# A Rat Tat Tat, a Rat Rat Rat (A Rat Story)



## cuddleb0t (Oct 10, 2011)

Since I was a child I had always wanted a dog. For every birthday since I can remember my only wish when I blew the candles was I wish I had a dog. By age 13 I have had almost every type of animal besides a dog. Guinea pigs, a rabbit, hamsters, cats, lizards, frogs, you name it. Finally I told myself I needed an animal that was the closest thing to a dog. I started looking into rats after a few bad experiences with hamsters (my Syrian hamster smelled horrible, acted crazy, irritable, mean, and eventually died from going into hibernation). 

One night in April 2010, I stopped at PetSmart. I was fully aware that most animals there are bred for chain pet stores are usually ill or poorly bred. I didn't care when I saw this beautiful top earred hooded rat, all by herself. I asked the PetSmart employee if I could hold her. Her put her in my hand and she gripped onto my fingers nervously, her tail wrapped around my wrist. She held onto me with such fear, like she hadn't been exposed to human touch her whole life. I pet her gently and knew she could be a perfect pet. 

I adopted her. I named her Paprika. The hooded part of her fur was a light brown that looked like the spice, paprika. I brought her home and for about a week she acted very anxious and we didn't bond that well. I wondered if rats were the same as hamsters, although I had heard otherwise. So I waited. It took another week or so for her to warm up... but by the next month, she was my best friend. She'd hang out on my shoulder, her tail loosely around my neck. At the time I had medium length hair so she'd crawl to the back of my neck and poke her head out from my hair. She'd let me place her on her back and massage her shoulders, with a look of contentment in her beady eyes. When I'd walk into the room and up to her cage, I'd chant in a funny voice "A rat rat rat, a rat tat tat, a rat rat ratta ratta rat rat rat. " her ears would perk up adorably, being the top earred rat she is. It's kind of corny, and it'd be embarrassing if anyone knew, but it was sort of my way of greeting her.

I was a rat beginner at the time. Paprika was happy but I knew there was something missing. A rat friend for her. A cagemate. Once again I went into another pet store chain. I have been told getting rats from breeders were better but this was short notice and I couldn't help but notice the adorable white and red eyed rats. So, I adopted my second rat girl. She and Paprika, being both young adults, were kind of difficult to pair together at first. Soon enough though they were like sisters. The white rat never really had an official name. Sometimes we'd call her Snowcake because of her snow white fur. Other times, I'd use this random, odd nickname "Bumbus" which came from calling her "Bubba" then "Bubbus". So it was Bumbus and Paprika. 

They were both chain pet store rats, which might be a reason they were always on the nervous side. Bumbus later became blind. I tried to make sure she ate and could find the water in her cage but she was losing weight so rapidly, she died a few months later. R.I.P Paprika eventually broke out of the cage because it wasn't as stable as I thought. So, while I don't have Paprika as my primary pet rat anymore, she IS alive. She is roaming open range in our garage. She doesn't leave and I put food and water out there all the time. She comes out every now and then but if I put her in a cage she'll go crazy. She is healthy and seems to be pretty happy out there. She must have a little home somewhere in the garage.

So, back onto dogs. During this time that I had Paprika and Bumbus, I also got my first puppy. My parents split up (but that's a different story), and my dad doesn't mind dogs so we got an Australian Shepherd named Mochi. He's a good dog but was really rowdy as a pup. I preferred my rats at this time, over my dog. 


Almost exactly a year later, I got another puppy. A labrador/pitbull mix girl named Willow. She was a lot different than my Australian Shepherd, but also, just the same. A part of me really missed having pet rats. So, this time, I went to the local feedstore. An actual breeder gives the store baby rats for pets. There was one left, a charcoal and white baby dumbo rat. I instantly brought her home, as well as a sturdy cage and all the essentials. I wanted to start fresh.I named her Tuffy, like the little grey baby mouse in a diaper from Tom and Jerry. Within the next two weeks, I found myself getting another rat and resuming my love for the animals. I will include my new rats in the next blog though. 

To sum it up... I found an animal better than the dog I've always wanted. They are called rats.







Paprika






Bumbus






Tuffy


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## Rat Daddy (Sep 25, 2011)

Depending on where you live Paprica is going to become interested in coming in from the cold with the onset of winter. But you can most likely coax her to you with lots of patience and a few treats. 

It's certainly not that she can't make it on her own, she very likely can... Its just that rats make great pets but terrible housemates. Although you can't see it now, you will inevitably find the damage she is doing to your home. 

I decided to take some misguided advise and let one of my ratties play in my office while I worked... First the phone went dead then my computer monitor blinked out, both cables neatly severed. The damages extended to monster speaker cables, two sets of stereo headphones, one computer microphone/headphone combo, the computer zip chord, mouse wire, the answering machine phone chord. a wireless telephone headset, and likely more I haven't come across yet. While I was working on fixing one of the headphones, she strolled across my desk and snipped the plug off one end of the wires I was trying to reconncet and ran off with the jack plug. And btw, she never got into the walls, just the closet and a few drawers and whatever was running under the furniture. 

Unless your garage is detached and has no electricity, your sweet little Paprica is a serious fire hazard, and who knows what else she might be destroying. 

Do everyone a favor and bring her home. Unless you and her had a falling out, you should be able to coax her out with her favorite treats. My monster will usually come when called, but if all else fails, she can't resist apple pie or fortune cookies. Just blow the scent into any hard to reach places. If that doesn't work, Have-A-Heart makes safe catch traps, naturally I'm assuming your garage doesn't lend itself to an easy search.

As to freaking out over being back home, that depends on how much she liked home in the first place. Central heat, air conditioning, plenty of free food, tasty treats, and lots of love from her people... That sounds like a pretty good deal to me. 

As to the actual recovery... If you grab her, she's likely to bite you. Lure her with treats and coaxing. Then let her sniff you and reassuringly call her onto your hand. Then get her into a container and out of the garage before she has a chance to think things over (snatch and plunk). Once she realizes who you are, she probably won't bite but do move he to a safe play area to get reaquainted. It should only take a few minutes for her to get acustomed to her old lifestyle.

Good hunting!


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