# MY overly-caffeinated puppy!



## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

I've been posting in the cage section so far and I realised I never introduced the lonely rat I just adopted!








Her name is Sake and she is supposedly 5 months old. Until now she lived in a glass tank(I'm pretty sure it was rather small) with pine bedding all by herself. The person that gave her to me knew that she couldn't take proper care of her, so now Sake is my first rat!
As soon as I get a bigger cage ( I improvised with a bird cage and made some hammocks and pockets for her to completely ignore until yesterday) I'm adopting at least 1 friend for her, but I feel this time we are having by ourselves is great because she is actually learning to do rat stuff like climbing and nibbling on stuff which she didn't do before. I am trying to socialise as much as possible with her because I believe this way she might take it easier when she finally sees another rat. And as I don't work or study at the moment she is getting lots of attention! I even put her in my hoodie and walk her around the house.
So far she is taking food from my hand and eating it on my shoulder, and she puts her whiskers inside my ear and does some noises with her teeth, which is pretty scary but I'm sure it's a good thing (right??), she plays on my bed but I still don't have the courage to let her roam freely in my bedroom cause I still can't get her to come when called. She doesn't really try to go to the floor either. 

She loves apples a lot, and likes to stand on my head like the Ratatouille rat and stay on my hands as I type things in the keyboard. She surely is curious about me. 

I love her already. I will do my best to make her happy.


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

She is very cute, and one very lucky rattie. Have a wonderful time teaching her and learning about her.


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

raindear said:


> She is very cute, and one very lucky rattie. Have a wonderful time teaching her and learning about her.


Thank you! She is wonderful I can already tell.

She got really tired after playing on my bed and she's been cuddling with me for an hour. I really like that she's cuddly, but it makes me wonder how lonely she felt up until now. Poor baby. She is even trying to befriend my little pooch-mix. She should sleep in her cage but I don't have the heart to wake her and leave her alone. I hope I don't wake up in a pool of rat droppings


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

My sister used to have one of her rats sleep with her. I don't know what happened with the rat droppings. I did have a rat that placed her droppings in the fold of my chair. It was so tidy of her and I was so surprised when I found her "cache". When I have my Brazilian short-tailed opossum out, I have a litterbox near by and she always uses it. I'm going to try that with Petey and Binx and see how that works.


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## Amph (Apr 14, 2015)

My first rat got under my bed one night and I thought he's free ranged for hours it wont hurt to leave him out as it was already late. I woke up in a pile of shredded bed sheets and a angry mother. My current rat lives free but I keep him in a pen overnight for that reason and the first night he woke me up jumping all over my face wanting to play. I would strongly reconsider if you plan to fall asleep with her out and about..  Other than that you seem to be doing a great job!


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## Sinkrep (Jun 1, 2015)

_Aw, seems to me like she's going to have a great home. I'm not a fan of a rattie being held in a glass tank; it's not very healthy for them so I'm glad she is in a proper home now. I wouldn't worry too much of your cage size until you get her a mate anyway as long as she's got enough room to hop about and climb then they're pretty much fine up until they start to get a little larger. Congrats on your new rattie, I hope you enjoy your time together.

That noise you're hearing is bruxing, ratties do it when they're happy. You might also see her eyes bulge out sometimes too as she makes these sounds (That is called boggling, it's when bruxing gets really intense) when she's more content again, this is another sign of happiness so don't be too alarmed when it seems as though her eyes are about to pop from their sockets! It just means she's happy._


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

Thank you guys!

After I posted that, I tried to pet her and she was so asleep that for a second I thought she was dead! I almost died you can imagine that. She was laying on her back like a tiny person.I lifted her and she continued to sleep on my hand, whole body relaxed. I was going to cry or something when she looks at me and gives me a yawn! I had never seen a rat yawn before. I know it might not be a great thing for experienced rat people but this is my very first rat ;D

She ended up cuddling with me for 2 hours; I guess she was making up for her previous loneliness. I didn't try to sleep with her but she didn't leave a single raisin on my bed. She's so clean!! I am starting to litter train her and so far so good: this rat is gonna be very well educated it seems.

She isn't either an avid chewer, and except for my shoes she didn't try to nibble on anything that I know of. I like her soooo much ; she has such an easygoing personality. She prefers to explore, run and hide than anything but when she is tired she sure likes some affection. I am enjoying this a lot! And in less than a week she is gonna have rat company!

Oh, and she really enjoys riding my shoulder. Do you think it's gonna be too hard to teach her to come when called, considering she is already 5 months old? I would really love to take her outside to play sometime, though I know that it sounds a bit too risky. Any advice on this? Of course I wouldn't take her out unless I am completely sure she's gonna be safe, and I am so protective with my animals that even my small dog, who is the greatest when it comes to walk off-leash(she never misses my orders, not even once!), I rarely want to let her free-roam at the park in fear that something or someone might hurt her. I might never take my ratty outside, but I am curious as to how one teaches a rat to stay safe outdoors. It might come in handy sometime, right?


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## RosesAndRats (May 7, 2015)

I don't think you'll have trouble training her. My girls were full grown when I got them. I mean, at first you'll want to do it in a place with minimal distractions. It would be great to make a specific noise and give her a treat when she comes to you. (I've used Cheerios with all of my ratties.)


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## raindear (Mar 3, 2015)

Many rats are afraid of the great outdoors. Outdoor adventures are not for the faint of heart - rat or human. Read Rat Daddys thread on "True Shoulder Rats". Just say her name every time you pick her up, put her down, hand her a treat. She will learn it.


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

I know, though I've seen that she is not very scared of anything when she is on my shoulder. I came to open the door with her riding my shoulder the other day, and you have to get through a sort of outdoors hall to get to the main gate, and she didn't move from me and kept sniffing and observing as far as I could tell, and I'm certain she wasn't scared. 
So far she doesn't pay much attention to her name, but she comes when I call for her 3 out of 5 times, so we are having some progress! I am presently only walking her through the house, but when she learns a few commands and it's not so cold (probably in a month ore even more) I'll try my luck in the safety of my patio with at least 2 people to back me up in case anything goes wrong. 
I did find a lot of useful threads in the forum so I'm taking my time to read them. This is sooo exciting! And Sake is really happy too!
Sorry I write so much, I can't stop myself when I'm happy


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## robenbobben (May 30, 2014)

Aw what a cute rat! I'm glad she's out of where she was before and getting lots of attention. Best of luck with finding her a friend


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## lost_whisper (Nov 11, 2014)

robenbobben said:


> Aw what a cute rat! I'm glad she's out of where she was before and getting lots of attention. Best of luck with finding her a friend


Thank you! I am waiting for the new cage to arrive on Monday so I'll be picking the new rat/s on Tuesday hopefully! <3


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