Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / October 2003

Hello, I haven't written into this newsgroup before but thought I'd take up
Mark Mestman's offer to rhapsodise about our babies!

Myself and my partner have had our two spoiled lovelies for over a year now
and they are the most wonderful critters ever! I grew up in a family with
five dogs, two horses, etc, etc, etc, but no small animals. Since moving out
and becoming a tenant, we had to find smaller pets but didn't want "furry
goldfish." My partner had had rats before but I had only just met one once.
I now know that they are the most wonderful pets ever, even more wonderful
than dogs and cats, which most people seem to prefer.

We have two, a silver dumbo and a black dumbo (a breed of rats known for
bigger ears and less pointy faces (and some say sweeter personalities!)).
Moscow, the silver one, has bonded with my partner big time and only gives
me attention when he is lonely or hungry. He will sit in my partners hands
and lick his fingers until he's exhausted though! He's such a sweety with a
gorgeous personality - very shy and quiet but usually the one making the
trouble and letting the other one get caught for it! Otter, the black one,
is mine and is a handful and a half! He is much braver, pushier, bouncier,
etc. He loves me to bits though and spends most of his time laying on my
chest chirruping. (I love the sounds they make!) They both make such happy
contented sounds and love their cheeks and necks scratched. They also love
Quorn (vegetarian meat..err..stuff) and cheese sandwiches and they know just
how to guilt-trip us into sharing our dinners with them. (its a good thing
they seem to have stomaches made of cast-iron or they'd have such upset
bellies with the junk they eat sometimes!)

We tend to be quite lenient and let them take over the couch, windowsill,
and even the floor in some rooms. They love to explore and tend to just
sleep when they aren't interested enough to get a bit of exercise. They are
just now getting to the age where they are more interested in cuddling than
in playing around and exploring and its utterly wonderful.

Well, I think thats enough gushing for now about my babes! Tell me about
yours?!
Sarah

Gosh .... so many stories to tell!  Like you I can't imagine not having rats
around now.

I was smitten from my first meeting with a rat - about ten years ago.  One
of my friend's had a rat bought for her when she was studying at vet school.
She gushed about what a marvellous little pet he was and how once rat-haters
(eg. her sister and mum) loved him to pieces.  I met him and fell in love
too!  Had to have one then.  Back then I didn't realise that rats needed
other ratty company so my first rat was kept on his own, but got lots of
attention from us humans.  After that I always had them in pairs.  I've only
ever had one female, all my others have been males.  At the moment I have
three males, a two and a bit year old, Louie and two youngsters (about 4
months old), Alvie and Max.

Louie is a rescue rat and I had problems with him at first, probably because
he had been so badly treated and neglected by his first owners.  He slowly
came round to trusting humans again, but was still not a 'cuddly' rat, that
is, one that liked cuddling and petting, although now he's getting an old
boy he's started coming to me for a few scritches!  Total contrast to his
first cagemate, Oscar (he died this summer and I still miss him like mad)
who liked nothing better than kisses and cuddles, he constantly craved human
company.  He was the sweetest, most loving little creature I have ever
known.

The two youngsters, Alvie and Max, are a bundle of joy.  They are always
playing and darting around, so much energy.  Alvie is the more confident of
the two, but Max is slowly getting there.  All three boys love each other
and are always found snuggled together in their hammock or tube.

Another of my particular favourites of my past rats was Ralphie, who was a
little darling.  He was a shoulder-rat who would sit for hours on my
shoulder as I went about everyday things.  He was my big fattus rattus who,
like Oscar, loved people and cuddling.  His other great love was food and he
had a waistline to show for it - had to put him on a diet which he wasn't
impressed with!

Anyway better stop there as I've gone on long enough!

Tracey

Where do we begin? lol

Ok, the most recent thing that happened... I had brought all seven of my
young ones to my mom's place and I set them loose on the bed. My dad and my
mom and myself were at different corners playing with them. Then, my Milo
(pew) came up to me, and put his two front paws on my arm and laid down with
his head looking up at me. I found this very unusual as he is only 4 months
old and they don't sit long enough for a cuddle. I started to pet his head
and he would just stare up a me, truly enjoying the pets. Even my mom and
dad were fascinated by this display of total contentment while being petted.
I moved back a bit and he came up to me and again put his front paws on my
arm and waited for his pets. I started to get worried, in case he was
sick... after some more pets, I picked him up and checked him out... he was
fine, when returned to the bed, he went off playing again. I've never had a
rat show so much affection toward me like Milo just did. It was wonderful:
truly magical moment.

I find that the more time I spend with them the more amazing I find
them to be. I currently have 3, having lost one to a respiratory
infection in June, and the single most mind-blowing thing to me is how
unique each one's personality is.
  There's Flo, who's 21 months old and had an inner ear infection
when she was just a wee tot. In a way, that was a blessing because a
little loss of balance has been the only thing that keeps her out of
trouble. She has no concept of fear. Never did, never will. Her head
tilt has also had another side effect. One of her favorite things in
the world is to be cradled in your arms and just lay there, leaning
against an arm. Very mellow, fearless, adventurous girl. And an
insistent rodentist.
  Daisy, who will be one on Saturday is another matter altogether.
She's a muscle-bound girl who takes being alpha seriously and spends
much of her waking hours reminding the other rats who the boss is.
Which works out well, since the other rats are the only things in the
world, including inanimate objects, which she is NOT afraid of. Among
the sources of her torment are the sound the VCR makes when it has
rewound a tape and the floor. She slipped off the couch once and
turned into a furiously panicing wad of leg-climbing claws. Silly
bully rat. She has little use for humans. She has even power-groomed
my head and eyebrows to make sure *I* knew who the boss is.
  Then there's Ally, Daisy's sister. She's a bit on the scrawny side
and has a personality that falls in between the other two. She can be
startled but doesn't break into a panic like Daisy does. She's been
dominated by one thing or another all her life and doesn't seem to
mind. I even saw her volunteer for a power-grooming once. She has the
annoying habit of climbing your shoulder and then chewinmg on your
lip.
  And the late Jackie, who was Flo's sister. Somewhat like Daisy but
not quite to that extreme. She took being alpha TOO seriously and had
to be kept apart from Daisy and Ally. She didn't have much use for
humans most of the time, but when she wanted something from a human,
she was insistent about it. She seemed to think licking my eyeball was
a worthwhile idea, though she never succeeded at it. But once she went
as far as opening my eyelid with her teeth so she could get at the (to
quote Dr. Hibbard on the Simpsons ) "sweet, sweet eye juices". See
what I mean by insistent?
   Yes.... wonderful little creatures.