Current rats
Rosie (16th of February 2013-Present)
Rosie was Roxi's sister! She is almost 3 years old now and is going strong! Naturally she is showing signs of old age, but has shown it a lot later than her sister did. Rosie is slowly losing the use of her back legs and I think she is losing feeling in her back feet as sometimes they fall through the bars on the ladders and she sits on them at a weird angle sometimes without realizing it. She has what is known as hind end degeneration and its very common in older rats. Is a progressive condition which is only going to get worse unfortunately and there is nothing you can do other than monitor it and adjust the cage to suit the animal's needs. Despite this, she is a very happy girl and still socializes with her cagemates, shows normal rat behaviour and eats incredibly well! Rosie is a very special rat to me as she is all I have left of Roxi and my original trio. It will be very upsetting when she passes as she is nanny to the other 7! She is such a good rattie and is very submissive and just wants to be friends with everyone! In her time she's been introduced to 9 other rats (excluding Roxi her sister) and she took to them all very well. I'd always introduce her first when bringing more rats into the group!
Echo (8th of March 2014-Present)
I bought Echo and her 2 sisters, Ebby and Evie from a breeder when they were 7 weeks old. They were so so tiny! Because they had come from a good breeder they were incredibly well socialised and were very friendly. As Echo has aged, she has had some mood swings. About a year ago now, she used to be boss of the rattie pack, and was quite the bully and rather dominant towards the others. Introductions with her were very hard as she was very much like Rhona! Now however, she has settled down and has become a friendly girl to the others-most of the time! She is an independent girl and doesn't crave my attention as much as some of my other girls, though she does love a good fuss now and again!
Ebby (8th of March 2014-Present
Ebby is a very affectionate little thing. She loves to lick! When she was a baby she was very small and slim and incredibly active! She'd used to dart around my room non stop, loving every minute of it. Now she's slowed down and is more chunky and squishy! She still loves all the fuss and attention and of course-still gives kisses! She knows her name and is very food motivated. She's also obsessed with hoarding food and stealing food from the others!
(Notice how there are less and less pictures as I get through this thread? XD Its taking too long! These collage photos are ones already saved on my computer so its making it a bit easier!)
Evie (8th of March 2014-Present)
Evie is a shy little girl, always has been, but has never bitten or done anything mean (to people) in her life. She used to be nice to all the rats, but as she matured, she's become quite the dominant girl and always bullies the younger ones! (Nothing bad, don't worry! They wouldn't all be living together if it were serious fights) Unfortunately she's always had a URI (Upper respiratory infection) and it just doesn't seem to go away. We keep and eye on it and when it gets bad, she goes to the vets to get more antibiotics. She copes with it well, its worse when she wakes up or when she's sleeping, but when she's been awake for a while the snuffling/wheezing gets a whole lot better. She's always had it and its just a condition that rats get all too often! (Though most of the time its treatable!)
Roo (14th of February 2015-Present)
I bought Roo along with her twin sister Robyn (they look nearly identical so my boyfriend just calls them the twins) from a small petshop local to me. They were kept on woodshavings... so when I first got them they were very sneezy! But now they are both fine after being on antibiotics for 3 weeks
Its hard to believe now, but when I first bought Roo home, she was incredibly nervous. She was too scared to even run away, she just froze up whenever I touched her or went near the cage. I don't think the animals in this shop got handled and thats the last time I buy rats from them again. (not the fact that they were unsocialised, its more the fact that they were kept in a tank with woodshavings, but thats not the point)
Now however, Roo is a completely different rat! She's so so brave and annoying now!
Robyn (14th February 2015-Present)
Again, like Roo, Robyn was incredibly nervous when I first bought her home. Though she was the braver one of the two. Robyn was very vocal when I first got her and would squeak in protest whenever I picked her up! She soon stopped that and was very soon a happy tame, social rattie. Robyn is also known as Escapay (ess-cap-A) as she is an escape artist and is very sneaky! My boyfriend started calling her that and now its stuck, much to my annoyance! haha
Elsie (23rd May 2015-Present)
I bought Elsie home from Petsathome along with her sister Erin quite recently. I wasn't looking to buy any more! It just sorta happened... XD Basically I saw Elsie's face staring at me, fell in love and just bought her a friend home with her as well so she wouldn't be lonely while waiting to introduce to the others. Dad wasn't impressed! Elsie is the shyer one out of the two, but they had both clearly been socialised as neither were frightened of people.
Erin (23rd May 2015-Present)
Last but not least, we have Erin! She is Elsie's sister and is such a sweetheart! She's so gentle and is a lot slower than any other female rattie that i've had before (aside from Roxi) so she is often used when I am showing people my rats for the first time. She is the biggest so is easiest to hold, plus she loves all the fuss! She is a very brave girl and when I pick her up and give her a kiss, she has a thing for reaching for my mouth with her front paws! She's a bit of a freak really XD But so so loving! She's my boyfriend's favourite so she always gets extra attention when he comes over.
Anndddd thats all!
Wow this took forever! Phew! All done now!
I'll update this thread with news and updates on how they are all doing
Hope you enjoyed it!