Steve T
New Member
I'm new to keeping rats - I sort of backed into the whole thing accidentally. These days I consider myself a old crazy cat dude, as it seems every cat in the neighborhood comes to my patio to eat, not to mention the five I've rescued that presently live as inside only cats.
Now, like I said, I sort of backed into the rat keeping thing. One night I noticed a couple of my cats were very interested in something on the patio. When I checked I saw that someone's pet rat was munching on the cat food I put on the patio for the neighborhood cats. I went out and tried to catch it, but it was very shy and scurried under the fence into the alley. None of the neighbors claimed to have lost their rat, so I started trying to catch it while looking for a home for it. It took over a week, but eventually I enticed it into a pet carrier with food and bought it inside. I figure it was very lucky to have survived outside as long as it did, especially since it was sharing the cat food bowl with all the cats in the neighborhood. 'Course the cats around here don't know anything about hunting, unless it comes from a can or bag they don't consider it food anyway.
After about an hour inside, it calmed down enough so that it didn't mind being held. (pix of mama rat and one of the cats at http://tinyurl.com/22pfn8 ) My inside cats didn't mind the guest, I think they just figured it was like my cockatiels, something in a cage that they weren't supposed to pay too much attention to. I didn't know anything about keeping a rat, but have a co worker who has had a rat for over three years who gave me some help. I had just about decided to keep her myself, assuming the cats didn't bother it, when the next morning, the rat population exploded. The rat was having babies. I called my friend, who called a friend of hers, who came and took the mama rat and babies off my hands.
As it turned out, none of the babies survived. So I ended up picking up mama rat and bringing her home. After doing some research on the net (and learning that I was doing a few things wrong - like going out and buying cedar shavings for bedding) I decided to get Hanna, aka mama rat, a companion. Which is how Blondie came to come home with me. Blondie is a youngster, only about 6 weeks old now - white with a blond head. I had no trouble introducing Blondie and Hanna, maybe because Hanna was still getting used to her new home herself and hadn't had time to become territorial. They don't interact much, but have both been sleeping in the same chew tube when I came in first thing in the morning the past two mornings.
This has turned into a long intro. I don't know how much posting I'll have time for here, as I'll primarily be a lurker here. I'll mainly be popping here now and then with questions for those who know more than I do - which means just about all of you.
Now, like I said, I sort of backed into the rat keeping thing. One night I noticed a couple of my cats were very interested in something on the patio. When I checked I saw that someone's pet rat was munching on the cat food I put on the patio for the neighborhood cats. I went out and tried to catch it, but it was very shy and scurried under the fence into the alley. None of the neighbors claimed to have lost their rat, so I started trying to catch it while looking for a home for it. It took over a week, but eventually I enticed it into a pet carrier with food and bought it inside. I figure it was very lucky to have survived outside as long as it did, especially since it was sharing the cat food bowl with all the cats in the neighborhood. 'Course the cats around here don't know anything about hunting, unless it comes from a can or bag they don't consider it food anyway.
After about an hour inside, it calmed down enough so that it didn't mind being held. (pix of mama rat and one of the cats at http://tinyurl.com/22pfn8 ) My inside cats didn't mind the guest, I think they just figured it was like my cockatiels, something in a cage that they weren't supposed to pay too much attention to. I didn't know anything about keeping a rat, but have a co worker who has had a rat for over three years who gave me some help. I had just about decided to keep her myself, assuming the cats didn't bother it, when the next morning, the rat population exploded. The rat was having babies. I called my friend, who called a friend of hers, who came and took the mama rat and babies off my hands.
As it turned out, none of the babies survived. So I ended up picking up mama rat and bringing her home. After doing some research on the net (and learning that I was doing a few things wrong - like going out and buying cedar shavings for bedding) I decided to get Hanna, aka mama rat, a companion. Which is how Blondie came to come home with me. Blondie is a youngster, only about 6 weeks old now - white with a blond head. I had no trouble introducing Blondie and Hanna, maybe because Hanna was still getting used to her new home herself and hadn't had time to become territorial. They don't interact much, but have both been sleeping in the same chew tube when I came in first thing in the morning the past two mornings.
This has turned into a long intro. I don't know how much posting I'll have time for here, as I'll primarily be a lurker here. I'll mainly be popping here now and then with questions for those who know more than I do - which means just about all of you.
Welcome!
