# Maltey's Mischief (pic heavy)



## Maltey

I've not been about much since I'm in my last year at Uni, but this is my last week and I'm pretty much done, so posting time!

My crew has changed a _lot _since I last posted about them, so I figure it's time to give an update.

I'm now up to 9 rats! 9! :O
I was at 5 until Saturday when I collected 4 more from a lady who couldn't say no to an animal rescue but basically didn't have the time for them. They're all such sweet little girls, but one of them is very congested. She's been on meds for 2 days and has already improved so much so I have high hopes for her.
Anyway, here's the mischief!

Annie (Her full name is Star Anise, but we call her Annie for short) AKA Anakin, Anorak

Here's Annie as a baby in their carrier the first day I brought them home.










Now she's all growed up and looks like this









She's the alpha in the group, even though she's second smallest! She puts the other rats in their place without violence and is a fair leader 
She's cheeky, and a bit of an oddball. She's also a houdini, and slips past you without you realising- she's such a little monkey!

Harley (Her full name is Harley Quinn)

Harley is Annie's sister and she's the smallest. She's very timid and shy but can be really cuddly and licky. Because she's so small and quiet she often gets lost during free-ranging and will sit in the same spot for hours before we find her!


















As a baby, having a cuddle with her Daddy 









Lilly

Lilly is the first from a pair of rescues that were simply too old to sell. I picked them up at 5 months and neither of them had been handled much in that time. As a result Lilly is quite timid, although she will give you licks.

Lilly meets pocket hedgehog









Lilly gets scared of pocket hedgehog









Lola

Lola is Lilly's sister. As a result of their unsocialisation, Lola was quite aggressive when she came to me. She has since calmed down considerably, but does not take to new rats well at all. She also doesn't like being woken up!

Lola in the wardrobe


















Molly

Molly was handed in because she was 'horribly vicious'. When I went to collect her I held her and straight away she burrowed in my scarf and gave me kisses. There was nothing vicious about her at all. Her previous owners had kept her in a tiny cage and I think this was the cause of any aggression she showed towards them.
She was also kept alone, so at 8 months, when I got her, she was a little too playful with the other girls. She wanted to play constantly and would tug on the other girl's tails when they walked away from her. She also had to learn to climb as she had nowhere to go in her tiny old cage.

Lilly and Molly









Posing for me with her daddy 

























Mishka AKA Snuffkin

Mishka is the first of the four I collected on Saturday. She's the one that's congested and she's painfully thin. She doesn't look well in this photo, but she's perked up quite a bit since then and is happily eating anything and everything I give her.
She's really lovely and cuddly, and will happily sit on your shoulder for hours












Oracle


She's also from the group I picked up on Saturday. She's very adventurous, and can't wait to explore all her new surroundings. 










Merry and Pippin

 The last two from that group. Pippin seems quite shy at the moment, but will happily take treats. Merry just kind of gets on with life.










Hopefully soon I'll get to know these new girls more


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## A.ngelF.eathers

Want merry and pippin
justdomusthave

~~now picture all that in caps


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## Arashi

Your rats are all nice. I like Lily and Molly, lol. The last picture of Merry and Pipin is very cute


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## Cloud

Your rats are gorgeous!!!!! XD


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## Maltey

Aww thanks guys! I think they're pretty cool too


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## JessyGene

Such beautiful rats! The photos are awesome


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## Maltey

I posted this when I wasn't at home. 
Now remember how I said Annie was a houdini? Well I came home to find escaped rats! She'd opened the cage door and let them all out!
Luckily for me there was minimal mess- just some peanut shells lying round but no poops- they'd all gone back to the litter tray which makes me very happy indeed 
As for Annie, I started telling her off, but she licked my cheek so I couldn't be too angry


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## Maltey

All the girls are now living together as one happy family 
I'll have to dig up some batteries for the proper camera and get some nice pics all together!


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## BigBen

Maltey said:


> I posted this when I wasn't at home.
> Now remember how I said Annie was a houdini? Well I came home to find escaped rats! She'd opened the cage door and let them all out!
> Luckily for me there was minimal mess- just some peanut shells lying round but no poops- they'd all gone back to the litter tray which makes me very happy indeed
> As for Annie, I started telling her off, but she licked my cheek so I couldn't be too angry


That's how they are going to take over the world--by being so cute that we won't mind that they're our overlords! HAHAHA! 

They all look lovely, especially Merry and Pippin, who are a _beautiful_ color! Don't get me wrong, I adore my PEW's, but . . . .


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## Maltey

Definitely. I think they've got some kind of mind control powers so that when we look at them we just turn to mush.
And that's how I felt! 4/5 rats were white and I thought it'd be nice to break it up a bit! Those two were her most recent additions, just as she'd started to ignore them, so they're not very well socialised and have a bit of work to do, but they're coming round nicely. Pippin actually sat on my neck for half hour yesterday so we're getting there!


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## CarrieD

Beautiful group, Maltey!


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## minnehaha25

Nice i have 7 boys i need to get some pics up but your girls are beautiful


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## Rat lover

My favs are Annie and Lola. (I love Siamese) and oracle looks like my sasha. Soooooooo adorable!


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## HelloClarice

Oh they are all beautiful! I love Merry and Pippin [remind me of lord of the rings haha] I can't wait to adopt more ladies [i only have 1 and it makes me sad] just waiting for the opportunity [the few rats I find on craigslist are tiny like 6 weeks or boys and the humane society only has one male]

Again great looking group!


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## Maltey

And the prize goes to HelloClarice!
They're actually named because of LOTR!

And ratlover- that's what Annie _wants _you to think. Don't fall into the trap!

Thanks everyone


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## Maltey

I finally 'built' the girls a playpen.
I say built, I just taped it so it's not the most attractive of things- I'm going to put some hinges on it tomorrow, but it more or less worked for tonight!
So of course I have pics and videos 


The whole playpen- it's about 6'x3' so big enough for me to lay in and let ratties climb over me!










I just bought this cat scratching post/toy thing today for £5!








Unfortunately the pingy ball has been disintegrated and the mouse is missing half a face...












The next 3 are videos!!





And some random shots when I sneak up on them in the morning 
All 9 are in this pile!!!




















They musta had some kinda party- there's crumbs everywhere!




















Sorry about the weird camera angles!


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## brittbritt

They are all so beautiful. I love all the pictures of them.


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## PipRat

I love the pile of nine picture and all the videos are great! I love watching videos, you get a little glimpse of their personalities.


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## Maltey

Tried to combine my two greatest loves: rats and shoes.
It didn't go down well!
Here's our efforts anyway:




































































Joey was a much better model:










And this pretty much sums up our afternoon:


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## CarrieD

I'm cracking up, these are great! Go, Joey! LOL


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## Tibbs87

Good idea, taking pictures of them when they're young so you have a comparison for when they're older. I like it. Awesome pictures, thanks for sharing!


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## Maltey

Lmao, I just watch the videos back with sound. Pahahaha I didn't realise it had such sad music over the top of such a fun play time! That's some film the OH was watching!!!


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## CupofTeaRattery

LOL @ Joey


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## heartrats

Your ratties just stole my heart. Harley is adorable beyond belief! Hows it going with the new arrivals?


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## Maltey

Aww well thanks!
Harley is a bit of a heart breaker- I'm still not immune to her charms 
Newbies as in the 4 girls I brought home? (I was supposed to be collecting a few others but got let down so checking you don't mean those ones if you read about them elsewhere!)
Well Mishka passed on unfortunately. Her respiratory infection was just too far advanced and I suspect developed into pneumonia. She started losing weight very drastically- I had her on meds twice a day and extra supplements (nutri-cal, protein shakes, nutella, syrup, anything she would eat) at least 3 times a day but usually more if I was home. Then she just had a fit where she couldn't breathe and died, it was very horrible to watch and even more horrible knowing that it could've been prevented if the stupid woman had done something about it.
Not sure if I updated about it here but Oracle from the same group was also pregnant, had a difficult labour and had to be rushed in for a C-section and an e-spay. There was one -huge- baby which only lived for 2 hours. I suspect it wouldn't have last long anyway because Oracle wasn't producing any milk (one baby wasn't enough to kick start her hormones) so it would've meant hand-rearing.
So all-in-all not very happy with that woman. But they've settled in nicely now- they were all skinny when they came here but now they're nice healthy weights. Merry is even turning into a chubster! Pippin has become a lot less nervous now- the other girls have shown her how to be more confident so it's all going well 
Here's some yawn pics:









Little Harley yawn!








Big Lola-lion roar/yawn!









And some from Lilly and Lola's birthday:
















Lilly had a bit much to drink!


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## Maltey

Erm, last time I posted I had 9 rats?
Yeah, I now have 18 

So here's some pics of them!


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## Rumy91989

Wow, 18? Are they al living together, or do you have two separate cages? How in the world do you find time for all of them! They are super cute and all look very happy!  I wish I had the time and resources for 18 rats, but I seem to have reached my limit with six. Are there stories for the other 9?


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## Maltey

Yep, they all live together in a sort of quad CN. Dimensions are the same, just different brands.
Well, I posted when I had 9 but then Mishka passed so I was down to 8. I took in a pregnant mother=9 then she had 11 babies=20, adopted out 3=17 then last weekend took in a lone doe,Pepper=18. 
That's the short version


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## Flora

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Harley!


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## CarrieD

Attack of the PEWs!


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## cagedbirdsinging

Love the shots of the full hammies!


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## binkyhoo

Love the group pic. Wow.


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## Jackie

They're all so cute! Harley is such a beautiful blue! And baby Annie is so cute, but did she lose her patches (baby fur)?! Her face looks different!


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## Eden10

9? Haha I thought I was crazy to have 6! They are gorgeous tho! Keep us posted on their progress


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