Well, I recently (about a week ago) got two new pet rats. These two came from an acquaintance who I know online. She had bought several new rats from a local pet store and ended up with two “oops” litters of baby rats. She’s been trying to find good homes for all of the babies. So, I went to meet them a couple of weeks ago and then told her I would take two of them.
The new ratties have been hanging out at my parent’s house for the past week. It is always recommended to quarantine new rats whenever possible, even if you are getting rats from someone you know and you are sure that the rats are healthy.
I have two other rats currently, Chloe and Amy. (Rats, unfortunately, only live two to three years. I lost two of my older girls this past spring.) In a week or so, I’ll take the new rats up to Denton and start slowly introducing them to my current rats.
Boxes are fun!
The new rats came from two separate litters. The younger rat, who is the fawn / beige colored one, is about eight weeks or so. The older of two, the black and white one, is about eleven weeks old. They are both girls.
The black and white rat looks a lot like my rat Amy and seems to have a lot of her personality too. She is very curious and adventurous and desperately wants to play with my parent’s dog.
The little one is pretty outgoing, but is a bit more cautious and shy than the other one. I think she’ll come out of her shell, though, as I keep working with her. You might notice in the picture above that she has a notch in her ear. She had this when I got her. Apparently, at one point when she was pretty young she managed to escape from her cage and went on an adventure around the house. The woman I got her from wasn’t sure how she injured the ear.
I’ve been trying to spend a lot of time handling both of them over the past week. Both have been handled some and are use to being picked up and held, but are still sometimes hesitant or shy about new things. For example, the first few days I had them they were pretty much “okay” sitting on my lap. However, they were still a bit too worried to take treats when they were on my lap. (And they really liked the treats, because they would each immediately take a treat as soon as they were back in the cage!) I’ve been hanging out with them in the bathtub and in a long hallway. This way, they can run around and get some exercise and they can also get to know the big scary giant (me) and learn that I’m really not all that bad.
But, already in a week we have made a lot of progress and they both are much more comfortable and relaxed when I pick them up and hold them.
You will definitely be seeing more of these two ratties on my blog in the future! I’ve already added them to the rat page. I’ll try to get some video of them playing. Young rats are very fun to watch. They are full of energy and love to run around and explore. As you can see from the pictures here, they think that boxes are so much fun as play toys.
Also, both of these rats still need names, so if you have any suggestions, let me know.
Very sweet looking rats, Mary, I’m so glad you got them. Also sorry you lost two. Yes, rats live too-short lives. Does the little gold-looking girl have a name? She looks remarkably like my golden girl, Maizie, who also is new to me. At 8 weeks of age, she had oops babies herself 7 days after I got her. Here’s one pic of her nursing the two surviving babies (one is under the other, so you see only one when there are two babies: http://www.joinrats.com/Friends/Gwen/MaizieOops/29893801_BL6M2r#!i=2576413469&k=ZfcjmFj&lb=1&s=A. The angle is odd so the babies look much bigger than they are.
And Maizie’s friend, Mijah, also came to me at the same time, and she is a black hoodie like yours. What are the odds? 🙂 Here, I had to edit this to show you a short clip of Mijah: http://www.joinrats.com/Friends/Gwen/MijahMaizie/29391191_BfKsj3. 🙂
Mary, I’m curious, did you use CAT with the more shy rat? Why or why not and if you did, how exactly did you do CAT?
gwen
Thanks for the link, Gwen!
Your Maizie and her babies are very cute. And she does look remarkably like my little gold-girl.
Good question about CAT. I did not use CAT with them. I’ve been able to tell over the past week that at times they were hesitant / uncomfortable / shy.
However, they are also both pretty darn curious. They were at the point where they weren’t completely okay with me, but curious enough to explore and and approach. Since they were curious enough to approach, I’ve be letting them mostly figure out things on their own. Over the past week I sat in the bathtub with them one day and on the floor in a hallway several times. So, they could climb on my lap and come and go as they pleased and with lots of boxes on the floor so they could go hide if they wanted to.
Also, the cage they are in, I can pull a chair up next to it and the doorway of the cage is almost even with my knee if I am sitting in the chair. So, I have been sitting in a chair with the cage door open and letting them come into my lap if they want (and occasionally offering treats). Last night was the third time I have done this with the chair. Both rats will eat treats in the cage and will come out of the cage on to my lap, but last night was the first time they would take treats from me when they were on my lap.
I’ve had them eight days and I feel like their curiosity has really gotten the better of them and that they are getting pretty comfortable with me. Now, if I had been doing these things for a week and they were not approaching me / choosing to interact with me or if I felt like I was having to “lure” them to come out of the cage or to sit on my lap, then I definitely would be thinking about CAT.
Hope that helps.
cheers,
Mary
Have you desided on names yet?
I had a litle mouse the same colour as your blondie. I called him Bisquit, as he was the same colour as Milk Arrowroot bisquits.
Or you could “go American” and call her Cookie 🙂 On the other hand, Blondie sounds nice for a girl rattie 🙂
Hi Jenny,
They still do not have names yet! But I think I’m getting closer to deciding. A lot of people have sent me good suggestions. Biscuit is definitely a cute nam.! I will add that to my list of ideas.
thanks!
Mary
Definitely name the black hooded one Strip. As in a cute way of sayin stripe. She’s not quite got a stripe, so strip.
Strip is a cute name, thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
For some reason that name reminds me of a horse I rode growing up who was named Snip.
A few people have suggested names based on her markings. The kids who live down the street from my parents suggested Skunky, which I actually kind of like, but I think she needs a different name than that.
cheers,
Mary
Yeah, ratites have enough of a stigma without being named skunky. Otherwise, it is a cute name. I would think since snip is so like strip you may like being reminded of such a good relationship