Greetings from a Bluenoser!

[nattykins]

Hi all,

My name is Nathalie and I'm from Halifax, Nova Scotia. My life with rats began in a psychology lab class where we were training rats...My lab prof warned us that we would fall in love with our rat, but I didn't believe her...She was just a rat. Boy was I wrong! I adopted Libby the lab rat (black hooded) after the class was finished and she lived a long and spoiled life.

When Libby passed away, my boyfriend and I took home a blue bareback named Remy and another black hooded named Dipper. Unfortunately, Dipper ended up with a respiratory disease, and her meds couldn't save her and she passed away a month ago when she was almost 2.

At this point, we adopted a baby girl (Chocolate self) named Bear who wouldn't be ready for a new home until September. We figured Remy would be ok by herself for a little bit but soon realized that she was quite bored even though we had her out all the time. It was after she "went on vacation" for a couple days (not sure where she went...) that we decided she couldn't wait for Bear, so we brought home Blue (a black berkshire). They get along great, and we bring Bear home tomorrow! (I convinced her to let me take her home early )

Anyways, now I'm addicted to these little ratties and I'm always looking for other addicts to chat with!

 

[MelissaG]

Hi Nathalie! And welcome! I'm really new here, too. I've only had my guys for acouple of weeks. But I know what you mean about being addicted and needing other ratties to talk to! My family's eyes just glaze over when I start the ' did you know rats...' or 'guess what the rats did...'
Thay are such fun little guys!

Melissa :welcome:

 

[SQ]

:welcome2:

Nice to see you here.

It is good that you will have two babies.
Baby rats really need another same sex baby to play with.

btw, it is good for baby girls to stay with mom until they are at least 6 weeks old.
The extra time with mom is very important for learning social skills.
Babies are generally left with mom until at least 4.5 to 5 weeks of age. When babies are taken away from mom too soon, there may be health issues.

 

[Vixxie]

:ratwave: :welcome4: :ratwave:

 

[jorats]

Welcome to the Rat Shack!!!
It's fun to read how each person got addicted to rats. :joy:

 

[nattykins]

It's fun to read how each person got addicted to rats

It really comes out of nowhere, eh? I would never think in a million years that rats would be my pet of choice, but here I am! And my friends always react in the same way (ie, ewwww), but once they meet them, or see pictures, it's all they talk about!

btw, it is good for baby girls to stay with mom until they are at least 6 weeks old.
The extra time with mom is very important for learning social skills.
Babies are generally left with mom until at least 4.5 to 5 weeks of age. When babies are taken away from mom too soon, there may be health issues.

No worries, Bear was born on July 3 so she'll be just over 7 weeks when we take her home . Thank you for the advice though!

My family's eyes just glaze over when I start the ' did you know rats...' or 'guess what the rats did...'

Yea, I get the same response when I start gushing about my ratties at work...They think it's weird or something... :? ...Even my boyfriend, who loves the ratties, thinks I talk a little to much about them...and to them...

 

[mamarat]

Well we never get tired of rattie talk! Welcome to the shack.