Mommy & baby rescue rat's thread *UPDATE 11/27...our ending*.

[undergunfire]

I was searching around on my local Craigslist, and found this add:


"Hairless and Semi-Hairless -

3 adult females and 2 adult males for free. also had 5 females drop litter at the same time. have 4 week old babies in 1 week. please call for pick up. the adults are strong but don't bite and are tame. you will need a strong box to take them in. feed them or breed them i don't care, i just have too many know."


First off, rats need to stay with their mommies until atleast 5 weeks. These people probably won't listen to me if I tell them that, anyway. Second, don't these people know how to separate sexes?

They are probably not "feeder breeders" judging by the post because they aren't charging, probably just people who brought home too many rats and can't tell what boy *goolies* are :grumpy:.




To be honest, my area is NOT big on rats, at all. If it's not for me, all these rats would be going to their death in a snake's belly. I need to be the one to step in and help them out. No way can I sit here and let them all die .


I found a person in Tuscon, AZ (4 hours away) to take in two or three of the baby hairless rats . She will either meet us in Phoenix this Saturday or Dec. 2nd when we go to the airport to get Morgan.

I may also foster two, I have a spare rat cage and can't let rats die if I can help it. Ryan and I are taking tonight, he will most likely agree to it. I may even keep them and bond them into my large cage with Leonidas and Spartan. I have been wanting hairless rats, and they are so hard to find around here.....VERY hard. Two more rats won't take up anymore space than my current two, they are all in one cage. I won't need multiple cages taking up space.






I am happy that I can atleast help 4-5 of these rats, out of probably 50 :shock:. I can only hope the rest get into good homes, but that probably won't happen in this "snake town" :?.

 

[binkies]

Poor things! You know I would help out if I were there.

 

[undergunfire]

I know, I can't not help out. I am probably the only one who will go to them for pets and not feeders .

 

[XxMontanaxX]

Awww that's horrible.

I hope you can help them out! Goodluck!

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Because they are idiots. That's exactly why I hate so many people! They don't know what they are doing and just wing it. You can't do that with living things!

:X

 

[undergunfire]

I called the person with the rats, and she sounded so careless on the phone. She said she had THREE mom rats inside a tank with all the babies, and who knows how many babies they had. By my guess, she has them all crammed in a 10 or 20 gal. tank

.

Ryan and I are going to PETsMART in a little while to get a tank and supplies for a single mom and babies. The lady said one mom has four babies (she can tell from size), and they will be who I am taking regardless of what the woman says

. She also said the babies just opened their eyes.


If the lady in Tucson is taking two or three, then we will see about me keeping mommy (having her spayed) and one baby. Then, no more ratlets here!



Wish us luck. We are going to the woman's house in two hours.

 

[XxMontanaxX]

Goodluck and I hope it doesn't turn out as bad as I'm picturing in my head.

ray:

 

[cheryl]

Goodluck!...it's good of you for helping these little guys out

We had three rats,which belonged to my boys,but i got so attached to the little buggers,and i soon came to realize what fantastic and loveable little creatures they are,when i called their names,they would come a runnin! ,we spoiled them to,when we watched tv or something,the ratties always came out to have a run around,i just don't understand how people could not like these little guys.

Cheryl

 

[undergunfire]

I called the person at 6:15pm my time and they weren't going to be home from Pheonix for another 2 hours, so we resceduled for me to come out tomorrow at 5:30pm my time.

When I called they said another person called them and wanted to come by tomorrow and "get a bunch of them"....that means snake food here :?. The guy's wife (I guess I was talking to the husband earlier) told me that he will hold all rats for me, so I get first pick.

They are deffinitely letting me take a mom and four babies.


Tomorrow is my last day (7 hours) at my old job, then I have to wait another 3 hours after getting off work to get the rats...tomorrow is going to drag on!

 

[myLoki]

I went to Petco today and saw some very pretty rats. I think I might have a rat some day. I had a friend that had one and he was sooooo sweet. Definitely far in the future though. Good on you for rescuing the mom and babies.

t.

 

[undergunfire]

Remember, T...always get two rats or more. They do best in pairs .



The person sent me an email with pictures of two moms and some babies. Here they are:




Pile of babies! They are adorable! I see agouti, hoodies, possible PEW. I love agouti. One seems to be rex and not hairless. I might be suprised tomorrow, some may be actual rexes (I LOVE rexes) and some hairless.

Mom #1 and babies:

Mom #2 and babies:

Mom #2, again:

The pictures are of poor quality and I don't see a mom #3 pictured. Hopefully their conditions tomorrow will be "okay". Even if they were in beautiful cages, I wouldn't care....these people are still listing them as "breeders or feeders" :grumpy:.

So, a mommy and 4 babies will be coming home with me tomorrow. Just by seeing the first picture, I totally love the little agouti (brown) at the bottom of the picture. I am pretty sure he is a rex.



Well, wish us luck, again...lol! I know the girl who is taking two or three of them will be happy with them. I will socialize them so much before they get to her on Dec. 2nd.

I am going to try to sex them at the people's house. I hope to get all boy babies, then of course...the mom. I may end up keeping the mommy and one boy baby (if I sex everyone right), then get the mom spayed as soon as I can, then the baby when he is old enough.

 

[JadeIcing]

:grumpy:I can't say what I am thinking. Good luck!

 

[myLoki]

I'll remember that. What is better? Two males or two females?

t.

undergunfire wrote:

Remember, T...always get two rats or more. They do best in pairs .

 

[PixieStixxxx]

Awwww! I LOVE rats. I spend hours playing with them every Friday at my shelter.

We once had four males living together, and they had so much fun! We even bonded two males together, and it turned out amazingly well.

Females always came in with another female, so no problem there.

 

[ChompersMom]

I would take some if I could. I love rats, I used to have one myself. However, I shouldn't have even bought Moose until I moved but my boyfriend made the mistake of telling me that he would take my snake to his house and keep her until we move so I could have more room for the 2nd bun. Silly boy..he should know better than to tempt me.

And to think..hairless. I love hairless animals ( I have a hairless dog). If only I lived in a house right now..I would take one for sure..but there's def. no room here

 

[undergunfire]

T, I personally LOVE male rats, they are calm and squishy! Most turn into big huge cuddle bugs when they age .


It's 4pm my time. Ryan and I have to go to PETsMART in an hour to get a 10 gal tank and a lid. Mom and 4 babies is just enough space for a 10 gal, besides...they will be old enough in about 1 1/2 weeks to be separated by sexes and go into real cages. Gosh, I REALLY hope I can sex them before I take any home! I want to try for all males, I think!


I had a lady on a rat forum ask me if I could take ALL of them, then drive and meet her 4 hours in Las Vegas around Thanksgiving to give her the other ones, but no way can I get Ryan to drive that. I told her I can talk him into two hours. I leave soon though, I hope she gets back to me.




EDIT TO ADD: Any Rat Rescue in Pheonix just contacted me for the person's Craigslist ad. I am seeing if they are interested in taking the rest in.

 

[undergunfire]

We are home! Well, we got home a while ago .



The guy's house was pretty nice. He had the mom and four babies already in a box for me. He had them on pine bedding and had a chunk of alfalfa cube in with them. He said the rats like alfalfa...which is dumb....rats can't digest it!

The guy and his wife were super nice, but he made comments that weren't so nice. Like....he said he had one rat that used to bite, so he took it and shot it because no one would want it. He also said that he put one of his rats in the freezer to kill it (because he heard it was humane), and then said he went back 5 hours later and the rat was still alive :grumpy:.


He had two mommies and five babies in a nice big power coated cage. He said it was a homemade one from our local pet store. It was roughly the same exact type of cage as a Martin's R-695. I might go over to the pet store this weekend to see if they have another! He said it was only $100....compaired to a Martin's $160.

The three males were inside of a tank, on pine bedding. No toys, a wheel, and a big rock. He kept refering to the hairless as a "Sphinx"....like a hairless cat.


He said the breeding weren't intentional. He bought the mom rat (that he later shot) and she was pregnant, but he didn't know. Mom gave birth, and he didn't know any better...so he separated the babies at 6 weeks.

Well, the 5 baby girls got pregnant by their brothers, and this is where the story ends. I am not sure if his story is true, but whatever. I saved 5 beautiful rats.


He let one mom and a few babies go to some lady earlier today, so he now has 3 adult males, 2 adult females, and 5 babies. I talked him into seeing about getting the male rat neutered that he wants to keep. He wants to keep 1 baby, a mom, and the male rat. I will be talking with this guy further about how to properly care for them. He loves them, I can tell....but not like real animal lovers love their animals. Basically....any animal to him is a dime a dozen.

He said that he needs to find homes for 2 adult males, 1 adult female, and 3-4 babies. He asked me to ask around because he wants them to go to homes soon.


All babies are agouti. One appears to be a rex, and not a hairless. We have two agouti and two agouti hooded. The one hooded baby looks so close to the hooded color standard. Mommy has darn skin, so I think she may be an agouti hairless self?

I am pretty sure we have two males, the one hooded and the rex baby. I will try to sex them all tomorrow.

Ryan has fallen in love for mommy. I keep calling her "Shmish", lol. I have fallen for baby rex.



Pictures and sexing are to come tomorrow. Hopefully I can tell the sexes! I am excited to know what we have!


:biggrin2:

 

[undergunfire]

Right now I am posting every where and trying my darned hardest to get the remaining 7 rats out of that house.

I have had some people come to me to take some in, but we are worthing everything out right now.


Pictures to come soon, and hopefully sexes .

 

[undergunfire]

I posted an add on freecycle, and a lady in my town responded and owns 4 ratties. I told her the story and had her read all about the guy and the rats in a thread on a rat forum I am on.

I just emailed her to see if she could get a tank and take the mom and the remaining babies to foster. Then, at 4 weeks, we can separate them. Like, I take all the males and she takes all the females, or something. Then, work together on finding them all homes.


*Wish us luck that we can get the mom and remaining babies out of there!!

 

[Happi Bun]

Good luck! That's so great, what you are doing.