As Planet Deedums Turns: For the love of rats

I was recently asked by someone how I got into rats. Those of you who know me know all about my obsession, but not many people know how it happened. Having been asked the question a few times now, I thought it prudent to compose a blog entry with the answer. And in formulating said answer, it occurred to me that my love of the critters came about quite accidentally.

I've always been an animal lover. There has never been a time in my life, save for the first four years, that I have been completely petless. For the past several years I'd thought about getting a rat, and often I would stop at the rat cages in various pet stores and watch them. Part of it has to do with their "underdog" status in society, I suppose, but in observing them and talking to people who've owned them, I was intrigued by their sweetness and brightly intelligent nature. So one day in March of 2006, I was in the local pet shop buying dog food, and I asked the girl if they had any rats. They did, but they were kept in the back in the "feeder" tank. I asked if I could look, and she let me back there. There was a white and black hooded rat who looked at me quizzically through the glass, so I asked if I could hold her. They took her out and handed her to me, and she squirmed a bit, but I held her tight, looked into her eyes, and said, "Listen, rat, you're coming home with me, it's a good place, you're going to love it there, and that's final. Understood?" The rat immediately calmed down, almost went limp, and I was in love.

I brought her home, named her Nancy (another story in itself), and couldn't believe how cool she was. A couple months later I got her a cagemate, as I had read that rats quite literally require the companionship of another rat, and just happened to see an ad on craigslist for a female rat that was being given away. The cagemate had a rough start (suffice to say her name "Dash" was given to her due to the fact that she'd escaped in the car on the way home and spent three days living in my dashboard before I was able to coax her out) and she was a bit more of a challenge, as she had been kept alone for quite a while and had had no socialization. Eventually she came around, though, and I fell in love with her, too.

A few months later, I decided a third rat was in order, so this time I went to a breeder, a fellow in the Grant-Amherst area who specializes in exotics. Ivy was the most obnoxious rat I'd ever met; completely misbehaved and resistant to any kind of affection or discipline, and she ended up scurrying into the darkness one night. But still I couldn't stop. I had this huge cage now, and I felt compelled to fill it. I brought Rosie home from Steve's Pets in Williamsville one morning, introduced her to Nancy and Dash, and the three became fast pals.

I still had all this room, so one day this past March I was in the same store where I'd gotten Nancy, and that's where I got Paula. If you look back into the archives, you'll see the post about Paula and her babies - but just to refresh your memory, I brought Paula home not knowing she was pregnant. Three weeks after I brought her home, she had her litter of fifteen babies. I had to keep the babies for at least five weeks before I could adopt them out, so at that point I had 19 rats.

A couple of weeks after the babies were born, Nancy passed away despite the valiant efforts of the vet to save her. I was heartbroken. Nancy was, as we call it in the rattie-loving world, my "heart rat." She was the one who introduced me to the love of rats, to the coolness that rats could be, to the loyalty and affection one could never believe would come from a rodent. Nancy spent hours riding on my shoulder, content to just watch the world from her perch. Everyone who met Nancy fell in love with her. Nancy was, to sum it up, one really cool rat. Shortly after Nancy died, Dash, who'd been ill but until Nancy's death was making a recovery, fell seriously ill again and also passed away. It was very tough losing two rats in a week's time, but bittersweet knowing that Dash just gave up without Nancy.

At 5 weeks, I had to separate the babies by sex. I knew I was keeping a few of the girls, so I decided to invest in the most coveted of all cages known to rodent owners the world over: The Midwest Ferret Nation. This thing is a behemoth of shelves and levels, a powder-coated luxury rodent condominium on wheels that cost me more than a week's pay. I spent the days preceding its arrival trolling thrift shops and dollar stores to outfit it with brightly colored blankets and toys. After it arrived and I put it together, I then spent two days covering it with 1/4" hardware cloth becuase the bars were spaced too far apart and could easily facilitate escape. But when all was said and done, I filled it with my treasures, and the rats were, as only rats can be, thrilled. The best find was the Weebils treehouse that plays music when the rats step on the ferris wheel. It's awesome to be sitting here and suddenly hear the tinkling and beeping of canned circus music coming from the cage. The first time it happened I nearly jumped out of my chair, but I've gotten used to it, and it makes me laugh. Anyway, the thing is a cinch to clean, and it has made my rat ownership that much easier.

After I'd adopted out all the girls I was giving away, I still had two boys. Bob and Nathan were the coolest, but I couldn't let them live in the Ferret Nation with the girls. I shopped around for a vet who could neuter them, but in the end it just proved too costly, so with a heavy heart, I decided to put them up for adoption. As fate would have it, five minutes after I placed the ad I got a response from a girl who had the exact opposite problem as me - she had two girls that shd couldn't put in the large cage with all her boys. So one Friday morning last month, I delivered Bob and Nathan to her house, and came away with Dex and Moushe. It was a worthwhile trade; I've since heard that Bob and Nathan adjusted fantastically and are much-loved by their new owner and cagemates, and my two new girls, despite an initial fracas in which Rosie's right ear was badly damaged, have made friends here.

I have another girl in the wings, a baby from my friend Amanda in Rochester who, ironically, had taken two of my babies from Paula's litter. Right after she adopted my girls, she had an accidental breeding of one of hers. So see, in the rat community, we never really get rid of our rats, we just trade them back and forth. :-)

So that's the story of my rats. I don't see myself ever not having rats now, and it's hard for me to imagine life without them. Yet despite my best efforts to educate the rest of the non-rat world on the joys of rodentia, it's a tough sell. But that's okay, because as long as there are people like me in the world, rats will always have a place on this earth.

Now I suppose I should include some photos with this entry, just so you can see for yourself how adorable these little kids are!

The Ferret Nation!