Rattitude

Well, it should be well known that if I had the time, space, and finances I would start my own rat rescue.  I love the little critters, and want them all to have happy forever homes.

Well, I don’t have the time, space or finances for a rat rescue.  I have the space for one big cage, the time to clean that one cage regularly and to spend time with the rats living in it and the finances to keep them well fed and in clean bedding.

But, I just can’t say no.

My cousin called me last night, asking if I still had my rats.  I told him yes, I have three right now.  He asked if I wanted another one.

Me, want another rat?  Thats like asking a random stranger if they want a $100 bill, no strings attached.  Of course I want another rat.

Turns out his girlfriend has 3 rats.  2 hairless boys and one “fancy” female.  He said he thinks she wants to rehome the female.

Well, it just so happens that I have room for ONE more rat.  Exactly ONE more rat.  Their cage can hold 4 comfortably.

So, I told him I could take the female rat.

Here she is (a pic he sent me):

Her said her name is Madame Curie.  And I don’t know WHEN I might actually get her, since we live in different cities,and I don’t visit there too much, and he doesn’t visit here as often since he doesn’t work here anymore.

I MIGHT get to go visit home around the 12th and 13th of September, which I could arrange to take a travel cage with me and bring her home.

That is IF his girlfriend does decide to re-home her with me.

So, a couple of days ago I was checking my e-mail for this blog (mail4rats@gmail.com if you ever want to share something rattie with me) and saw that I had gotten an e-mail from a girl here in Savannah trying to help A friend re-home a rat.  She said the friend coudln’t give the rattie the attention it needed, and she (the girl e-mailing me) has the rat now but has turned out to be allergic to it!

The e-mail was simply asking if I knew of any rat rescues in Savannah, which I sadly dont BUT…..

I offered to bring her home with me.  The girl took me up on the offer, and tomorrow when I get off work we will be going to her house to pick up my new baby.

It is a grey female rat named Francis.

So, of course there will be rat pictures galore in the future.

But for now, here is some video of Nibbitz and One of Two playing in the tub.

So, there is more to the tale of the People Who Should Not Own Rats…

I had been planning on adopting a pair of girls from their surviving litter.

Yesterday morning the lady asked me, “How do you tell the boys fromt he girls when they are that young?”

“Just bring them all and let me look.” I told her.  “It has to do with the distance between the base of their tail and their pee-pee.  Boys have a bigger space than girls.”

So, I was looking foward to getting a peek at the litter on Thursday night and picking out a pair of TINY rats for my very own.

Well, that afternoon she tells me, “He too the rats to the pet store and come home with a rabbit.”

I paused a second.

“All of them?”

“I think so,” she said.

I paused again.  Surely they meant all the babies, not all the rats.  SO that means he still has 2 females adn one male…one male still not separated from the females.  So, if the babies were gone maybe, just maybe, I could help this bad rat situation a little.

“Even the adults?” I asked.  At this point I Had decided to ask, beg, plead that they let me have the MALE.  I still have my 10 gal aquarium and the 1 and 1/2 story topper for it.  Thats decent enough for one male rat.  Sure, it would mean more work for me, and lots of extra tiem spent keeping a single male happy, but it would be worth it.

Then she said, “Even the adults.  Thats what he said.  I don’t know what he wanted a rabbit though.”

Then it REALLY sunk in.  He got a rabbit.  They are not even taking care of the rats.  And he traded rats in for a RABBIT.  Surely the pet store woudl not let a small litter and 3 adult rats pay for a rabbit and all the supplies it will need.

“PLEASE tell me he’s not putting that rabbit in the aquarim he had threrats in!” I said.

She paused before saying, “He DID clean it first.”

Well, good for him.  He put a bunny in an aquarim.  Its too small for a bunny (it was too small for 3adult rats and a litter) but at least its CLEAN!!!!!

*insert me pulling my hair out here.*

The really, really REALLY worse part is that the pet store in question specilazes in fish and HERPS!!!  That poor family of rats is more than likely destined to be snake food now.

*sigh*

Oh, and in better news, I’ve gotten another award from a fellow blogger.

A Bay Horse gave me the lemonade award way back in January.

ALSO

if you live near Phillidelphia Pennsylvania help out a rat rescue goup!

Rat Chick Rat Rescue Fundraising Dinner
From http://www.ratchickratrescue.com

Join Rat Chick Rat Rescue and Advocacy Group As We Host Our First Annual Fundraising Dinner.

This is no ordinary tofu and wine fundraising dinner it is a Vegan Beer Fest Dinner!

The dinner consists of four fabulous vegan courses specially prepared for this event by the South Philly Tap Room’s Master Chef.

Each course is paired with a special vegan Dogfish Head Beer selected to compliment the flavor of each dish by the South Philly Tap Room’s Beer Master.

Special guest performance by the comedian David Lambon and more!

This event is made possible by the generous donation from the South Philly Tap Room.

Please come out and help support us.

Join Rat Chick Rat Rescue And Advocacy Group At 6:00 PM On Sunday 2/15/09 At The South Philly Tap Room, 1509 Mifflin Street, Philadelphia, Pa 19145 - Phone: 215.271.7787.

Tickets are $45 per person and must be purchased in advance.

Visit our web site and Use the PayPal link o pay online with your PayPal Account or any Major Credit Card.

http://www. ratchickratrescue. com/Vegan_beer_fest. htm

The son of a lady I work with got a pair of rats from the same place I got Nibbitz and One of Two.

One of their par died, and they got a second one because it was my suggestion they not leave a lonely rat.

Well, they have had her for a while, but recently the lady asked me if I wanted to take a rat.  When I asked her why, she admitted that one of them has started biting.

From what she tells me, she just started biting one day, and though they have been giving her proper socialization, she is still a biter.

At first I said I couldn’t take her, I couldn’t risk a biter in the cage because of my hubby and she said something about taking her back where they got her from.

Well, I really didn’t want that to happen ’cause she would probably end up a feeder rat, which is always sadder to me when they’ve been pets first.

I asked her, “Does she bite EVERY time you pick her up?” and she said no.

I told her it might just be a rat like my Enola was.  One who just plain preferred to not be held by people.

I mentioned to my hubby that the woman wanted me to take a rat, and that it had bitten her son, and he DIDN’T tell me no sooooo…..

I’m considering taking in a known biter.

Rat teeth HURT!

There are two sets of long teeth, right at the front of the mouth. Being bitten is rather like being stabbed.

I’ve been bitten by several rats.  Enola bit me.  Even the dearly departed Luka has bitten me hard enough to draw blood.

And bleed those bites do.  Quite a lot.  At least mine do.  I’ll leave little drip drops of red on the way to clean the wound.

I’ve had rats bite me because they were protecting their babies.  I’ve had rats bite me because the just didn’t like to be handled (Enola).  I’ve had rats bite me because they were not feeling well or because I startled them (Luka)

I’ve never had a rat bite just because they were a biter, and most of my rats were bred to be snake food, not pets.

I have to wonder if there is a REASON the little one they have started biting, if I take her in will I be risking my fingers every time I reach in the cage?  Is that a risk I’m willing to take?

I guess I’ll have to think on it more.

The Happy Go Lucky Rattery in Whittier California is in dire need of foster home AND forever homes for 98 rats.  They could also use donations of bedding and food to help care for them.

The following is taken directly from the Rattery’s webpage:

Please Help! - September 22, 2008

Recently we were contacted by a friend of ours, who works at Universal Studios. The “Animal Actors”
show at Universal had recently purchased what they thought were all
male rats to be used in their show. Unfortunately, 14 of them were
females and 11 of them ended up pregnant. The trainers loved the rats
and nobody wanted them to be used as feeders or put to sleep, so they
were asking for help with all of these babies. Today we went to
Universal and helped separate the weaned babies.

To
make a long story short, we couldn’t see leaving anybody behind… We
ended up bringing home 11 moms with their babies and 3 females without
babies. Now we are drowning in babies!!!

Most of the litters were ready to be weaned, so those were separated
(these are all about 5 to 6 weeks old). We still have 3 litters that
are 2 to 4 weeks old. We have a total of 98 rats. All the moms are
about 4 to 6 months old. We desperately need help socializing all these
babies so that they can find good homes. They’re all happy and healthy,
they just need a little more one-on-one time with humans.

We would love to find foster and/or permanent homes willing to take a mom and her babies.
We have lots of Siamese, PEW, Black, Black Irish, and a few Variegated.

If you’re interested in taking home one of these groups, or a portion of one, plese let us know.

If anyone wants to help with donations of bedding, food, etc. we would
appreciate that as well. At this time we have enough cages but as they
get older we’ll need additional cages to separate them.

You can visit the Happy Go Lucky Rattery’s website to see pictures of some of the rats needing adoption.

If you cannot adopt, foster or donate, you can help by spreading the word!