Hello! God dæg. Salaam. Use. Hola! Grüß dich. Aloha! Bon

Hello! God dæg. Salaam. Use. Hola! Grüß dich. Aloha! Bon

Well hello everyone!
My sweetie and I decided that we would enjoy a bit more action and company in our home. Our solution: Five little ratsies.
We went to PetsMart one evening, not planning to actually buy a rat at the time, only contemplating weather we wanted a rat or dwarf hamsters, and I fell in love with a brown Chinese Hooded rat whom I have affectionately named Schrödinger. (I put on a pouty face and James melted. I got the rat that night.)
We've read in numerous internet posts and a few books that rats are best kept in groups. James and I decided that we wouldn't mind a couple more rats slinking around in the huge cage we got for Schrödie, so we drove out to another pet store to see what other options we had. I found the most adorable Hooded rat with both a brown hood and coat. He only has a tiny speck of white at the very tippity end of his tail. He has been named Achilles. James found a little bitty brown Hooded rat he decided had to be named Master Splinter.
We introduced the three ratsies in the car on the way home. (Schrödinger was on my shoulder for the first couple days we had him except when I was told to put him away at bed time... >.> ) They got along swimmingly and, after Schrödie established his dominance, he and Achilles were pretty much inseparable. Sadly, little Master Splinter is ill. I think he has early stages of pneumonia and we are giving him an organic remedy I got at the pet store and he seems not to be wheezing anymore. If the symptoms progress more drastic measures may have to be taken. We've grown pretty attached to the little guy.
Well, that wasn't the end of our mousecapading!
I wanted a white rat! We had all colors and shapes and I was determined to have a little white one. James and I went to a few stores looking for white rats and couldn't find them. Of course, when I wasn't looking for them they were all over the place. The last store we went to was a Petco about twenty or so minutes away from our apartment. No white rats... not male, anyways. But I saw this huge brown Hooded rat in one of the aquariums that was so adorable. He had this white nose and the brown hood looked like a mask over his eyes. I took him home... >.>
Moose met his brothers in a small washbin when we got home. after a while he went into the cage with the others and, though he's a big honking rat, he wasn't really the domineering type. Schrödie kept his place as Alpha male rat and Moose hung around with Master Splinter in the igloo house fingy.
Still, I wanted a white rat. I called a dozen stores looking for a medium or small white male. No one had them. I ended up calling the store where I got Moose and asking if they had gotten any more ratsies in since I had been there the week before. They didn't have any more rats but they did have a few that I, apparently, didn't see. The man who answered the phone, J.D., told me that they didn't have white rats and that the albino rats are more prone to illnesses especially if you put them in a cage with the Chinese Hooded rats. I didn't really want another sick pet. He did say that they had some Chinese Hooded rats and some Dumbo rats. (What the heck is a dumbo rat???) Well I decided to go find out.
I got to the store (a bit later than I anticipated... I got lost on the way.) and found J.D. He showed me the Hooded rats they had and then showed me the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. A little white rat with a gray face and huge monkey ears. I fell in love with him. Merlin became James' second rat. He's pushy and I'm actually not sure if Schrödie has been able to establish dominance over him but they've been running around in the cage together since I let him in there with them this morning (after the habitual territorial scrapping.) and they seem to be quite happy now sleeping in the igloo all curled up, the five of them.

Until next time!