Our Expanded Rat Family

[Mania]

Since we have two new rats, I got my spouse to take pictures of them all. It's hard to take pictures of rats -- they wiggle -- but he tried.

I've posted about Ana before. She's missing about half her tail, and is the reason we now own four rats.

Ana ponders walls.

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I've also posted about Margaret, who is excellent at escaping. Here you can see her on the wrong side of the cardboard fence we erected.

Margaret escapes ... again.

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And here are the two new rats who don't have names yet. Their temporary names (egad, I hope they are temporary!) are "Chocolate-Covered Rat" and "Tiny Rat".

Chocolate-Covered Rat is shy and somewhat blurry.

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Tiny Rat will not sit still.

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[Dewclaw]

Lol, Margaret looks like trouble.

Cute pics. The cage (what little can be seen of it) looks sort of like a cage I had when we had ferrets. It was a huge cage that stood almost as tall as I am.

[Rhyela]

Oh my, they are adorable! I'm assuming they are all female? I just love the hooded rats...so cute. <3

[Saturo]

Cute, yet still rats...

[Mania]

Yup, all female. The cage is about three feet tall but it's up on a card table, which puts the rats right at eye level for us. So far they really seem to like the extra space in the cage -- there's a lot less begging to get out. (Well, except when they see us walking around. And at night. And when they want a treat ...)

We were considering one of the really tall cages, but Ana doesn't balance so well and we were afraid she'd fall. So far, though, she's loving the climbing space and seems to be getting better with heights as she practices.

Also, I thought this was really cute: We keep a variety of tasty treats for the rats -- mostly dried fruit chips and such. the two new rats really don't get that these are treats. "What's in your hand? What's in your hand? Oh it's ... some sort of smelly dried thing." And then they walk away.

But offer them a piece of romaine lettuce, and suddenly you have a four-way fight to the death for a scrap! (And then we gave them three more pieces, of course, so that every one could have one.)

[Dewclaw]

We were considering one of the really tall cages, but Ana doesn't balance so well and we were afraid she'd fall. So far, though, she's loving the climbing space and seems to be getting better with heights as she practices.

I can understand that. The ferrets would slip at times, but we had a hammock strung up which broke their fall. They loved their cage. I miss the little buggers. They died of old age.Our vet was astonished they lived so long. Apparently because of breeding problems, they're prone to disease and shorter lifespans.

[zedxrgal]

Awe rats! Very cute. I love them.

[Ungoro]

I wish i could have rats...Always found them cute and if i ever go to a pet shop i'll go straight over to them and 'baaaww' at them. Shame my mum won't let rats or anything with tails in the house. Sad face! and

[VelkynKarma]

Aaah, they're all so adorable!

This only reaffirms my promise to get rats as a first real 'interactive' pet once I have my own place and have the money and time to care for them. I had a beta fish as my own personal non-family pet, but he didn't really count as he was not especially interactive. Betas are hard to pet.

~VelkynKarma

[Mania]

In case you were wondering, all four rats now have permanent names.

"Tiny Rat" became "Deadly Mamba" because, like Ana (whose full name is Anaconda), she has bad eyesight and does the weaving thing with her head to triangulate better. Also, she is a terrible instigator of trouble, so the 'Deadly' part fits.

"Chocolate-Covered Rat" ended up as "Chocolate Rat" ... which I suppose is a small improvement.

[Saturo]

Great names. They're doing good, I assume?
Stern Mania is probably scary.

[Pawtrack]

@.@ D'awwwwww I want pet rats again! So cute. :3

[tramani]

aw thats so cute
my sis's rats just gave birth aswell , 3 little rats =D