Hi all – I haven’t posted in a long time, so I’ll catch you up and then tell you a problem I’m having that I need your suggestions and advice on. (Have pity on me and read this long one all the way thru, ok?)

Some of you might remember me… I’ve had rats for over 4 years and used to post on the AOL rattie board as emiller182 until it went awry. In September, I lost my last rattie and chose to take a break for awhile. Then I found that there are 2 fairly new breeders (2-3 years old) in my area and I decided to pursue getting ratties from them.

So, I got 4 very beautiful boyz on 12/28; 2 sets of brothers about 5-1/2 weeks old. One PEW (Lennon), two fawn berkshire’s (Ringo and Georgie), and a blue self dumbo (‘Cartney). My little Fab Four! They were really young when I first got them, they were scared, and I got the flu about 4 days later and didn’t have much interaction with them for a week, except food & water and a little chit chat.

After I got well, I began to take them out every night for play time. Play time at our house for ratties consists of getting free run of the spare bed on which I have put a sheet down to protect from rattie P&P. I have kleenex boxes out, plastic kitty balls, rags, PVC tubes, some toilet paper rolls, milk caps, etc. I lay down with them, we have a few special little songs, I talk to them and beep-beep to them, we play together for anywhere from 15 mins to an hour. My experience in the past has been with ratties that run all over the place, climb all over me, lick my ears and nostrils and give me kisses, run to every edge of the bed and look over them, tumble with each other, climb all over every item on the bed, etc. You get the idea.

When I first started playtime with my new Fab Four, of course, they were very scared and I couldn’t get them to come out of the cat carrier. They were very young and I gave them 4 days to huddle in the carrier, and then I began taking them out of it. They would either run right back inside, or find anywhere they could and hide and stay there the whole 30 mins. I knew it might be like this, but 4-5 days later I began eliminating some of the hiding places, but still left out the toys. They still hid the whole time. In not very long all the hiding places were gone except for the rags for them to burrow under. A couple of times they scoped things out a little bit, but still spent most of their time under the rags. I would get them out, sit them on my chest, talk to them, handle each one individually and tell them their names, but if I let go, they’d go barreling back to the towel and hide. A couple of nights in a row I had some great interaction with them and was really encouraged about it, but it didn’t last and now I’m discouraged again.

They’re 2-1/2 months old now, I’ve had them out for play time 95% of the nights for at least a month (I miss a day here and there), but my guys are still looking for every possible place to hide. When they find one, they go for it and stay there. They found a way to get inside a pillow case a few days ago and one by one, now that’s the only place they go. So, I lay there with them, talking to them, or sometimes I read cuz I’m bored. Tonight 3 of them did not move from that pillow case once in 40 mins. Their quietness was making me nervous, so I got up to see what was going on and found the little shy one (Georgie) huddled in the corner on the nightstand in a puddle of piddle and a pile of raisins, just petrified. He was all wet on the under side and that upset me. I cleaned him up and gave him love, then decided we were done for play time tonight. (Maybe Georgie just couldn’t find the hiding place tonight or something. He is going to need special attention for awhile I think.)

Now here I am writing to you guys cuz I’ve got this feeling that even tho I’ve had rats for some years now, I’ve come up against something I haven’t experienced before. These baby boys were hand raised, are loving, beautiful, soft, cuddly, sweet, healthy and gorgeous and I don’t want to screw them up by being a dork of a rattie mom. Maybe it’s because they’ve been raised together and they don’t like to be apart? Maybe they are still too young? Maybe I’m impatient? Maybe I need to take them out before dinner? Maybe earlier in the evening? Maybe I should only take them out 2 at a time? I need all your ideas, suggestions, experiences, advice, etc.

One thing I am thinking of doing is swapping every other night and doing open play time one night, but the next I would get each rattie out individually and spend 15 mins with them just me ‘n’ him. We can bond more and I can get a start on teaching them their names. It’s harder than heck to teach 4 ratties their names when they are all in one cage.

Oh, and speaking of cages these guys are living in luxury in a brand new Martin’s R695 powder coated skyscraper cage with a Wodent Wheel, tubes, various sleeping houses, toys, igloo, etc. They eat well with Mazuri blocks, lots of fresh veggies, fruit, and some rice or pasta every now and then. One of my guys, Lennon, will not eat Yogi’s. But then Lennon always was an independent thinker, so maybe he wants quiche or something. 

For those of you who hung in there, thanks for reading this all the way thru. It’s almost 6am back east; maybe some of you will be waking up soon and writing me back. I’ll be looking for ya.
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Eileen
I WUV RATS and CHINS
Nilla, Sophia, Sunny, Stormie, Jazzie, Peanut, and Ginger

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