Baby (aka andy) will always be a baby, even a year and 2 months after I got him!

Vanilla my sweet baby is almost 1 year and she’s the most social rat I’ve had. She pees on me every chance she gets and sits and watched me until I let her out. She needs to be around me all the time when we free roam them. She can leave cuddle rat session as soon as she hears me move outside the cage. She was very very shy when we first got her wouldn’t let me even touch her . But now she’s just my sweet baby. I absolutely adore her and she’s the cutest baby

Tucker!

I tried teaching rat tricks for YEARS for this one rat, she never learned anything, i just accept that she was not the smartest rat in the room, only to discover that now, old af, with tumors, respiratory diseases, I learn that she learned HERSELF how to open soda bottles ???????

Can you believe such an innocent, pure creature could do something so devastating?

I've been finding shreds of the seam all over the place even days later.

Remy will be on meds for the rest of his life, his heart is too big for his body and he has arthritis. My other boy, Emile, is a devil with medicine and I dread giving it to him.

Yeh idk anymore, Jeff is a special little.. Creature?

(Can we get a petition started to get Jeff his own flair? I suggest "Cr*ckhead hour" or "Zero thoughts" as the name)

👆

This is mostly a joke, i don't expect to get a flair made for any of my rats

Hi,

When Suus drinks from this bottle, she often does this movement to lift the bottle higher while drinking. Shes the only rat from my 4 who does so, and shes significantly bigger than the other 3.

I checked the bottle and water does seem to be flowing.

Does anyone know what might cause her to do this?

I think he’s embarrassed…

So sorry for the long post. I asked earlier last week how anyone ever copes with losing a heart rat. I’m still not even close to understanding life without her, but one thing that brought me some comfort was that at least I had her sisters with us.

On Thursday night, Mina started to show similar symptoms to Ripley, so I held her, gave her painkillers, and kept her close until the vets opened in the morning, as the last time we went to the emergency vet they said there wasn’t anything they could do to help us as they didn’t have the equipment for small furries, so I just kept her comfortable and happy at home where she knew.

On Friday, she went straight in and was admitted as an inpatient so that we could get her comfy with painkillers and an oxygen tent with her sister, Buffy. I gave her so many kisses and loves and told her I loved her and would be back for her soon, and then waited for her scans. We were sat in the waiting room when my vet came down, and I immediately knew something was wrong - my precious girl Mina had collapsed after her scan and passed. They found the same fluid in her chest and tumour on the scan as Ripley had, just smaller. They said she was happy and giving kisses to the vets right before it happened, so I'm trying to take some comfort in that.

Losing them so close together has devastated me. They were still so young, and I thought we had more time together with both of them, and now they’re only survived by their sister Buffy.

It's hard to think straight with how much I'm grieving. We’re trying to keep her comfortable on her own just temporarily while we wait to do further scans in 2 weeks because they found a similar small mark in the same location as both her sisters that could be a potential tumour. We re-implanted her hormone chip, as one theory was that possibly their original hormone chip had run out extremely, extremely early and it might have been a hormonally driven tumour. We will be doing a further ultrasound scan in 2 weeks to see if there is growt/what treatment we will take/how much time she has depending on results.

We're trying to keep her happy as we can right now and comfortable while we wait for the results, as I think it is important to have all that information to help us know what the next move is. Everything is so horrible right now, and I just miss my girls so much, but I am also trying to consider every option for my remaining baby that will keep her happy and with us. The things that are going in circles in my head right now are mainly:

- If she has a limited time left, is it cruel to introduce more rats when they could bully her or not get along if she is going to be more unwell?

- If she has a limited time left, do we consider introducing an older, more senior female/s so the timelines match up a bit better, if she is going to slow down?

- If she does have more time, do we introduce younger females or older ones? I'm scared that if we introduce already-bonded girls, they will bully her, as she is on her own without her sisters.

- Would it be an option to introduce 2 neutered males? I've seen people doing a neutered male group with a neutered female and them being gentle with the lone female.

My heart hurts to open up to more girls after losing mine so soon; I worry it would be unfair to bring in more girls while we're grieving bc what if I keep comparing them to my original girls? They're irreplaceable to me, and I always said they would be my only girls. </3 If a mixed group wouldn't be beneficial, I wouldn't do it and would stick with adopting some females to keep her company but thought neutered boys could be an option. She was 1 year old in August with her sisters, so I hope she has lots of time with us remaining, and I want to know what I can do to make sure of that if her results come back with good news.

Sorry if this is all a lot - my head is spinning trying to consider all the options, and I just want to think about what will be the best thing for her if her results show she is going to have more time left with us and be healthy. Thank you for any help, rat tax included, of my gorgeous Buffy. I'll do whatever it takes to keep her happy and in our care, as I can't bear for her to lose any more stability.

And before anyone asks "where's Jeff?"

He did his own thing while the other's got their photos taken, I have some pictures of what he was up to if anyone is interested in seeing that.

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with this years photos. I let all the rats onto my bed and just took photos whenever they went close to or inside of the pumpkin 🎃 I most likely do another little session with just the older boys yesterday, because they were the ones who actually went into the pumpkin and seemed relaxed and like they were having fun

Took 6 months. But, I think this boy loves me now!

I can’t tell how he feels about being pet in the bed, I’m a new boy mom I only had female before so I’m not quit sure. I know my girls would back up immediately if they doesn’t like it but idk about boys

Mrs. Boy actin a foo during intros. She wasn’t moving or visibly breathing. Turns out she was just conked out. Rats acting dead should be illegal

New free roam area for the girls! One already figured out she can jump out…time to order more panels

Rat asmr, ignore my giggle in the back

Pinky loves me and Pebble thinks im the most annoying ape on the face of the Earth but thats ok because she’s very cute.