Hi everyone, My name is Laura, and I am new to this site, and fairly new the world of rats. :)
I currently own 2 rats, Evie and Millie. These are my first ratties, but I have owned hamsters, and other small critters for over 13 years. I also own a large variety of other animals, all of which are beloved members of the family.
3 Dogs
(Brett (Cairn Terrier)
Scout (BeagleXBordercolle)
Thai (Toy Poodle)
1 Cat
Mandy (domestic Short Hair)
5 Turtles
Cookie (Red eared slider)
Yertle (Red eared slider)
Sheldon (red eared slider)
Twinkie (red eared slider)
Sully (3 striped mud) **Fostering from Lil ResQ**
5 Geckos
Argo (leopard gecko)
Lexi (leopard gecko)
Vera (leopard gecko)
Loona (leopard gecko)
Topaz (Crested gecko)
**To make this clear to everyone now, my geckos do NOT eat rodents, Leos are fed a diet of worms, crickets, and Cresties eat fruits and crickets.**
2 Hamsters
Winnie (golden agouti, longhaired syrian)
Pi (sable, longhaired syrian)
and my 2 rats are
Evie (chocolate, standard)
Millie (Seal point siamese dumbo)
I am always up for chatting about any of my animals. but this is a rat forum.
I would like to share with you guys the story about how I got my first girl, because it is a story that needs to be told.
Evie did not have a very good start to life, Born in a shelter, she was adopted out to my boss when she was 6 months old, to be a companion for Kiedis the bosses daughter's other rat last august.
The rats were kept at work, which is a dog grooming shop. The bosses daughter stayed at the shop 24/7 so they always had company. But when she went back to school she never took them with her. Thus Leaving the boss to look after them. The novelty about having "shop pets" soon wore off, and to her it began to be a chore to look after them.
The girls were kept in a small cage, with not even a toy to keep them occupied. They were fed a poor diet, and were only brought out to be cleaned. The boss would force me to play with them while she cleaned them out. But to be truth full I was scared of these creatures. I have had hamsters for a huge part of my life, and while I liked the rats, I never had the time to play with them, because I had to work and couldnt stop to play with them. The boss herself never brought them out to play, even though they were her rats.
She would leave them unattended for 3 days every weekend. She would make sure the waterbottles were filled and that they had enough food. Then she would close the shop and not return for 3 days. She thought this was perfectly normal. Even though the girls had absolutly noone during this time. They slowly grew mad with boredom, and would fight with eachother. I would find bloody cuts and gashes on Kiedis, but still the boss would not seperate them or give them a larger home. "Just more for me to clean" was what she use to say.
At the beginning of April Kiedis passed away due to cancer. The boss asked if I wanted Everely, which I agreed apun so long as it was ok with my parents. I discussed it with my mom and dad that night. I told them everything I knew about rats, and promised that I would be doing more research when I got Everely. They agreed that I could have her pretty much when I said `Can I have Everely?" :) We found a nice place for her in the living room next to a window and bought a larger cage for her that night.
Everely, who I renamed Evie, came to live with me the next day. She was nervous, but accepted her new life as a family rat almost immediately. I had to teach her a few things about being a normal rat, because she was denied so much while living at the shop. For instance She never knew what veggies or fruit were, and that she could have access to them every day if she wanted. She also didnt know what it was like to be held every day sometimes for hours at a time.
Today Evie is a happy oldish lady. Her days of loneliness are long over. Her boredom of being cooped up for so long, has since turned to curiousty and fun. Her cage agression days have long been over aswell. She is a very loving and docile girl. Who loves everyone she meets. I replaced her poor diet with that of a highly nutritous one, and have been overly generous with the amount of treats that I give. :P
Millie's story is far more normal than Evie. I bought Millie from a reputable breeder about 3 weeks ago. We were nervous about getting a second rat because of Evies agression over Kiedis all those months back. But I knew Evie needed a sister of her own for company. So I took the plunge, emailed a breeder, and brought home Millie the following weekend.
Millie is a very sweet young lady.She is overaly friendly yet can be slightly shy of new things, but she is getting better at following her sisters moves when something is "scary" She and Evie loved eachother at first sight. I read horror stories of rat intros. So during each intro I was ready for anything But all of their meetings and the innital "cage mates" went without an incident. They do like their own space though. Millie prefers to sleep up in the hammocks, While Evie likes her tunnels. But the two always seek eachother out in the evening. and by night fall the two are always inseparable.
Well that is it for my introduction. I hope to learn alot on here.
Sorry for no pics, as my camera is broken but I will be getting a new one soon. :)
Have a great day everyone.