[asphalt]

Heyo! I go by Tar about the internets. I've been a rat lady since I was ten years old, when my dad one day decided to let my sister and I each have one. He died shortly thereafter, so he never saw first-hand just how far that love went. I think all the ratties joining him on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge over the years have since tipped him off, though. (That's probably his favorite hang-out. He loved animals.)

My current babies are Oolong and Rooibos. Their mother was purchased from a reptile store as a feeder for a friend's brother's snake, but she ended up popping out a litter of babies before she and the snake could meet. They decided to spare her life and adopted out her pups. (They kept mama and named her Lucky.)

Tell me about your babies!

 

[abratforarat]

Hello! Welcome to ratforum!

A few years ago, I rescued a doomed rat from a bad pet store. The store was abusive. She was in a bad cage with some boys. I few girls, too. One was even pregnant, with no space for her babies. No privacy. I took a girl dumbo sweetie who seemed to like me. The person helping me pick out a rat said in a offhanded manner, "Yeah, she might be pregnant but you can just bring back the babies." Yeah, right. Like we'd do that. The store is awful. Poor animals. I took my rat home and she gave birth to five babies. Two girls and three charming boys. I named mama rat July. July, I think, was born in July, and she gave birth in July. I named my black back white belly mama rat's babies Daisy and Charlotte for girls. Charlotte was black backed and white bellied, like her mama. Daisy was tannish and white bellied. The boys, two didn't have names. We sold them. One boy, who looked like Charlotte and July, was named Harry Potter, because of his white zigzag on his forehead. We separated Harry from the girls and got the girls a bigger cage fit for a few rats. Then my cousin wanted Daisy, even though I was gonna keep her. Alright, that as fine. She took Daisy, but her dog killed her. Me and my cousin (we're best friends) were brokenhearted, but my cousin (she is also ratsaremylife on ratforum) got more rats and...different story whatever.
Anyway, I wanted Harry to have a friend, so about a year later, I got a hairless dumbo boy named Legolas. But before they went in the same cage together, (Harry had a bigger cage by then) Leggy died from a heart problem he was born with. Poor sweetheart! Oh, did I mention the pet store we got Jill from closed down a few weeks after the babies were born? HA! Take them back indeed. The girl wasn't trust worthy. I hate thinking what might have happened the baby rats there and all the other pets. Anyway, Harry Potter got a urinary track problem and I started treating him. Healed. So I stopped. I don't know why my sweet Harry died a few weeks later. My sweet Harry. Then, July got tumors. She was old, and having trouble breathing. She died in July. My baby as born in July, had birth in July, and died in July. Wow. But I miss her. A while later, I got company for Charlotte. I gave my Harry's cage back to my cousin, (she let me borrow it!) and got Penelepe, a white rat with a hood of blue. A line of blue, too. down her back. A hooded rat. She was a fancy rat. I still have her and Charlotte, but Charry is having trouble breathing, is old, and has got a tumor. Poor sweety.

That is my rat story!

 

[asphalt]

Ugh, I hate irresponsible pet shops. I'm sorry about all your rat drama. My previous rats had to be put down because of recurring mammary tumors. Another had to be put down about a year beforehand; what I thought was just some ordinary sniffles turned out to be a much worse infection that, despite multiple antibiotics, eventually got to her brain and partially paralyzed her.

As a teenager, I had a pair of sister rats who also developed recurring tumors and had to be put down; I still have one of the removed tumors in a jar of formaldehyde.