# im sure nice



## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

Got a call up from the vets office a few days ago
'does your daughter wanta rat?" (my mom answerd i was not home)
my mom said she would ask when i came home which was an hour after they had closed, figured ide call the next day to see what EXACTLY they meant.

was downtown and decided to stop in instead
"do you want a rat"? they asked
"why?" i said
"my daughter went to wisconson for the wee and came back with this rat, i HATE rats or rodents of any kind and cant stand to see it in her room, then this morning he bit her finger really hard and shes terrified of the thing- do you want it?"
(BTW they contacted me because several eyars ago i had 15 rats and when they became sick i was apperantly one of the few people to take them to the vets to be treated, so it stuck in there heads)

she said "if you dont want it ill jsut have my son take it out back and shoot it, nasty lil thing!"
me
"yup, ill take him"
"he bites"
"i know he bites"
'okaay! ill have my daughter drop him off!"

when her daughter brings him to me she told me how he was "viscious" she said
"i stuck my finger in the bars to pet him and he jsut nailed me!"

uh, lil girl rats will do that, thats why when you go to pet stores they normally have big signs that say
"DO NOT PUT FINGERS THRU CAGE BARS!!!"

so i took him, hes very sweet, ive already held him and hes not yet tried to bite, hes still nervous, obviously but hes coming along okay, BUUUUT rats ARE social critters and he NEEDED a freind! alot of people donot realize that rats are actually FREINDLIER when theres several, your more likely to end up with a nippy rat when you keep just one.
so i called a pet store, found some babies for a nice price and picked one up, a little male dumbo rex, while i was there i was educating the employee on ratty facts
"those are not true hairless, they are double rex, when you mate 2 rex rats together its unstable gene and produces some hairless some patchy and some with thin rex fur"
"rats cant vomit"
"you cannot get rabies from rats or mice, they die before the virus is contagious"
"you can feed rats a raw meat/food diet just like dogs" 9which is what im doing with these two)

ANYWHO!!! heres a few impulse pics of the two, whom ive already put together in a bedroom to meet and they got along fine (NOT living together yet, will take some time on that one)
THIS is edward- the male from the girl
















and this is Alphonse the little dumbo rex baby
















dont worry about my kitties, they have met rats before and donot mess with them but all interactions ARE supervised ones so no worries.









P.S to those who dont know rats, rex is a curly coated rat.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

So what are you going to feed them?

And is it true that if you give them carbonated stuff, they die (because they can't burp). Or is that an old wives tale?

I think I am allergic. When I worked at pet stores, I would get red and rashy if their nails scratched me at all. It was horrible. I don't have an aversion to them but I would never want one, although everyone I know that has one or had one tells me they make great small pets (better than devil hamsters!). If ever I got one, it would be a hairless one. LOL


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

i have had hamsters,gerbils, a ferret, rabbits, guinea pigs and rats and so far rats have been my absolute FAV! they are very smart and can be super sweet i love male rats the best much cuddlier you can carry them around all day long into stores or around town in your shirt without a problem.

i wouldnt be suprised if the carbinated thing were true, like i said they donot have a gag reflex and cannot vomit and i donot ever recall any of mine burping.
i learned the hard way that honey is fatal, i gave all 5 of my males dabs of honey on Q-tips because i never heard it was bad the next day 4 of them were dead and the father was nearly so having weird sezuires he died in my hands trying to eat a popcicle 9trying to get fluids in him) non of the females died and suspected it was the honey as i only gave it to my males. it was heart breaking


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## Chocx2 (Nov 16, 2009)

The cat isn't stalking those rats? I had rats when I was younger, and all those other animals so I can relate, but then I didn't feed my dog raw.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

Chocx2 said:


> The cat isn't stalking those rats? I had rats when I was younger, and all those other animals so I can relate, but then I didn't feed my dog raw.


nope, my cats are SOOO used to my bringing in small animals they dont bother with any of them if they try i shoo them off so they dont both looking twice. not to mention rats are NOT fearful of cats and all the rats ive had will got after the cats if they get too close so my male buddy is quite fearful of rats and keeps his distance, my cat ginger doesnt avoid them but she doesnt mess around with them either and my cat emaline only come up to sniff them if im holding them everyone avoids going near rats cages though. i also think its a good teaching tool for Sadie and Chimera since Cesar already learned when he first came in that small animals are strictly "OFF LIMITS" when i got him i had button quails and rats and he became good freinds with the rats and ignored the quails (with alot of work of coarse)

and i plan on feeding them a raw diet meat,bones and fresh veggies


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## EckoMac (Jun 1, 2012)

The little Rex Rat is wickd cute! I had a rat once. Mrs. Brisby was her name. She was pretty old when I inherited her. Great pets, smelly poop. LOL!


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

It's like my dog and cat, they both grew up with small animals so nothing fazes them anymore. When my 18 year old cat was little, I would put mice on his back and he would just lay there. Probably thought "ugh shoot me now, what is this woman doing to me" Then my dad had a mice infestation a few years back.. my cat just stared with disinterest lol.
My dog thinks all small animals are her siblings. So today we saw the black squirrel that hangs around here and she always tries to hang out and lounge with him. It's beyond cute. I feel bad that I can't let them get near each other, not that the squirrel would have any of it!



xchairity_casex said:


> nope, my cats are SOOO used to my bringing in small animals they dont bother with any of them if they try i shoo them off so they dont both looking twice. not to mention rats are NOT fearful of cats and all the rats ive had will got after the cats if they get too close so my male buddy is quite fearful of rats and keeps his distance, my cat ginger doesnt avoid them but she doesnt mess around with them either and my cat emaline only come up to sniff them if im holding them everyone avoids going near rats cages though. i also think its a good teaching tool for Sadie and Chimera since Cesar already learned when he first came in that small animals are strictly "OFF LIMITS" when i got him i had button quails and rats and he became good freinds with the rats and ignored the quails (with alot of work of coarse)
> 
> and i plan on feeding them a raw diet meat,bones and fresh veggies


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

HAHA when i had hamster babies i used to get them out to roam freely in a spare room we ahd that was empty, the cats insisted on being in there with me while i let them roam and they would attempt to lie on the floor but all the baby hamsters would crawl all over them and they would stand up and walk away to lie somewhere else only to be swarmed again! it was so funny


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## Noodlesmadison (Sep 18, 2011)

lol poor cats lol



xchairity_casex said:


> HAHA when i had hamster babies i used to get them out to roam freely in a spare room we ahd that was empty, the cats insisted on being in there with me while i let them roam and they would attempt to lie on the floor but all the baby hamsters would crawl all over them and they would stand up and walk away to lie somewhere else only to be swarmed again! it was so funny


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I recently got a "vicious" rat. Huginn's mom's Petsmart was trying to find a home for a big male that had been there for quite a while after being brought in by his previous owners. The poor guy is just so big that they were probably scared of him. We don't pick him up because he squeals but we can pet him and scratch him and he has NO fear of us as long as we leave him on the ground in his cage. 

I'm glad you mentioned the honey. I didn't know that. I have heard that citrus fruits can be fatal to males as well. 

I feed only cooked meat and have been trying to research feeding them raw meat but I haven't found anything. I suppose it's only normal that they can eat it. These three are my first raw fed rats. Everyone else ate a mixture of lab blocks and the rat food mixes from the pet store. All of my rats have always gotten extras like nuts, fruits, veggies, etc but never a consistent amount. I'd love to hear more about your feeding plan for your boys!

We currently feed fruits, nuts, seeds, veggies, and cooked meats. Bane came to us so fat that you couldn't see his back legs when he walked or sat on his haunches to eat but with a diet like previously mentioned with limited fruits I can happily report that we have a visual on his back legs! Hahahaha! He no longer lumbers around his cage. He can actually run up and down the levels.


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## xchairity_casex (Oct 8, 2011)

if that "viscious"male you got was kept all alone, thats probably why it was 'viscious" many times people will think that if they have just one single rat that it will "bond" better to people and be nicer, which is actually the opposite, if you keep a rat singley they are more likely to become nippy,nervous,anxious and unsocial. because they are used to living in large groups they are used to haveing rats around them ALL THE TIME its there fall back they feel safe because theres always someone there to look out for danger, without that buddy or two or five your all alone to watch out and that can be nerve wracking. not to mention a person cannot be in and out of there rats cage 24/7 so the rat learns 'all of this is mine" since all of the is his/hers when you reach in to re-fill the food bowl they think "what the heck are YOU doing messing with MY cage?? and give a warning nip to let you know your not welcome. when you keep 2 they are shareing everything iits not 'thats MINE its thats everyones"
and they are less on edge because they feel safer.
i used to be freinds with a women who managed a rat rescue and she would tell me all about the 'devil" rats they would get, parents bringing in the most viscious rats ever who would bite and attack hands or anything moving near the cage she would take that rat, toss it in to the rat room or with a big group who lived together and it would turn into the sweetest rats ever very rarely she said would they get in true viscious rats.

as far as diet goes these boys have been getting a small hunk of chicken neck a piece per day (about the size of a nickle/quarter) along with a mixture of fruits and veggies anything from bananas,peaches,grapes,peas,spinich,romain lettuce,carrots,celery,broccoli (only small bits) kale, grape tomatos. whatever is in the house. will start adding bits of organs at a little later date


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