Two new rescues

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ViciousCurse

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2019
Messages
80
Location
Minnesota, USA
I picked up two new boys yesterday. I don't want to call them rescues, but they were rescues. They were a pair of boys from Craigslist. Allegedly, the lady I took them from got them from a friend because the friend dumped them on her. The lady's kid routinely handled and interacted with these rats. Apparently a year old, but not much information is known on them other than they're littermates. They were kept in a cage barely big enough for a small bird (with perches instead of two tiny, flimsy levels), much less two adult-sized male rats. Wire flooring, no fleece, no litterboxes, no hides, no hammocks, and bedding that hadn't been properly cleaned out, along with a tiny food bowl, one water bottle, and holy crap they STUNK! My grandmother and I's eyes were watering from the ammonia. I was having the beginnings of an asthma attack (which my "main" rats don't cause, even when I clean their cage).
A lot of inappropriate items were given to them such as a towel, what looked to be polyester fiber for either a mattress, pillow or stuffed animal stuffing, newspaper that was obviously older than a week old, and a cardboard box that was also old. Their only "hide" was an old plastic flower pot that was not big enough for one to sleep comfortably in.

Pair of the sweetest, most interactive boys I've met. Immediately took treats from my hands and immediately came right up to me sniffing and saying hello. Absolute sweethearts.
As of nearly twenty-four hours later, no new-home sneezies and (surprisingly) no stinky poos. Knock on wood.

I'll post pictures soon! They're siamese (the color I've always wanted and just got lucky) and currently in a new, smaller, but temporary cage. I'm currently monitoring their feces and urine, especially now that I'm giving them appropriate food. They definitely appreciated the fleece I gave them to cuddle with, along with some more appropriate hides.

I'm thinking about naming them Genji and Hanzo (Any Overwatch fans here?)



As seen with another recent post of mine, my rats have lice. They (new and "old" rats) are not near each other, I wash my hands before and after handling my main rats or these guys. When I get the Revolution (probably along Tuesday due to the holiday) the new boys will be treated as well (so long as I don't spot any health issues).

Just felt the need to share! I always love bringing new rats home.
 
Here they are! That was their small holding cage until I cleaned out their original one and let it air dry. Everything but the cage and fleece is all that came with them. The towel and polyester stuff was thrown away.

They had puffs so I could persuade them to take a picture.
 

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I picked up two new boys yesterday. I don't want to call them rescues, but they were rescues. They were a pair of boys from Craigslist. Allegedly, the lady I took them from got them from a friend because the friend dumped them on her. The lady's kid routinely handled and interacted with these rats. Apparently a year old, but not much information is known on them other than they're littermates. They were kept in a cage barely big enough for a small bird (with perches instead of two tiny, flimsy levels), much less two adult-sized male rats. Wire flooring, no fleece, no litterboxes, no hides, no hammocks, and bedding that hadn't been properly cleaned out, along with a tiny food bowl, one water bottle, and holy crap they STUNK! My grandmother and I's eyes were watering from the ammonia. I was having the beginnings of an asthma attack (which my "main" rats don't cause, even when I clean their cage).
A lot of inappropriate items were given to them such as a towel, what looked to be polyester fiber for either a mattress, pillow or stuffed animal stuffing, newspaper that was obviously older than a week old, and a cardboard box that was also old. Their only "hide" was an old plastic flower pot that was not big enough for one to sleep comfortably in.

Pair of the sweetest, most interactive boys I've met. Immediately took treats from my hands and immediately came right up to me sniffing and saying hello. Absolute sweethearts.
As of nearly twenty-four hours later, no new-home sneezies and (surprisingly) no stinky poos. Knock on wood.

I'll post pictures soon! They're siamese (the color I've always wanted and just got lucky) and currently in a new, smaller, but temporary cage. I'm currently monitoring their feces and urine, especially now that I'm giving them appropriate food. They definitely appreciated the fleece I gave them to cuddle with, along with some more appropriate hides.

I'm thinking about naming them Genji and Hanzo (Any Overwatch fans here?)



As seen with another recent post of mine, my rats have lice. They (new and "old" rats) are not near each other, I wash my hands before and after handling my main rats or these guys. When I get the Revolution (probably along Tuesday due to the holiday) the new boys will be treated as well (so long as I don't spot any health issues).

Just felt the need to share! I always love bringing new rats home.
 
Such a nice post. I'm sooooo happy to read posts like this, almost makes everything worth the hassle doesn't it? If you're working as a rescue, or in that capacity at least, then you're acting as a foster, correct? Are you also associated with a rescue organization? If not maybe you should be. If you are waiting on Revolution, I tend to think you are, so that's wonderful. If they're just dirty and smelly, after a quarantine period are you adopting them out? They seem perfect candidates with their sweet temperament and young ages and likely littermates and all. Or are you "foster failing" them? Lol, sure sounds like it. Good for you, love to see one more lifesaver in this world, especially a rattie lifesaver.
 
I am, unfortunately, not working with a rescue organization. I take in rescues as pets and care for them until the end of their days, whether that be in a few weeks, a few months, or a few years. It doesn't help a lot of animals, but it helps some and makes me feel better knowing I helped two rat boys instead of no rats boys.
I also don't adopt out because I don't work with an organization, nor am I experienced enough to find the "right" homes for the animals involved. Due to limited space, I can only take in rescues every so often. I'd love to foster, but again, same issues as listed before.

Even if I was fostering them, it'd be a foster fail. They stole my heart the instant they came to the door, eager to greet me, just like my late Gideon. I haven't had a standard-ear or standard coat variety since Gideon and their ears mostly stole my heart.

Thankfully, the rat rescue and local Animal Humane Societies around me adopt out rats very quickly. I watch those sites fairly often (for fun because I'm weird) and the animals are adopted up to 48hr after they had been surrendered.
 
UPDATE: Did a lot of spot cleaning in their cage. They did not appreciate me disrupting them to clean their cage, but one seemed very curious of what I was doing and persisted to follow me around in the bathroom as I scrubbed their cage and items. The other one hid and just watched me and his brother. Sweet boys. Weren't fond of picking me up, but I'm brand new to them and they don't know me (but I do just want to give them kisses!)

Cute pair. The braver one takes treats from me without no hesitation. The shyer one won't take any, but I do set them down in front of him and let him warm up.
 
UPDATE: Just did our first real introductions.* It went okay for being the first time meeting. I've been a little forgetful about introductions after a convo with jorats, about Grumpy. We both suspect Grumpy has a PT, so a lot of my attention has been on him and not Genji and Hanzo, unfortunately. And the lice. Definitely the lice. Just been trying to find a vet that'll allow a prescription.

The only negative part is Genji squeaks loudly whenever other rats get near him. Of course, since Hanzo is shyer, the others all gravitated towards him. I finally made him a special hide and kept myself near the hide so that I could monitor how they interact with Hanzo. I didn't push any intros and after a while, they left him alone. We had no puffy furs, fights, bites, etc. Just a few squeaks and both needing a little comfort from me.

Everyone got tired after an hour of running around, so Ni and Genji ended up in my lap or in my arms. I got Genji to brux AND boggle! I had my hands full with Ni grooming my fingers and Genji bruxing and boggling in my arms. At first I was worried Genji felt like he was being held against his will, so I opened up my arms, and he refused to leave, so I guess he wanted my cuddles. That's okay, he got a few head kisses and seemed pleased with himself. Grumpy came in and joined the cuddlefest, which then caused Arthur to hop up and investigate, and Luci to jump onto my shoulder and head. Lil Chu and Owen both seemed content to be elsewhere.


*Also, as some of you may or may not know, on June 11th, my area had a tornado warning and I had, in sort of a panic, had crammed everyone into Genji and Hanzo's smaller, more temporary cage. I mean just everyone was in there. Eight adult male rats. Am I proud of this forced introductions? No. I'm lucky nothing happened and no one had a meltdown. I had to get them to safety and a DCN doesn't exactly go down the stairs that quickly or nicely. My other temporary cage was somewhere else and I didn't want to waste time finding it and setting it up, plus I had my bird to catch and cage as well so that if a tornado did touch down, everyone would be safe. Thankfully, everything was fine, but it was a nerve-wracking, scary few minutes, keeping an eye on the rats, checking on my bird, and keeping an eye on the weather.
 
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