kbg
Active Member
Hello Everyone! I am a long time rat lover! I have had quite a few little furballs over the years, on and off, depending on circumstances, usually rescue rats that needed good furever homes. My 8 year old son and I presently own 2 beautiful sweet boys, Twitch and Spot, who are about 1.5 years old. We love them very much! Recently though, things have changed around here! Due to past experience, and hearing horror stories, I do not condone the selling or buying of pet store rats, for reasons which I know I do not have to explain here. However, I also own a fresh water aquarium, and living in a smaller area, there is only one store where you can buy fish and equipment for these, and I was in need. Although I try to avoid that store like the plague, I couldn't help but go in... and the rats cages were right next to the aquariums! Uh Oh! I averted my eyes and did well, until I just had to peek. Then I was stuck staring, and wanted to cry! There were two glass cages, about 1.5'x1.5'x1.5'each, one so full of juvenile females they could hardly get around, most of which were pregnant. The other was full of about 2 dozen or more babies about 5 weeks old (m and f, advertised as FEEDER RATS!) and a few young adult males. I tried to look away, but then one little black baby with dumbo ears went up on his haunches and looked right at me, and I fell in love! I actually left though, knowing that I shouldn't, but then I had nightmares all night long of he and his siblings becoming snake food or succumbing to some terrible respiratory infection given the conditions they were being kept in. The next day, my son and I went back, and now we have 4 beautiful new little boys, including the black dumbo I fell in love with! I had to save at least those ones! I would have taken them all if I could have! I know it's wrong on a grand scale, but when you look them in the eye individually, how can you not save them! So now, we are the proud parents of Shadow (the little black one who stole my heart), Lightning (one my son picked who is grey hooded with a grey lightning streak down his back), Fluke (tan with pink eyes, my son named him that because he said we didn't plan to get them, so they were an accident, a fluke, lol), and Speckle (a black hoodie named so for his speckly back). They are some of the sweetest rats I have ever had, after only a week with us! Of course three have some respiratory issues! I used to take my rats to my old vet, as I was told he is the only local vet who handles rats, but I was never a huge fan of his care. He did what he had to, but did not have an obvious love for them. I now have a new vet for my other furry ones, who I love, and I trust her with their lives, so I thought I'd call and ask if she does small animals. It turns out, not only is she an exotic and small animal vet, she LOVES them!!! She does the work because she always had these pets, and no way to get proper care for them, so she vowed to make it her thing. She said if she could make it her whole practice, she would! Can you believe that?! What luck! I had all four babies in for a complete check-up (she handled them like they were her own babies!), and I now have 3 of the four (the ones sneezing a lot) on amoxicillin. They've been on it for 2 days, and already there is a noticeable improvement. She wants them on it for 10 days, but the meds are good for 2 weeks, so they will stay on it for that long. From my research in the Rat Health Care Book, they should be on it for longer than 10 days. I will say though, that the greatest way to instantly train your rats to be social is to give them meds that taste like sweet bananas 2 times a day! Nothing is cuter than babies crawling all over you trying to get to the syringe and bottle! A very giggly time indeed! Anyway, these little guys are in a temporary cage for now (a large dog crate) until I can find them a more permanent home, but they seem to enjoy it just fine. They get many playtime opportunities in the tub with us everyday. Their cage is set up right next to it for easy socialization. I will post some pics that I took, although, WOW, are baby rats ever hard to photograph!!! I am sure I will have some questions and stories to share, and I look forward to chatting with some of you, and learning more about these very special little critters! .... hmmmm, trying to figure out how to post pics, but I can't seem to get it. I'll post this first and see about posting pics after. :thankyou:
