# My boys (and my hairless girl)



## EdieBird

First up, my almost five-month old black rex, Lothar. He's a very playful rat, and if I ask if he wants to play, he'll start popcorning around the cage and wrestling with my hand. He has this funny part in the hair on his back, where his curls go the wrong way. He's not as big as he looks in his second pic! He's so active, he's hard to get good pictures of. 



















Next, Cupid. He's a silly little dumbo boy, around three months old, and he bruxes and boggles at the drop of a hat. He does like to wrestle with his brothers, and also with my hands. He is also, apparently, quite photogenic and his closeup is currently my desktop wallpaper. He's more dainty of build than the other boys, but he holds his own in wrestling parties.




























My last boy is Iolus, Cupid's brother. He's not actually all white, he has a sort of light creamy-grey cap and lightning shaped blaze. He's my snuggler, and loves nothing more than burrowing under my shirt and curling up for a nap. He demands that he gets a kiss too, when my boyfriend kisses me goodbye in the morning. I suspect he's going to be a big boy when he's done growing, as he's as big as Lothar already. He's the slowest to respond when I ask if they want to play, but once he gets going, he loves a rumble!




























Here are Iolus and Lothar both on my shoulder. They get along fabulously well, so far. When I hand-wrestle with them, all three boys will pounce and bounce on each other, and my hand, but no teeth get used. Not to say I haven't noticed them using teeth when they're playing by themselves, they just don't use them when I'm playing with them. 










Annnnd, here's my hairless girl, Pandora, around the same age as Lothar, but I got her as a tiny baby. She would rather be with me than with my other girls, and likes to hold my fingertip with her little hands and give kisses. She also spends about six hours a night running on her flying saucer, and is solid muscle despite her soft look. 



















I'm trying to get pics of the other girls, but they're not cooperating!

Elisa


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## Em

I'd love a bald Rat, she's so cute


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## ema-leigh

gorgeous ratties


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## EdieBird

The other girls are still not cooperating with me about pictures! LOL 

I'm inclined to think they're all gorgeous, but then, that might just be the proud mama talking. I'll admit, Pandora looks a little like a gremlin, a very cute and sweet little gremlin! 

Anybody have any idea what color Iolus is? Besides *almost* white, I mean. His head has a bluish-beigey tone to it, but VERY light. He's capped, with a wonky lightning shaped blaze that doesn't show in pictures. His eyes are ruby. I don't know the genetics of his family besides that daddy is a beige capped dumbo and ultra squishy.


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## EdieBird

Got a pic of my big girl, Echinda. She's around 8 months old, and a LOT bigger than the other girls. (two of which are the same age, one is a littermate!) She's a very serious rat, not caring to play much but intent on having the BIGGEST stockpile of food ever. She's not overly friendly, preferring to be touched on HER terms, though she's far from bad-tempered. She also doesn't believe that her name is Echidna or Kid, and will only answer to Mama, or Big Mama. So I guess her name is really Big Mama Echidna! (Echidna is the mother of all monsters in "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys" and I thought this rat was expecting for a while after getting her) She's pretty girl, and she actually likes to swim, even diving if the water is deep enough. 










The boys again, this time all three on me! I was covered in rats! LOL 










Left to right, Lothar (black rex), Cupid (Black capped dumbo), and Iolus (some very light color capped Dumbo) I can't believe how big my baby boys are getting! The dumbos were only about 5 weeks old when I got them, back in late June. I couldn't get any baby pictures of them as I had packed my camera already for our move. Wish I had, they were SO stinking cute!

Elisa


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## Kinsey

pretty boys and girl<3 Especially the little nakie. She is so lovely. I must someday get a nakie, or even SEE one in real life.


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## DutchRodent

oke, Cupid is like the coolest rat i have ever seen!


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## EdieBird

It's hard to believe that my little baldie princess Pandora almost didn't make it. She's from a litter that was abandoned at the pet store here. My sister met the rat-dumper when the woman overheard her talking to another customer about her rats, and jumped in to say how much she "loves" rats. This gal has 11 pairs of rats, each pair left together all the time, half of which are hairless, and with no thought of what happens to the babies. She doesn't make sure they're old enough to be away from mama before leaving them on the back step of the pet shop. Grrrrr.

Pandora couldn't eat lab blocks yet when I got her, she tried but was too tiny to handle them. She only weighed 3/4 of an ounce, and wobbled when she walked. She spent the first week that I had her drinking formula from a bowl and eating formula-soaked blocks. My big girls took care of her, too, washing her skin and keeping her warm, and Echidna even tried to nurse her. (didn't work, ummm, no milk...LOL) She's developed into such a pretty, loving little lady. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't gone into the store that day. 

DutchRodent, Cupid thanks you for the compliment! He's entirely too cute for his own good. Once he was on my shoulder when I was trying to get rid of some door-to-door religious people, and they wouldn't leave because they wanted to see the cute little rat! LOL (they probably would have run screaming had it been my agouti girl, Xena, who looks wild and like to charge at people to see how they'll react)

Elisa


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## leesha

You have such beautiful rats! Little Pandora seems so sweet.


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## EdieBird

Pandora really is sweet. She's the one that, when running around in the playpen, will run a lap, then climb up my arms for a nuzzle and to comb my hair with her little claws, then climb back down, run another lap, and repeat. She prefers human company over other rats, but she does get along beautifully with the others girls. She always seems so dainty and graceful, like a tiny rat ballerina, not like Echinda, who lumbers along like a moose, or Gabby and Xena, who both randomly skitter. 

I think I really lucked out finding Pandora when I got her! She's such a terrific little girl.


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## noMoreFaith

very sweet rats...especially the nakie!! i'm getting one next month! ;D


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## Instinct

Wow, what a gang of gorgeous ratties!
Lothar's back fur is so cute, It looks like someone just combed it that way. But I think I may have to steal Cupid, his markings are so similar to that of my Alice. I'm in love!


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## EdieBird

Instinct said:


> Wow, what a gang of gorgeous ratties!
> Lothar's back fur is so cute, It looks like someone just combed it that way. But I think I may have to steal Cupid, his markings are so similar to that of my Alice. I'm in love!


Heh...you could TRY to steal Cupid, but you'd better be ready to wrestle with him, a LOT! He's friendly but not affectionate, preferring to play rather than snuggle. He's that one that, when he's out of the cage, runs in circles, hopping every few steps, and then zooms back to me to pounce on my hands. He actually like to wrestle with my boyfriend better, he has much larger hands and I guess makes a better wrestle-buddy. Nothing makes him happier than the words, "I'm gonna get you!" as this means it's time to play! If he can't wrestle with a human, he's pestering the other boys to wrestle with him, even though frankly, they'd like to sleep. He's a lot smaller than Lothar, and quite a bit smaller than his brother, Iolus, but somehow manages to pin them both every time. Yeah, Cupid's my wild boy! LOL (and despite the constant brawling he never uses teeth...not on humans OR rats)


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## EdieBird

*the girls at play! lots of pics*

FINALLY got some halfway decent pics of my girls. 

First, their playpen. I wish it was bigger, but I just don't have a safe place that is big enough for a larger one. It's milk boxes, opened out, taped together, and then clear tape covering both sides of the handle slots so nobody can get their heads out. You can see the four girls playing, gives you an idea of the relative size.










Xena and Pandora digging for buried treasure...shredded wheat and puffed wheat! 










Xena and Gabby randomly playing.










Gabby looking for a place to hide and eat her shredded wheat.










She found a place!










Gabby joining Xena for a treasure hunt.










Echidna and Xena contemplating the best way to scale my leg. These two are 8month-old littermates, but Echidna is WAY bigger than Xena.










Echidna demonstrating her cartoon-rat cute face.










Echidna and Gabby thinking about making a break for it. Gabby is tiny next to Echidna! (actually, she's tiny, period!)










and the obligatory adorable Pandora shot...she sat on my foot until I picked her up.


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## leesha

They're adorable! Nice job on the playpen. I'd love to do something like that, but Nadja is an escape artist and would be out in no time. Instead I just let them run around the living room.


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## EdieBird

Xena can hop right over the edge, but she generally only does it if my boyfriend is sitting on the floor playing with them too. She likes to try to scare him. Echidna doesn't jump. She sort of lumbers and TRIES to climb but the flaps at the top can't hold her weight, so she slides back in. Gabby is too busy running in circles to try to escape, and Pandora figures she should just be where I am. 

The boys use the playpen as their Rat Wrestling Federation ring! LOL They get pretty wild in there. I'm usually sitting in the pen with them, and I'm apparently "base" in whatever version of tag they're playing. Silly rats.

I have trouble sometimes convincing non-rattie people that Xena is beautiful. They look at her and see a wild rat. I look at her and see this sleek, shining, loyal little animal, who bruxes just because she can see me, and who, while she likes to play pranks on people, would never bite anyone. Gabby, on the other hand, everyone recognizes that she's cute, and she loves the attention. My boyfriend calls her a Golden Retriever in disguise...it fits. She'll run to anyone, kissing and wanting pets, and, while she's smart when it comes to learning commands, she's terrible at figuring things out on her own. (kinda dumb but lovable, like every retriever I've ever met LOL)


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## EdieBird

*More pics of the boys*

Caught Lothar and Cupid snuggling in their hammock...so much cute!










Lothar makes a good pillow.










The flash woke Lothar up...LOL










Lothar looking like a big fat squish. He's a very huggable boy! (and, I think, quite photogenic)










And, because he's missing from the previous photo session, here's Iolus enjoying a good scratch on my shoulder. Any idea what color he is? This picture is color-accurate. He's a little darker than when he was a baby, but not much! My squishy squishy snuggle boy...


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## ema-leigh

Hes a platinum ;D Gorgeous pictures, you have a special group of ratties there!


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## EdieBird

Thanks. I love them all so much, it's ridiculous. (same way with my dogs) Finances may be tight, but they will NEVER go without, even if I have to work out payment plans with my vet for whatever. (I'm lucky, my vet allows payments instead of all at once) Same for food...all my animals get the best foods I can get locally (Mazuri for the rats, Taste of the Wild for the dogs) and if I have to cut back on "fun" purchases for myself, so be it. I've had some non-animal people come down on me for putting their needs above my wants, but you know, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to any of my pets and I could have prevented it. 

Heh...I just noticed that Iolus looks like a big ol' grump in his picture. Sooooo not the case, this rat would purr if he could! Thanks for telling me what color he is, I've been curious, as he's clearly NOT beige!


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## EdieBird

Xena is watching you...

Okay, actually she was eating a piece of dog food and I distracted her with the camera. (Dog food is a rare treat, they all relish it when they can get it!)










Heh...is that a rat or a "mouse?"










Iolus getting all hypnotized by ear skritchies. He relaxes so much he actually loses his grip and slides off my shoulder and I have to catch him. Silly mushy boy.


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## toby

they are lovely.


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