It all started back in 1997. I was doing my training to be a registered nurse and I was still living at home with my Dad. The only pets I'd ever had that I could remember were goldfish. Apparently I'd had a budgie called Fred and a goat called Murdoch but I must of been pretty young because I can't for the life of me remember them at all :) The reason for the fish was that they didn't make a mess in the house, need walking and I guess needed the least amount of responsibility as far as pets go. Then for some reason I got the idea of having a rat.
Off to a bad start ....
The first few years of rat keeping didn't go well at all ....
My first rat, Rage I managed to convince my Dad that having a rat was much better than a fish because you could pat it yet keep it well confined in my room, in a cage, where it wouldn't mess up the house. Brilliant idea! Dad agreed and I got my first rat, a black hooded boy, naming him Rage from the Smashing Pumpkins song "Bullet With Butterfly Wings", starting a trend of names from their lyrics. Unfortunately Rage got spooked for some reason and bit my Dad :/
My boy Morphine I ended up getting another black hooded boy after Rage was gone called Morphine from the song "1979" and he wasn't all too friendly either. He didn't bite though which I was happy with and Dad named him "Morph" for short. I moved out of home and in 1998 he became sick, he felt cold and was very lethargic. It was after hours and I didn't know what to do I cuddled him in my arms overnight with a hot water bottle. I rang a friend the next morning to take me to the vets. The vet discovered he had blood in his urine. The vet asked if anyone had given him rat poison(!), I said no so the vet put it down to kidney failure. He gave Morphine a shot of Vitamin K and told me that Morphine should stay the night at the vets. They rang me in the morning to say he had died that night :(
Twilight and Starlight the twins The next 2 rats seemed to be doing well, called Twilight and Starlight from the album "Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness". Twin albino girls. They would play together and everyone loved them. I came home from my training one day to find my flatmate crying and yelling at me. They'd had a fight that had gone too far and killed each other :( I got a replacement boy rat and he got hold of my old flatmate's t-shirt and choked, rats have no gag reflex, he didn't even have a name at that point. (Yes this does sound depressing doesn't it? But I loved rats and wanted to try again).
Zero the cuddly boy Zero was the next rat .... a lovely fawn hooded boy, named after the song "Zero" who was friendly and very snuggly :) All my friends loved him and he was very popular when I had parties! Zero the party animal! :) My old flatmate's 5 year old daughter loved him too. I moved house and a few weeks later found him lying on the bottom level of the cage with what looked like a broken back :( He died in my arms 10 minutes later :(
Billy and Trent Next came Billy Gnawgan and Trent Ratznor, 2 brothers, named after Billy Corgan, lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. Myself and my ex had great fun with these two rats. Building them mazes out of cardboard tubes and playing with them. I went away on holiday leaving my ex to look after them and a few days after I returned they too, just like the rest, died.
By this point I was thinking what the heck am I doing wrong? I thought I'd try mice next, but they just weren't the same, smelled my room out in my flat and I couldn't pat them half as easily as rats. I read up on rats and decided to give it another try. This is where the story gets happy :)
I like to think that I have learned many things about rats and am now a well-informed rat owner! My rats are safer and happier than ever before and are surviving a lot better!
Happier times (my current rats)
Ruby (a.k.a. Wuby Watty) is my silverfawn hooded girl. Named after "Thru the eyes of Ruby". She's a princess and she knows it!!! She prances about, snubs her nose at being picked up and makes a great fuss until she's happily perched on your shoulder or running down your top. She is just beautiful and has the personality of a beauty queen to match. She's alpha-rat, bossing Locke around and proclaiming that she rules the roost :) She's fussy and a snob to an extent but you just gotta love her! She has had a mammary tumour removed and gets wheezy as she approaches old age but that fighting spirit keeps her going!
Locke (a.k.a. Lockey) is my black hooded girl with funny love-heart shaped markings on her sides, named after the song "Cupid de Locke". She's the friendliest rat on the face of the planet. She'll happily cuddle up to anyone, will run down your top (she has on occasions run down my friends' tops despite me warning them) and generally try and get your attention any way she can. She will even kiss you!
Update: Locke sadly passed away on 23rd March 2003. She rapidly lost weight and gained some sort of lump in her abdomen. I thought she might have been passing blood in her urine and not emptying her bladder properly. But sadly the vet told me it was probably a tumour and with it being so big she wouldn't have long (tumours grow very fast in rats due to their fast metabolism). The blood was from her uterus, either from a primary or secondary tumour. A week later she was dying. She had got so skinny you could see her ribs despite her fur and she was getting bald on her spine from it sticking out. She was having to be hand-fed and despite this was her usual affectionate self. The day she died she couldn't walk properly so I booked her into a vet to be put to sleep and she started gasping in the waiting room and died in my arms before the vet saw her. At least she left on her own terms, having a cuddle from me and knowing she was greatly loved. I miss her very much and she'll always have a special place in my heart.
Flame (a.k.a. Mr Flamey) is my black hooded boy named after "Bullet With Butterfly Wings". His story is probably the best story I have. Each week we would go into the pet shop to have a look at what rats they would have. Each week Flame would be sitting there all mopey and sad. In the end that was it, we had to buy him. My boyfriend was upset at seeing him there and I was too. So we took him home. But he had a bad behaviour problem - biting. I have a scar on my left little finger where he bit me. I did some research online and found that neutering him may help. I pinned all my hopes on this, despite the vet nurses warning me it may not work. And contrary to their beliefs it has! I was able to hand-feed him and built up trust. He's now a big cuddle-bug that lets me pick him up and hug him :) I'm so proud of my Flamey!
Spiro is a ratty I got on 1st September 2002, after being contacted by a fellow rat person saying they had heard of someone needing to rehome their rat. He's a mink mismarked hooded downunder rat (phew, what a mouthful!) whose Mummy is probably going overseas so she needed someone to take on little Spiro. So who better than me :D He has a lovely friendly nature and is the loveliest mink colour I've seen.
I think I'll always have rats .... they're loveable, cuddly and return the love back unconditionally! They're not very messy, not expensive to feed and do funny things that make you laugh :) I love them to bits!
Click here to see pics of my current rats
