Thomas & Milo
Thomas and Milo are both pet shop rescues, how they became ours is another story and does to some degree show my soft spot for animals.
We had been on a hunt for a little while for some play friends for Squirt, however, young rats have been difficult to find lately and many stores do not have any and have no idea when they will be getting them (YAY for less Ratties being given to bad pet shops). My husband and I decided to have a bit of a drive around and have a look at the pet shop’s in our area and see how they care for rodents when they do have them, what their store policies were on unsold Rats and where they get there Rats from.
I had dropped into a few shops and was confronted with small glass empty aquariums awaiting the day that Rats were given to the shop to sell. Terrible, the use of aquariums, yet again, will pet shops never learn or start paying heed to what is easily accessible information regarding Rats in aquariums and the health complications along with that, obviously not. On speaking to about 4 different pet shops they all get their Rats from home breeders, yeah you know the ones that care not for genetics, or health, or even longevity. Ok so they are not breeding at the moment or is it that they are now selling the Ratties privately making their own money off the Rat Mill type breeding they are doing. I like to think that maybe these babies are better of not being given to the pet shop, in my optimistic thinking I hope that the people selling them from home care about where their little ones are going and are interested in providing the best food, bedding and housing possible.
The next shop we stop at is a large chain style store, I was expecting that they too would have no Rats but hoped to be able to check out how they housed their Rats when and if they got them. I saw some mice in a small aquarium, but for the life of me could not see the Rats. I was looking for a large cage or largish aquarium knowing that Rats are larger than mice and hoping that this particular shop was up to date about housing Rats. How wrong was I, I was about to give up on finding where the Rats would be but as I was about to leave the small animal isle I looked down and saw 3 little Ratties living on pine shavings. I decided that I would check these little ones out and make sure they were not sick with the possibility of taking them home and away from that horrible shop, but there were more surprises instore for me.
I asked the sales lady if I could see what sex the Ratties were and if I could check them over, of course she was eager to sell me some, we went back over and she lifted the igloo that was in there since the 3 ratties were hiding. I could not believe my eyes, inside that small igloo were approx 10 very young Ratties (possibly around 4-6 weeks old) and 1 large approx 12 week old Rattie OMG. There was no way I could afford to save them all, the aquarium was not big enough for that many rats and it stank terribly. The lady that was serving me placed her hand inside the aquarium and started trying to grab tails to lift the Ratties up and check their private part…..More Gasping at this point……I had to say something, how could she not know that this is not an ideal or even acceptable way of lifting a Rattie. I, in the politest way possible said ”stop, you can’t do that you will break their tails and injure them. Please let me do it”, she agreed and admitted that Rats creep her out and that she does not like touching them. These Rats were obviously not handled while in the shop and I know that they had been there for at least a week. The bigger one had been there for many more weeks but no-one wanted him because he was so much bigger than everyone else. I knew at this point that I had to take him home, what did his future hold if I didn’t?
I decided I would take him and one of the little males so they could have each other for their quarantine time and that way they may not be as jumpy if they had each other for comfort and support. I felt terrible leaving all the others but the shop was charging $10AUD per Rattie irrelevant of their age. I spoke to the sales person about the health issues regarding the bedding materials and aquarium use however, she did not seem to care much at all.
I got home and placed the 2 new ratties in their new temp home, they were extremely jumpy, unsure and scared but were not biters so that was a great sign. We ended up naming the larger one Thomas (light hooded)and the small Milo (Wild Rat colours Agouti).
Thomas and Milo are still jumpy and a little weary of hands that move too quickly and sounds that are not the usual for our home. We work with them everyday getting them to realise that life does not have to be a scary place but a place to have fun and play. They both live together and do the normal male rough play, however, they seem to enjoy the rough and tumbles of flipping each other and playing chase. They both know the sound of the food dishes, ours and theirs and are continually at the wire begging for that last bit of food on our plates. We have not introduced them to Squirt or Milo as we feel that they require more 1 on 1 attention before becoming a bigger group.
Thomas and Milo still hold onto the fear of not having food, they will snatch food from my fingers, quickly and run as far away as possible. I have occasionally offered them soft foods off my fingers only to find a Rat attached on the end trying to drag my finger to a safe spot OUCH. We will continue to work with these 2 for as long as needed to allow them to understand that we care, and that we will watch their backs. They will never have another day spent wondering where their next meal will arrive, and if there will be enough for everyone.
Thomas & Milo have also both grown so quickly with a healthy and changing diet, they have both outgrown Mr Squirt, even though they are younger. We feel that these 2 boys are going to be the biggest rats we have although they are not fat just solidly built.
We will update this page as both the boys grown and develop their trust in us.
