# My new three boys



## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Hello  I am new to these forums, and thought I should introduce my new boys! 

I sadly lost my last girl, George (I was told they were male.. and didn't think to sex them myself, and as they had Rainbow TV character names, I decided it was fine to stick with them!) a couple of weeks ago. I decided for the first time to buy directly from a breeder or an accidental litter (which I found a breeder) as to know that my babies were in good health and already friendly. Over the years I've had some nightmares with pet shop rats, including biters - which luckily after much time and patience, became wonderful pets.

So I found these 3 boys. Originally I was only planning to get 2 as there were 4 available. However, the breeder sold one as a singular to be a companion to a loan rat and asked if I fancied a 3rd- which as I'm fairly used to keeping 3 and actually prefer 3 for several reasons, I decided to go for it.









So, this is Goth (obviously the black one), Indie (the top ear looking like he's about to star in an action move lol), and Punk (the dumbo) all happily snuggled up in their tube!

I currently have a Freddy 2 cage which I will be upgrading asap to possibly a Furplast Furet XL- especially as I've seen Daddy.. and was shocked by his size! Also, Goth has *huge* feet.. if feet are an indication in babies he's going to be huge! Any other cage suggestions in a reasonable price range (and I'm based in UK) I will consider 

At least if they get very big I may be able to let them free range in my living room most of the time- currently my rats have always occupied the spare room as it's an easy size to find anyone hiding. But if I manage to get cables hidden, who knows, these guys may have a massive play area!


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## binkyhoo (Sep 28, 2008)

They are awesome cute. Good luck with your boys.


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## BigBen (Nov 22, 2011)

That photo made me laugh out loud! What cute guys you have! You are very lucky that they are a bit too far away for a proper ratnapping. <evil laugh> ;D


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Hehe- thanks. They are absolutely adorable! 

Punk is absolutely crazy- while when I'm letting them come out of the cage to explore the other two have a bit of a sniff- he runs around like a lunatic, then gets tired and just snuggles up


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

An update on my boys!

At not even 8 weeks, Goth is already as big as my smallest female from my last mischief (and she wasn't *tiny*) and the other two are not too far behind! They are going to be big ones! No doubt about their age as I have their birth date and when I got them they were about the same size as any other 6 weeker I've had!

Good thing that not only have I just bought a Ferplast XL... I managed to get a second hand Ferplast Tower in excellent condition for a very reasonable price! These boys are going to be so spoiled


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## PipRat (Jan 24, 2012)

I am curious what your reasons for preferring three rats are.


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## Kinsey (Jun 14, 2009)

I'll butt in here.. I like to have trios because there's that much more love, of course, but the dynamic of a trio is different. My trios have always been very loving and gotten along well because there is always a peacemaker, and it's rare for serious bullying to happen I also like them because if one passes, the remaining rats have eachother.


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## Cloud (Jan 16, 2011)

Those boys look VERY familiar, and hence you say you saw daddy rat and he was huge??? I don't suppose you got them off a lady called Jessica???


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Cloud- yes! I just saw your post of your 2 boys and I believe I saw them when I was picking these 3 up! And I meant Uncle rattie- was a little tired when I wrote the first post here! He was so chilled as well! Are yours already much bigger than average 7-8 week olds? Also, my black one is very shiny like his mum as well!

PipRat- the same reasons that Kinsey mentioned. With 3, if one doesn't want to snuggle and wants his own space while the other doesn't- it generally doesn't cause a fight. Plus I find them slightly easier to introduce to more rats


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## Cloud (Jan 16, 2011)

Yes that was uncle! He was huge and he just sat on my arm and pooped! Lol. Yeah, the boys are so big! My agouti is a little under 200g at 7/8 weeks!!! :O. I think between me and my bf we took half the litter lol


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

I was quite shocked at his size- in 5 years of keeping rats (mainly males) I've never seen anything quite like uncle! I really should get some digital scales to weigh them- but I know that Goth is massive already. I've never seen any ratties eat and poop as much as they do as well! 

What a random, small world this is!


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Oh- also: I believe there were 12 in the litter, how many did you and your bf get?


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## Cloud (Jan 16, 2011)

We took 5 between usm He took two girls, I took 1 girl and two boys lol so almost half the litter


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## PipRat (Jan 24, 2012)

Kinsey said:


> I'll butt in here.. I like to have trios because there's that much more love, of course, but the dynamic of a trio is different. My trios have always been very loving and gotten along well because there is always a peacemaker, and it's rare for serious bullying to happen I also like them because if one passes, the remaining rats have eachother.


Thanks for your reply Kinsey! I am going to be taking home two baby rats once they are old enough (they were born Jan 23) and when I heard about someone preferring 3, I was curious about the benefits. You brought up some good points, especially the point about one rat passing.


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Cloud- aww. Jess did mention that she had accidentally ended up with 3 girls instead of her planned 2 to keep and was hoping that someone would fall in love and be able to take the 3rd female- was that you that she hoped would fall in love with her? Or did you take her? ;D My 3rd was meant to go as a pair but as someone had decided on one as a companion, I decided to take the 3rd as I do love trios! I am also considering when they've fully settled in (they are addicted to Cheerios and will go absolutely nuts now when I'm cooking something! Punk has also started greeting me whenever I came in the room, so I doubt it'll take them long now!) to possibly add more to the trio, as I'm getting the tower- depending on have I have room to store my Freddy when not in use for Quarantine and intros!


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## Cloud (Jan 16, 2011)

It was my bf who took the other girl. He was only meant to take one to add to his trio but instead took two lol


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## aanyel (Jan 29, 2012)

Awww, nice to hear she's found a home 

I'm in the process with moving their current cage to the spare room.. it's going to be the rat room!


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