lostnstars
Member
My name is Ashley and I am new to this forum. Actually, I'm new to all forums and I am quite overwhelmed by all the options available as I am typing this lol. My friend is on this forum, fenshae, and she recommended I try it out.
So! About me and my rattieness
I have had rats for about 6 years. My first rat was an accident. I was working for a petstore and a long horrible story short, I took the last 6 week old rat pup left when I came in the next day. I had never had a rat. Working at a petstore I had seen adult rats and didn't think a whole lot of them. Then when I took this pup home I started doing some research. I named him Rat Boy. He was raised in my bra for the majority of the time. I took him to church and grocery shopping. Even when Rat Boy was all grown up, if something scared him he dove right down the shirt of whoever he was on. Surprised the heck out of lots of people lol. Anyway, I ended up learning a lot about rats. After a couple of years I started working for a vet clinic. I also started intentionally adopting rats that were showing URI signs. Myco is rampant in our area. I got a nebulizer and started spending lots of money, time, and love on healing sick rats as best as possible.
Eventually I went through a rattie crisis as many people do. I had 8 rats at the time. Many were older and myco tore through. In 6 months I lost 5 rats. Four went to myco and the 5th was killed by her cage mate. My female colony was reduced so drastically, so quickly that one of my normally easy going females killed my most submissive female. It was awful. And so I decided to not get anymore rats for awhile. We had 2 gorgeous cute males that finished out their happy lives. Then we only had one female. She was the one that killed poor Skittles and even though it wasn't really her fault, I had trouble bonding with her.
Still, when Fina passed last month I was heartbroken. It's been a long time since I've been without rats. Now that things are starting to settle down on the home front, my hubby and I have decided it is time to start having rats again So now we are looking to adopt at least two. We are so excited and can't wait till the right opportunity comes along. I love all animals but rats and dogs are my "heart critters". Long story short, I'm glad to be here and can't wait to share when we finally get rats again!
Ashley
So! About me and my rattieness
I have had rats for about 6 years. My first rat was an accident. I was working for a petstore and a long horrible story short, I took the last 6 week old rat pup left when I came in the next day. I had never had a rat. Working at a petstore I had seen adult rats and didn't think a whole lot of them. Then when I took this pup home I started doing some research. I named him Rat Boy. He was raised in my bra for the majority of the time. I took him to church and grocery shopping. Even when Rat Boy was all grown up, if something scared him he dove right down the shirt of whoever he was on. Surprised the heck out of lots of people lol. Anyway, I ended up learning a lot about rats. After a couple of years I started working for a vet clinic. I also started intentionally adopting rats that were showing URI signs. Myco is rampant in our area. I got a nebulizer and started spending lots of money, time, and love on healing sick rats as best as possible. Eventually I went through a rattie crisis as many people do. I had 8 rats at the time. Many were older and myco tore through. In 6 months I lost 5 rats. Four went to myco and the 5th was killed by her cage mate. My female colony was reduced so drastically, so quickly that one of my normally easy going females killed my most submissive female. It was awful. And so I decided to not get anymore rats for awhile. We had 2 gorgeous cute males that finished out their happy lives. Then we only had one female. She was the one that killed poor Skittles and even though it wasn't really her fault, I had trouble bonding with her.
Still, when Fina passed last month I was heartbroken. It's been a long time since I've been without rats. Now that things are starting to settle down on the home front, my hubby and I have decided it is time to start having rats again
So now we are looking to adopt at least two. We are so excited and can't wait till the right opportunity comes along. I love all animals but rats and dogs are my "heart critters". Long story short, I'm glad to be here and can't wait to share when we finally get rats again!Ashley
