Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

So I talk about my rats all the time, I might as well introduce you all to them.


Rosie
Rosie was my first rat. I got him around my birthday from a friend. He's a large black rat and we were amazed at how large his gonads are.. I named him Rosie because thats what was on the table when they pressured me to name him; and Rosie he has been since.
He's <i>huge</i> (compared to the others and to my cats). Recently he's become rather fat as well, so he's a big fat rat >:O~
He started out sweet and affectionate; sitting nicely on my shoulder chirping his little teeths; exploring my couch and eating our potato chips.. But then I didn't have time to take him out everyday and he started getting a little mean. Twice before we moved he bit me (although the two times it was because he was scared or being aggressive with the cats) and this was very unhappy, since like, he was my best friend sad
Then when we got Dusty and tried to introduce them, Rosie got jealous and tried to attack him; I interviened and ended up with a very deep cut on my thumb that bled for so long I nearly passed out razz
But since that he's become rather docile again and only gets mean if we put him near the other rats, so he gets to be spoiled and out on his own to play with my dog 3nodding .


Dusty
My second rat. We found a store that sold them and wanted to check it out , since we thought if Rosie had a friend he wouldn't be so bored.. In the cage they had around seven or eight rats.. I pulled Dusty out at the very start and put him on my shoulder; he went and fell asleep in my hood. It was love at first sight, as they say. The store help there was NOT a rodent person, he was freaking out about the rats and even more so when he had to get it out of my hood since I couldn't reach; it was so funny.
In the car i had Dusty sleeping on my lap and said "his name is dusty". Most of the names I name things are the first thing that pop into my head and it stays that way >:O
We brought him home and he got along Okay with Rosie until their 3rd meeting when he [rosie] got mean. Thats when the worst bite happened... Oh well.
He's such a sweethart, not much a fan of exploring as he liked to sleep on your lap or shoulder or hood. The other night we came home to find the cage covered in blood and Dusty missing a few MORE toes (and incident the first night we brought him home he lost the nail on one of them - we still don't know how), he must have caught his feet in the wheel he loves so much. When we were cleaning the blood off and putting antibiotic on the scratches he was so docile, just sitting there with his eyes closed letting us help him feel better. Afterwards I had him wrapped up in a soft old shirt and he was just lying there letting me pet him, I love him so much sad
He's dust-colored and has the fur of a Rex (meaning very soft and curly) and has ruby albino-rat eyes. His face is the cutest face in the world, and I dont know why. He's our most photogenic rat as well.


Monet
My sister wanted to name him Peppy but I wouldn't hear that. Ms. Matel suggested this name and it seems to fit, he has rather random black and white patterns on his back.
Monet.. is very skittish. We got him in the 3rd batch of rats we bought (along with Ally and Ghost). He doesn't like being held or petted and when he's out of the cage he runs around instead of sticking nearby you (which is what Rosie and Dusty do - odd behaviour but I think its pretty normal - Dusty and Rosie are really smart rats).
He's the father of our two litters of babies. We thought he was too young to impregnate anyone (big mistake there) so we left him in the cage with the new females for a little while before we went to see if Dusty would allow Monet to share his cage. He impregnanted BOTH our new females while in there, the horny b*****d.
He shares a cage with Dusty and the two of them get along alright. They don't do the normal social rat things .. but then again none of them do that we can see (clean each other, play with each other),, hm.
Sometimes I see Monet try to clean Dusty but I think Dusty resents him a little bit (he has to share my attention with him). Monet also doesn't use the wheel in the cage which leads me to believe he's retarded as well.
Monet is black and white hooded. His fur is a little scraggly but he's a pretty basic rat i think. He has normal black eyes.


Ghost
Ghost is our little girl. She was halfway named between me and my sister; Taryn wanted her to be named Casper (dumbass), so I modifyed that to Ghost. Suit her better, she slips through your fingers as easy as a ghost would.
She is VERY skittish and protective of her babies. We didn't think she was pregnant since she is so tiny, almost gerbil sized.. with the kids birthed she shrank to about half her size and is mostly skin and bones now. We're giving her dog food and bananas and any other vitamin/protein rich things we think they can eat - she really needs it.
She loves using her wheel like Dusty does. I wanted her to be Dusty's mate as the babies would be so cute - Small, Rex-fured, grey, red eyes.. doesn't that sound adorable? scream
She had four kids (five including the stillborn.. sad ). The normal rat litter is about 8, showing you how tiny she is. This will stunt her growth which is really sad since she was the runt of her litter too. Whenever you stick your hand in the cage to say hello to her she does this adorable little squeak and runs in circles. She's gotten better with my mom though, letting her hold her for periods of time and allowing the hand to be in the cage without biting.


Ally
Ally was going to be named Missy but my sister was jealous of my naming skills and refused it. Ally works just as well, although I slip and call her Missy occasionally.
She's a very interesting specimin - siamese dumbo rat with red eyes. Dumbo rats have lower ears on the side of their head, making them look kind of like Dumbo the elephant. This gives her the appearence of being very docile and dumb. Siamese.. Just think the markings of a siamese cat 3nodding . Most of the rats at the store had red-tinted eyes so its rather normal for our collection.
Ally we were really worried about. She got HUGE when she was pregnant and the hugeness lasted for DAYS - we were worried she was going to explode or something and wondered about taking her to the vet. We moved her to her own cage to see if this would help at all (since Ghost managed to hold off her labor until she was back in the cage ((a long story - she and Ally would get into fights and one night the fights wouldn't stop so I tried to put Ghost in another cage to protect her but Dusty and Monet chased her around and I didnt DARE putting her in Rosie's cage - he would eat her alive and besides, she could fit through the bars. So I put her in the rolling ball thing we have for the night. The next morning I put her back in Ally's cage and the fighting stopped.. but lo and behold, the next night there were four bouncing baby rats in the corner of the cage.)).) We had since bought another cage since with the babies coming along the one we had the two girls in was too small. I put Ally in the small one and left ghost in the big one since she already had a nest going on. Two days later Ally had her kittens... all 18 of them. (the maximum litter size is something around 23). EIGHTEEN BABIES. We're not sure if she's guoing to be able to feed them all so in a couple days if she's not doing too well we're going to put her back in Ghost's cage and see if they'll take care of each others kids. smile


so thats my rats, hope you enjoyed reading that novel. whee