# Meet my babies!



## Jaela (Mar 12, 2012)

Hello!

My name is Jami Jo, and my boyfriend and I are happy new rat owners. 
We went into a local pet shop one night to get plants for my fish tank, and happened across these two:








They were both born blind, and are a bonded pair so the owners really wanted them to stay together and go to someone who was committed to giving them extra care.
After some deliberation, we returned this morning to take them home.
They are the most precious little darlings! The tan/gingery one is a girl, Sansa, and the black capped one is Bran, a boy. (We're both Game of Thrones/ASOIAF fans, and the names fit. =])
Looking forward to getting to know all of you and embarking on this new adventure in rat parenthood!


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## Arashi (Feb 4, 2012)

Congratulations on your new rats, best of luck! I've read that blind rats do just about as fine as sighted rats, since they rely on their other senses more.

And welcome to Rat Forum ;D


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## Jaela (Mar 12, 2012)

Arashi said:


> Congratulations on your new rats, best of luck! I've read that blind rats do just about as fine as sighted rats, since they rely on their other senses more.
> 
> And welcome to Rat Forum ;D


Thank you!! And yes, we've been told their lives won't be to much different -- just a few extra little care things like not changing the layout of their cage too drastically and such. =] Day 1's been great so far, and Bran is sitting peacefully on my shoulder as I type this! <3


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## Rat lover (Dec 28, 2011)

Welcome to Rat Forum! Congratulations on your new rats. Glad to hear all is going well. We love to see pictures of people's adorable rats! Be sure to post more!


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## mzunderstood09 (Feb 22, 2012)

Welcome! Congratulations on your new rat babies! They look very sweet and it sounds like you and your boyfriend will make excellent rat parents to Sansa and Bran. Can't wait to see more pictures of the adorable little babies. I love how Bran is perched on top of what looks like a water bottle. I never would have guessed they were blind.


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## Jaela (Mar 12, 2012)

Bran was exploring my face just now!








And here's the picture of Sansa that's my avatar: 







(plus Bran zipping around in front of her )

They're both hanging out on my shoulder right now!








I'm sure there will be lots more where that came from. They don't spend a single moment not being cute. ='D


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## JessyGene (Feb 27, 2012)

aw that look adorable and so friendly! congrats on becoming a rat parent, you're going to love it


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## PitterPatter (Feb 28, 2012)

I'm glad you gave these special little guys a home.
Since your rats get around fine, though they're blind, I think you should still change the cage around since they love to explore.
Hope to see more posts.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Congrats on the new editions! What cuties 

And I have to ask though, how do they know they were born blind? I have never heard of rats being born blind, and if it does happen it must be very uncommon. In the images they appear to have healthy eyes that don't look blind, or dead.


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## Jaela (Mar 12, 2012)

Thanks everyone! <3

As for how the LPS knows they are blind, I can't say for sure because I didn't ask. All the rats in the store are well-cared for, perfectly socialised and they seem to know what they are doing with them, so I opted to take their word for it.

It does seem pretty clear to me already that they don't react to any visual stimuli. They don't follow movement, react to light, or seem to know someone is near unless they make a sound, or touch something so they can feel a vibration. Their eyes do look good and healthy, though, so I believe the congenital blindness is a mutation in this case. 

It doesn't seem to slow them down much at all though, since their whiskers are good and intact and they have all their other senses to help them along! It's hardly noticeable except in that Sansa seems to cling to things a lot and doesn't like to be moved. I guess it's because she can't see where she's being taken, poor thing. But we're very diligent and gentle with her, so I feel like she'll get more used to being handled over time.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Rats in general have very bad eyesight, and it would be be extremely unlikely for them to both have the same defect I would think

You should ask your vet.

On a different note, it really does not matter since rats don't rely on their eyesight much at all, and even rats who have had their eyes removed have thrived. I had a rat who was blinded in both eyes, and you would have never known unless I told you.
A rat with no whiskers is much worse of then a rat with no eyes. 
Good luck with the new additions


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## kettleandstring (Mar 12, 2012)

Kiko said:


> Rats in general have very bad eyesight, and it would be be extremely unlikely for them to both have the same defect I would think
> 
> You should ask your vet.


Hi, Ian here, boyfriend and co-rat-owner of Jaela. The rats aren't from the same litter (Sansa was born on December 11 and Bran on December 5)--in that case it's probably somewhat more likely? Bran's litter also included at least one male tailless (which happens to be owned by a friend of ours. We introduced them to each other last night and the tailless seems to recognize Bran, or at least be very interested in him!), so perhaps there's some sort of higher tendency for mutations in his genetic line.

We do have a great vet in the area that we'll take them to and ask about it, of course, but for the moment I'm with Jami and am quite certain that they're blind, or at least have terrible eyesight (even for rats). Perhaps they're the rat equivalent of legally blind.


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## Iheartroxyrat (Feb 22, 2012)

aw! they are sooooo cute  thats awesome that you guys adopted both of them! im glad two vision impaired ratties found a forever home <3


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## Zhaneel (Sep 1, 2010)

Hello! I'm the friend that was mentioned, incidentally.  Ian and Jami are good friends of mine and seem to have caught the rat-owning bug from me! I feel a bit like a proud grandparent now, haha.

Just to clear things up before anyone becomes concerned about buying from a pet store - this particular store does a fantastic job caring for their animals, you can tell that they're all very happy - from birds to rabbits to guinea pigs to fish, all of them receive amazing care. In regards to the rats - the pet store actually breeds their own rats, and they are _incredibly _well-socialized. When I went with Ian and Jami to pick up the babies, as soon as one tank was opened, the rats in the adjacent tanks started literally hopping up and down trying to say hello. The babies are all separated by sex _and_ they don't sell any intact males, which is fantastic as there's no chance of getting a surprise litter from one of the girlies.

Kiko - from what we have observed of their behavior, they're almost definitely blind (or very, very close to it). As Jami said, they don't respond to changes in light or other visual stimuli, and have to be notified via sound that someone is approaching them. They are very very clingy when you try to pick them up off a solid surface - not in the "ehhh I don't wannnnaaaa" way that my boys sometimes give me, but an "oh god must hold on for dear life" kind of way. And they do have difficulty finding treats sometimes - I was holding a Yogie directly in front of Bran's face yesterday and he kept licking the fingers that were holding it but couldn't find the actual treat. XD "I know it's in this general vicinity, but WHERE?"

I forget who posted about this, but changing the cage setup around isn't something that's going to happen very often as they need a familiar and stable environment so that they feel safe and secure. Changing toys around, however, is a good idea and probably something that will end up happening.


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## Jaela (Mar 12, 2012)

Just got back from our first vet trip, and had it confirmed that they are indeed blind. They're also very healthy, which is good news! =]


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## Rat lover (Dec 28, 2011)

Jaela said:


> Just got back from our first vet trip, and had it confirmed that they are indeed blind. They're also very healthy, which is good news! =]


 that is good to hear! You are very good rat parents for caring so much about them! Best of luck to you and your Sansa and Bran!


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## Iheartroxyrat (Feb 22, 2012)

why couldnt rats be born blind? i thought if you have eyes you have a chance you can be born blind... lol i guess i was lost in why ppl were disagreeing with u guys? im very glad your ratties are healthy!! and like i said up there, im very glad you guys adopted two rats that are blind! alot of times rats with issues like that become snake food :-( i have a rat whom has suffered a stroke and now i want other rats who have issues like that and give them forever homes  im happy u guys joined the forum too!!


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