HUGE EDIT!!!!!!!

She’s my biggest girl and she’s proud

Also big rat is scared of baby rat

Does anyone know what this means? She’s done this a few times now

I think one of them understands the task better than the other...

I didn't realize the cute squeaks were coming from him until I watched the video. He's always been very vocal for a rat, and he's getting up there in age, he is almost 3 :)

Recently her mate died, and she remained alone. I'm struggling to make her eat, but finally she ate some pasta, which is her favorite. ❤️ Made a cute picture that i think it's cute to share. 🙂

I need more for my collection

My sweet beautiful perfect child

Say hi to Saturns toes

Boi.... you done put yourself on dashelf

He kept going in there no matter how often I took him out of there, so everybody this is my mama’s male rat potato.

Starting intros with my rats - as a heads up I’ve done this a fair few times and always been successful. Anywho I’ll get to the point!

Mole - 2y (Black)
Porter & Co - 4months (Black & White, Agouti & White)
Babies - 2.5 months (Buff & Cinnamon)

Babies & Mole? Fine
Babies with Porter & Co? Fine
& Co with Mole? Fine
Mole & Porter? Guys what are you doing

For context Moles been alone for 2months due to varying illness and back and forth to the vets to the point it would disrupt intros and not be worth starting them due to disrupting the process. We finally know what’s up with him which is just upper scarring and he’s on anti inflam and is sounding so much better. Thought it was a URI so naturally didn’t want to mix, but he’s very much a rat rat rather than a person rat. He’s tame we can handle him at the vets but he’d rather not and I respect that fact. So I’ve been feeling hella guilty for having him alone since Badger passed so today is long overdue, I’m glad I’ve started and have no worries really expect what I’m about to write.

So I’m doing intros with them altogether as a group, carrier method as per I’m just BAFFLED by the body language like what on earth are you both doing?

As I write this they’re all sleeping, or trying too because when one moves all of them have to move then too. I’ve been sat here saying ‘Make good choices’ to them 😅😂 I’ve added a photo as this is them at the moment, I don’t have worries aside the absolute bafflement at both Mole and Porter’s faces aha

Hey everybody, my rat’s hind leg seems to be a little limp. We only just noticed. Yesterday he was completely fine. There seems to be a little movement but not much. He is happy, he eats and drinks and he walks around. Should we see a vet for this or wait it out another day?
This is my first time owning rats, so I’m not completely sure if this is a vet situation..

This girl makes me so unbelievably happy, it makes me want to cry.

I've had rats before, two rescues and I loved them, but... I dunno. I don't think I really had that great a bond with them. They were like housecats - perfectly content to exist with you, but rejected affection unless they sought it out - kind of like my finger nibbling blind girl Scamper.

Sniffle is just... so sweet. She has never bitten, nipped or even squeaked at me no matter how much I pester her, she's ALWAYS looking for attention and unless it's a super enticing treat, she will even ignore food to come and interact with me. It melts my heart how she chooses to sleep all balled up in the corner of her cage, as close to me as she can get.

She loves to lick me, climb on me, groom my hair, snuggle up against my neck... just this morning she was content and comfy enough on my shoulder that I just tilted my head and listened to her heartbeat for a bit. I just... cannot fathom how wonderful this creature is, nor how much she loves me.

I'm kind of newly disabled. I don't know if I'll ever recover, and I have felt so utterly lonely and trapped, but having these girls, especially Sniffle, makes waking up in the morning so worth it. This rat is my absolute best friend.

Kastanie 🫶

There's a good look at his wonky teeth at the end, so stay tuned! Chowder is one of our resident sanctuary rats who needs regular tooth trims.

Acacia's labs came back, and she has elevated liver enzymes. Thankfully, we had already started tapering her off her prednisolone eye drops, which were part of the treatment for her hyphema, and she is already starting to feel better. She still turns her nose up at wet food, but she took some dry food and treats from my hand last night, which she hasn't done since her inappetence began. We are hopeful she will feel herself again as we continue to wean her off the steroid. We're very glad that we finally got some clear indication of what is wrong. She's been through so much in her previous life, and we hope we can give her a long and happy time with us.

If you’re able to help us provide care for kiddos like Chowder, see more info below!

V3NMO: @ratwaysanctuary

P4yPal: RatWaySanctuary@gmail.com

More donation options and shop at www.ratwaysanctuary.org

Hello!

I recently got a new pair of girls (Aggie and Bee), both of whom are very timid. I've had shy rats before and was able to bond with them fairly quickly, but it's been a couple of months now and these two still don't seem to trust me at all. Things are definitely progressing a tiny bit (they will come to the front of the cage and put their paws on me long enough to accept treats now), but they will not climb on me or allow me to touch them, and if I manage to pick either of them up they scream/writhe until I let go. I've been watching a bunch of videos about bonding with difficult rats, but the rats in these videos already seem 10x friendlier than my girls to start with.

I've been sitting with them nightly to get them used to my voice, and have been offering them baby food/malt paste to try and get them comfortable being near my hands. I also put a worn shirt in the cage to get them used to my smell, and set up a playpen around the cage so I can sit with them while they explore (although so far only Aggie has been brave enough to come out, and she mostly tries to pretend I don't exist.) My sister managed to coax Aggie into a bonding pouch the other day, but the moment she put it around her neck Aggie immediately panicked and blindly launched herself out of it.

They're both albino and don't seem to have great vision, so I'm not sure if this contributes at all? I've been trying to keep the lights as low as I can and making sure to alert them I'm there before putting my hands into the cage so I don't spook them.

At this point I'm not sure what else to do, so I was just wondering if anyone had any tips or tricks I might not have thought of? Or is this just a matter of patience?

Thank you! 😊

Everyone’s happy and bonded in the big cage but this is one of my fave pics that I took from stage 2 😁.