any pet rat folks out there?

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Oh she's so cute! I had one that color but solid not hooded. She was my favorite and first. I'm hoping to get another like her and maybe a blue sometime.
 
20 years ago I met a rat named Emily who was a resident pet in an Iowa nursing home. She was grey and white with butterscotch patches. It was the residents' job, when it was their turn, to take the tea towel out of Emily's teapot (where she lived) and rinse it in the sink behind the nurse's desk, hang it up to dry and provide Emily with a clean towel. Emily had a line-up of wheelchair residents after every luncheon, people would have a bit of their sandwich or cookie for her. She often had a lap, and accompanied people in their wheelchairs for a ride. Emily adored the ladie's jewelry, sometimes they would let her take a brooch or bracelet back to her teapot. They put a little pearl on a rubberband around her neck on her birthday, she seemed so proud of it.

One day, everybody was fussing around the nurses desk where Emily's teapot stayed. Poor Emily was so full of cookie bits, she was halfway stuck in her teapot! Her fat little bottom was stuck on the outside. The residents all fussed about the best way to unstick her, and after she was rescued by way of soapy water, it was agreed that everybody must take turns with providing precious luncheon bits. Emily had to go on a diet. From then on, there were 2 sign up sheets, one for sharing snacks and one for tea-towel duty. The residents practically fought over their opportunity to have a turn at Emily's teapot.

I was a student nurse when I met Emily. At first I thought, "wow. this is surreal. I don't know what to think." But the 2 little weeks I spent there learning to care for the sick and injured, I learned a lot about humanity through Emily. I learned that people from all walks of life just might love a rat. Who knew? I learned to wait and listen, for that is a lot of what Emily's residents had to do to have their time with her. I learned how a small, soft thing can be so terribly important to a large group of people, and how a small point of focus can pull a diverse group of individuals together. Emily really freshened things up for a lot of sick and injured (not all nursing home residents are old) with her sweet kindness and her basic need for care. I'll never forget the look on one man's face when Emily was struggling to get unstuck from her teapot, he was a smart and financially successful man who unfortunately needed long term care, he draped her little tushie with his hankercheif to "give her some privacy!", but had to struggle just to stand to do it! His dedication to gentlemanly manners still shone bright, because Emily needed a gentleman to provide her a proper hankie. And ever since I met Emily, I have respected rats and the people who keep them.
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6chickens in St. Charles :

20 years ago I met a rat named Emily who was a resident pet in an Iowa nursing home. She was grey and white with butterscotch patches. It was the residents' job, when it was their turn, to take the tea towel out of Emily's teapot (where she lived) and rinse it in the sink behind the nurse's desk, hang it up to dry and provide Emily with a clean towel. Emily had a line-up of wheelchair residents after every luncheon, people would have a bit of their sandwich or cookie for her. She often had a lap, and accompanied people in their wheelchairs for a ride. Emily adored the ladie's jewelry, sometimes they would let her take a brooch or bracelet back to her teapot. They put a little pearl on a rubberband around her neck on her birthday, she seemed so proud of it.

One day, everybody was fussing around the nurses desk where Emily's teapot stayed. Poor Emily was so full of cookie bits, she was halfway stuck in her teapot! Her fat little bottom was stuck on the outside. The residents all fussed about the best way to unstick her, and after she was rescued by way of soapy water, it was agreed that everybody must take turns with providing precious luncheon bits. Emily had to go on a diet. From then on, there were 2 sign up sheets, one for sharing snacks and one for tea-towel duty. The residents practically fought over their opportunity to have a turn at Emily's teapot.

I was a student nurse when I met Emily. At first I thought, "wow. this is surreal. I don't know what to think." But the 2 little weeks I spent there learning to care for the sick and injured, I learned a lot about humanity through Emily. I learned that people from all walks of life just might love a rat. Who knew? I learned to wait and listen, for that is a lot of what Emily's residents had to do to have their time with her. I learned how a small, soft thing can be so terribly important to a large group of people, and how a small point of focus can pull a diverse group of individuals together. Emily really freshened things up for a lot of sick and injured (not all nursing home residents are old) with her sweet kindness and her basic need for care. I'll never forget the look on one man's face when Emily was struggling to get unstuck from her teapot, he was a smart and financially successful man who unfortunately needed long term care, he draped her little tushie with his hankercheif to "give her some privacy!", but had to struggle just to stand to do it! His dedication to gentlemanly manners still shone bright, because Emily needed a gentleman to provide her a proper hankie. And ever since I met Emily, I have respected rats and the people who keep them.
wink.png


That is just the most wonderful story! It really should be published!!!!!!!!!!!! REALLY. I think it would help expand awareness and kindness.
JJ​
 
I'm curious what the collective thinking is re: why they are so prone to tumors.



Some years ago, when I was caring for birds in another coop at another location nearby, rats moved in. At first I used hav-a-hart traps to try to get them out and one morning found a youngster in the trap, which had been supplied with food and nothing else. When I found the little one, it was all cuddled in a straw nest in the trap. I don't think this could have happened without adults feeding straw into the trap for the youngster. Kind of broke my heart. I didn't harm any of them but did make a fortress of the coop with lots of hardware cloth so none could gain entry again. Call me a criminal but I did move the ones caught to another location, nowhere near homes. I was torn, knowing this isn't the best habitat management but unable/unwilling to kill them. Feel like I broke up families but didn't have a better idea.

A couple of days ago I found another one in a more recent coop location and I did the same thing but have caught no others since, nor do I see any evidence of them at all (no poop, no food taken...)...I think she got in through a dug hole that I now have blocked with lots of wire. But I feel bad for her, as she is now separated from whoever she knew before. Unharmed, but alone. Ugh - no easy answers.

JJ

Domesticated rats were origina;;y in the USA from lab rats, Pet rats in Europe (where pet rats started) were from captured wild rats that had pretty patterns.

Lab rats are bread to have tumors or illness so that drug test can be done on them.

Now US domestic rats are 100s of generations removed from the lab rats (usually) BUT ALL of the original stock had the propensity for tumors.

It would be like having a new breed chicken that is used for ...fishing feathers... because as soon as the hormones change the chicken loses all of its feathers in a special spot (a nest for instance), then feeling sorry for a couple of these featherless and taking them home and breeding - the resulting generations (if no lethal genes are present) even if at some later point mixed back with normal chickens would still heavily carry 'lose the feathers' and a 'molt in nest' trait.

--------

ok, I have 3 pet rats and a wild rats in my attic problem, couldn't catch a thing- bait was missing, trap was tripped no rat- so I sterilized the tap and put one of my boys in it (in the bottom of my cage)- it took four hours the first time for the others to release him- and the trap, like in the attic was empty of bait...

Rats are altruistic : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/07/070703173345.htm (ok not the best study but it mirrored a peer reviewed one that is for subscribers of that magazine only.)​
 

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