# The Life of an Adopted Pet Store Rat - The Adjustment Phase



## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

This isn't really a question, more like a little ratty behaviour diary I guess. I've had four rats before, but all were males, two were from an accidental litter and two were rescues - and I had them several years ago, so I'm almost like a newbie rat owner. Maybe this will be helpful to others, but even if not, I love my Lady Grey super much and I thought some people might get a kick out of it, reliving their own newbie days or something. I'm sure it's been done before, but hopefully nobody minds another one floating around. Also, feel free to chime in with suggestions if you think I could be doing things better!

((Note: she has constant access to food and water, the things listed below are just treats I'm using to bribe her. So far, aside from one or two treats a day, she's had: capsicum (yellow pepper), broccoli, brown pasta, the green bits of two lettuce leaves, and a homemade, unsalted chip [French fry? Freedom fry? Idk, it's yellow and we cooked it in the over, it's basically just potato], as well as a constant supply of the mix I got her from the pet store. She's also been offered some cooked salmon, cauliflower, carrot, and a teensy bit of goat's cheese, but she turned her nose up at that))

*Day 1 - Friday
*
I didn't actually mean to get Lady, but I was in the local pet store looking for cages and accessories for the 3 boys I've reserved from a breeder. But there she was, so cute and sweet and all alone in the pet shop tank. The pet store worker did not appeal to my sympathies at all, picking Lady up by the tail and then rebuking me when I told her you shouldn't do that to them. 

I bought a carry cage, as well as two big ones for keeping the genders separate until we've visited the vet and prevented any accidental litters. Lady just cowers in the carry cage all the way home, and when we get there and I bring her out, she freaks out a bit and tries to burrow into my rat hoodie. I talk to her, skritch her gently on the butt and belly as I set up her cage and she hides in my hair. She is not keen on anything, it seems, and my heart breaks for her being alone, but I reassure myself with the thought of the boys arriving soon. At least then she'll be able to smell that company is near, at least, and after the vet's I can hopefully do introductions without too much delay. She settles in my hoodie after a few minutes, leaving no less than six poop nuggets on me, and later disappears into a hidey hole as soon as I put her in her newly set-up cage. Offers of yogies, pumpkin seeds, yoghurt on a spoon and berry baby food in a bowl are all ignored. I leave her to it, as it's quite late by this point. Although initially she was going to live in the living room, my sweet husband concedes that staying in the bedroom with us might help her feel less alone. We are foreign and scary to her, but at least we're alive and there. It's the best I can do for now. Over night, I don't hear her bouncing or exploring at all, but in the morning things have moved around a bit - the treats I left for her have disappeared, the baby food is covered in paper bedding, and the rat-sized blankie I put in with her has been ejected from her hidey hole. Clearly not a winner there, but I leave it where she's left it in case she changes her mind.









*

Day 2 - Saturday
*
I've been Googling like crazy, looking for lists of foods, lists of beddings, cage accessories, bonding pouches... my husband is quickly suspecting that I love the rat more than him, and I don't disabuse him of this notion. "Different friends for different things," I remind him, though we both know I wanted the rat babbies because I'm lonely in this foreign country with no friends and unable to work until my visa is granted, which could be months yet. He accepts it with humour and kindness, knowing that my love for Lady doesn't diminish my love for him at all. Though he's never had rats before, he admits that she is super cute and he can see why I love her so much, especially after showing him so many videos of rats being adorable on YouTube.

Lady is still not keen on coming out at all, but she struggles a little less and dives straight for my hair today when I pull her out. I skritch her and talk to her, and play Sims with her nestled on my chest, tangled in my hair. My husband comes in when I've half forgotten she's there and managed to snap a photo or two of her watching me play Sims, but the sound of the camera sends her running back into the hair for safety. After a suitable amount of time, my husband asks to hold her and she tolerates him for several minutes, though it's clear she already views me - or perhaps my hair? - as protector as she's completely frozen in his arms, but takes a little jump onto me when he's passing her back and disappears into the beloved hair again. My husband is not phased, lovely man that he is.

Lady still vanishes into her hidey hole asap once back in her cage, and no interest is shown in treats, so I leave them in there for her again. This time everything is exactly as I left it the next morning.










*Day 3 - Sunday*

I frown a little over her not seeming to have moved overnight, but she's still in there and seems fine. She's gained the confidence to be sticking her cute little face out while she knows my husband is distracted playing Overwatch, but she disappears as soon as I open the cage door. She doesn't really struggle at all as I pull her out today, though she is still not keen on it by her glare as I stroke her fur before scooping her up. This is progress, though, I tell myself, and I clear my computer desk of anything potentially harmful or that I don't want nibbled or peed on, and trust her with some time exploring the desk. She ignores the two cables I've been unable to remove, but only explores for a minute or so before hiding under an icecream container I've left for her. I figure after twenty or so minutes that she's unlikely to come back out, so she may as well snuggle me and keep getting used to me, so we play Sims most of the day and I'm fairly sure she sleeps in my hood for at least six hours, which would explain the bleary glares whenever she's put on the desk to go potty. 

I put her on the desk every couple of hours, and she pees once or twice and poops a bunch, but is too shy to explore properly. Still, she is viewing my hand with less apprehension every time I collect her for more snuggles, and at the end of the session she dives into her hidey hole, but then pops out again as I fetch her some treats. She still doesn't take them, but she sniffs and seems okay to sit by me next to the bars for a few minutes while the hubby and I talk quietly and he plays Overwatch. She still ducks for cover every time there's a sudden noise, but I try to comfort her with my voice as she seems okay with that. She also has decided it's safe to eat while the light is on, though only when I'm sitting right next to the cage and talking to her.

*Day 4 - Monday*

She pokes her snoot out to look at me when I wake up, swaying her head a bunch as I'm ratty miles away from her. She's eaten all the baby food again, and then covered it with some bedding, so I assume my evil plan to bribe her with it is proceeding nicely. I put on clean clothes after my shower today, and - surprise surprise - she freaks out as I go to pull her out for snuggles, diving into my lap and nearly escaping in her panic. I manage to keep hold of her though, clueless as to why she reacted that way, and decide that two shorter sessions will be better today as I need to go run errands, and she might prefer it that way anyway. She is tense and nervous again in the first session, but by the second session after I've realised my mistake I pull out my clothes from the dirty laundry and put them on, and she's almost relieved to see me put my hand into her cage. She still won't come out or come to me, but she doesn't flip out like before, and finds her happy spot in my hood. She's stopped jumping at every single noise, and she deals well with me coughing (I'm a bit sick at the moment, seasons' change and all that) as long as I take a deep, slow breath beforehand. I assume she associates the rasping she can no doubt hear in my lungs with the veritable earthquake that follows, and after a few coughs she is completely fine with it.

She sasses me with her eyes when I put her back tonight, and decides to sniff at the treats I offer. She doesn't take them, so I leave them right next to her hidey hole entrance and less than fifteen minutes later when I pass her cage the pumpkin seed is gone. I decide the yogies might not be her thing, and switch to pumpkin seeds only for her treats. I leave her more baby food as well, which is cleaned out by morning.

*Day 5 - Tuesday morning (today)

*I decide her cage is getting a bit pongy, and that the easiest thing is to put her in the carry cage. Wrong! She is not dumb, she remembers the carry cage. She is not having a bar of it, and squirms out of my grasp onto the desk and uses her body language to very effectively tell me to eff off as I try again. I sigh - I may need to get yet another cage, because of course I do, I can't believe I forgot to get a temp cage for while I'm cleaning her regular one. I decide that that is on my list of to-do for today. She is bruxing and grooming herself in my hood again, and I am typing this, waiting for the pet transport delivery person to arrive with the three boys. I will update this later, but I think I'm already seeing confidence and personality growing in her as she gets over her fears.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

UPDATE: The boys have just arrived. She is definitely aware of their presence, even though they're as far away from each other as it's possible to be in this house. I already have all four of them booked in for the vet on Friday. Until then, I will keep them separated, but hopefully it is a comfort to her even just knowing that she's not the only rat in the house.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

This is adorable. Can't wait to hear more. Good luck at the vet.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

@RatAtat2693 Awesome, I'm glad you're enjoying it. ^^ And thanks! I have all my fingers and toes crossed for her. She really is such a sweetheart, I wasn't expecting to love her so much so fast. 

*Day 5 - Tuesday evening*

In the end I manage to convince Lady Grey to sit quietly in the carry cage, though she is quite grumpy about it. She is visibly relieved when I open it up to snuggle her, stretching out her nose and staying still and calm as I pick her up, but she seems a little ticked off that our hoodie session lasts only another 15 minutes after I get her out. The boys are still sitting in the tiny transport cage they arrived in, and I can't justify leaving them in there much longer. I pop her back into her cage, and she doesn't duck for cover instantly, just sits where I've left her for a couple of minutes as I fetch her treats. She vanishes into her hidey hole when I open the cage door to give her her pumpkin seeds, but keeps her face out and sniffs at the seeds and doesn't back down from my fingers as I press them almost right up to her nose. She still doesn't take them - I'm wondering if it's a matter of principle at this point - but as soon as I've closed the cage she comes out to look at them, then navigates quite fearlessly to her water bottle, then has a rummage in her dry food bowl. I say her name a few times and she deigns to look at me, though I'm not 100% if she's responding to her name or just starting to like my voice. I did spend almost an hour singing things to/at her while we played Sims, so perhaps it's a Stockholm Syndrome situation. 

The boys took up most of the day, as teenage boys are wont to do. This story/diary is mostly about Lady, since I've seen so many people with shy pet shop rats asking for guidance, but I'll talk about the boys a little bit. 










They reek, for one thing. Like a farm. I force myself to sit patiently through the stench as they wake up and take their sweet time coming out of the cardboard box they've used as a bed during their trip. The smell is partially due to them and their raging hormones not mixing well with whatever wood shaving bedding the breeder has housed them with, and partially due to the half an apple that's gone half rancid between when she sent them on their way and now, sitting on my desk. I discover that they are easily bribe-able, with yoghurt on a spoon, pumpkin seeds, and then yoghurt on my fingers. I discover I can lure one of them completely out of the box this way, and soon they are all scampering happily around my desk. Two of them, a self Blue Russian (I think?) I've named Drogo and a black hooded I've named Monk, are 7 weeks old, so roughly the same age my Lady. The third boy, Aeltun, is 5 weeks old, tiny in comparison to his probably-brothers, and might be po~ossibly a cinnamon self? I've never had a rat this colour before, but it's tricky to tell as well because he's clearly been babied by the other two and has some thinning fur where they've over-groomed him. I was not expecting one so much younger than the other two, and am I bit ticked off that the breeder didn't mention it. I'm still undecided whether or not to give her a pass for it, due to the language barrier. I think Drogo in particular has been caring for him, as Aeltun is the reason Drogo decides to leave the box. Aeltun has no fear, and bounces around like a spring in a box all day. The other two are more reserved, but make very few complaints to me picking them up at the end of the four-hour session to show them their temp cage (getting rat cages is ridiculously complicated in Germany it turns out). Aeltun cannot stop bouncing, digging and just generally behaving like any child on an adventure would. The other two are more obviously teenagers though - oily, stinky, socially ambiguous and definitely a bit wary of me. Ahh, high-school memories. :3

By this time my husband is home, and keen to check out the new additions. They happily lick yoghurt off his fingers for a bit, but seem worn out after their long day and don't do much except lay there and lick. Aeltun leads the charge, again. My husband is enamoured. I inform him I can now proceed to stage two of my cunning plan to indoctrinate him into the world of rats. He's already hooked, and we laugh over how quickly his attitude has gone from "Sure, I don't mind. Whatever makes you happy, my love," to "So how many rats would you be comfortable having, max?"

He asks to hold Lady, and I tell him I have every confidence she'll show him how to do it properly. I also mention that if he picks her up from above she might think he's a hawk or something and bite him. He listens, and gets her out of the cage without incident. I make the mistake of walking past, and she dives for my shoulder, then squishes herself into my breast-pocket, which is just big enough to accommodate her. He gets her security blanket and puts it in his hood, and I coax her out and make her comfy in there with it. Now he's playing Overwatch with her in his hood, and I am feeling a teensy bit, I'm not sure, maybe jealous, or maybe just missing her warm weight on the back of my neck. Tomorrow, we'll see if the trust remains for my husband. It would be nice, to think I'm bonding with her for both of us and that every hour I spend with her reduces the amount of time it takes to adjust to a new person, and give me hope that she can live a happy life with us here. 










Still no luck with her taking the pumpkin seeds from us when we put her to bed, but I'm thinking perhaps she's just not food motivated much, if at all. She doesn't bolt, instead does a circuit of her cage, sniffs my proffered pumpkin seed and the fingers holding it, then takes herself off to bed. I'll leave her some baby food in a minute, then see if she's polished it off by morning.


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## Gribouilli (Dec 25, 2015)

Your boys smell so bad because of the stress and fear they experienced during their trip, it is called fear poop and it is horrible. They should be ok in a few days and as far as Lady is concerned, you will have to be super patient as pet store rats are skittish most of the time, and making her trust you will take time.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

You could try whipping up half a banana with a teaspoon of peanut butter. The banana smoothes out the PB for a less choke worthy treat. Don't give her the whole thing. No more than a pea, but I save it just for extremely special occasions.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

@Gribouilli yeah, they don't smell so bad even today. It was foul, that smell yesterday, but now they are settling in well. They seem reluctant to be held as well, which seems odd considering the breeder said she cuddled them every day, but I think Lady is warming slowly but surely to us, me in particular. 

She still doesn't actively participate in socialisation, but she seems at least content to chill most of the day in my hood. She doesn't like being out of it, but she doesn't bite or struggle (unless I pick her up badly - then the helicopter tail starts whooshing) when I get her out. I figure I'll give it three or four months to let her decide to take treats, come to the door when I open it, learn her name a bit, etc, and if she doesn't change or improve even a bit in that time then oh well, I can live with a ratty hoodie ghost. As long as she's happy, I don't mind. Plus, she should be in with the boys by then so she won't be lonely.

@RatAtat2693 Oooh, yeah, that could be good. I might just not have found her treat of choice yet. She eats that baby food and pumpkin seeds, but it would be nice to find something she goes wild for. The boys are pretty typical, yoghurt sends them climbing the cage walls sniffing for it. I'd like it if I could find something that she loves that much. I'll get hubby to pick some peanut butter up on his way home. Although, she was okay with taking some yoghurt in a bowl from my hand, but the spoon is scary still, as are my fingers. 

Thank you both so much for your help, I'll keep updating this most days for a while so you can see the results.


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## RatAtat2693 (Jan 13, 2016)

No problem. Just don't give her 100% peanut butter. It gets sticky and can choke her. Feel free to add more banana or even some water to the mix.


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## Sal (Mar 21, 2016)

Great journey, I'm glued!


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

@Sal awesome! Glad you're enjoying it 

*Day 6 - Wednesday*

The boys are boisterous and over-the-top. I leave the two cages next to each other overnight, and from what I see both in the evening and the next day they are all curious about each other, but they also seem to largely ignore each other. I get the sense that Lady is anxious to be with the other rats, and so I give her extra attention all day. The boys sit with me on the desk for a couple of hours, but seem remarkably skittish for rats that have supposedly been handled a lot since birth. Still, they make good progress with learning their own names, and Lady seems bolstered by the smell of them. I offer her more treats from my hand, but she will not take them, though she does sniff a lot. She accepts more baby food from the bowl as I hold it though, which is a good sign. She also seems to recognise that when I say Lady I'm talking to her, but obviously she's not really responding to it as in coming when she's called, though she will look at me when I say it. 

She takes some baby food from the bowl as I put her back, less fazed by my hand now than she had been.

*Day 7 & 8 - Thursday and Friday* 

Nothing much really changes with Lady these two days. I have to split my time between her and the boys now, so progress slows a bit, but doesn't go backwards. The boys do well enough, accepting treats, allowing themselves to be lured out of the cage with said treats and just generally being more active than her. She does decide to lick a teensy bit of yoghurt off my fingers though, which gives me much hope. She still doesn't guts it down like the boys, but I'll take what I can get. Even her movements are very delicate compared to the boys - they stomp around and wreck their cage, poop wherever, and knock their food bowl over despite it being ceramic. Aeltun in particular seems to get trapped under it a fair bit, though he frees himself easily enough. Lady, on the other hand, pees in the litter tray and mostly poops there, wouldn't be caught dead with an overturned bowl and has a very cute way of bouncing around that reminds me of a thoroughbred mare for some reason. She seems to enjoy the mashed banana and peanut butter that @RaAtat2693 suggested, but no more than anything else. I conclude that she is just still not feeling it yet, and that most likely she will warm to treats as she has my company, in her own time, though I add the recipe to the list for future reference (with many thanks  )

The vet books the three boys in for neutering on Tuesday next week, and recommends not spaying Lady. She has only ever done 5 rat spayings, and says that the risk of complications is higher due to the nature of the surgery (abdominal vs largely external for the boys). I thank her for her advice and start looking around for a vet that specialises in small pets, as I would prefer to get Lady spayed to minimise the risks of tumours.

*Day 9 - Saturday*

It's my husband's birthday today, so we spend a lot of the day out. Lady is much more confident sitting around her cage in the past few days, and she seems to be talking to the boys when we get home. And then, finally, the sign I've been waiting for: she accepts a pumpkin seed from my fingers! Tentatively, delicately, and with much sniffing, but she takes it. I rejoice! I am doing right by these rat babbies, they will live happy, wonderful lives full of joyous snuggles and confident exploration in free roams... I praise her for taking the seed, and she ducks away into her cage. Oops. But still! She is definitely progressing, and my heart almost can't take the adorable-ness. She sits in my hood after her dinner while the boys continue to stomp around and play-fight. I have no pictures to add to this post, but soon the Savic Royale arrives, and no doubt there will be many, many photos after that.


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## PopRox (May 28, 2016)

Brilliant diary, interesting reading as I too have pet store rats. Two girls one is much more socialable with us than the other, saying that we have only had them a week x


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## Hailey12 (May 29, 2016)

Are you a new rat owner? I'm curious because my boys are store bought rats as well, and I was wondering how did you manage to handle Lady from day one?


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

@PopRox thank you! I hope this helps you, and if you discover any tips or tricks that I haven't done, I would be super keen to hear them 

@Hailey12 I am sort-of a new rat owner, in that I had four boys four or five years back, but only for about six months as I had to give them away due to my mother buying a four-month-old kitten who terrorised them and them getting too stressed. With handling her every day, she has a hidey-hole that is a wooden house thing, and I reach in, scratch a bit on the top of the house to let her know what I'm doing, then pick it up and take it out so I can reach her, then talk to her softly and pat her a bit, then gently lift her up. I felt so guilty with her being alone, the least I could do is cuddle her every day. I'm not sure what you mean by 'manage', so I'm just going to cover all the bases I can think of.

If you're worried about them biting or aggression, my advice is don't. The first thing to getting them to trust you is you trusting them, and aggression is easily recognisable by the whipping tail, the puffing fur, and like a few other things that you can easily find online. If they are super aggressive and you just can't get close without blood, neutering might be the way to go, though it's not the only option. If the problem is them running around and being too quick, try to catch them when they've just woken up and are sleepy/groggy. That's how I convinced Lady to go into her carry cage so I could clean the other one. If you're worried about stressing them, again, don't. They are remarkably resilient, emotionally-speaking, and you handling them a lot will be beneficial to them in the long run when they are both happy chillers who trust you absolutely and are confident exploring and having fun because they know that you will protect them. So in short, I persisted with it even when, in the first couple of days, she was trying to escape and run away from my hands because I know it will be good for her in the long-run. 

As I think Gribouilli and RatAtat2693 both said, pet store rats are often very skittish and shy, so I knew she would be reluctant but it's not her choice whether she comes out or not, just like it would not be her choice whether or not she gets power groomed or play-fought with in any other mischief. I read the Forced Socialisation section in the Trust Training sticky on here a few times, and decided that was the best way to go as she was so timid.

Tbh, I am a tiny bit afraid of them all, because one of my boys from years ago bit me to the bone during the period where the kitten was terrorising them. Now every time I reach in there, a tiny, irrational part of me is convinced they will lunge - even though my old boy Azura didn't lunge, he just got a fright when I picked him up without enough warning. But, I know that he was abused and neglected before I got him, and I know that none of my rats now have that history, so it's irrational fear and I squash it down. 

So, I have a hidey-hole that can be easily taken out of her cage, I go slow but don't draw it out, and I only properly handle her for about ten minutes before she goes in my hood or under my hair. Then she stays there for at the very least an hour, since apparently rats can only hold fear for like 20 minutes I think? So then every second after that 20mins is her learning that my smell is okay, that she is safe, etc and then I also just talk to her/sing to her/read aloud off the Internet to her so she gets used to my voice, and I reach back into my hood and pat her every ten or so minutes. So just, yeah, be brave and remember that it will benefit them in the long run. Hope that helps, and if not, I'm sure there are many, many people on here who can help.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

*Day 10 - Sunday*

Catastrophe strikes today! (I exaggerate, of course) My husband shows Lady to his family via Skype, and she is remarkably quiet and still as I hold her up to the iPad, equal parts unsure and curious at her own mirror image on the screen. Afterwards, hubby sits with her for an hour or so in his hood playing Overwatch, then comes in to put her back in her cage. I warn him that the angle for getting her out of the hood is a tricky one, but let him continue to try. Unfortunately, he has almost got her back to her cage when she struggles, leaps and falls a few inches to the floor. My heart skips a beat as she scuttles quickly off, away from her cage. My husband is very dejected, so I tell him to close the study door so she cannot escape too far and be very quiet as I coax her back to her bed.

She is unhurt; the first thing I check before trying to scoop her up again is that she is using all of her limbs properly, which she is. She seems shaken but fine, and an interesting thing happens. While she is scurrying around the study, which is largely unfurnished still, I am laying on my stomach and talking to her, trying to convince her to come to me so that I needn't stress her further by chasing her. And she does come, right up to me, and sniffs all over me, several times. She still nimbly avoids being picked up, but seems content to use me as her 'base' when she rootles around on the floor. I file the information away for later, a little pleased despite the circumstances.

Hubby is quite upset as I'm doing this, and tells me he will not be picking any of the rats up anymore, instead letting me do the taking out and putting back in. I gently scoff at him and assure him that it is not his fault, or Lady's, as she is a wriggler and a half, while he is inexperienced with any pets other than dogs. He is not convinced, until one of my attempts to catch Lady results in her doing the exact same thing as what she did to him. She is quite the leaper, though again, since I am already so close to the floor, she lands deftly and just scurries away. A part of me wonders if perhaps she is playing with me, since she seems happy enough to pause in the middle of the room until I'm almost within reach of her before she scoots off again.

Eventually, she notices that her cage has been sitting on the floor, door open, the entire time, and decides it's time to go back in. As I close it up, relieved she came to no harm, she tries to stick her nose out again and continue the game, but I tell her gently 'no' and move her paws so they don't get squished by the cage door, and she accepts it gracefully enough. She has a large drink from her bottle, then disappears into her hidey-hole. I notice she's been stashing treats in another one of her cubbies, and she takes a pumpkin seed from my fingers again in the afternoon/evening. 

The boys are also doing well. Aeltun has somehow managed to coat himself in baby food at some point, and engages in a game of hide-and-seek with the other two as they try to catch him to groom it off him. Drogho also has some on him, I assume from where Aeltun has slept next to him. They are all improving on learning their own names, slowly but surely, as is Lady (I think) since she is definitely turning to look at me when I call her name, unless she is busy or cranky at me for making her come out.

I cannot wait until the Savic Royale arrives; it should be here early in the week, and then I can feel a little better knowing that they all have sufficient space. Even with the ample free-roaming time, I know they are more active at night and I cannot stay awake as long as I'd like to let them roam at their preferred times.

After I give them all dinner, Lady lays for a while on top of her favourite hidey-hole next to me while I code some CSS for my website and muck around on Youtube, looking for all intents and purposes like a fluffy grey-and-white lioness atop a rock (at least in my mind). She even folds her front legs delicately beneath her chest. I will be calling around to exotic animal vets tomorrow to see about a more experienced vet spaying her, so she can go in with the boys sooner than four weeks from Tuesday.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

*Day 11 - Monday*

Lady is actively seeking me out more and more during free roam time, but I can't help feeling a bit sad whenever I put her away to bring the boys out. She stands at her cage bars and watches them avidly, and I can't help but see longing in her eyes. She accepts being patted in the cage now, and will often bounce around after she goes back in there before popping up at the door again and trying to come out and play some more. She has also discovered some excellent places to stash treats, both inside and outside of her cage. None of my rats seem overly interested in eating the yogies I give them, but they all seem to enjoy stashing them. 

Lady agrees to snuggle in my hair while the boys are out, though none of them seem overly interested in sniffing each other -which is good, as it could easily have lead to an accident or a pregnancy if they came into contact with one another. The boys play on my husband's desk, while Lady sits with me at mine, and for an hour or two all is well in the world.

*Day 12 - Tuesday* 

The boys get neutered today. They hate it, and I think Lady gets a tad jealous at how much attention they receive. She doesn't get as much free roam time today - only about two hours - as I need to watch the boys as they recover from anaesthesia. They spend the better part of the day either rolling around, unsteady on their feet and wicked wasted from the surgery, and sleeping. Their feet are a tad purple, so I put a warm heat pack under the part of their cage where they sleep, and they recover nicely by the end of the day.

Lady snuggles with me very nicely, in my hood, and tries to get some free roam time, but there is noisy activity around our house and so she spends most of it quivering in her free roam hidey hole. The boys are truculent and hungover when I offer them yoghurt laced with children's ibuprofen, but they accept it eventually, and everyone gets extra treats before bed.

*Day 13 - Wednesday* 

As if responding to the lack of contact the previous day, Lady skitters a bit when I try to get her to come out. The day is busy and full of activity, so she opts to hide in my hood and scare the deliverymen as they drop off IKEA furniture by moving suddenly and causing them to think I have a still-attached fetal twin or something. They are not calmed when I tell them she is a rat. 

I leave the boys alone mostly, keeping an eye on their sutures but not interacting with them much beyond giving them food and some more ibuprofen when I see them sucking in their sides. They have mostly recovered though, as they are bouncing around quite happily come evening.

*Day 14 - Thursday*

The Savic finally arrives, and I spend five hours and several ounces of much-needed sanity assembling it by myself while the hubby is at work. It is time and energy well spent though, as the rats all take to their new quarters eagerly. There is a small gap brought on by bars bent in the cage's journey, not big enough to sniff through but too small to squish through and the boys sniff Lady and she them for an hour, with no aggression or anything beyond occasional curiosity. Eventually they go their separate ways, the boys eager to find all the nooks and crannies the giant rattie mansion cage has to offer. Lady explores for about half an hour, then sits mostly above the tiny gap where the boys can almost reach her, and my guilt intensifies. 

I go back to the pet shop and buy her last remaining sister, a solid grey girl we name Vex. After some questions from online rat groups, we sit them together on the desk cautiously and they instantly seem to recognise each other. Within 45 minutes of the first sniff, 20 of those with Vex still in her carry cage, they are napping snuggled up together on Lady's security blankie. We leave them an hour and a half, then decide that with absolutely zero aggression and the fact that until two weeks ago they were probably with each other constantly, we put them into the top half of the Savic together and they behave as if they were never apart. I move the cage into the study so I can wake up if I hear any unusual squeaking, but my gut tells me it will be fine. I just need to get some wood from Bauhaus tomorrow to make sure nobody gets bitten before introductions to the boys begin in six or so weeks.

Today's photo is of Lady and Vex snuggled up together after ten or so minutes grooming each other just after I let them interact without the carry cage in between them.


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## Zee-Bee (May 29, 2016)

It has been many months, and many unexpected things have happened in between my last post and now. I lost my job, we had to move to Denmark for work, and the rats have been through as many ups and downs as we have. 

There was the vet who believed that the mites on Appa were "just specks of dirt" and the URI he had "just a little cold", who refused to prescribe amoxi because "it would kill him" for the excessive porphyrin around one of his eyes. She was in Germany, we are graced with more educated, if a little more expensive, vets in Denmark.

As of yesterday, everyone is treated for mites, lice, and any internal parasites with doses of selamectin. Surprisingly, Appa was the trickiest because he has fear of nothing and will not sit still, and also associates syringes with strawberry yoghurt from the fish mox suspension I used to clear up the secondary infection from his URI when the German vet wouldn't help him. Plus many more things - this year has been full of upheaval, but now we are stable again. 

So here we are. Day... Something. 5-6 months and over 200km later.

Lady has blossomed. She now leaps onto the bars whenever I walk into the room, staring me down for treats. She still doesn't like being picked up, she'll often squeak and wriggle, scaring the bajeezus out of everyone in the room, but if she's sleepy and your hands are not gelid, she will blearily accept it. 

Her sister, Vex, we discovered has a tragic antihero backstory in the form of a snake rejecting her. Vex was the girl I originally picked out at the shop, though the assistant very smugly informed me that she was reserved. The next time I went back, Vex was not there. The time after, she was, and no longer reserved, so I grabbed her while I could. The assistant said a girl's snake had been too full for her, so we figure she's a tad traumatised, but she's never tried to bite, just hide. Vex still is more skittish and nervous than her sister, even today, but with the Stronghold application she has warmed up significantly. She will accept pats if she cannot eaily avoid them, whereas Lady seems almost to enjoy them now. 

In terms of what helped the most, I have no idea. We lived next to a very busy road in Germany - ambulances and traffic at all hours, poor ventilation, people shouting day and night in the street - whereas now we live in a village of maybe 300 people, so it gets very quiet, and very dark at night. Also, having spent the past 3-4 months looking for jobs whilst being on a work visa and trying to live off next to nothing, stress levels in the humans in the house were incredibly high. Now the humans are much calmer, and so the rats relax as well. 

There are still issues - we have no car and are about an hour's walk from the nearest supermarket, with an 8-year-old human child who cannot be left at home unattended - but we are very close to happy, all of us. 

Lady and Vex are currently sleeping and snuggling on my lap as I type. Before, I came into the room and Lady very brazenly glared at me until I sat down for her to sniff. She comes when she's called now, mostly, and Vex is aware of her name, though she shows it by giving me side-eyes and running away. They are both litter trained, as are the boys. The girls are very clever though, they seem torn between holding onto their remaining fear of us and learning all the tricks I try to teach them. 

They will come to me if I'm still and quiet, and will usually tolerate being picked up in order to go back into their cage after free roam. Honestly, I feel as though they'd be much more trusting and loving if only we hadn't had so many obstacles and stresses and upheavals. I was often so wrecked I could barely face the idea of trust training at the end of each day, the noise from the traffic and bright street lights in Germany hurt my head, as I'm sure it did theirs. I'm going to try to get a video of them being adorable and post it later, though they aren't keen on cameras.


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

I'm sorry about the loss of your job but I hope things are picking up now. Poor little Vex, glad she and Lady get along so well tho she must be happy with the company. I absolutely adore this thread and hope you decide to continue it some more!


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## Andromeda (Apr 28, 2016)

This was such a cute story.  Would love to read more if you've got the time to continue!


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## Catsratz (Nov 19, 2016)

Gribouilli said:


> Your boys smell so bad because of the stress and fear they experienced during their trip, it is called fear poop and it is horrible.


Definitely different than the usual "rat raisins." When I bought my 3 babies home a few weeks ago, one of them let loose about a mile into the trip home. And we had 20+ more miles to go. P-U! It's greenish, too. And my little nervous little guy of a few years ago would, for a week or more, also do tan- or flesh-colored ones. Okay - enough on rat poop!


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