# Meet My Rats! Ben & Tritori



## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

Hello all 
This is my first set of rats so far. I've had every other small animal you can imagine and after being petless for the last year we really wanted to introduce a pet into our family so my 3 year old son can experience compassion for a pet with some minimal feeding responsibility while I am the real "mama" to our new little guys. I started researching rats and became absolutely fascinated by their intelligence and cuteness among other things. I found a lady in town selling some Dumbo Rats from her litter and picked up two baby males! My son is so delighted with them and loves holding them. We just got them last night and this is the only great picture I have of them so far. I have a large "pen" type thing that we used on my 1 year old for allowing him to play in the grass when he was younger without running off, we're going to set it up later and let Ben & Tritori frolic in the grass later so that should make for some cute pictures! Here they are! Ben has the brown head and is very curious, Tritori is a snuggly reserved little guy. We are so happy with our new pets! I am just fascinated at how much they love each other. They're currently wrapped up in each others tails snoozin' away. 









Edited to add a few more pics! 
















My 3 year old Shawn holding Tritori!








Their new home, Shawn watching them climb with excitement!








Tritori getting snuggly. 

Edited again to add their new fleece liners!


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Congrats on your first rats 

Be careful with having them outside so soon after getting them. I would get them used to you properly indoors first. Once they are bonded to you, there's less chance they'll flee. Also rats are very good at escaping/climbing - I'm not sure what your "pen" is like, but be very careful.


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

Stace87 said:


> Congrats on your first rats
> 
> Be careful with having them outside so soon after getting them. I would get them used to you properly indoors first. Once they are bonded to you, there's less chance they'll flee. Also rats are very good at escaping/climbing - I'm not sure what your "pen" is like, but be very careful.


Thanks for the advice. Maybe we will hold off a bit. We didn't plan on leaving them, more like all sitting inside of it and holding them and letting them walk on the grass. Never out of arms reach. 

I have to say I am SO impressed, I've never had a caged animal that did this but whenever we go to the cage they climb the walls with excitement to see us! I love it. My husband was expecting them to be nothing special and not compassionate but they are! It's so adorable!


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

Yeah they become very bonded to their owners  follow you around like mini dogs, groom you, etc. It's probably adviseable to work with them indoor first - on a bed/chair so they aren't so far away and get used to you. Treats while out can work well too. I used babyfood when I added Gizmo to the group last year - let him lick it from my fingers while out.


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## Gats1788 (Mar 14, 2009)

my rats love going outside, i dont even need a pen for them. if they get out of sight i just make a loud noise and they com running back to me. It took a while to train them to do that so if you have a garden that they can easily and quickly escape from i dont recommend it. But i don't foresee any probs as you have a cage,.


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

Gats1788 said:


> my rats love going outside, i dont even need a pen for them. if they get out of sight i just make a loud noise and they com running back to me. It took a while to train them to do that so if you have a garden that they can easily and quickly escape from i dont recommend it. But i don't foresee any probs as you have a cage,.


Thanks for the info!
What I have that I was planning on setting up for us all to sit in (myself and my two kids with the little guys) is like a "gate" for a child. It's large and wraps around in a circle so you can pretty much set it up anywhere for a safe place for children. It has smaller holes so they shouldn't escape, but could unsupervised. I just wanted to give them something fun and exciting to do! 

I'm really excited to teach them all sorts of tricks and shoulder train them. I am so impressed at the fact that they've never pottied on me. We have an old rag that I've been setting on my son's lap (pictures w/ him holding Tritori) and Tritori only will occasionally poop on it, but never have yet been peed on. But the second I put them in their cages they run to "their corners" and potty. They are SO smart! 

eta- I sew and have been fascinated by all of the hammocks.. I made them a hanging hammock earlier and they LOVE it. They love toilet paper tubes so I'm going to work on a tube hammock tonight. I am just amazed by them every time I see them do something new!


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## Stace87 (Jun 24, 2008)

You made a good choice getting rats  I bet you'll keep being fascinated by them all the time. Each one has a totally different personality and funny little habits.


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## wizzyjo (Mar 3, 2009)

aww you seem like you really love them already. their cage looks really cool too, very nice shape  i got my first boys only 4 month ago but it seems like so much longer, i recently got another 2, but they wont be joining them in their big cage untill another week and a half or so. your boys seem really happy


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

what's that cage... looks interesting.


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

Ky_Zack said:


> what's that cage... looks interesting.


It was a bird cage but I've found it works great for them. To spice it up I sewed them some hammocks. 


You can see the food/water dishes that are bird-like and there are bird perches higher up, but they love climbing on them and the water dish is empty since I have hanging water bottles so they snuggle in the empty space. 
]


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## natluvsrats (Apr 15, 2009)

^aww your boys are so adorable & so is your 3yr old son <3
i love your hammocks and cage set up-very creative!


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## Ky_Zack (Feb 14, 2009)

That's a cool cage... I like the plastic and bar combination.


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

natluvsrats said:


> ^aww your boys are so adorable & so is your 3yr old son <3
> i love your hammocks and cage set up-very creative!


Thanks!!

I added a new pic in the first post of their new cage liners. I have had many small animals in my life and was never aware of the dangers of cedar. So I made them liners! I like the wash/reuse option. I think it will be a great money saver!


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## Coolspruce (Mar 29, 2009)

xojesse said:


> Stace87 said:
> 
> 
> > Congrats on your first rats
> ...


Our two rats, our first, which we got around March 1 of this year, prove to be one of the most pleasant and delightful surprises of my life! I never knew or imagined that such beings exist. My son and his girlfriend brought home our first, Cassie, and a couple weeks later, brought home Rose as a gift to my wife and me. We are so hooked! I can never imagine being without a rat ever again! None of the people who know us can believe this!  But most of them quickly see.


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

Coolspruce said:


> xojesse said:
> 
> 
> > Stace87 said:
> ...


I know what you mean! Everyone I tell that we adopted rats wrinkles their nose and thinks they're digging around in our garbage or something. My husband is so impressed with how they run to the door to greet you. I even caught him taking pictures of them today


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## tuffycuddles (Apr 19, 2009)

OH i like the idea of having a liner in the bottom...ya wash and re-use sounds good!!!!
(i don't have rats as of yet...so i'm just on here 'shopping' around for good ideas for when i do get some.)


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## xojesse (Apr 13, 2009)

tuffycuddles said:


> OH i like the idea of having a liner in the bottom...ya wash and re-use sounds good!!!!
> (i don't have rats as of yet...so i'm just on here 'shopping' around for good ideas for when i do get some.)


I highly recommend the liners! Even if you don't sew fleece is a fabric that won't fray, so you can just cut it to any size you need and voila! I have double and triple layer ones but I absolutely love the wash and reuse option. It saves so much money!


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