Please welcome Dolly and Lynda

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SqueakingJellybean

Mission Control -- All is ratness
Joined
Apr 12, 2013
Messages
276
Location
Ontario, Canada
These two fine ladies arrived last night, courtesy of the amazing volunteers who make sure rescued pets get where they need to go. They were at the Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue, and seemed like the perfect fit for our family (and for Oleksii). We didn't name them; that was their foster parent. All we did was change the i to a y in Lynda. Dolly and Lynda are two of the sweetest, busiest rats we've ever met! Once Oleksii is neutered and they can live together, they are going to keep him very busy. I am pretty sure they would like 12-16 hours of out-time a day. The pictures shown here are from the OPRR webbsite, so I will assume they were either taken by Rachel or by the foster parent. Once I can get them to hold still for a moment, I'll post my own pics of the girls.

They're so tiny, too! We didn't realize how big Oleksii had gotten until we saw them whiffling each other across the way. He's almost twice their size.

Dolly (caramel-point Himi) and Lynda (black and white hoodie) are fast, nimble climbers. They are utterly fearless, completely hand-friendly, and interested in everything.
 

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These two fine ladies arrived last night, courtesy of the amazing volunteers who make sure rescued pets get where they need to go. They were at the Ottawa Pet Rat Rescue, and seemed like the perfect fit for our family (and for Oleksii). We didn't name them; that was their foster parent. All we did was change the i to a y in Lynda. Dolly and Lynda are two of the sweetest, busiest rats we've ever met! Once Oleksii is neutered and they can live together, they are going to keep him very busy. I am pretty sure they would like 12-16 hours of out-time a day. The pictures shown here are from the OPRR webbsite, so I will assume they were either taken by Rachel or by the foster parent. Once I can get them to hold still for a moment, I'll post my own pics of the girls.

They're so tiny, too! We didn't realize how big Oleksii had gotten until we saw them whiffling each other across the way. He's almost twice their size.

Dolly (caramel-point Himi) and Lynda (black and white hoodie) are fast, nimble climbers. They are utterly fearless, completely hand-friendly, and interested in everything.
Welcome aboard Dolly and Lynda! They're so adorable, are they the same girls you were expecting this September?
 
Welcome aboard Dolly and Lynda! They're so adorable, are they the same girls you were expecting this September?

Oleksii is being neutered in September. We had hoped the ladies would arrive earlier so they could get to know each other across the gap between DCNs, and they have. I didn’t want to give precise dates for anything because that’s rarely wise on the internet. What happens in vagueness stays in vagueness.

Initially, we’d looked at this pair of ladies. At the time, however, they had to go with their mother and sister. We have resources for three rats right now; five is right out. We started looking at another pair from the same shelter. Upon interviewing, we found out that the second set of ladies was not a good fit. On a whim, we asked about the first pair of girls. Their mother and sister were being adopted— the perfect situation had come up where it would be beneficial for all rats involved— so Dolly and Lynda were open for adoption. We jumped at the chance.

They are such incredibly sweet rats.
 
Would you recommend a space pod? Because im planning on getting rats and want to figure out the best products for the ratties
Space pods are fantastic. I would definitely recommend at least one. We have never had a rat dislike them.

The only caveat is that if you have large rats, it’s often better to stand it somewhere than suspend it. We had two boys plonk down a level because they were heavier together than the space pod ”hooks” could bear.

Oleksii doesn’t spend as much time in his pod now that he has neighbours again, so he’s trying to sleep as close to them as possible. He’ll curl up right by the bars closest to their DCN.

Dolly and Lynda LOVE their pod. They are very tiny, so it’s a suspended pod. Once Oleksii moves in, I will have to find a way to secure it for higher weight tolerance.
 
Oleksii must be very excited to live with them. Are they sisters?
Yep, they are. They’re about eight months old, roughly the same as Oleksii.

Their mother and sister went to a different home, one with very young ratling, so that Mama would not pine too much. She was apparently an excellent mother.

The lack of dominance nonsense, like the shenanigans between Oleksii and James Bean, is refreshing. The ladies are a two-person job most of the time when they’re out, however. Like CityTV, they are EVERYWHERE.
 
Space pods are fantastic. I would definitely recommend at least one. We have never had a rat dislike them.

The only caveat is that if you have large rats, it’s often better to stand it somewhere than suspend it. We had two boys plonk down a level because they were heavier together than the space pod ”hooks” could bear.

Oleksii doesn’t spend as much time in his pod now that he has neighbours again, so he’s trying to sleep as close to them as possible. He’ll curl up right by the bars closest to their DCN.

Dolly and Lynda LOVE their pod. They are very tiny, so it’s a suspended pod. Once Oleksii moves in, I will have to find a way to secure it for higher weight tolerance.
Thanks that helps a lot!
 
Yep, they are. They’re about eight months old, roughly the same as Oleksii.

Their mother and sister went to a different home, one with very young ratling, so that Mama would not pine too much. She was apparently an excellent mother.

The lack of dominance nonsense, like the shenanigans between Oleksii and James Bean, is refreshing. The ladies are a two-person job most of the time when they’re out, however. Like CityTV, they are EVERYWHERE.
Those ladies seem fun and adorable. Excited to see the three in one home. Did you say Oleksii is a lot bigger than the ladies?
 
Those ladies seem fun and adorable. Excited to see the three in one home. Did you say Oleksii is a lot bigger than the ladies?
Oh yeah. He hit his growth spurt this month, and went from a narrow, soft, zoomy little guy into a hairy rectangle. He’s still got that baby face, though, so he looks like he’s going through that awkward teenage stage. He’s probably close to twice their size, give or take. We didn’t realize how big he’d gotten until the ladies arrived, because James Bean was still so much bigger next to him.
 
Lynda is ridiculously smart.

I wanted to try teaching her to spin around, figuring it would take a couple of days. Nope-- it took maybe 3-5 instructional attempts. She spins like she's been doing it for years! She's already trained me to give her a pumpkin seed when she spins, and uses that to ask for treats. I'm going to have to cap out-time treats, or she's going to eat the entire stock (because she is brilliant and I am a sucker).
 
Lynda is ridiculously smart.

I wanted to try teaching her to spin around, figuring it would take a couple of days. Nope-- it took maybe 3-5 instructional attempts. She spins like she's been doing it for years! She's already trained me to give her a pumpkin seed when she spins, and uses that to ask for treats. I'm going to have to cap out-time treats, or she's going to eat the entire stock (because she is brilliant and I am a sucker).
That's amazing! What about Dolly?
 
That's amazing! What about Dolly?
Dolly is not interested in learning tricks at this point. Her favourite activity is hand-wrestling, followed closely by building epic nests and tearing the foam lining out of cozy hides. We call her Hurricane Dolly. She's recently decided that sleeves are the best place EVER to explore, but is disappointed that she cannot get me to hand-wrestle while she is in the sleeve. I keep trying to explain to her that my wrist doesn't fold that way, and she'll have to come out if she wants a fair match. There are times she wants me to win, and has actively rolled over on her back while pulling my hand on top of her.
 
Isn't that adorable?😃 She seems smart to me.
She’s smart in a different way than Lynda. It’s not that Oleksii and Dolly aren’t intelligent, just that Lynda is brilliant. It’s all relative. Dolly is more physical, Lynda is more cerebral, and Oleksii is open to many possibilities. (We’re pretty sure he had next to no socialization or enrichment before we adopted him, so he’s still figuring out what he likes.)
 
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