# My horde of 12 ratlets! *tons of pics*



## Night

Well, I figured I'd introduce my crew, since I've been on the forum for a few days now. I'll start with my oldest...

Mulligan is my agouti self dumbo boy that I got from a (now retired) breeder. He was born September 16th, 2004, so in a couple of weeks he will be 2 and a half years old  He has hind leg paralysis and cataracts/dry eyes, but otherwise he's in great health and I hope to have him around for a lot longer. He is an utter squish who wants nothing more than to cuddle and give kisses.



















Fitzherbert is my russian cinnamon self dumbo boy, that I got from the same (now retired) breeder as Mulligan. He's only a month younger than Mulligan, so he's my second eldest. He has only slight hind leg issues, so he gets around the cage without too much of an issue (Mully's pretty much confined to only the first level of the cage because of his back leg issues). Fitzy is a very moody boy, and can sometimes be a biter (even though he's already been neutered for aggression). But, I love him and just leave him alone for the most part, since even though he doesn't like people too much, he loves the other boys in the cage (I joke that they're his butt buddies, since he seriously is not a fan of the girls).



















Next, are my pair of spayed sisters, Witch Hazel (beige self) & Periwinkle (russian blue self). They were rescues - their owner went to college and just left them behind with his mother, who kept threatening to euthanize them for some reason. Thankfully my friend, Kaia, at Huron Valley Rat Rescue was able to get a hold of them, and I adopted them nearly immediately. They were my first girls, and they are just about the most friendly, sweet, adorable girls ever. Unfortunately, I don't know exactly how old they are, but Kaia was told they were around a year and a half old (that was back in September 2006). They came to the rescue extremely emaciated, malnourished, and covered in feces/urine. After a bath, and once they were given a clean cage/good food, they bulked up VERY quickly and are now very... curvy girls  They are the alphas of the cage and keep everyone in check; they rule with an iron fist.




























Widdershins (triamese/mismarked siamese) & Nigel (PEW) are another one of my pairs of siblings. They both just turned a year old a few days ago. They were rescues also. They came from a person who dumbly bred her rats, and ended up with 45 that she surrendered to HVRR (Huron Valley Rat Rescue) once she realized she was in over her head. Kaia at HVRR, through her extreme dedication, was able to adopt all of the babies out (she had to raise a couple litters, too).



















Dwarfie is my black mismarked hooded double rex dumbo boy. He's from RatLandia Rattery. He's very, very funny, and is obsessed with hair. Anytime I lean into the cage to move/clean up something, he has to grab a handful of my hair and popcorn around. Although he's not really a fan of being picked up, he does love to be scritched 



















Russia is an EXTREMELY goofy, silly, sweet (PEW dumbo) boy who was born last year on September 1st. He was from an oops litter from all the way up in Toronto, Canada. Through the help of a transporter, I was able to adopt this adorable little boy. I just love him and his insane antics. He's very annoying to the other rats in the cage, since he's constantly bouncing on them and grabbing their fur.  He's neutered now (like the rest of my boys), so his physique is a little different from the first picture!



















Fergie (black variegated berkshire with head spot) and Emma (siamese) are a pair of sisters from a rescue litter that I fostered/raised myself. They came from a woman in Illinois that was, well... not very smart about sexing rats. She started with three (two boys, one female), and quickly ended up with 50. HVRR took all of the rats besides a couple of boys that the woman wanted to keep (against our urging to surrender them all). Fergie was way too sweet for me to give up, and Emma was the same way. They were born November 19/20th, 2006. I'm eagerly waiting for them to get big enough for me to spay them so I can put them in with everyone else. I love my goofy girls  You can see TONS of pictures of the litter from the first day I fostered them, up until now (at least with my girls, the other babies were adopted out) here. My two girls were previously named Ireland and Norway before I decided to keep them, just for reference when viewing the albums.

The litter...










And here are my two keepers, Emma and Fergie, now...



















And finally, my two most recent additions, Squeebottoms and Polka, brothers from FarStar Rattery here in Michigan. They're pearl merle dumbos, and are very sweet, goofy, laidback boys (soon to be neutered!). They were born in November of last year. Squee is light-colored and has a lot of spots, where as Polka is darker and isn't nearly as spotty.

Squee:










Polka:










Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed meeting my fuzzies (or at least the rats)!


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## nativemic

very cute


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## hjkaga

they are all very cute


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## rodentparadise

Oh my God! Your rats are sooooooooo BEAUTIFUL!!! Stunning! I'm in love with all of them. And you take such excellent pictures! They are great. I'll be back to look at them often


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## radical

aw, how gorgeous!


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## Spider

Those are all adorable Ratties. I'm curious, why do you neuter all your boy Rats?
Spider


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## Night

While I spay females for the wonderful health benefits, I neuter males for behavioral reasons. Even the sweetest boys sometimes get aggressive toward other rats in large groups. Neutering/spaying my whole clan has made for a pretty harmonious cage


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## Sky14

I loooove the blue and the Pearl merle dumbos!!


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## Nazarath

cute little ratties!!! is Fitzy Munching on lettuce? I know that ice burg lettuce has toxions that can be fatal to rats if not cleaned propertly. Mostly all lettuce can have toixc affects on rats if not cleaned properly.


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## Night

Although iceberg lettuce is terrible for animals, leaf lettuces such as romaine, green leaf, red leaf, and more, are fantastic. Rats should be fed their staple diet, plus supplemented with fresh lettuces, herbs, and fruit daily. I feed my fuzzies a dinner every evening with at least 3-4 different lettuces, lots of herbs, 2-3 different kinds of fruit, and baby oatmeal/cereal made with soy milk. They love it  Here's their dinner from a couple nights ago:


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## Nazarath

Thats makes me want to be reborn as a rat


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## Poppyseed

Mmm yummy looking salad! I want one XD

I have no idea why people like to eat iceberg lettuce when there are so many more healthy and nutricious varieties out there XD Not to mention a ton more tasty as well.


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