Favorite rats??

[Miss Sofie]

Sometimes you get to live with someone speciel...
Ofcourse you love all your rats - but some of them make a mark in your heart that you'll never forget..
Let me see your speciel ones.. And let me know why it's speciel...


I'll start..
Tut-Zoo Kodak.. aka Kodak!
Russian blue point black eyed siamese - male
Kodak is my prince. Him and I have sometime so speciel together that I can't describe it.
Born 1. June 2008

Cats Equinal.. aka Equi!
Mock cinnamon berkshire dumbo - male
Equi is my baby - and he knows it. There's just something about him..
My love for him just keeps on growing.
Born 4. January 2008

And some that are no longer here

Cats Avalon - aka Avalon!
Platinum self dumbo rex - male.
Very few times in your life, you get to meet someone like Avalon. That boy was undescrible!
Born 16. January 2007
Dead 20. June 2008 - braintumor.

Monty
Himalaya hairless - male.
I still can't really talk about Monty without getting upset.
His story is very long and very complicated - but we both fell inlove with him..
Born 1. december 2007
Dead 4. setember 2008 - very bad infection after surgery

Gabbi
Fawn hooded mismarked dumbo - female.
We got Gabbi from someone who didn'y want her anymore.
She was just lovely and my 2. rat.
She was like a mother to the other girls - I still miss her.
Born 1. november 2006
Dead 19. august 2008 - her body was old (because of how she was treated before we got her).

 

[Debbie]

Awe, they are all gorgeous!

We try not to have favorites, but I agree....some are just that much more special and you can't help yourself but have a special bond with them.

Here are some of mine (past and present):

Ellie:
She was one of our first 4 ratties. She came from a petstore (before I knew better) My first dumbo. I adored her to no end. She had a personality that just wouldn't quit. She took my heart when she left me :sad3:

Daphne:
The love of my life and most cherished rattie of all time. I adopted her to keep our lone girl Maggie company after her friends had passed. Daphne was a retired breeder and was 9 months old when we got her. She was my whole world and adored me as much as I did her. I have since had many of her family members here, including her great grand daughters, grand neices and newphews and great great grandsons (Nemo just left me a couple of weeks go). Strangely, I saw a little of her in each and every one of them. I still miss my sweet Dapher.

Venus:
She was 6 months old when she came to live with us. To this day, I've never had a smarter, more outgoing people rattie than Venus. She was a chocoholic, snuggle bug, who needed constant attention. And we were happy to ablige her . She was also our oldest living rattie at 38 months. She had a wonderful long life...but of course, it wasn't long enough for me. We still talk about Venus and her antics, all the time. That girl had MOXY!

Hanna:
I'm not sure what is was, but I fell in love with Hanna before her eyes even opened. Hanna was a pure angel and was always the first to the front of the cage to greet me. I adored my Hanna Banana.

Harvey:
Harvey not only was one of my favorite boys ever, he (and his brother Eddie) is how I mean Simone/littledevils. They were our first rescue boys from her (we've had many since ). I loved that rumply, furry little man.

Phoebe and Ginger:
We adopted these two sisters from our local county shelter. Someone got word to me that Phoebe was about to be euthanized because she had a head tilt. WTF? From the minute these two entered out house, my hubby and I were hooked. Phoebe is the queen of burrowing and will spend hours each night, snuggled under the blankets or watching tv with us. Ginger has got to be the smartest rattie, shy of Venus (and if Venus were still alive, I bet the two would have been the best pals in the world, constantly keeping us on our toes). Thankfully we still have these two cherished girls. Both are over 2 now, and Phoebe just gave us a scare with her urethral tumor. But otherwise, they are happy and healthy........and royalty!
Pheebs:

Ginger:

 

[twitch]

what wonderful stories, i can see why each rat was just that extra special for their human.

i too have had a few that were just that little bit extra. i don't know how they do it, but sometimes there's a rat that just wiggles in a bit deeper in my heart.

my first rat, pocket was like that. she suffered through my ignorance and loved me all the same. she got me started in the joys of rats and i will be forever grateful for that. my only regret is that she didn't get to live like the royality she should have. she never got the joys of a hammock, but she has taught me a lot. when she died i felt like i would never stop crying.

when nezumi came into my life i was shocked at the cruelty she had to endure her first 4 months of her life. and then for to have forgiven so whole-heartedly without forgetting was and always will be astonishing to me. she was my dare-devil rat once she settled into her life as being a cherished pet. when pocket was sick she would bring food to her and lay with her. when pocket died she withdrew for a few days, but what came out at the other end was a rat full of spunk and laughs. she would climb to the top of my 4 foot bookcase and dive off :shock: just for fun. once on the ground she would do a few ninja kicks and climb right back up for more. everytime she would deftly avoid the pillows that silly mommy put down to break her fall... she fought long and hard to live when she came down with a resp infection, but sadly due to her previous life, her lungs and her immune system just was not strong enough to fight it off.

it was a while before another heart rat clutched my heart, but bribery did with a death grip. he was many firsts for me. my first boy i got to keep, my first breeder-bred, my first neuter, my first rex and my first blue. he had a love and a smile that was infectious and no matter how bad my day was, some grooms and look from him and everything that seemed so horrible before, melted away into inconsequentialness. he was still too young to have had to leave, especailly to a simple resp infection, but he was allergic to the meds that should have helped him... i loved those crazy whiskers!

as bribery was leaving another very specail but very sick rat was worming his way into my heart. zen was from the rat train rescue that happened just this past summer. he went to clarks with his mother when he was just barely a weanling and was there for the whole first year of his life. when i got him as foster with the other oldies and specail needs rats waiting for the train he was suffering from pnumonia and his heart condition. we cleared up the pnuemonia but his heart was so bad that travel was beyond him. as was neutering. but that was ok, for a sleepy love bug like him, i made adjustments to minimize my allergy to him. we cleaned the cage a lot and gave him olive oil, washed hands a lot and tried to keep him out from under my nose. as we were getting his heart meds and getting that under control he came down with what i was hoping to me a ear infection, sadly it was more likely PT... :sad3: for the last couple weeks of his life he lived on my chest and i lived on gravol and excedrin. when we were still working on trying to treat for an ear infection while also trying to maintain his heart meds and trying to minimize the effects of PT with a steriod, his heart finally quit and he died peacefully in his sleep under my chin on my neck. he was only 14 months old and we only had the joy of his presence for a short month

the day that zen died a lady showed up at my door with chancey. the pet store had treated him half-heartedly for an ear infection and a slight tilt had remained. i had been checking up on him for the last two weeks but felt i was at my limit and didn't take him home with me. well they told this lady that he wasn't selling and so tomorrow, if he's still not bought, they were going to freeze him for food, no one would want a defective rat anyway. she couldn't keep him but couldn't let that happen to him so took him and then tried desperately to find him a home. that home ended up being mine. the poor dear was afraid of heights and got himself trapped in hammocks. he would roll when you picked him up unless you covered his eyes. he didn't understand what other rats were and played possum or statue when they were around. he's gotten better with that now. he's still a whimp but he's confident enough to be with the others and hang out in hammocks. he's still unsure about heights but doesn't roll to be carried anymore. but he is a momma's boy through and through. he'll bug my BF right off the bed and then come to me and shake his little butt all proud-like. he's a fairly young boy but just wants his cuddles and loves. he'll sit with me for hours getting petted, bruxxing, boggleing and licking the air.

i have had very special rats come through our family and i loved them all dearly, but those 5 really stand out from the rest. all my rats are dear to me and all of them were special in each their own way. i will never forget the weeks on the couch with rosie bossing me around, or sweetipie's infectious fugly-ness that swayed so many hearts. i will always cherish the long life and stalwardness of stewart and the long life and kisses from violet. lyiint's food obsession and quiet nature will never be forgotten and twix's gruff rule of the cage will always be in my memory. ink's and wagner's antics keep me in stitches and romar's quiet micheivous i continue to fall for. there are so many memories and so many stories i could easily write a book. but those 5 were just that bit more, i don't know how, but they were

 

[lilangel]

my favorite is Skye and Isis. i fall so hard for hairless :heart:




those are two of my babies. but please do not tell the others :wink2: they might get mad at me after :giggle:

 

[NezumiNeko]

Roky was the 'perfect rat', but I don't really have favs. Sometimes I feel like Kori needed me for the short time I had her. Calvin was so mean to her, and he stole Haru's heart.

 

[nattykins]

Remy is about 18 months old and was one of a pair that we bought from a pet store (didn't know better) after our first ratty died. She's the only dumbo we've ever had and is just about the sweetest thing in the world.

When Dipper (her cagemate) passed away due to a respiratory illness, she was distraught and didn't ever want to leave my side so I adopted Blue to keep her company which made her very happy ...

Now, she's living in a mischief of 6 (soon to be 7) and is just as sweet as ever - as long as the others know that she is the queen bee

:heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:

 

[lilspaz68]

So many rats, so many "favourites". Some rats dig a bit deeper into your heart, and some just popcorn through your life, and you care for them, but its not quite the same.

Sebastian - taken in as a rehome at just under 2 years of age - kindest little ratboy in the world. He took care of totally strange rats in their last few days, his cagemates all adored him. Even when he was blind, and paralysed he still took care of everyone.
Here he is licking Tikal on her last night.

His biiig cagemate Soma adopted from local HS...most fearful girl when I got her became a total affection hog, she was also my learning rat for subcutaneous injections...she had the sweetest version of bruxxing, I used to call it "flapping those lips".


Her biiiiger sister Selene. Not the sweetest cuddliest girl, but a very strong personality and did she ever teach me how to live my life. My lovely big girl contracted Pyoderma (very unusual in rats) and we had a terrible fight on her hands, and she cheerfully fought the good fight with me...it took months before she was cured, but we beat it!
Her case history is on http://www.ratguide.com, so she is hopefully helping other people to realize Pyoderma is not aways fatal.
I linked this pic for the sensitive folk. This is after she was shaved and we saw what was starting up. :sad3:
http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h75/r ... esskin.jpg

Shrek - boy I fostered for a couple of weeks, worked on his socialization (bad biter) and reintroducing to his former lady love. He taught me so much about rat body language, and how to "ask" rats if you can do something like pick them up. Shrek never even nipped me. :heart: He almost came to live with me much later, but his Mom decided she couldn't give up her babies. :sad3:

Kamea - from local shelter who had euthanized her cagemate for "self-inflicting". It had turned out to be an infestation of lice AND mites. :cry: I knew I had to get the little beige hooded girl out of there!
Kamea ended up being my Sleeping Buddy for months...she would sleep in the cave of pillows I made for her, and would come out, crawl up onto my chest or lie on her side with her legs in the air by my side...then I would stroke her. She was terrified of other rats, but trusted me enough to let me introduce her to the Mini-Horde. But even with all her new friends, she lived for Me...everyone else would run around and Kamea would be near me on the arm of the couch, or lying on me if I was watching TV, etc. I still well up when I think of her gone. :sad3:

Dilbert - ahhh Dillybear. *sniff*. My orphan boy whom I got at 3 weeks of age. Personality Plus even at that age, even had his own following of fans. :lol:

He grew up, got neutered, had a harem, still was my master wrestler, licker, popcorning boy. He played with me until the very very end. I miss Sir Dilbert Lickbath Hall very much, but there are no regrets. He lived a very happy long life with me, which was as it should've been.

Gwinny - a very tiny old lady of 30 months in a terrible neglectful situation. She had just lost her sister to untreated respiratory, and had stopped eating herself. Bronwyn on this forum, defied her family and "stole" little Gwinny (then Guinevere) and snuck her to me at almost midnight to a place near her house. Gwinny looked up at me, and we fell in love with each other.
Gwinny was nervous of course, but willing to trust me. Soon she would leap onto the side of her cage (I left the top open) and I would reach in and pat her. She didn't want Out, she wanted Me. I would even put my face inside the cage and she would press her head against mine.
Sadly Gwinny's body quickly wore out, and even though we had a wonderful week, she left me at the end of it.
She of all the rats I have known, is the girl who touched me the most...in one short week, that felt like a lifetime. :heart: :heart: