Our new rats Polar, Panda & Tiny curled up in bed

When we were at the pet store yesterday collecting our little girls Tula and Tilly, I caught sight of a beautiful big boy rat.  He obviously wasn’t a baby and I couldn’t resist having a little look at him.  There were two other rats in the tank with him, though I only saw their noses peaking out at me.  I felt so bad for the big guy, as most people only want baby rats and growing up in a pet store is no life for such an intelligent little critter.

As we were there picking up our new girls there was nothing I could do, and I didn’t think Derek would be too impressed if I asked for more rats then and there.  So I decided to wait until we were home and our new girls were settled.  Not that I needed to worry, as Derek was thinking about the big beautiful boy too.

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Tula

I admit we weren’t planning any new additions to our family, if anything we were thinking of taking a break from keeping rats. We have adopted a lot of rats over the past 12 months, many of them old or with health problems, and devoted a lot of time and energy caring for them.  With so many of them passing away, we have been feeling a bit heart broken and exhausted.  It seemed like taking a break and recharging was the best thing to do.  But when I saw a gorgeous little black hooded rat bouncing around her tank yesterday – while on a quick trip to the pet store to pick up supplies – I could not resist.

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Apple, Bramble & Lime

A couple of weeks ago we adopted a young mum rat, Daisy, and her two daughters form the RSPCA. There were also three boy rats waiting to be rehomed, who were from Daisy’s litter. We didn’t really have room for them at the time we adopted the girls, but with our old rat Pickle moving out of his big cage and into what we call his retirement home, we had a spare cage. It had been our hope that someone else would come along and give the boys a new home, but that hadn’t happened and we couldn’t resist.

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Some very happy news!

Daisy

We have been on the look out for a friend for Petal since we got her. It didn’t seem right to get some babies from the pet shop. For one Petal’s a little on the older side and might not appreciate some squirmy babies. If they didn’t get on that would be another cage we’d need to buy. So, we called the RSPCA to see if they had any possible friends for Petal and they told us about a young mum and her two babies who had just come in.

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Ooops we did it again! Another trip down the pet shop, for supplies, and we came back with more than we bargained for. The pet store need to take some of the blame for these additions too. We are normally very good at not looking at the baby animals when we go to the pet shop, but they had moved the baby rats to where the hamsters are normally kept and Derek caught a glimpse, then I had to look, then we had to go and see them, then a gorgeous little guy, Pepper, came up to see us and that was it.

There were loads of tiny little baby ratties in the tank, along with five slightly larger guys. Pepper was one of the older boys. Of course we weren’t just going to get Pepper on his own, but as soon as I saw one of the bigger boys was agouti, there was no question who was coming home with Pepper. Our first rat, Crunchie, was agouti and so wild looking rats will always hold a very special place in our hearts.

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Caramel & Toffee

Goodness, we have gone and done it again, two little boy ratties to get into all sorts of trouble while we’re not paying attention. Toffee and Caramel came from our local pet shop. We had been talking about getting some more rats for a couple of weeks. It had all started when we were in the pet shop getting some supplies, doesn’t it always? Derek had gone off to look at the baby bunnies, naughty Derek, and while over in the pets section I spotted a very handsome little rattie climbing up the side of the cage watching us. We managed to escape the pet shop without any additions to our family, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the cute rattie I had seen.

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Willow

We had not planned to increase the rat population in our home, especially with Badger being poorly, but it was one of those things.

I had gone a walk to some nearby fields to see the horses that live there, when some young boys walked past me. They were carrying a shoe box with air holes punched in the top. I asked them about the box and they told me they had a rat in it, which they were going to release as their mother didn’t want it in the house. When I asked the boys to give me the rat they looked at me like I was bonkers, but they did agree.

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Biscuit & Badger

We took our new babies to the vets as planned and got them thoroughly checked out. Other than a possible allergic reaction our vet isn’t sure what is wrong with them. Our vet has advised us to clear out the rats cage and keep them on paper and try to keep their environment dust free, which we have. She has also given us Baytril just in case they do have some sort of respiratory infection. As well as that she recommended some human medicine, to be given in very small amounts, to try and sooth their nasal passages and make them feel a bit happier.

Biscuits sneezing had started to settle the day after we got him, but Badger is really poorly. He gets very bad sneezing fits and it is quite worrying. If he is eating and starts sneezing he will just drop what he was eating and go back to bed. Because he is feeling poorly and down Badger isn’t that keen on exploring at the moment either.

I think Biscuit is the shy one out of the two and he likes to stay hidden in bed, only popping out to grab some food before disappearing with his stash. Badger is slightly more confident, but unfortunately his bouts of sneezing aren’t helping him gain his confidence around us.

Of course we are going to love the little guys no matter what and take extra special care of them. Its very difficult to see such sweet tiny little guys having such a tough start in life and not being able to do anything for them.

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Biscuit

We had been planning to take a little break from rat keeping, but I had to pop into our local pet shop for some bunny food. I admit it I was very naughty and couldn’t help peeking at the little rats asleep in the cage. That night I told Derek about the cute little rats, having no idea of official rat colours, nor am I any good at describing colours. Biscuit coloured seemed a perfectly reasonable explanation of the rat. Derek was not so impressed, “What kind of biscuit?” he asked, “Cookie coloured, bourbon, ginger?” Somehow this confusion over what colour the rats were lead to them being named Cookie and Bourbon!

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Pipsie and Chockie were our first girl rats. We had always had little boy rats before, so we thought it would be fun to have a pair of girls. We had read about how girls were more active than boys, little did we know.

Pipsie and Chockie were tiny when we got them. They had just arrived at the pet shop as we turned up. At first we just thought they were over excitable being such tiny babies in a new home, but no. We soon realised that the homes our little boy rats had been happy living in were not big enough. A trip down the pet shop and we returned with a parrot cage that only just fitted in our car!

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