Hello!

haven't written anything here in almost a year! so much has happened since then. for example, in october last year, we adopted two male rats, Squeaky and Dennis. they came from a lady on craig's list. she had had Squeaky since he was a pup (totally lied to us about a bunch of details) and had allegedly found Dennis outside of a pet store in a bird cage. that part might actually be true. Dennis and Squeaky both had mites and pneumonia, but we took them to the vet immediately. they adjusted to their new family immediately. we wanted to have them neutered so we could have all four rats living in one big cage, but it turned out that Squeaky's real age was 2, and we figured they were fine by themselves. Dennis didn't seem too bright at first, and Squeaky was a sweetheart from the very start. he was kind of a mommy's boy, really. he'd always run under my cardigan if Dennis was bullying him, and he'd want me to pet him until he felt safe. he'd brux and boggle wildly, and groom my hand as a thank you, before running off again. Squeaky hated the candles on the coffee table, and would shove them out of the way and bite the stubs off. Squeaky died of a stroke on december 28th. he was the sweetest, fluffiest, and calmest rat I had ever met. he was buried the same day, in the backyard of Robert's sister's house. Dennis lived on, and still lives on. life as a single rat didn't slow him down. we're suspecting that he was always a single rat, until the lady found him and tossed him in with Squeaky. Dennis is over 2 years old now, and he is starting to look a lot like Squeaky did before he passed away. OLD. Dennis is fluffy and cuddly and very sweet, and it turns out, he is actually very smart too. Dennis gets special free range time on the couch, because he's a single rat, and the only one that will actually stay still. Dennis and I nap together on the couch sometimes. in march this year, we adopted 2 more males. we wanted one originally, as a cage mate for Dennis, but these two had to be adopted out in a pair, and they were a good match. at first. until we brought them home. after almost 2 months of trying to introduce the boys to Dennis, we gave up. Dennis was terrified of the two boys, and was showing signs of stress due to introductions. the two new boys, Herman & Smitty hated Dennis and wouldn't give him a chance. instead of sending the boys back to their old foster mom, we decided to keep them. Dennis was (and is) happier by himself, and we had gotten really attached to the big boys. we didn't want to bounce them back and forth between owners who didn't want them/couldn't keep them and their foster mom's home (they had been returned to her care twice before) so we kept them. they are loving their new home, and they are such sweet and friendly rats! very social and will happily greet people. so now we have three groups of rats: the girls, the big boys and Dennis - the single rat. so what's going on at the rat house right now? well, many unfortunate things have happened recently. Herman had an abscess that the vet drained, but it came back shortly after that. Herman popped it himself the second time, and it has healed really well since then! no more lumps on Herman. that wasn't really that bad, but a week ago we took Garbo and Dennis to the vet and it turns out they both have a tumor :/ we're considering surgery on Garbo, but not on Dennis, who is too old and has had respiratory issues on and off. we're lucky he's still here, and surgery might not even prolong his life. Nixon, Smitty and Herman are all lump free. for now, that is. someone recently asked me about this blog, and while I was on blogger, I thought I'd type down some sort of an update. I'm thinking about closing this blog, because, as you already know, I don't really post here anymore. I just can't find the motivation to run this blog anymore, especially since in the last year I've acquired so many online friends who also have rats, that I feel like I don't need an outlet for my rat ramblings as much anymore. I finally know people who don't mind me talking about rats, who also have rats and talk about their rats. but thanks for reading! Jenny, Nixon, Garbo, Smitty, Herman & Dennis.

Stubborn rats.

our rats are ridiculously stubborn!
I was trying to eat dinner as I let them out of the cage, and of course, that was rather difficult. if Nixon smells something she wants, she won't stop pursuing it until it's either given to her or it's gone. I was sitting here by the desk with my rice and my soda and she would not stop climbing up here. and when I'd move away with my food, she'd follow me. I was standing up and both her and Garbo were on the bed and they both "attacked" me by using my skirt as a climbing post. I survived with my dinner. the ladies got to lick my bowl after I had finished eating from it.


I think the rats know the word "treat". or the phrase "come get treat", because after I was done eating, and the rats had gone under the bed to do their rat stuff, I was calling them. they are very selective about listening to their names, so I've tried to teach them to associate words with things. like "treat" every time I'm bringing out treats. and when I told them to come get the treats, they both came out :o good job ratties!

also, I think Nixon just got another scab :( she was fine for a few days :/ oh well. looks like we're going to the vet then.

Nixon performing a trick.

isn't she cute? :')

Could it be?!

that Nixon's scabs are gone?!
it certainly looks like it right now. I couldn't find a new one to replace the previous scab and even Robert said she looked a lot better yesterday when she was sitting in his lap. she's back to being our little bright white Nippers again!
maybe I won't have to take her to the vet after all, which would be nice for everyone. nice for mommy's wallet and nice for Nixon who, at least last time, really hated having to go and kept biting me through the travel cage wires. although she did calm down when we got there, and when the vet brought her back to us in the waiting room, she was being completely normal and energetic. weird Nippy.

the rats have a new nest box in their cage; an old garbage bag box. they seem to really like it, but I think they liked it even more yesterday when it still had the little flap on it as a "door". it has come off since then, but they do have some blankets and chew blocks in there, and they had moved it around last night so they still seem to like it :)

More Nixon.

well, I decided that as soon as I get paid again (which isn't till next month, but that's better than nothing, I suppose. I really can't squeeze out any money right now) I will take Nixon to the vet. the scab on her face just got better, and of course, I discovered a new one on her neck :/ I'm not even quite sure what's going on with her anymore. she gets those scabs one by one. one will go away and there will be a new scab. always just one. Nixon is such a pretty rat, but the scabbing makes her look rather sad :/ other than the scabs, she's fine. she eats, drinks, goes to the bathroom, sleeps and plays normally. I don't know what could be causing the scabbing anymore. and it's only around her face and neck, nowhere else.

Nevermind..

remember how I just said I can't get Nixon to stay still? well I was wrong.
after putting Garbo back in the cage I started looking around for Nixon.
normally, I can easily lure her out of her hiding places by shaking a box of pasta or opening the bedroom door, but neither one worked. I started looking for her in her usual corner, but I didn't think she'd be there because I hadn't seen any movement in the corner (the corner is covered in old clothes that we don't know what to do with, so the rats play there)
I found her under Robert's old hoodie, and she was just hanging out there. didn't look like she was in a hurry or anything :D I moved some of the clothes around, and she tried to pull them back to where they were before I moved them, as if she didn't want to be disturbed. it was pretty cute :) after that I just grabbed her and put her back in the cage and gave her a treat, which she thought she could take out of the cage and into her lair. well, by then I had already closed the cage so she had no choice but to eat it there.

well, now I know where to look next time if she appears lost :) and maybe I can let her hang out there like I let Garbo sleep in the bookcase.

hello there.

the ratties are out and about right now, eating dried blueberries.
looks like Garbo is about to surprise me by jumping on my back (well, she just changed her mind and crawled under our blanket instead.)

the girls have survived the hot days very well!
we've had two smaller fans pointed at the cage and at night we usually open the windows to let the cool air in. on friday, we went to LA so the ratties were left alone for the entire day, but before we left, I had frozen a bottle of water that I stuck in their cage, as an "air conditioner". the ratties were super happy to see mommy again after a long day alone, when we got back home :) Nixon wouldn't stop licking my hands and I got so many rattie kisses from the girls.

Nixon's scabs are even better now. the problem is though that once she gets rid of a scab, it seems like she gets another one. instead of having several scabs at once, she'll only have one at a time, but they go away really quick. I'm still convinced that it has nothing to do with mites or the like, but more so an allergy or some kind of nutritional issue. I really can't afford taking her to the vet right now, though, as summers are really tough for me financially, and especially now that I've got my registration coming up tomorrow. I'm thinking she must still somehow come in contact with the seed mix. I'm sure they have a stash of it somewhere in the bedroom still that I just haven't found. but like I said, she's not really scabbing that much anymore. and she does seem a lot less itchy.

speaking of Nixon, she has stopped doing tricks. I think it's because of the treats I've been giving: dried blueberries. she's never been a big fan of those. Garbo, however, will spin around and give kisses in exchange for a blueberry. Robert just called and he was wondering what kind of treats we should get them. I'm hoping maybe he'll bring home something that qualifies as a good rat snack :)

Garbo has calmed down a little. she'll actually take naps in the bookcase now! I can't believe she'll actually stay still! and she wants to be pet while she's laying down. now if only I could get Nixon to stay still for more than two seconds, I'd be really happy. any advice on that?

I feel like in the past few months we've bonded even more. I remember when we first got the rats and I felt like they didn't like me at all. obviously they just hadn't learned to trust me yet, and I definitely didn't trust two little rats running around my apartment. but it's completely different now. I know exactly what they want from their "gestures" and they will let me know if they need something from me. they'll come up to me and they like it when I carry them around. Garbo has gotten a lot better with Robert too, and won't struggle when Robert picks her up.

now it's time for ratties to go back in the cage. they've been out and about for two hours now and I've got some cleaning to do. can't have the ratties running around when you're cleaning!