Aww, great post to read! Wow, High Sides was taking care of her buddies by dropping down yogies to them...what a great clan leader type she is eh? Can't wait to see new pics of your girls!
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As you can tell by my user name, I typically love boy rats, but the batch of girls I have at the moment is cracking me up! Ms. Lila, aka Mommy rat, is learning to be socialized. I've been trying to teach her to want to come to me without being grabbed by luring her out with yogies and offering them to her if she comes to see me. Last night we had quite the break through! I opened the cage without treats in hand to just pick up and rub on a couple of the other girls and she just ran right out to me and started climbing up my shirt without bribery! Yay! Then she bit my dog on the nose. She really really likes to do that and the darn stupid curious dog won't stop sniffing her. Lila will literally cross 10 ft of space to bite that dog!
Then there's the twins I got at the same time as Lila, Zealand and Tazmania. They are inseparable and like to tag team you. Ex. Zealand comes up to you when the cage door is opened and does every sweet cuddly rattie thing and when you look up Taz has krept out of the cage and half way out of the room! Taz is fearless and loves the dog!
And last but not least, there are 8 baby girls right now courtesy of Mommy Lila. They are all darling and sweet and cuddling, but most of them are pretty shy. They like to be cuddled when you reach in for them, but if I open the cage door and offer treats they don't want to take them out of my hand, except for one. We call her high sides because she's a berk but not a very good one by most standards because her white sides come up way way high. She's actually kinda interesting looking. Anyway, high sides is not afraid of anyone so last night when I was offering yogies and no one else was brave enough to come get them, she came right up and started taking yogies out of my hand and dropping them to everyone else on the level below her! She's a real leader. I had planned to place everyone and not keep any babies, just the three I started out with, but she may have to stay with me.
Then there's the twins I got at the same time as Lila, Zealand and Tazmania. They are inseparable and like to tag team you. Ex. Zealand comes up to you when the cage door is opened and does every sweet cuddly rattie thing and when you look up Taz has krept out of the cage and half way out of the room! Taz is fearless and loves the dog!
And last but not least, there are 8 baby girls right now courtesy of Mommy Lila. They are all darling and sweet and cuddling, but most of them are pretty shy. They like to be cuddled when you reach in for them, but if I open the cage door and offer treats they don't want to take them out of my hand, except for one. We call her high sides because she's a berk but not a very good one by most standards because her white sides come up way way high. She's actually kinda interesting looking. Anyway, high sides is not afraid of anyone so last night when I was offering yogies and no one else was brave enough to come get them, she came right up and started taking yogies out of my hand and dropping them to everyone else on the level below her! She's a real leader. I had planned to place everyone and not keep any babies, just the three I started out with, but she may have to stay with me.
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Oh Ms. Lila you saucy spitfire of a southern belle. (I'm totally flashing back to Gone With The Wind). "Lordy Ms. Lila, you do know everything about birthin' them babies". As God is her witness she'll never be yogiless again.
She births her babies, and goes out of her way to bite Rhett Butler on the nose for being the dog he is. LOL
Zea and Taz remind me of the early days of my Tucker Jeffrey and Windham. It was always a coordinated attack to confuse and distract me so somebody could slip their little bumsnake out the cracked door I was guarding.
HighSides is an outstanding bit of rat. Talk about pick of the litter. It's well worth saving her most especially for a home you know is going to dote on her like a new child for her whole life.
She births her babies, and goes out of her way to bite Rhett Butler on the nose for being the dog he is. LOL
Zea and Taz remind me of the early days of my Tucker Jeffrey and Windham. It was always a coordinated attack to confuse and distract me so somebody could slip their little bumsnake out the cracked door I was guarding.
HighSides is an outstanding bit of rat. Talk about pick of the litter. It's well worth saving her most especially for a home you know is going to dote on her like a new child for her whole life.
How old are your babies now? They should be a ton more friendly at this age. I think you had better work on more socializing.
My litter are nutbars...i try to get natural pics of them in the cage and they just swarm the door, they will take food from my hands, and climb up my arms.
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Btw their mom is a skittish, bitey mom, but it didn't affect them at all.
My litter are nutbars...i try to get natural pics of them in the cage and they just swarm the door, they will take food from my hands, and climb up my arms.
Btw their mom is a skittish, bitey mom, but it didn't affect them at all.
Oh, gosh, lilspaz--I would LOVE to have that bunch of babies cuddling in my lap! :heart: They're sooo cute!!!!!!
I was thinking the same thing Breyer..what I wouldn't give to have those lil cuties all swarming at my hand. Mmmmm! Adorable!!
Storyseeker, I fully agree with you about HighSides...she deserves the very best in life, with a doting Mom or Dad to spoil her.
Storyseeker, I fully agree with you about HighSides...she deserves the very best in life, with a doting Mom or Dad to spoil her.
They are so beautiful!!!! I wish I could take them all!!!
They're five weeks today. And I would say they're pretty standard of most litters I've had at this stage. They are pretty cuddly, the boys more than the girls, but they are only cuddly for a few minutes at a time. They are very busy and do not wish to be still for anything, so when you have them out they are totally handleable but they want to run around on you and the sofa and occassionally come back for snuggles and kisses. I credit that more to youth and activity level than socialization because they do not mind being picked up, scritched or kissed at all and in fact several of them kiss back already.
When I open the cage door they do want to come see why it's open and what's going on, they don't shy away from being petted or picked up but for some reason most of them don't actually take food from my hand. They come and sniff it but don't eat it until I put it down? Not sure what that's about but since they are social in other ways I haven't actually seen it as a problem. Also, since we did supplemental feeding from day one, handle and play with them on a daily basis, and even take them in small groups to my parents house where they all play with my very excited 9 year old nephew, if there is a socialization problem, I'm not sure what we could have done about it. Honestly though, I don't think there's an issue. They're all pretty friendly, just very rambunctious!
When I open the cage door they do want to come see why it's open and what's going on, they don't shy away from being petted or picked up but for some reason most of them don't actually take food from my hand. They come and sniff it but don't eat it until I put it down? Not sure what that's about but since they are social in other ways I haven't actually seen it as a problem. Also, since we did supplemental feeding from day one, handle and play with them on a daily basis, and even take them in small groups to my parents house where they all play with my very excited 9 year old nephew, if there is a socialization problem, I'm not sure what we could have done about it. Honestly though, I don't think there's an issue. They're all pretty friendly, just very rambunctious!
Oh and by the way, high sides was placed this weekend. I actually gave her to a woman I have corresponded with off and on for some time now. She's a doting rattie mom with only a few ratties and a part time job. I know she provides the best of veterinary care, food, and socialization for her kids, and she showed me a pic of the cage setup so high sides has definitely been saved for the best home!
That is awesome, I am so glad you found her a good home! So she will have other ratties to live with, in the same housing?
Yeah. She has a really huge cage that has been converted from two parrot cages that she keeps her females in. Right now the babies are too small for the bar spacing and need to be quarantined so they will have a small setup for a couple of weeks, but it is still ample for two rats. Also the lady took one of high sides sisters too so during the quarantine she'll still be with someone she knows. I think it's a pretty ideal situation.
That is wonderful! A very ideal situation indeed. I am so glad HighSides is going to a great home WITH one of her sisters! Super!
What a cute litter! :3 I bet those brats are fun.
They are a lot of fun! My favorite part is the pop-corning. I have had a couple of females in the past that continued to popcorn when excited throughout their lives, but all babies do it. It's just soo adorable. Especially when they start doing it as a group and you get to see a tiny pop-corning rattie conga line! I am literally surrounded by adorableness! And rat poop, also pretty much up to my elbows in rat poop!
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