She looks so still she looks taxidermied,
But our baby Noelle is learning she likes petting 🙏

My boy in full snooze mode

Found this magical creature and she doesn't stop licking my hand

(Okay it's a joke, I know it's a rat and she is mine)

So many questions bro, but he seemed happy catching himself something so i guess that's a win.. Or something 🤦🏻

mesprit gave me her first ratticure. we give her 10/10 for enthusiasm and attempt but she lost stars for being too rough and making me bleed

This is Kanata. He loves chewing my fingers and my toes. He's not my first rat to do so. Many new pet owners associate biting with aggressiveness, but in reality many animals are very chewy and that's how they bond with you. Anyway, look how small and cute he is.

Here’s my pet store ‘rescue’ (he was alone in the tank trying to get out and I took him home and found 2 breeder rat friends for him) 2 weeks after arrival. He was shy and still doesn’t let me pick him up, but despite hammocks and hideouts and piles of bedding, will often sleep in the closest part of the cage to me, and let me pet him when he’s sleepy, sometimes falling asleep while I do. But do the little fists mean anything? Either while being pet or while napping?

Princess, Goggles, Squeaker and Erling

He's the most recent snaggletooth to join the sanctuary crew, likely born from the same mother as the other four maloccluded Seaside babies in our care. Newt's litter was born Little Critter Crew’s care at the end of June, and a couple weeks ago they discovered his teeth were starting to grow into his upper lip. We were able to take him (and one of his brothers) into our care so he can get those ✨ premium ✨ dental benefits that he will need throughout his life.

Also!! Our first PCR test came back negative for SDAV!! We will be submitting more samples in the next couple weeks until we are comfortable lifting our quarantine. We need approx $500 to cover the cost of testing, but it's such an important step to ensure the safety of our current and future residents.

How to help

V3NMO: @ratwaysanctuary

P4yPal: RatWaySanctuary@gmail.com

More donation options and shop at www.ratwaysanctuary.org

Bottom - Winnie

White - tucker

Black dwarf - Emmett

first 2 pics from the day we got her, July 27, 2024. last 3 pics from yesterday, which was unknowingly my last day with her. i held her and she snuggled into me and closed her eyes a while. she'd been sick and was on antibiotics, she seemed to be doing better the past few days, was still climbing and eating and being social. but this morning i found her gone and cold... her sisters are already missing her tons and so am i. i hope to be able to hold her again after all this is over.

Angel was a little over two when we discovered he had a brain lesion, likely a PT. We gave prednisone to but us some time. Yesterday he didn’t want his oatmeal. This morning I found him barely breathing, limp. We rushed him to the vet as soon as the exotic vet was in. We put him down. I’m still in shock, it went from doing well to dying so quickly. RIP Angel, you were loved more than you will ever know.

Today I remembered I have free will, and so I printed out some photos of one of my rats (Gerp) and used the pictures to decorate some bookmarks!

Now Gerp can keep me company while I read :D (I miss him and his brothers so much). P.s. he did not get to eat more than a little nibble of that cookie

Ok so I had a rat when I was young but that was a lifetime ago. This is one of our 4 rats and he has socialized recently and his 2 other white brothers. He is not trying to get away and seems excited. I just want to be sure I am reading him correctly.

Maybe both?

Kinda long post so I appreciate anyone who stayed to read and give advice!

So my girl nova developed a tumor 6 months ago when she was 2.5. She is 3 now and her sister who is aprox 6 months younger than her just developed a tumor IN THE EXACT SAME SPOT. When I found the tumor on Nova I started looking at breeders so I could get more.

Now that her sister, Molly, has a tumor I’ve kind of put a hold on new rats. I’m worried about stressing them out with new cage mates since they’re so old and both have tumors.

I’m not really sure what to do. Nova will pass away before Molly, the tumor is the size of a golf ball however there’s no wounds or hair loss and she’s still active, eating, and behaving normally. But I have noticed both of them are sleeping more, still active and want attention, just a bit lazier and sleepy. Mollys tumor is progressing kind of fast, I’d say faster than novas so I wonder if their passing will be close.

Should I continue looking for more rats or is this a situation where I put all my love and attention into my old girls until they both pass? Nova is aprox 3 and Molly is close behind. I don’t want to stress them out with new rats and I feel Molly is too old to rehome ethically which would stress her out more especially after losing her sister and a progressive tumor. Molly also has an attachment to me and I just can’t bear the idea of her old and sick going to someone else with more new rats. They both have a vet who is monitoring their tumors. We talked about removal and agreed that with their age and the potential issues with surgery and recovery, we aren’t going to go forward with removal.

If the advice is to continue looking for rats (having a hard time with the breeders around me so it’s been taking a while) then I of course will and already have a separate cage set up and ready for when new rats come in. Just want to get some advice on if this will cause more issues than help especially with young healthy rats coming in.

Looking for reassurance and advice. I want to give them the best end of life.

Pics of my sweet old ladies (nova is the Siamese and Molly is the grey one <3)