# At long last, my rats are here! (photos!)



## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

After so long waiting, I have finally brought home some ratties! I was going to adopt some from the MSP area, but my ride was lost for the weekend, and so I had to stay local. 

They're from PetCo. I know, I know. But it was almost an impulse, it was so bad. I was shopping for fish food, with my boyfriend, roomie, and her boy-o, and saw two adorable little faces in the rat cage. Long story short, I gave in to pressure, and now have two sweet little baby girls!

They are Sevilla (Brown black Berkshire) and Belgie (brown black capped. And she has this teeny spot on her tummy, right where a belly button would be if she were human! It's the cutest thing). I've been trying to figure out if they're agouti, but I think it's just a really dark brown. Not chocolate, more black than that. 

They're warming up to me really amazingly. I've been hand feeding only, whenever they ask for it (which is basically whenever they're awake), and they're learning quickly who's the foodgiver around here!

Temporary housing is a metal mesh bookshelf thing (from Target, you'll see it in some of the photos), with fleece lining, and random cardboard furniture. With some scattered cat toys, though they're not much interested in those aside from chewing value. Coming next weekend is a Coast Cage Ritz Rat Condo (and I'm totally stealing your modification idea, Mana!). Food is currently Beneful Healthy Weight dogfood, plus tonight they got some carrot, frozen corn, and small pieces of chicken (as an example of the people food part of their diets). And there's some Harlan 2018 lab blocks on their way. Plus they're getting yogies, naturally!

They're not getting a ton of free range time yet, they're not really into being picked up at the moment. And I don't want to let them out if I can't get them back! But we have a good time with them wandering around the top of their cage/in hoodie pockets, which is doing a good job of socializing them. Free roam will come later. 

Alright, enough of the talk. Here are the photos!

Babies sleeping. I've taken a couple of these, and every time, Belgie's on bottom, and Sevilla sleeps laying across the top. I wonder why?









Shot of Sevilla's tummy- the line is almost perfectly straight!










Sevilla, peeking out of the hoodie pocket. Ain't she a charmer? She's quite the clown, seems to love having her photo taken! And she's a nibbler. She'll nibble on my fingers at any opportunity. Sometimes it's cute, sometime's it's not...









A rare mug shot of Belgie. She's not so into the camera. She'd rather be the independant explorer.










Together in the pocket! 
Sevilla: What's going on out here? I better investigate, nothing can hold me back!
Belgie: Oof. But why are you stepping on _me_?!










Me, with the ever darling Sevilla









And finally, my roomie with Sevilla! The one who said, when I asked if she minded me having rats, "As long as I don't see them!" Ha. I knew she'd warm up!


----------



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

beautiful babies! 

i can't see much of the shelving cage you have them in now but i would be interested in seeing it. it looks easily expandable and customizable from what i can see of it. it may make a good and affordable temp cage when i bring home babies in the future, right now i have nothing but a semi-broken hamster cage and would love something better during the time that they're so small they can walk right through the big cage bars.


----------



## Inesita (Feb 18, 2007)

Aw, they're cute!


----------



## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

Thanks! They're being great fun! 

Yeah, this thing is being a great temporary cage. And I'm thinking that it could easily make some kind of outdoor play pen, wiht just the top parts. The main drawback is that the last panel is impossible to take on and off, so there's a huge space. I put an old three gallon critter crawler on top, and rested an extra panel across the space. They love to crawl up there, and it's turned into a sort of petting/feeding area, where they know if they crawl up there and I see, someting good is going to come out of it! So far they haven't tipped it over, but I could see this arrangement failing pretty quick with some heavier rats. 

And, when you're done, it can be a bookcase! It could even probably be long term, if you bought two sets and put them together. There's not quite enough material in one package. But it's cheap, I think it was $15, so even two is hardly breaking the bank. 

The main drawback is that I haven't found a great way to attatch a water sipper, so I just have a heavy dish only partly filled for them to drink out of. And things like hammocks aren't super easy to attatch, but with a little ingenuity and paper clips you'd probably be fine.

Overview shot. But where are the ratties? They love to tunnel under the flannel.









Close up of the corner with the critter keeper. Sevilla says "Can I please be in this picture?!" And Belgie hides her adorable face, as usual. 









Water dish. It's not the most sanitary thing, since they tend to walk in it. But with frequent changes, it's working. And there's no metal ball sipping noise at night!


----------



## Matt (Jun 14, 2007)

I have a silver one in my closet that my boys play on during free rome.
when there done they just jump off and move on...lol...


----------



## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

Thanks! They're being great fun! 

Yeah, this thing is being a great temporary cage. And I'm thinking that it could easily make some kind of outdoor play pen, wiht just the top parts. The main drawback is that the last panel is impossible to take on and off, so there's a huge space. I put an old three gallon critter crawler on top, and rested an extra panel across the space. They love to crawl up there, and it's turned into a sort of petting/feeding area, where they know if they crawl up there and I see, someting good is going to come out of it! So far they haven't tipped it over, but I could see this arrangement failing pretty quick with some heavier rats. 

And, when you're done, it can be a bookcase! It could even probably be long term, if you bought two sets and put them together. There's not quite enough material in one package. But it's cheap, I think it was $15, so even two is hardly breaking the bank. 

The main drawback is that I haven't found a great way to attatch a water sipper, so I just have a heavy dish only partly filled for them to drink out of. And things like hammocks aren't super easy to attatch, but with a little ingenuity and paper clips you'd probably be fine.

Overview shot. But where are the ratties? They love to tunnel under the flannel.









Close up of the corner with the critter keeper. Sevilla says "Can I please be in this picture?!" And Belgie hides her adorable face, as usual. 









Water dish. It's not the most sanitary thing, since they tend to walk in it. But with frequent changes, it's working. And there's no metal ball sipping noise at night!


----------



## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

You said this cgae is only temporary? What cage do you plan on getting them? Or do you plan on making your own?


----------



## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

Definately a temporary cage. They're little still, so it's only slightly squishy, but I would never leave them in there to grow old in! But I knew it would be for less than two weeks, and it was the cheapest/most useful later/appropriately sized holes makeshift I could find. 

I already had a Coast Cage Ritz Condo on order when I bought them, for the rats I'd intended to get in MSP. It's coming next weekend. But those girls fell through, and I fell in love with these girls. (I know, they're from a pet store! Bad me. But poor little Belgie just kept coming up to the side, looking at me like, please, do you WANT me to be snake food?! I just couldn't leave her, she looks just like a wonderful rat I used to have. And I've always liked the solid ones, and Sevilla was the only one, so she had to come, too! Anyway, tangent...) 

I know the Condo is slightly on the smaller side, but check out Mana's modified Condo for my plans (yup, I'm stealing ideas). And I need their cage to be slightly mobile, since there's some travel in their future between school and home. Plus, once they're good tame little girls (one day at a time, they've already come so far!), they'll get to be out running around my room at least three times a day for an hour or so. I have long lunch breaks between classes :lol:


----------



## JennieLove (Jan 2, 2007)

That sounds great!


----------



## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

you have some cute ratties there. my girls arent having free-range time in the living room anymore, not since they discovered a liking for phone cords... so they get to run around on my bed for at least an hour a day. they love tunneling under and through the quilt and like leaving me little "presents" to clean up, haha!! they also play chasey up and down the ramps and levels in their cage, so they get plenty of exercise.


----------



## silverynitrate (Apr 30, 2007)

Where did you get those storage cubes? I've been looking for some but they all have too big of a mesh.


----------



## CaptainFlow (May 16, 2007)

I got the cubes at Target (pretty much what they call "shopping" in Grand Forks, a Super Target...). They were straight back from the electronics with all the other shelving. In a white cardboard box, about 15x10x4 inches. 

There were other units in almost the exact same box with the wide one inch wires, but hopefully they're still carrying the mesh ones, too! You can't use zip ties, but the connectors they come with are pretty sturdy for younger ratties. Erm, mine, anyway.


----------

