Maya
Maya is currently our oldest rat, and she is almost 2 and a half years old. She is a black Berkshire rat, which means that she has black coloring over her back, but has white coloring on her belly and paws, and the tip of her tail is white. She was the first rat we ever got from Camarattery, the rat breeder that we get all our rats from now, and she has been a pleasure and a joy. She is a very active rat: she runs on the wheel in her cage almost constantly when she is awake (and she is the only rat we've had so far that has run on the wheel), and she loves to try and run off into our apartment to explore whenever she is let out to play. She was the first rat to discover that she could easily jump or fall off most of the surfaces in our house (tables, chairs, desks, the couch) and not get hurt, and has used this cunning escape mechanism to get away from us at every opportunity. Fortunately, she is also very trusting and has an insatiable appatite for treats, so she is always easily lured back into her cage again.
Cas
Cas was the baby of our little family until last weekend. She is around one year old. We adopted her from our rat breeder at six months old, so she had already been given the name "Castaway," which we shorted to "Cas" (pronounced KAZ). She is an odd rat, more nearsighted than most (and all rats are so nearsighted as to be almost blind anyway), a bit aggressive and clumsy around her cage mates, and a complete homebody. She hates exploring, or even coming out of her cage. She is a Lilac Merle Variegated Down Under rat, which describes the color of her fur, that lovely light brown, and the fact that she has that color on her head and shoulders, with a white blaze on her forehead, spots of color running down her back, and spots of color on her belly. Rat coloration terms can get very technical.
Cas is a wonderfully calm rat when being handled by people. She will let you hold her without squirming, and she loves having her belly tickled. Though she has always been a little odd, we love her dearly, and her quirks are a further example of the depth and complexity of rat personality.
Myst
The first of our two new babies, Myst is an 8-week old American Blue rat. She has perfect color, and I have totally fallen for the "blue" color, that lovely silver-gray that gave me the inspiration for her name (even though I spelled it in honor of my favorite video game). Though we haven't known her for very long, and she has not yet been introduced to our older rats, I can tell that Myst is going to be as friendly and outgoing as Maya. She is as full of energy as any young rat could be, she loves to be the center of attention, and she is constantly peeking curiously out of her cage at every new sound. She is also very sweet, and already licks my hand whenever I open the cage door to say hello. I can't wait to watch her grow up.
Pepper
The true baby of the family is Pepper, our other new arrival. She is only six weeks old, and is still so tiny that she fits entirely in the palm of my hand. She is a black Berkshire Dumbo Rex rat, which means she is the same color and has markings similar to Maya, but she has "dumbo" ears that stick out straight from the sides of her head instead of pointing up, and she has curly fur and whiskers rather than smooth. She is also outgoing and rambunctious, but easily frightened and skittish as she is still so very young. She is also an attention-grabber, who will push her nose in wherever Myst is, and even tries to push or pull the larger rat out of the way when she feels she isn't getting her fair share. She and Myst are great companions already, which bodes well for their introduction to Maya and Cas in several weeks, after the mandatory quarantine period is up.
IN MEMORIUM
Maya, Cas, Myst, and Pepper are our current rat family, but they are not the first rats we have had, nor will they be the last. Though rats make wonderful pets, the sad fact is that they do not live very long, usually around 3 to 5 years, though a good diet and healthy living can extend that period. As such, we have had four other wonderful rat friends that are no longer around.
Rosco
Rosco was our very first rat. We rescued her, unintentionally, from a pet store that sold rats for food. This meant that she had never been socialized, had never been around people, and we had no way of knowing how old or healthy she was when we got her. Despite that fact, she lived with us for over three years, finally dying this past November of old age and cancer. Rosco was not very rambunctious or social, but she loved to explore and spend time running around on the couch or our desks while my husband and I watched TV or did homework or played video games. She was a great friend, and we were very sad to see her go.
Nick
Nick (short for Nicodemus - like most new rat owners, we named our first two for the rats of Nimh) was Rosco's first cage mate, we bought them both at that pet store and brought them home together. Nick and Rosco were my very first pets (besides fish), so when she got sick and died within a week, I was understandably devastated. All rats suffer from a respiratory ailment known as mycoplasma, and when they get sick or their immune systems weaken, this ailment becomes a full-blown disease that can kill them very quickly. We took Nick to the vet and got her antibiotics, but she was just too small and sick to last very long. Though we didn't know her for long, she will always hold a special place as one of our very first rats.
Pip
Pip was our second attempt at purchasing a pet store rat, this time from a major chain pet store that actually sold rats as pets, not as food. He was also our only male rat, as we thought that breeding him and Rosco and having a cage of male rats and one of female rats would be better than buying just one rat at a time. Unfortunately, he and Rosco never even got to meet, as he got sick just like Nick and lasted only two weeks, despite visits to the vet and antibiotics as well. After more experience with rats, we believe that Pip was too young to have been taken away from his mother, and that the stress of a new environment on such a tiny rat was what killed him. After he died, we decided to look into rat breeders, which led us to the wonderful breeder that we get all our rats from today.
Callie
Callie came to us from a friend who was being deployed by the Navy and couldn't take his pet rat along. We have no idea how old she was, but she was definitely the biggest rat we have ever had. She was also a sweetheart, calm and sedate, and she would grab your hand and lick it forever if you let her. We got her around the same time as Maya, so she, Maya, and Rosco were our first rat family until she died of unknown causes (probably an age-related stroke) a year and a half later. She was a great matron to our younger rats, and will always be remembered for her caring ways and adorable face.
And that's our family, past and present. In my next installment, though I will try to write about something other than rats before then, I will write about why rats are such good pets, as well as some of the things that you should know about them before choosing a rat as a pet. Until next time... a bit of trivia:
A group of rats is called a "mischief." And believe me, it is fitting.
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