my litterboxes (and added another one) and I'm having significantly less pottying issues. My rats also just seem to enjoy the rocks. I buy remnant fleece from a fabric store and then make hammocks, cage liners, and whatnot, so my cage is very mismatched and does not have a color scheme.
My cage is also a bit of a mess. I'm trying out various new toys to see how my rats react to it. I'd like to get an extra DCN hanging shelf so my rats have my floor space. I'm in the works of making ladder fleece liners.

I just want to say that rats have been so helpful with my physical and mental illnesses. I was recently diagnosed with Anxiety, Depression, PTSD, and Fibromyalgia (although there's suspicions it may actually be Multiple sclerosis instead). I'm not looking for pity--I'm looking to inform. It's amazing how such little creatures can clear up a gloomy day. My rats seem to go into super affectionate and cuddly mode when I'm having a bad day, whether it be my mental or physical health. Their small, warm bodies also decrease any pain I'm feeling, which is amazing. Too bad federal law prevents me from bringing these guys out in public to help with my pain.
Funny enough, my best friend used to be a dog. When he passed away, I swear, my heart rat stepped right up and made it incredibly clear he'd be my little support system. And when he eventually made his trek to the rainbow bridge, a previously bite-y and aggressive rat now became my little lovebug. I don't know what I think of it, other than they seem to "choose" the next in line.

(In my next post, I'll upload pictures of my cage and my rats. Excuse the mess, it's two days before cage cleaning, so the cage is somewhat of a mess)
 
In the first photo, that's my original three. The standard furred apricot was named Gideon. He was my heart rat and is my profile picture. The rex apricot was Maddox. The agouti hooded rex was named Amun. He and Maddox were littermates and constantly cuddled and slept together. Ignore that cage. It was my crappy before-DCN cage.

The next photo is my current adults. The standard grey hooded rat closest to the camera is Chuchule, Grumpy as he prefers to be named. The blaze black hooded next to him is Plachu, or Ni as he likes to be called. The other standard blaze black hooded is my smallest adult, Chulatt, or Lil Chu. The two rexes are my rescues. The blaze grey hooded is named Owen. I suspect the blaze black hooded rex is his littermate, who is named Peter.

The baby hiding in the tube, his name is Arthur. The red-eyed blaze brown is named Trico. The black rex is named Lucifer, but I call him Luci. He was the smallest when I took him home. Now he's triple the size.
 

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This is my current cage. You can see food in their food bowls. I ran out of food last night and made a quick mixture this morning after running to the store, hence food still in their bowls.
You can see tails and backs, and a little Arthur being curious of what I'm doing.

EDIT: You may have seen baby rings hanging in the background of other photos, but those have since been removed. I was being dumb and didn't think about my rats getting caught in those (whether it be heads, necks, tails, or feet) and have since removed them. I would say I wanted to add color, but it was stupid of me to think of aesthetic over my rats' safety.
 

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I would say welcome to the forum but you’ve been here before me. Your ratties are proper cute, so sweet and I think your cage is pretty awesome.
It’s funny you mentioned about how your boys help you with your health. When I got my boys just in January (first time ever having rats) and after a couple of times being with them, just having them sniff my arms I thought how therapeutic these animals were. I also have depression, borderline personality disorder , agoraphobia, social anxiety etc etc lol and the boys really help me too. I have 3 young kids and I love them but it gets so hectic and when they’re in bed it’s my 3 dogs and the rats that help me relax. I simply adore my dogs especially my older one Stewie , he’s like my own child but there’s something therapeutic about rats that I can’t understand. I’ve only had them for a couple of months and I’m definitely soooo much better! It may sound silly and I probably wouldn’t say this to anyone else that wasn’t a rat person but since I got them my mood has been better, I’m less tired, I’m just much more cheerful! So I understand what you’re saying!
 
Aww, thank you. I'd say my rats are absolutely adorable, but I am 100% biased! Welcome to the forum as well! Newbies together :)
My rats definitely helped me with the passing of my dog, Thumper. One of the last videos I have of him is my heart rat crawling around on him. It's strange how we can love them so much, despite them only living a brief three years, but feeling like we've known them for fifteen years. It's astounding honestly. I have to say (and I've told this to my therapist), I don't think my mental health would be faring as well as it is without my fuzzy babies. My heart rat would constantly lick and kiss me when I was crying. He wouldn't stop until I was laughing.

P.S. I know a lot of people will comment that putting two different animals together is never a good idea, and I don't disagree 100%, but this dog I had known for ten years and he had never ever laid so much as a paw on any of my small animals. I put a bird could land on this dog and he wouldn't care. He lived in a daycare and while he could leave whenever he wanted to, kids fell asleep on him, tugged on his fur (but the kids did learn not to do that since it's mean), and everything you could think of. I trusted this dog to be gentle with my rats and he was.
 
I know what you mean, I wouldn’t just put my dogs with the rats but in case of my older dog Stewie he is amazing, he use to be sitting right next to my beloved late Guinea pig Candy and my also beloved late hamster Minnie and he was so good. He never showed aggression and the hamster and guinea pig would go sniff him and pick on him lol I think some inter species relationships work but obviously I wouldn’t recommend to anyone to attempt this if they aren’t absolutely 1 million percent sure of the dogs personality because at the end of the day dogs are predators and rodents are prey and it’s in the genes!
 
My boy Stewie and his late sister a Candy lol they had a great relationship :)
 

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My boy Stewie and his late sister a Candy lol they had a great relationship :)
Aw, what a cute guinea pig and dog!

I was one million and one percent sure my dog wouldn't mind. With my current dog? No. I have a corgi and while he has a prey drive, he's actually scared of my rats. I'd be afraid that he'd hurt my rat by mistake or feel the need to be defensive. I would never ever let it go that far, though.
 
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