I have been keeping rats for a long time and each one has been different. Each had their own unique character. I generally keep a pair of rats but there have been times when I have had to keep them singly due to them being adult males that never integrate. I have had a mixture of pet shop rats, fancy rats from breeders and my beloved rescue rats.
I have had some of the most challenging and heartbreaking times with my rescued rats but it was all worth it. I have been bitten a few times by rats that were not used to humans and in one case had been tormented by people. I had blind rats that had lost their sight to cataracts and a rat that was deaf. Some have had surgery to remove tumours with mixed results.
One of my favourite rats was a big male called Snowball. I got him from a pet shop as an adult whose previous owners no longer wanted him. He was a Himalayan rat (mostly white but with a brown nose and bottom). He wasn't too used to being handled and wasn't particularly tame. I only had him for about 6 months before he became old and weak and ultimately passed away. During those short few months I had him he learned to trust me and allowed me to handle him. It was a really sad day when he finally passed away but in a way a huge relief that he didn't have to suffer. I made a poster of him as a memorial and made it available for people to purchase so he can still make people smile even after his death and that is a wonderful thing. Here is his poster
Another rat I chose to honour in this way is Peewee. I was given her to look after when her owner developed an allergy to her. She was a dumbo rat, a fancy rat bred to have larger than usual ears. She had been brilliantly cared for by her previous owner and was immediately tame enough to handle. She didn't like to be in her cage at all and would beg me to let her out every time I went near the cage.
She had surgery to remove a tumour on two occasions, both of which were sucessful. She even begged the vet nurse caring for her after one of her ops to give her some banana. She had a way of charming people. Sadly despite my best efforts she did not extend her kindness to members of her own species. I tried to integrate her with a group of my friendliest females but she attacked them. It seems she had no "ratty social skills" at all. I had her for two happy years. She ultimately succombed to a mixture of age and jaw cancer. I have so many happy memories of my little girl and so may wonderful photos that I decided to make into gifts and share with the world. Here is my much missed Peewee
I have two little girls called Pippa and Poppy at the moment that keep me entertained and carry on the tradition of rats in my life. With luck they will be around for a couple of years yet. They might still join their now famous predecessors one day but not in their lifetimes.
So that is the reason I have such a love of wild rats and I wish we could find a way to live with them rather than just putting out more and more poison. If you own a rat you know how intelligent they are so please give their wild cousins a break.
No comments:
Post a Comment