# My Family and Their Stories



## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

*PENNY
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This is Penny. She is around 9 months old and her butt is slightly rusted. She is the cute little ball of fuzz that made me fall in love with rats. She loves to explore, and finds it mildly annoying when you pick her up during her "explore mode." She can be extremely sweet when she is sleepy, and I've even caught her boggling once or twice but I didn't let on that I knew! She doesn't like to be bothered when she's eating, and she will find ANY way to get the food her humans are holding. She seems to be mellowing out with her age, and she requested more Mighty Bites for her rattie retirement. I think she's planning retirement too early personally.

Her Story begins with the end of another's........ 

My puppy FooFoo was 15 years young when she passed away. She passed the year I left home for school, and it took me a very long time before I even considered getting another animal. Six years later I began to feel the desire to have a pet but I was not ready for a dog. 

I told my boyfriend Dan that I really wanted a small pet, and at the time, I was considering getting a chinchilla. He suggested a rat. I have to admit I am ashamed at my initial response now even though I don't remember it exactly but I'm sure it was along the lines of...."What?!?! A RAT as a PET?" He had one as a child, and he explained they were really smart and loving. The seed was planted but I didn't realize how deep it had taken root until I saw Penny at a pet store in State College. 

We were visiting Dan's sister, and a new pet was certainly not in the plans but Penny was a pure ball of energy. She was bouncing here and there, and when they plunked her out of the tank she sat on me and started cleaning herself. I think people could pop the heart shaped bubbles floating from my head at that point. 

I scoped out the store for a rat cage, purchased the Super Pet Deluxe kit for rats, found some toys and accessories, told the worker I would be taking her, and she was adopted. 


_edit: photo didn't work_

*OSTRICH*










This is Ostrich. He's about 8 months old. Here you can see Ostrich doing what he does best: looking cozy in his hammock. Ostrich loves to sleep, stretch, yawn and eat. He looks like a big squishy oaf most of the time but he snaps to life if you dangle a tasty treat in front of him. He then turns to Ostrich the food grabbing ninja. He's not like other ratties who like to live it up and explore. Nope! He's perfectly content in his home with his treats, and he'll thank you NOT to pluck him out of his home without his permission. He's the only rattie I know that will sneak back downstairs to his cage when given freedom to explore the forbidden upstairs! He really loves it when you scritch him while he's in his hammock. He's a bit of a dubious sleeper. I've had to nudge him quite hard to make sure he was actually just sleeping. One time he was actually sleeping on his back with his paws sticking up in the air. 

The story continues with Ostrich..................

Before I adopted Penny I had been doing all my research in all the wrong places. I would go into a pet store to check out the ratties once a week or so, and I would ask any questions I thought I needed to know about how to care for a pet rattie. I was pretty naive until the day I adopted Penny. The worker there picked her up by the tail, and I asked if that was ok. He said it was, and that it didn't hurt them. It really didn't feel right, so when I took her to Jackie's I asked if I could use her computer. 

I did not have much patience for the internet back then, and I didn't really use it as a reliable source of information but I was really shocked when website after website said the same things about rats. The first big mistake I realized I had made was rats are social animals, and they may get depressed without a friend. Penny had only been in her new home for 30 mins or so when I announced that we had to go back. I didn't make a connection with any of the rats that were left at that store, so we looked up another pet store (locally owned) and there was a girl there who was a fellow rat owner. She was nice and seemed to know a great deal more than the Petco workers. She directed me to a cage where she was saving three "sisters" for a special home, and.....no way.......they had curly fur. We'll that just blew my mind at the time (oh what a newb I was :roll: ). 

I picked out the sweetest and the smallest "girl" but the more knowledgeable worker made a mistake and my "girl" ended up developing "tumors." :roll: yes that's right. I thought "she" had tumors and not testicles. {{smacks head}}

Jackie ended up driving back the next day and adopting Ostrich's two sisters who actually WERE sisters. Of course I picked the missexed male. I always knew Ostrich was different from Penny but I didn't realize how different until it was too late.........










I don't regret picking Ostrich though. You can really see the blue in his fur in this pic.


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## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

*Re: A Tale of Two Rats ~ by MopyDream44 ~ Ch. 1. : Penny*

Awww, that's so cute! I had a similair experience- I was planning on getting degus this fall (since my landlord this year allows caged pets), and my uncle told me that rats would be a much better option. Once I met Jay and Silent Bob, I was hooked!


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

*Re: A Tale of Two Rats ~ by MopyDream44 ~ Ch. 1. : Penny*

awww yay!  Is there another person on this forum with the name Jay and Silent Bob? I remember some art being done by another member!


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## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

*Re: A Tale of Two Rats ~ by MopyDream44 ~ Ch. 1. : Penny*

Yeah, there was someone else who had a Jay & Silent Bob... but I believe that one of them passed


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

I was going to reply, and not edit but I thought my first title was lame  I shall refrain from editing it again, and I'll post replies from this point on.....I still think the title is kinda lame lol


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

*THE KIDS*

..........This is were their story begins. I believe I joined this forum and a few others trying to figure out if my she was actually was a he. Dan tried to post pictures on another site. They were not mating, and I was very confused at the time. I didn't want to separate them at first because I still couldn't believe my she was a he, and I was worried about depression. I also didn't want to get more rats in case she was pregnant. I really hadn't planned on having more than one, and after learning they needed a friend I never intended to have more than two. I was really in a tizzy at this point. It finally became abundantly clear that she was a he, and thanks to the members here I separated penny and waited. Sure enough Penny began to show signs of pregnancy but I wasn't 100% sure until the last few days before the birth. Everyone here was great, and they helped me get Penny what she needed. I was a ball of nerves from before the birth until the kittens were pretty old.

Penny finally popped around 2 or 3am one morning in June, and I woke up to little meeps and squeaks. I read what would happen, what I should do, what to expect but it didn't seem to prepare me in the least. I let her go for one night but the next I no longer heard any squeaks. I completely panicked. There was a box in with penny stuffed with nesting material. I picked it up and heard a peep every now and again. I thought the babies were dying because penny had packed them in too tight. They were really packed in there because Penny was doing her job but I was too paranoid. I began to remove some of the material to see if the kids were ok, and they suddenly began to plop into my hand one by one. I was pretty shocked when more than ten fell into my hand 8O . Penny had 15 babies in all. After they grew up a bit it wasn't as hard to care for them but I'm pretty sure the experience shortened my life by a year at least. 










There they are. The lil darlings. You might be able to guess how hard it was to pick who got to stay but I ultimately had to make that decision.


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## rattieluver (Dec 29, 2007)

They are soooooo cute! I love the fawn clored one. I can't imagine how hard it must have been to choose who stayed and who went. If you lived any where in Minnesota I would have been glad to slip in and take a few! Post some pics of the ones you kept once they get a little older!


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## kaylaface (Sep 6, 2007)

Aww! They are all so cute! lol my King lich is starting to get into that lazy stage like Ostrich.


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

Oh don't worry more pictures to come . 

and Kaylaface Ostrich seemed to be born that way lol. I'm sure he wasn't though. It's just hard to remember how he was before he was a big lovable loaf.


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

*Avocado*

....When the kittens were a bit older it began to sink in that I had some major choices to make. I knew I had to keep at least one male, so my poor little Ostrich didn't have to be alone any longer. I really wanted Dan to be apart of the process, so I asked him to pick a boy. He picked Avocado but I must admit I had my eyes on another male, so I thought I would give a shot at neutral introductions (with a very watchful eye) once they were a bit bigger. Avocado followed Ostrich around like a little puppy, and Ostrich seemed delighted to have the company. The other kitten in the running didn't seem to make any sort of connection with Ostrich, so the decision was made and Avocado stayed! 

*AVOCADO*










This is Avocado. He's basically a slightly braver and slightly more hyper version of Ostrich. Ostrich taught him all the basics i.e. how to sleep in a hammock, how to snatch food quickly, and never leave home unless you REALLY want to. Avocado really gets excited when he's playing though! He could play for hours, and usually if you get him riled up he'll go fight his father. Sometimes he beats his old man but I think Avocado knows Ostrich is still the boss (for now....hehe...). Unlike his father, Avocado doesn't eat just anything. He is very particular about what veggies and fruits he eats, of course, he'll never turn down a banana slice or a yummy piece of broccoli! Dan wanted me to add that he's a creamsicle flavored egg! 










This is a picture of a much bigger Avocado. He's even bigger now!  What a cute boy!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i'm loving these stories. what beautiful rats. but you said you were going to keep two right? i assume you kept a girly for momma too right? where is her pictures and story?


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## mopydream44 (Jun 10, 2007)

I kept many more than two  I'll keep writing the stories. Hopefully I'll complete one tonight. I'm glad you like them so much


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