# My First Rats



## shadowshearth (Nov 21, 2017)

I introduced myself and talked about my new babies a bit in my original post, but I took some new pictures and wanted to show them off to everyone. ;D

Thelma is the little black and white one. She's pretty shy, but we're slowly getting there. I had a breakthrough with her tonight and managed to get her to take a tasty treat from me... and she stayed to nibble at it when I held onto it. She usually freezes up and even the smell of something special can't tempt her. Starting to gently take her out and put her in a pouch so that she can be close to me and get used to a hand being on her and around her, that way she doesn't get so scared when I need to pick her up for some reason.

Louise is the little grey and white - and as can be seen in the flash of my photo, has very dark, ruby eyes. It's really pretty on her. (Even I haven't seen them that vibrantly!) She's pretty confident with herself and so far, really enjoys coming out of the cage to get some lap or shoulder time and absolutely loves ear rubs. Tonight, when I picked her up, she didn't even wiggle.

I've only had them for a week now and I can already tell that they've grown quite a bit (I knew that they grew fast, but _wow_).

Tomorrow is cage cleaning day, so I'm going to be setting up a little playpen so that everyone has to kind of settle in around me while I work. Then we'll be doing that every day from now on. Looking forward to that!


----------



## shadowshearth (Nov 21, 2017)

Took the babies out of their cage today for their first playtime session. We were sat in the floor for... quite awhile, actually. I kind of lost track of time! We were doing a lot of work, just trying to get everyone used to the idea of scratches and cupped hand petting down their backs and occasional picking them up. I learned a lot about them during it! And also thank everyone who recommended meat baby food as an enticer, both of them went wild for it.

Louise loves to climb and once she realized I was her new jungle-gym, I had a rat baby crawling up and down my shoulders almost constantly. Also learned that her comfort zone is up high... she gets pretty skittish when she's on the ground, so whenever I would try to pet her while she was exploring, she'd suddenly dash back up my shirt, sit on my shoulder, and accept all of the love I would give her. Doesn't like being picked up from the ground, doesn't mind it if it's from my shoulder.

Thelma is polar opposite. She seems like she's terrified at the possibilities of heights. If I picked her up and put her near my chest, she flipped out. But as long as she could see the ground or my legs, she was fine. Guess that's why they sleep in separate spots. Being so skittish, it took me a little while of gentle chasing with my hands and scratches before she realized my nails could hit all of her itchy spots at once and she just flopped over and started turning her head this way and that so that I would scratch her chin too.

Still worried about Louise though, noticing some sneezing. If it keeps up, I'm gonna call around and see if I can find a small animal vet that's used to treating rats... Hoping it's just from new scents and that it clears up on it's own.


----------



## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

It sounds like you're making some headway which is great! 

One of the biggest things to remember is that all rats are different, even within litters - so treat them different! Just try and adapt your free-ranging time to include high up places for Louise, and low-down hidey places for Thelma, and do the same with your cage  I let mine loose on the floor for the first time last week (normally they're up high) and while two of mine, Rick and Charlie, were running to the opposite ends of the room, my shy boy Morty was hanging out under the table that the cage sits on. That's where he was happy 

Chances are the sneezing is just new home sneezing, some tips to help improve it is to make sure the room they're in doesn't get drafts and avoid using aerosols or anything scented in the room and closeby. Things like smoking etc shouldn't be done near them.

They are lovely little things


----------



## shadowshearth (Nov 21, 2017)

Right now, since I'm still getting them adjusted to me, the only real toy that's been on offer was me while they were out! But now that I'm starting to get used to their habits and differences, I'm definitely gonna make sure, in the future, that I offer some high climbs for Louise and some lower down hiding spots and crawl toys for Thelma. It's so, so, so interesting to me to see their differing personalities!

It was so funny to watch Louise as well. Since they are still babies, they don't seem to have a lot of coordination when it comes to climbing? So whenever she would want up onto my shoulder, she'd stand up on my thigh with her hands on my chest and wait for me to scoop my hand under her butt to help her make up the rest of the space for a jump. Then she'd clamber from shoulder to shoulder, sit on top of my head, and snuffle in my ears whenever I'd reach up and scratch her ears or her chin. She's really active, but also super cuddly. Then when she wanted down, she'd wait for platform hands to take her to the ground. lol I'm not cage bars!

Thelma eventually got confident enough to crawl up on my legs, but it wasn't very often that she did it. She preferred hiding behind my back where she thought I couldn't reach her, so I kept curling my hands back to give her scratches and scoop her up to put her on my thighs every now and then so she didn't get too comfortable with her new hiding spot. As long as I'm not wrapping my fingers around her, she seems pretty good about letting me be a mobile platform of movement.

Last nights treat session also made it so now that every time I come close or open up the cage door, I have curious noses seeing if I have a treat and letting me give them a few little pets and scratches (and the occasional cereal puff as a reward for their curiosity)!

Thank you for the advice about the sneezing. I typically avoid using aerosol sprays in my house in general, with my dogs, and only do it when they are outside and it has time to settle. I won't be using it in their space at all unless they are comfortably in my sun room (I have a large addition to my house with lots of windows) playing and it's been given ample time to air out. 

The room that I have their cage in is the most well insulated, so it doesn't get drafty and if I close the door with the heat on for a minute or two, then turn it off, it stays relatively warm. I also keep them up high so that the highest platform with their hammock gets the most heat and down lower stays somewhat chilly (and since it has a metal bottom, they can dig in their bedding and flatten out on a cool surface), that way they can regulate as they want to/need to. I've gotten used to seeing them move around because of it. 

I posted in the health forum because Thelma did this little squeaking cough thing (Shadow informed me rats get hiccups! Oh my gosh!), and with the sneezes, it worried me. I said there that it feels like a mom with a newborn that doesn't know what to expect and freaks out at even the simplest, silly little things. LOL


----------



## shadowshearth (Nov 21, 2017)

So, the babies have officially had three playpen sessions with me! What can I say, I'm a late night-er, so you guys are always getting updates long after they actually happen. lol I went to a pet store on Thanksgiving and bought a few toys: some ferret balls, a hamster teeter-totter, two bendy wood hides, and a new bowl so that they could go fishing for peas.

Both of the babies are now meeting me at their cage door, looking expectantly for a treat and attention. Not to mention, Thelma, my little shy girl, has stopped having a breakdown any time I pick her up. There is no more squealing or screaming now that she knows me picking her up results in good things happening. She'll even crawl into my hand of her own accord, knowing that I'll give her a lick of the turkey/sweet potato baby food that you guys suggested.

Last nights play went really, *really* well and we were all exploring and playing for about two hours. Thelma isn't a super playful girl, but she does appreciate the opportunity to explore and Louise loves playing climb the human and has discovered the joy of destroying and chasing the mini-tennis ball and walking in and out of the water bowl to share her wet hands and feet with me.

I was on my lap-top with some friends of mine, so I'm getting them more accustomed to seeing me stand up or getting up onto my knees so that they don't freak out by my sudden height difference from sitting on the floor cross-legged with them. They took it as an opportunity to crawl on my calves, nibble at my toes... and in Louise's case, she saw it as a new height challenge to try and conquer. I ended up with her climbing my legs and up under my t-shirt on more than one occasion, where I had to fish her out and put her on my shoulder, since I knew that was where she ultimately wanted to end up.

Louise has also developed a lot of confidence in me. When I was up on my knees, she started trying to make her way down and almost fell! I caught her and set her back on the ground so that she could go run and play and now that's her new favorite game. When I'm sitting down, she'll climb up on my shoulder, then make to jump for my legs or the ground from my chest, with expectations of me catching her and putting her down safely. lol

They are also getting to a point, now, that they will explore their playpen for a few minutes, then come back to my lap to "check" on me. Even Thelma, who's not super cuddly like her sister, will go and explore for a few minutes then come back and climb up onto my thighs and around my legs, get a little scratch or a treat for her willingness to come over, before running off only to return a few minutes later. I actually think that she'll be pretty easy to teach some tricks, because right now if she even remotely hears me pop the top on the cereal puff jar or the sound of the baby food container, she comes running for my lap! I even got a surprise from her!

Louise absolutely loves shoulder time, but Thelma has always seemed reluctant on heights. I occasionally will pick her up and put her up there with her sister, but she's always fairly quick to make her way back down to the ground. The reason she surprised me is because she actually requested help getting up onto my shoulder! She was on my thigh and the next thing I knew, she was stretching and putting her hands on my chest, looking for a way up... so I gently scooped her up and she hung out for a few minutes. Louise will always happily take food and munch on it while she's up there, but Thelma is typically too nervous to even think about it. She actually took a few licks of baby food from me as a result! I wanted to reward her for her boldness after all!

And after two hours, they both got tired and decided to go to sleep. Louise fell asleep under my hair on my shoulder (not shocking at all!) and Louise curled up in the crook of where my leg was tucked under me on my pants - loving the fact that I was scratching under her chin and over her jaw while she slept. We sat like that for almost twenty minutes before my leg started to fall asleep and I realized that playtime was over... so I carefully scooped them both up and took them back to their cage so that they could rest.

I always, always feel bad when I put them away because they end up having a burst of energy, climbing the cage bars, coming to each of the doors to see if they are open and just in general not liking having to go to bed... I have to apologize to them because I know that they don't want playtime to be over.  But at the same time, it's a really good feeling knowing that they both fully enjoy that time with me, you know?

Not only am I noticing a big difference in temperament with me, but in their cage as well. Before, it was very rare for me to see either of them cuddled up together or Thelma anywhere away from the bottom of the cage and under her hide. Now, I'm starting to catch her at the top of the cage, cuddling with her sister out in the open, or up in their hammock together. When I got up this morning, I noticed that she'd actually been attempting to drag the downstairs hide upstairs with her so that she could go chill out with her sister! And now that they've gotten a little less hand shy, I'm giving them the second hide that I bought over Thanksgiving (since i was advised to only offer the bare bones to start). I figure it's a nice "reward" for her growing more comfortable with her space. ;D


----------



## shadowshearth (Nov 21, 2017)

So, I just realized that you guys have a blog section. I'm gonna stop spamming this forum with my stories and start posting them there instead - so if you're interested in future stories - http://www.ratforum.com/blog.php?503282-shadowshearth


----------



## Lunchy (Aug 28, 2017)

I've been away from a laptop for a week and a bit and find it difficult checking on things like this with my phone, but it looks like the girls have come on leaps and bounds - so happy to hear that! You'll notice their confidence will grow over time as well, and it's so rewarding to see. They just get a bit scared and nervous with changes 

Keep up the good work, even after almost 11 months I still panic when I see something I've never seen before. The good thing is that people here are so helpful - but when in doubt a vet visit does no harm. 

Agian, very glad to hear the girls are doing well


----------

