temblabamomo's rats

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Joanne said:
What a nice big group you have. So there is only one female in the whole bunch? Are they all together in one big cage?
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They're split over 4 cages - the halfie brothers, the triplets, moose and Mo, and Mariel is the Queen of the DCN with the 5 NHR brothers. It's sweet how bonded she is with them. She is the only girl. She came to me as "vicious" and I only agree to take her because they were gonna put her outside. Turns out she was just mishandled, and really quite sweet. She's a happy girl with all her boys.
 
Awwwwwwww - your babies are ADORABLE & I love their names.
They all look spoiled rotten !:D
 
They may reduce the buy back amount of your books if the rats chew it LOL mine love books I dont know what it is about them but maybe they wanna learn. Dont go so long on updates :) They look great, i still cannot believe you can touch the halfies. Everyone seems like thiers are mean. I think shelagh had some ok ones but I stll think they bit her.
 
Wanted to update before year's end. What a year.

In November we lost Daryl to chronic resp. It was expected, but sad nonetheless.

After Thanksgiving my sweet imp Steven took a sudden bad turn and passed. Still having trouble with that; I thought he had so much more time. Special boy.

Still need to post their memorials.

Daryl D
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Steven
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I've spent time getting to know the 3 fosters who were returned to me earlier in the year. Crazy bitey Jake has decided I'm ok. Malcolm and Stanley are both perfect big piles of squish <3

Stan XD
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Malcolm Talcum Powder & Stan
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Jake
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My halfies are getting old. 2.5 years now. Saffron is still going strong but Ox is kind of withering away. Ox is the boy who broke his leg earlier this year. It healed crooked, but he already has HED so already used to dragging.

I think Saffron has dementia or something because he's taken to biting me a lot. Not aggressive, just "you are food!" chomps. Not breaking skin tho so ok. And Ox has taken to snuggles <3

Halfie breakfast
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Ox <3
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Only 3 left from my originally NHR 7. Tyrese Merle and Evandus. Ty is still just as sweet as pie, Merle his usual mellow self, and Evandus still a little bit batty :)

Cozy Ty
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Cozy Merle
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My stepsister gave Merle this awesome pineapple hammock
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Evandus
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They are ruled by their beautiful little queen, Mariel. I'd be lying if I said she was not the apple of my eye <3 My only girl out of 30 boys the last few years.

She has a scary resp flare up a month ago but has thankfully responded well to meds. She lived Steveb dearly and was depressed after he passed, but Turese cozied up to her and they are both coping.

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My beautiful girlie <3
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And lastly there is Yuri who I picked up at the end of November. He was the one all the way from Florida who was spotted living under someone's porch. I think he has some loose marbles in his noggin, but he is lively and curious. Now if he could learn to stop biting...

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eagle said:
2nd
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I third that...beautiful photo of all three boys under that blanket! Tembla, I loved reading about your new additions and they are all so precious! That bit of fuzz between the nose and top of the head that you talked about..oh boy, what rat does not love getting stroked there, eh?

LOVE your boys and I am so happy they all have a happy and comfy forever home with you!
 
temblabamomo said:
Wanted to update before year's end. What a year.

In November we lost Daryl to chronic resp. It was expected, but sad nonetheless.

After Thanksgiving my sweet imp Steven took a sudden bad turn and passed. Still having trouble with that; I thought he had so much more time. Special boy.

Still need to post their memorials.

Daryl D
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Steven
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I've spent time getting to know the 3 fosters who were returned to me earlier in the year. Crazy bitey Jake has decided I'm ok. Malcolm and Stanley are both perfect big piles of squish <3

Stan XD
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Malcolm Talcum Powder & Stan
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Jake
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My halfies are getting old. 2.5 years now. Saffron is still going strong but Ox is kind of withering away. Ox is the boy who broke his leg earlier this year. It healed crooked, but he already has HED so already used to dragging.

I think Saffron has dementia or something because he's taken to biting me a lot. Not aggressive, just "you are food!" chomps. Not breaking skin tho so ok. And Ox has taken to snuggles <3

Halfie breakfast
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Ox <3
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I am so sorry about Daryl and Steven. :( I will check to see when you post memorials for them. They were so lovely and I know they are missed terribly.

Your photos are just beautiful...the halfie photos, especially that last one of one of your babies sort of sitting on his rear with his sweet paddle footies sticking out..oh my lord I could use that picture for my computer wallpaper it is so precious.
 
Vladina said:
I third that...beautiful photo of all three boys under that blanket! Tembla, I loved reading about your new additions and they are all so precious! That bit of fuzz between the nose and top of the head that you talked about..oh boy, what rat does not love getting stroked there, eh?



LOVE your boys and I am so happy they all have a happy and comfy forever home with you!
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Aw, thanks for bringing back that old picture of the 3 boys, Vlad. Seems like ages ago! Max, Maz and Morrissey were rats #3, 4 and 5 for me. Hard to believe so many others have come and gone since them. Haven't seen that pic in a while; thanks :)
 
temblabamomo said:
Aw, thanks for bringing back that old picture of the 3 boys, Vlad. Seems like ages ago! Max, Maz and Morrissey were rats #3, 4 and 5 for me. Hard to believe so many others have come and gone since them. Haven't seen that pic in a while; thanks :)
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Aww, well it is a beautiful picture! :heart:

Just goes to show that ALL of our fur babies, past and present are always with us. We never forget a single one. :)
 
My kiddos are ready for Santy Paws to spoil them ratten for Christmas. All my kids have stockings, for decoration - Santa (aka my awesome mom) usually leaves a huge bag of fleece, toys, treats, etc. under the tree.

Just realized I need to clean that door after the holiday; didn't notice how smudged up it was, heh...

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It's Queen Mariel's first Christmas here and I'm super excited for her. I took her in just after the holiday last year, so she missed the fun. Last year she was given the gift of a home; this year she's demanding toys and yogies! :)

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And downstairs, the cats all have their own stockings as well (although those miscreants deserve nothing but coal!!!)

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Every holiday is a little sad when I get the stockings out and don't hang the ones of the kids who are no longer with us. Makes me so sad. I hate the idea that they will never be hung again. So this year I did a small tree beside the rat room with all of the stockings of past rats. Afterall, I know they are here to enjoy the season with us in spirit <3

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And outdoors, the resting place of all our departed cats and rats gets a little festive color. It's so drab in the winter, but adding some fake flowers makes for some cheer. I like to smile when I look at their garden :)

My vet once enclosed the quote from Isla Paschal Richardson with a condolence card. So apt. I do think of them as of they were all here with me. It has taken time, but I can smile now when I think of them.

"...Grieve not,
nor speak of me with tears,
but laugh and talk of me
as if I were beside you...
I loved you so -
'twas Heaven here with you."

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Happy Christmas, little ones. I hope Santa brings you lots of yogies at the Bridge <3
 
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Wow, you are so festive! Will you come to my house and decorate it for me?
I love the idea of making ornaments out of stockings for rats who have gone to the Bridge. A great way to remember them. :)
 
Oh my god Tembla, I am so blown away by all you have done for your babies and your post really touched me because as I was reading about all the fun stockings and presents you were putting out for your ratty kids (and hats off to your Mom, wow, she is so awesome to be Santa for your kids and give them gifts every year, hurrah!)

So, sorry, I got off my point, ha ha. Anyway, as I was reading about all the fun stuff you were doing for your babies, I was starting to get sad because this is the first Christmas that Marc and I are spending with NO babies here with us. No Achilles and no Maximus. I got a bit teary eyed thinking about how I wished I could still have gifts and stockings to prepare for my own bubs...and THEN, I saw and read about the little tree with decorations and stockings you put up for your babies who have left for the Bridge, as well as the beautiful garden area that you spruced up with some color. And then my teary eyes became good tears and I was really touched.

I felt like, "Hey, Temblabamamo is doing all these wonderful things for her kids at Christmas and it is a fun and loving time full of joy, but she has not forgotten how it feels to not be hanging a stocking for her babies who have left for the Bridge." Anyway, everything you have done for your babies, past and present this Christmas is amazing and I just love the wonderful holiday spread you have worked on for them.

I think I am going to follow your lead and get a small tree that I can hang some stockings on for my past babies too. Your kids are going to have a wonderful Christmas, and I am so glad they have such a loving home with you. They deserve all the holiday cheer and fun they can handle, as all rats do. :) And yes, Marc and I keep picturing Achilles and Maxie (as well as our other sweet boys who have left us) at the Bridge with lots of friends, stuffing their faces full of holiday treats 24/7, eh? :D

Beautiful, Tembla. Thanks for making my day and giving me a smile to wipe away the teary eyes about my babies this Christmas. :hugs:
 
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Once again, it's been forever since I updated. Have not been on the Shack much lately :( Life is super busy.

I am logging onto the Shack today because I have realized that as of Sept. 2015, I have been a Shacker for 5 yrs. If I've never said it before, thank you to all the wonderful people on the Shack who have given me sound medical/behavior advice, & been such a supportive network of friends. I thank my lucky stars that I stumbled across this rat forum before any of the other ones that are out there. TRS is simply the best :)

Lots of changes here. I am "down to" 10 rats now (some of you may recall me saying for several years now that I'm "not taking any more in", lol - FAIL!)

This is my current crew. Have accumulated a handful of single boys that I am slowly working on introducing to either each other, or one of the groups.

Old man Saffron is 39 months old as of Oct. 1. He is the last of my halfie boys, and from the whole litter of 15, only he and a sister at the rescue are still alive. He has a tumor growing over his hip, I chose not to remove it because he was already frail and old when it appeared. It's getting quite large now, but Saff stays mobile, I help him stay clean, his bodily functions work and he seems happy and comfortable. If he gets to the point where the tumor is too much, then we'll let him go. But for now he's doing okay.
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Queen Mariel just turned 2 last week. She has had a tough year, but things are okay these days. She had pneumonia earlier this year, and already a previous history of resp. Her breathing was so terrible I really did not expect her to pull through, but she made a great turn around and is healthy now. Unfortunately, the last few of her cagemates have passed on over the past few months, but she has kept a stiff upper lip through it all and we have had a lot of one on one time together to make sure she's okay. She is now friends with Ernest, a very shy, traumatized boy from a hoarder situation. Mariel (spayed) is great with him, and they have become close friends.
Silly girl <3
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Ernest was rescued from a hoarder's house last year when Animal Control raided the property. He was one of a handful of rats who was deemed okay enough to be adoptable, but at the shelter he bit several people and they called SNMR to take him before he was PTS. Ernie lived at our director's house for several months, but after some space freed up at my house, I took him in to work with. Poor Ernie was really badly affected by conditions at the hoarder's house. Was very jumpy and scared. He'd been treated at the rescue twice for parasites but his fur continued to fall out. It's recently started growing back, and I can only wonder if that's because he's feeling much less stress. Intros with other rats didn't go well into he met Mariel. Love at first sight. Mariel is so gentle and kind with him and is just what Ernie needs. I can bring them so far, but having another rat to teach them how to be a rat works wonders. Ernie is starting to act like a "real" rat now :)
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Begging for treats with Mariel. Before meeting her, he would never dream of greeting me at the cage door!
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Yuri is still with me, and has only made minimal progress. This is the boy who was running loose outside for weeks in Florida before being caught and rat-training his way up the coast to me. He was neutered in May, which has helped keep him from getting uppity when he sees/smells other rats. He will sit in my lap now, or beside me on the floor, and tolerate me resting a hand gently on him. I can pet his head as long as he sees my hand coming. But his instinct it still to bite first, ask questions later. He is happy enough, but ultimately I still want to get him hand trained, and find a friend for him. But I hesitate to do intros with a rat when I cannot even handle the rat myself. Thoughts?
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Livin' the life
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Patrick, formerly "Meatball", was dropped off at Animal Control last year with his former cagemate "Spaghetti", now Barnabee, Jr. Someone said they were brothers, but Patrick seems much older than Barnabee, who is very much an excited, youthful boy (so much so that he was fast tracked to the vet for neuter). Wondered if they might be father and son, but who knows. Someone adopted Barnabee, and AC told us Patrick was aggressive with other rats and had been at the shelter long enough that he was in danger of PTS soon. So I took him. Patrick isn't wild about other rats, and has some resp issues. AC said owner dropped him off and reported a history of resp. He's developed a URI recently and is on abs for it. Patrick is the sweetest old guy you'll ever meet. All he wants is to snuggle up with a person and be loved.
Patrick
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Barnabee's new adoptive home apparently found him to be too rambunctious, and returned him to AC within a week. So we took him, too. His neuter was in July but he's still quite a bit uppity. He's been going through slow intros with my group of girls (yes, Morgan has finally caved and made a habit of taking in girls, too...). Barnabee is named after one of my very first rats, another agoutie hooded guy named Barnaby. He's so much like him - rambunctious, busy, always on the go.
Barnabee Jr.
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The Girls
Anyone who has followed me on the Shack knows that, with the exception of Queen Mariel, I do not take in girls. I would feel obligated to spay all newcomers, and that's not always something I can afford. And working to socialize and introduce single males to happy groups is my focus. A family contact us earlier in the year because they were moving over seas and couldn't find a home for their 3 girls, who couldn't go with them. SNMR tried to place them, but the day of the family's departure was upon us so we took them in. Rather, I took them in, as fosters. I don't know why I bother calling rats "fosters" since my track record with fosters is almost exclusively foster-to-adopt. I fell hard for these girls, so they reside here now. They turned 1 yr old on Sept. 1.

When I met the woman surrendering the girls, she told me their names and said "The rex is named Curly". None of the rats she gave me were rexes. She said the black hoodie was the "rex", or that's what the breeder told her. (She refused to tell me the name of the breeder.) Miss Curly Eugene is a tiny little thing, even for a girl. She has a couple of whiskers that are slightly bent, so I guess that's the "rex" in her, lol. She is tiny, but FIERCE and takes no crap from anyone. Her full name honors our departed but very dear hoodie boy Eugene, who was not with us nearly long enough but was so very like this little girl.
Curly
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Flash is the troublemaker of this trio. She is bold and adventurous, but somehow manages to find herself at the bottom of the hierarchy within the cage lol. She has been a great rat ambassador with the rescue and helps us out with our fundraising. She's on facebook, if anyone needs a cute new friend :)
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100009243653327&fref=ts
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Squeakers is not the biological sister of Curly and Flash. The family adopted her several weeks later from a feeder bin in Hampton. Not sure of her age, but she's a bit more mellow and definitely very motherly/big sisterly to these two girls. Squeaks is clearly the rock of common sense in this gang.
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On their 1st birthday (don't worry, they only have a little bit, human ate the rest of it)
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The girls
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And last but not least, little unnamed Micro Eye Boy. SNMR sat at Travelin's Rat's booth at the Virginia Beach Pet Expo last month. Another local group had brought rats for adoption. The lady who runs the group is the one who referred Yuri and Mariel to me. During a slow point in the day, she brought this little guy over and asked me if I would be interested in taking him, since he apparently gets along with no one. As soon as I had him in my lap, I could not say no. He's an odd little fellow, walks with a tilt and is bald around his belly/groin. Treated with revolution in case mites are the issue. I'm not sure he sees very well out of the tiny eye. Now that he's settled in a bit, he's a lot more relaxed and very excited about exploring. Needs a name! Mom suggested Squint Eastwood, but um...no. I am going to start intros this weekend either with Barnabee Jr, The Girls, or possibly Mariel and Ernie. Excluding fosters, he is officially Rat #40 to come live with me since I first started taking care of these animals. (This was good justification for me to agree to take him - can't have my rat career end on an odd number like 39, right?)
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