# Hoarders: A Tale of 2500 Rats



## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

*HOARDERS: A Tale of 2500 Rats*​Since Kiko stated that there would be an episode relating to rats, I figured to make a thread relating to that, so we are not going off-topic in the orginal thread it was mentioned in.

http://www.aetv.com/hoarders/episode-guide/index.jsp?episode=17096988&deeplink=true&dlepisodeid=17096988&dlseason=Season%203​
A collection of 2500 free-roaming rats have hoarded Glen out of his home and into a shed on his property. Originally bred as pets, the rat collection spun out of control upon the death of his wife. Now Glen needs help removing the animals so he can return home, but he has insisted that they be saved and adopted out. Lisa has hoarded her father's house both inside and out. More than 30 cats roam freely through the clutter and he is threatening to evict her and her pets. Lisa will not be allowed back in until she cleans the house, and gets rid of her dozens of animals.
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This makes me really sad just to watch the video on the link page posted above. To see dead animals laying around the live animals and it seems to have gotten so bad that there are rats living in the walls. It is sad when love turns to such an obsession. When love spirals so far out of control that people cannot see that horror right in front of their eyes.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

The rats look so unsociable they can't even be picked up normally they have to be plucked by the tail because they run away so fast.

I do have to applaud all the people involved to make sure the rats were adopted out instead of euthanize, because so many people see rats as vermin that I would have worried they would not even give the rats a chance.

I hope the man gets lots of help, when mourning a loss, or just having a problem it's hard to see when something gets out of hand and the man clearly loved the rats.
And he was brave enough to accept help when it came to him.

We can only be happy that the rats are in better care now.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

You think after loosing his wife, he would be more atuned to the little lives around him and take better care. I know loosing people in life is hard, but look at the condition he put those animals in because it got so out of hand. Lose is no excuse for abuse. 

I do hope that he gets the help he needs as well :]


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

It is no excuse, but something else had to be going on. Depression can really fuzz up your view of whats okay and whats not :/

I hope everyone here can be kind about it because to me there is a difference between cruel abuse in cold blood and when someone has a real problem. 

I like to think of how the rats are. I am sure none of the rats hold a grudge so neither should we.

Now if this was a sicko who just took pleasure in the suffering of animals and purposely did harm to them THEN I would never be forgiving.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

That is true, that there was another root cause and it was not intentional, for the most part. But when you are living with creatures in your walls, dead bodies everywhere you turn and poop a foot high, doesn't there come a time when it clicks in your mind that this is not okay. I have gone through a serve depression when I was younger and didn't feel like doing anything other then sleeping, but I couldn't imagine living in that kind of filth. I wonder if other people in his life knew about this? Maybe they too turned a blind eye or maybe he didn't allow anyone else to see this. I guess the only way to find out is to watch the show :3


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

Well my first post didn't work
A person helping with the rescue said they were amazed how tame the rats are and its probably due to the self selection.
Here's a pic I found regarding the Hoarders episode
http://smallscreenscoop.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/hoarders-rat-episode-480x360.jpg
You can see the blazed rats and the cinnamons and every marking through this huge mix of rats


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Oh wow. That picture expresses more to me then the short video clip I posted.
You can see the sofa is ripped to shreds and there are just rats side to side. *shakes head* 
Depression mixed with hoarding intentions is never a good one.
I am just glad that the ratties were tame enough to be rescued..


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

Yes like the phrase "a pictures worth a thousand words"
I think the count is up to 500 adopted and fostered at the moment


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Exactly. A thousand words too many. 
So 500 adopted and fostered at the moment. What about the other 2000?


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Clearly the man knew it was to much because he allowed them to be taken away.

It takes time for these things to work, I know that a lot of rats are being cared for a Pet Store near the man.


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

Person just posted over on goosemoose,
The over 500 rats that left the store are adopted or fostered right now and in other shelters
They have had between 2,000 to 2,500 rats rescued from this guy. He's left with a few males.
And somewhere between 200 to 500 babies born from the mother rats


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Wow. Just wow. 
I cannot wait to get home and watch this for myself. 
This kind of thing confuses me and interests me at the same time.


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## Sketchy (Jul 10, 2009)

Finally! I was looking everywhere for a rat-lovers site that was discussing this topic.
Haven't been here in ages!

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This episode was crazy.
Not only did it bother me that he was letting the rats get out of control for so many years.. he seemed to suppress the fact that they would get injured and die.
(this is the only thing that seems to support the connection between the death of his wife, and the rats.. too big of a time gap)
I surprised they didn't come across any "Rat kings".. if they did I am glad they didn't show it.
The rat squeals made me cringe every time... There is a difference between a squeal of pain and a "stop it" squeak...

Another thing that surprised and repulsed me was how these tried professionals actually treated the rats.. that one guy who wouldn't stop complaining about them.. and those people carrying them by their tails.. I wonder how many rats were degloved in the process.
Also, they only let him keep one??
That's sickening. Let him keep 2 or none at all. Having a rat go from a giant colony to being completely alone is terrible!

Despite my tone here, I really did sympathize with him. He really cared about the rats...
He just didn't acknowledge their suffering until too late. A lot of these rats could have been prevented such distress if they were dealt with beforehand.
Then again, I don't think he realized they could be given to shelters and the like.

Even with that said I do not believe the rats would have gotten dealt with, as well as they were on this episode, if he hadn't let it get so bad.
I'm kind of on the fence about this.


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

He was left with another female
Also there were no new tail injuries caused by the rescuers, it was mainly the Humane society people grabbing em by their tails. I was upset at first too


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## amruiz (Sep 30, 2009)

It was a very emotional episode for me. Normally I'm very unforgiving of animal hoarders, but you could see that his guy did care for them. He just couldn't bring himself to recognize death and accept it for what it is. I'm also glad about the whole tone of the episode, that rats are very intelligent, interesting animals. My thoughts and prayers are with the rescues that are still working with this little babies.


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

It did bug me though that they had him say he was keeping just one rat. But the other rat Captain BrownBod? I think that was her name. I was told they'll be spayed also


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## Sketchy (Jul 10, 2009)

At least he has 2 then. 

It just bothers me that they are showing that it is "okay" to pick them up by their tails.. and to keep them housed alone..


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## kailey lane (Nov 29, 2010)

yes this episode was vary hard to watch,all those scared ratties i did like that they didn't kill them right away like some places would have,im thankful they are safe and living in a better place.i changed the channel a bunch of times because of all the screams.

its hard for me to be forgiving for anyone that is ignorant enough to not spay and neuter if they let their male and females live together.i sure someone at sometime some one told him "hey fix your rats or keep them separated,this is not right!" and he just ignored it for his own selfish gain.if he was a responsible pet owner this wouldn't have ever happened,but im thankful someone helped the rats and i do hope they left him with at least 2,if not that is vary sad and mean.


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## Sketchy (Jul 10, 2009)

kailey lane said:


> yes this episode was vary hard to watch,all those scared ratties i did like that they didn't kill them right away like some places would have,im thankful they are safe and living in a better place.i changed the channel a bunch of times because of all the screams.
> 
> its hard for me to be forgiving for anyone that is ignorant enough to not spay and neuter if they let their male and females live together.i sure someone at sometime some one told him "hey fix your rats or keep them separated,this is not right!" and he just ignored it for his own selfish gain.if he was a responsible pet owner this wouldn't have ever happened,but im thankful someone helped the rats and i do hope they left him with at least 2,if not that is vary sad and mean.


I have to disagree with you on that last point.
There are a lot of people out there who know very little about rats. That also, unfortunately, includes pet store associates (Luckily when I used to work at a pet store they made sure we were all fully educated on the animals carried. Don't work at a petstore anymore.. doesn't matter where you go, they are all treated bad by SOMEONE).
If I went up to someone on the street and asked them about rats, there is a higher percent chance that they won't know anything truthful about them.
Heck, even fewer people know that they can be "fixed" so as not to be bred.


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## Hossrod (Dec 16, 2010)

*Man with 2500 free roaming rats in his house!*

I just watched the final episode of the show Hoarders last night and it was about a man who got 3 rats, they got out of the cage and made babies, lots of babies. I think it was a couple years later and there was about 2500 rats. They took over the house. The man loved them though, they were like his children. He would sit in the room and they would be all over him. He cried at having to get rid of them, but they had destroyed the house.

Anyways, thought I would mention it here. 

http://tv.yahoo.com/blog/hoarders-season-finale-spectacular-the-man-with-2500-rats--2063


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## Snippet (Dec 30, 2010)

*Re: Man with 2500 free roaming rats in his house!*

They could of handled the poor ratties nicely. I saw a lot of picking up by the tails going on in that little clip.

Anyway, I hope they're able to find homes for as many of those rats as they can. There are some rather pretty ones in that group.


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Guys you're making it seem like it causes rats unbearable agony. IF REALLY NEEDED rats CAN be picked up by the tail as long s they are not swinging/holding them for very long deglolving should only occur if plucked by the very tips, or swung around.

Do any of you know what it's like to try and grab a a really fast unsocilized rat? It can be near impossible especially when they have room to run.
Those people were as gentle as they could be, there were thousands of rats if they focused on making sure every single one was picked up gently around the torso they would not have caught any.
I am sure these rats are not holding any grudges, anyone who knows a rat that was in a bad situation they know that they come around and forgive.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

I agree with you on that Kiko. I would say that handling your personal pet rat by the tail is not a good thing, but like she stated if they would have picked each one up like you would your tamed rattie, it would have taken forever. At least those people were going in there to remove the ratties from a bad situation in the first place. Plus they won't remember something like that and I am sure the ratties were glad to be out of a situation like that. 

And thanks to whomever merged the two topics and moved mine to the correct location. Idk what made me post it in the rat health topic XD


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

Yes none of the rats were hurt from being picked up by their tails


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## littlematchstick (Apr 12, 2009)

Alethea said:


> And thanks to whomever merged the two topics and moved mine to the correct location. Idk what made me post it in the rat health topic XD


I merged them!  Ifigured it would be easier to keep up with if I combined the threads instead of having 2 on the same topic. No biggie! *_*


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

Thanks Littlematchstick  

And I still haven't gotten to watch this! By the time I get home, we end up having company, they leave and I pass out lol. Thank goodness for the dvr and that Hoarders has been recording for this whole season lol. I'll let you know what I really think about all this when I actually watch it ><


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## smesyna (Nov 22, 2010)

kailey lane said:


> yes this episode was vary hard to watch,all those scared ratties i did like that they didn't kill them right away like some places would have,im thankful they are safe and living in a better place.i changed the channel a bunch of times because of all the screams.
> 
> its hard for me to be forgiving for anyone that is ignorant enough to not spay and neuter if they let their male and females live together.i sure someone at sometime some one told him "hey fix your rats or keep them separated,this is not right!" and he just ignored it for his own selfish gain.if he was a responsible pet owner this wouldn't have ever happened,but im thankful someone helped the rats and i do hope they left him with at least 2,if not that is vary sad and mean.


He didn't intend to hoard, and had kept them separated, but they escaped.


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## tang3rine21 (Dec 23, 2010)

So, just to offer some words of encouragement for anyone thinking of adopting any of the rats that were involved in this situation, I adopted 3 males, and they are all extremely sweet! Even though I got mine as babies, I held a few of the adults, and they were super tame and gentle. It's not the case with all of them, but there are definitely keepers in the bunch! ;D


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## Kiko (Sep 18, 2009)

Thats so great ^_^
I have been considering a 10th rat, and if those rats were closer I would have.


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## Alethea (Jul 14, 2010)

So after waiting all this time, thinking that the episode was recorded on my dvr, I found that Hoarders or my cable service listed the title wrong for the one I recorded. The title was Glen: 2500 rats... Upon turning on the show and getting half hour into it, I realized it was the wrong show. I looked to record all the other episodes so I could find the correct one and because that was the last episode of the series, I cannot find it D:

Is there somewhere online that I can watch it streaming live? Or perhaps torrenting it would be a good idea...


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## karinulph (Jul 19, 2010)

Should be on A&E's website


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## artemisfair (Jun 3, 2010)

Here is the rescue that the rats can be adopted from, if anyone is interested. I found them on petfinder. It says they are in Danville, CA
http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/CA1364.html
Just click "view our adoptable pet list"
Looks like they are taking good care of these babies. So glad they got out of that situation and that they are still sociable enough to be kept as pets.


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