# hello Smeag!--now with PICTURE and VIDEO



## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

ok, i'm weak. i'll admit it. BUT i have reasons, whether they are any good though... :lol: heh! she's cute! she has all the stipulations i put on myself to make sure i don't get every rat going and she was alone... and i have 4 2year olds now. as much as i don't want to think about it and hope they live even longer, statistically speaking those 4 probably won't be with me this time next year. i also swore that i would not enter a pet shop for at least year to the date that i got smeag -- i got caught on the new year being only a few days away so i had to make an amendment...  :lol: ok, and yes, i'm weak, so very very weak... 

in any case, friday, dec 27 i got a new rat. yes, i do remember saying i was not going to get anymore rats for at least a year and i was very happy to go down to 10 after giving my friend her 3 christmas rats (one of which i had since august...) but she was alone... i know this doesn't mean much when the rat is in the pet shop anyway, often they are house alone or dumped with new rats without any introduction procedures... but she also met my self-imposed stipulations, she's a pink eyed hairless that's already friendly and needed a home. being female really helped her out right now too as i don't have money for an elective neuter if i want to keep up my emergency/ill vet fund to a good level. i named her Smeag (not a reference to smegol-rather more to an often said word on red dwarf-one of my favorite shows) almost as soon as i picked her up, which of course meant i had to get her. i htink the boyfriend knew that too. he did say no a few times, told me to put her back, even tried to put her back himself... then he said yes anyway...  my friends that were with me gave me the "raaaaven... you told us not to let you.... she is cute though"  :lol: 

so we brought her home, plopped her in the tub while i picked up my son and set a few things up. then introed her to the residents (i know full well that there was absolutely no quarantine done and i know the risks involved in it and accept them. i also know that there is no way i could even have on in the place i'm living now. there's not enough space and there's no where else i can leave her for a quarantine either). not one ratty huffed or sidled or puffed up at all. they all played happily in the tub and all 11 tried to cram themselves in the hut at once. so i did a quick clean of the cage and put everyone together in there. no one squable that wasn't instigated by Smeag herself. 

she tried to make herself all big in front of Stewart, trying to intimidate the biggest rat in the cage. Stewie put his paw on her head and groomed her, that was his big reaction: "silly baby, you're dirty. bath time" then he walked away. 

she tried to take on Kakushi, the queen of the group, kakushi gave her a cock-eyed look as if to say: "you are trying to do what now...?" then promptly ignored Smeag's existance. 

then Smeag tried to take on Twix, the resident sour-puss and somewhat of a bully (she likes picking on stewart a lot). Twix promptly flipped smeag over, gave her a quick groom then walked off and has ignored smeag ever since. 

Smeag tried to take on ink, babydoll and violet all at once. violet pushed Smeag out of her way then ignored her, Ink thought smeag was trying to play and started bouncing all around the cage, confused when smeag wasn't chasing her. and babydoll was completely confused about it all and ran away to cuddle next to stewie. 

when smeag tried her luck with bribery, bribery immediately gave in. 

when she tried sweetipie, sweetipie sat on her then laid down beside her for a nap. 

when she tried to have a go at eyes, eyes boxed with her for a bit, got bored and went to bother bribery. 

only 4 hours after bringing her home from the store and she already fitted in with everyone. now 3 days later and she's in rat piles with them, cuddling with everyone and playing with ink and babydoll. she's still a litte handshy when i go to take her out of the cage but is already making progress. she happily sits on my shoulder and bruxxes away. she's a still a little unsure of herself, so she's not exploring much yet when out of the cage but is getting better about it. she goes further away from me now then she did just a couple days ago. she's going to be a wonderful addition to the family, she already is. 

to give a better description of her looks until i can get a picture of her: she's a poor hairless, so she still has a dusting of fuzz all over her body, not just the face. it looks almost like a halo around her body its so fine. had she had hair she would have been a himi i think as she has a dark nose but the rest of the fur dust is white. her eyes are noticeably red but not as bright pink as stewie' or eyes'. she's standard eared as well. she's probaby somewhere around 4-5 months old, probably closer to 4. when i get a chance with a camera i will definitely post pictures of her as well. i just couldn't wait any longer to tell everyone about her. 

oh adn did i mention i love how accepting my rats are of new rats...


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## Sparker (Jun 17, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

Love it!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

thank you spaker. i think she's going to be quite the handful, already trying to push her away around, but she's oh so sweet too. i'm really going to enjoy having her around. 

re reading my post though, i realise i forgot to tell everyone how smeag faired with tween. i think this was probably the sweetest of smeag's attempts. tween is very much the grandmother firgure for the whole group, quiet and gentle, the only rat i've ever seen tween box with has been her sister Twix. when smeag tried to poof up without fur to back her up, tween didn't even pause, she walked right up smeag and started grooming her. smeag looked so funny trying to look fierce with tween following her around grooming her anytime she paused. tween didn't hold her down to do it either, never made one hostile movement, just followed smeag around the cage licking her every time she had the chance. it reminded me of how my grandmother always seemed to have a wet thumb or tip of a napkin on hand when i got close to her. and how my own grammy always found me when i was trying to act tough and with a gentle hand and some soft words let me be myself in front of her. when smeag finally gave up trying to act tough, tween finished smeag's bath then laid there with her for hours. tween was the last rat that smeag has tried to take on too. i'm not sure if that was because she had already tried with everyone else or if she realised she didn't need to act tough because of tween. in any case i thought it was very sweet. i can't believe i forgot to mention that in the first post.


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## crapola (Feb 12, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

cant wait to see pix


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## rattieluver (Dec 29, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

She sounds like a real sweety pie!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

nah nah, we already have Sweetipie. this is a Smeag, through and through... :lol: but yes, she is sweet too. :lol:


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

*Re: hello Smeag!*

FINALLY!! PICTURES!!!!! and video of the entire horde as well!

































































and video of the entire crew!
part 1
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v3322141WaXDzTKj

part 2
http://www.veoh.com/videos/v33224812aW6RwrX


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

hmm, veoh isn't playing it right. it plays but its darker then it should be. if anyone knows how i can fix that let me know please?


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## ladada2001 (Sep 23, 2007)

to correct this, you have a few options

1. Fix the lighting in your house, it's very dark/dim.
2. Take the video and increase the brightness by about 50%. this should up the white contrast enough to be able to see it.
3. use a different camera.


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

no see when i had it on my comp, i increased the brightness with GOB player. i thought it was saved that way but i guess not. i can't seem to figure out how to get it to stay like that so that when i upload it it stays bright.


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