The Rat Fan Club

“The Rat Lady’s” Rats

The number of rats I have tends to change from month to month! As of June 2010 I have 16. Most of the rats I have right now are rescues. That means I took them in when no one else wanted them, or adopted them from the humane society.

On April 20, 2008 I got a call from the Butte Humane Society here in Chico that they had gotten in an albino male rat. The story they told me is that the woman who found him on the street posted a notice on Craig’s list, and another woman replied, yes, it was her rat but she didn’t want him. So the shelter treated him as an owner surrender rather than as a stray, which means they didn’t require a waiting period, so I was able to go and pick him the same day. He seemed to be about 3-4 months old and I decided to name him Buddy.

Then on May 9 I got an email from Tessa, a rat owner in Sacramento whose dad lives in Chico. She said her dad had seen an albino rat living in his woodpile, and then the rat moved under his neighbor’s house. The neighbor was leaving her back door open for her dog, so the rat decided to move into her house! I said I would take him, so her dad caught him in a live trap and brought him over. He is missing about the last quarter of his tail, probably from being grabbed by someone. I decided to name him Marshall. Both Marshall and Buddy were poorly socialized and did not like being touched or held, although eventually they learned to trust me. Marshall in particular was very untrusting. But they will come out of their cage to play in the playground by getting in to a basket. Since this picture was taken, they have both gained weight, especially Marshall, who is quite a chub. Maybe it’s because he had slim pickins there for a while.

Because my new book The Complete Guide to Rat Training was scheduled to come out in September 2008, in May I also decided I needed 2 more performing rats, so when I learned that MC, who lives in the Sacramento area, was raising a litter, I contacted her and asked to adopt 2 boys. I asked if she could pick out 2 boys who seemed the most calm and outgoing and give them extra socialization, and she agreed. She chose a black hooded and a black Berkshire and her kids named them Jimmy and Schnitzel. While we were on vacation in May, my good friend Barbara Henderson came up to house sit, and she brought my 2 new boys up with her. I got to meet them briefly before we left, but was only since we got back on the 21^st that I was able to get to know them. Barbara misremembered the names slightly and said their names were Jimmy and Schnozzle. I love the name Schnozzle! I actually thought the name Jimmy was kinda boring at first, but when I tried to think of another name that would go with Schnozzle, I said, “Well who was the actor that was known as The Schnozz?” and of course it was Jimmy Durante! Wow! How cool. So I thought, “When my boys are performing, I will introduce them as Jimmy and The Schnozz!”

Below, Jimmy. Right, Schnozzle

On Sept. 27, 2008 I adopted 2 new boys from Northstar Rescue, a group based in San Rafael, CA. Cynthia, a volunteer for the group, drove up with 8 boys to be neutered. One of them, who was named August, was wheezing quite badly and obviously in no shape to undergo surgery, so I decided to adopt him and his roommate not only because August was sick, but because I found them quite attractive. Both were rex with red eyes, but August was white and September had a light orange tint (he is now just white). August was also quite a bit smaller than September, so I’m not sure if they were brothers, but Sep was quite protective of his smaller roommate. They were both pretty suspicious of me at first, and Sep would nip or bite me if he thought I might hurt August, but August was quite trusting and played with me by gently biting and mouthing my hands.

Both these boys were adults when they arrived at the rescue in May, and had previously been at 2 other rescues for several months, so we think they were at least 1 ½ to 2 years old. I had to try several medications for August’s wheezing, and he was on doxycycline, enalapril, atenolol and prednisone. He still wheezed sometimes, and I had to feed him lots of extra food to keep his weight up. I finally had to euthanized him 4/14/09 because of heart, lung and liver disease. September then went to live with Billie (see below).

Although Jimmy and Schnozzle learned their tricks well at home, their first public performance was at the World of Pets Expo in Maryland Jan. 24-26 2009, and unfortunately, they did not do their tricks well in public. They didn’t mind posing in costumes, but they barely did their tricks at all. So I decided I needed to adopt one or two more potential performers. It just so happened that a friend, Becka, who came to visit me from San Jose on Feb. 12, 2009, brought along four 6-week-old baby boys that she had gotten from someone near her who had 3 accidental litters. Becka was keeping 2 of the babies, a hairless and a black rex Dumbo, and was going to find a home for the other 2 boys. One of them was an adorable dark-skinned hairless rat and I couldn’t pass him up. He chose the name Peanut (through a friend who is an animal communicator) and he is a sweet, playful, outgoing boy. I thought about keeping the 4^th boy too, who was a black hooded rex, but I had heard from another family in Chico that they needed homes for an accidental litter that was born in a classroom, so I decided to wait and take one of them to go with Peanut.

They came over that Saturday (Valentine’s Day) and I chose a blue hooded boy who picked the name Mo. I used to have a rat named Moe, so this new boy’s full name is actually Mo’Blu. He had not been as socialized as he should have been, so he was quite shy to start with, but he is better now. He was a week older than Peanut, and it took a few days for them to warm up to each other, but they were soon playing and sleeping together. I also adopted another rat from this family. She was a 4 ½-month-old odd-eye rat with one pink eye and one red eye. Her color is probably coffee, like coffee with cream. She is very pretty and her fur is super soft. I decided to adopt her because she is very outgoing and self-confident and when they had rolled a cat ball in front of her she retrieved it, so I think she might be a good performer. She chose the name Valentine. I introduced her to Jimmy and Schnozz (who are both neutered). At first Valentine was fairly aggressive and tried to dominate the boys, but it didn’t take her long to accept them. I spayed Valentine on Feb. 21, 2009 and then I introduced Peanut and Mo into the group. Unfortunately, although Peanut learned tricks easily, he doesn’t like performing in public either, and Valentine wasn’t interested in learning tricks. But they are sweet rats, Valentine gives kisses, and both are gorgeous!

Mo’Blu Peanut as a baby

Valentine Peanut as an adult

On April 11 I adopted 3 girls from an irresponsible person in the Sacramento area who bought 2 girls and 3 boys from a breeder and proceeded to let them live together. She had no idea of the genetics of these rats and unfortunately the 2 litters that resulted produced 2 babies with severe megacolon that had to be euthanized, and 2 babies, a boy and a girl, who appear to be dwarfs as well as semi-hairless, although their siblings are rexes. The boy has malocclusion of his incisors so he has to have his teeth trimmed regularly. I adopted the dwarf girl, whom I named Hoppy, and one of her sisters, a Himalayan whom I named Cotton, and one of their cousins, whom I named Caramel. Hoppy is a strange little rat, sometimes hyper and sometimes she is very calm and seems to be in her own little world. Now that they are adult size, Hoppy is about half the size of her sister. Cotton is an outgoing dominant but cuddly girl. Caramel, who wasn’t handled as much as the other 2, was a little shy (lots of early handling from birth makes such a difference in how personable and cuddly they are) but surprisingly, it is Caramel who has become my new performing rat! She has performed tricks at 2 events so far, our Rat-stravaganza in October, and a kid’s club at my church. Cotton and Hoppy don’t have any desire to learn tricks, but Caramel is an eager performer.

On 5/26/09 I got a call from our local humane society about 2 rats who had been surrendered by someone who had gotten them off Craig’s List and said they were 3 years old. They said one was quite thin and the other was missing fur. I went by to look at them the next day and the one who was thin, a black Berkshire named Bella, also had severe labored breathing, and the other one, a brown Berkshire named Billie, had severe mite scabs and a small mammary tumor on her chest. They also both had lice. Although they probably weren’t 3 years old, they were probably at least 2 years old, and obviously I couldn’t leave them there. I ended up treating Bella for her labored breathing for a month, and finally had to euthanize her.

Meanwhile, on 6/18/09 I adopted a black hooded rat named Jumpy because he had cancer and his owners couldn’t deal with it any more. I had removed a tumor from Jumpy 4 months earlier, and suspected it was cancerous, so it’s no surprise it grew back. They wanted me to euthanize him, but he wasn’t ready to go and I thought I could successful remove his tumors again, so I offered to adopt him. The surgery was a success and Jumpy, who was over 2 years old, did well for 3 months. He loved to be held and petted. Although he was aggressive to Billie at first, I successfully introduced them. I finally had to euthanize him 9/25/09, and Billie then went to live with September.

Billie (right) and Jumpy

On August 5, 2009 I got a call from the humane society because they had gotten in a new rat who had been abandoned in an apartment. He was very frightened and was biting, so they asked if I could come get him since they could not adopt out a biting rat. I went and got him that afternoon. He was an adult Himalayan male and it soon became clear that not only was he afraid of people, but he also had a bad case of hyper-testosterone aggression. When my friend Marg, who is an animal communicator met him, she said he wanted his name to be Sparky, and that seemed fitting. I neutered him and began trust training. He is now quite friendly to me, but still suspicious of other people and rats, and doesn’t really like to come out of his cage. I tried introducing him to the 3 little girls, but there was a lot of aggression on both sides so that plan is now on hold.

On Nov. 6, 2009 I got a call from the Butte Humane Society saying they had gotten in a hairless rat with a lump on his side, which they thought might be a tumor. I went down to look at him and discovered the lump was just 2 small abscesses next to each other. But I could hardly resist adopting a gorgeous friendly young male hairless Dumbo! The shelter also had 3 other rats at that time. A small white Dumbo male, a large black hooded male, and a black female. The large male was in a tiny hamster cage. They had put the hairless male, who had just come in, in with the small white male, and they were fighting. The Dumbo male had come in a few days earlier with the black female and another rat, who had already been adopted. The surrender form for the black female and white male said they had been used to breed snake food, and the female hadn’t been handled much. When I got the female out of her box to see how friendly she was, I found out she was wheezing. So I ended up adopted her as well as the hairless boy.

Shortly after I arrived home with my 2 new rats, my friend Marg (an animal communicator) called on the phone. When I told her about the new rats, she said they were sending her the names they wanted to be called. The boy wanted the name Munchkin, and the girl Aurora. I thought the names fit them well, so that is what they are. Munchkin is a typical young male, lively and mostly interested in exploring and interacting with other rats, but he is friendly and will come out of his cage onto my hands, and kiss me on the lips. He is still growing, so I’m not sure how old he is, maybe 5 or 6 months. Aurora is not so trusting of humans, and doesn’t like to be held. I neutered Munchkin and introduced them. I did plan to spay Aurora, but it looks like she is close to 2 years old and has congestive heart failure, so I won’t.

Aurora Munchkin

I adopted Puck under very strange circumstances. On Saturday Jan. 23, 2010 I got a call from a young man, Tom, who works at my local CVS Pharmacy, which is open 24 hours a day. He said he works the graveyard shift, and early that morning a customer asked him if he knew they had a rat in the store. He found little agouti hooded rat sitting on a case of water bottles. It was a baby boy, very friendly, and Tom took him home with him. He called to ask if I would take the rat, and I said yes. I named him Puck because he was lively and charming. I introduced him to Munchkin and Aurora, and I had to neuter Puck because he kept trying to mount Aurora, even though she is too old to get pregnant and doesn’t come into heat. I wasn’t able to get any good pictures of Puck as a baby, because he wouldn’t hold still!

Puck at 8 months old.

On Feb. 24, 2010 I got a call from the humane society. A week earlier, animal control had picked up a stray rat in a parking lot and taken him to the shelter. They said at first he seemed friendly, but then he started biting people. I picked him up the next day. He was a half-grown Himalayan, maybe 5-6 months old, who was very touchy and puffy, so it seemed clear the reason for his aggression wasn’t so much fear as too much testosterone. Once I got him home, he would barely let me touch him. I neutered him on the 27^th and slowly his aggression went away. Then he was still shy and it took some time for him to learn to trust me. Now he is as polite and name I gave him, Butler.

On March 29, 2010 I adopted a baby rat, maybe 8 weeks old, from a teen in Oroville because the rat had a compound fracture of his right leg. (In a compound fracture, the bone protrudes out through the skin.) I was able to surgically repair the fracture in the tibia and fibula, and Basil, as I named him, has recovered beautifully. You would never know he had a broken leg except for the lump that is still there on the bone. I was able to introduce Basil to Butler, and the 2 boys now live together. Although Butler is older, Basil would very much like to be the boss, but I think for now Butler still has the upper hand.

Butler (left) and Basil.

On June 13 I agreed to adopt an older rat because her owner was having trouble managing the rat’s health problems. Lilly is about 2 ½ years old and has had labored breathing with some respiratory distress for 2-3 months. She also has 2 medium-sized mammary tumors, but because of her respiratory problems, is not a good candidate for surgery. Then, on June 9 she started having spastic behavior, which may be from a brain tumor. When she tries to move, her body, and more especially her head, flails around violently. With difficulty she can eventually steady herself so she can hold still to eat and drink, but it is distressing to watch. She is a sweet girl, and when she does calm down, she loves being petted. So far, I seem to have her respiratory symptoms controlled pretty well with medications, so she is doing okay for now.

Lilly

Memorials

Click here to see pictures of some of my rats who have passed on.

Rat Fan Club
857 Lindo Lane
Chico, CA 95973
(530) 899-0605 ratlady@ratfanclub.org