I'd been preparing to own rats for several months beforehand, doing research and slowly collecting supplies. I'd been planning on adopting a pair from a breeder in Philadelphia who I'd been in contact with and really liked. Little did I know that the week after I'd purchased my cage and the day after I bought the majority of my mundane daily supplies and the day before I received a huge order of rat hammocks in the mail, a litter of twelve beautiful, healthy babies would be turned over to the animal shelter where I work.
Well. Of course I took two home. It was fate. I also managed to get all ten of their siblings adopted into pet homes over the following week, as opposed to being given to the 'snake guy' as food. They were all spayed and neutered by the amazing Doc for nothing more than diet coke and brownies, whereas it normally costs anywhere between $50-300 to alter a rat depending on gender, location, and vet.
So. They came in on Friday afternoon, right as we were leaving the building. On Saturday, we came into work and Mom and I quickly separated by gender, since rats can become pregnant in literally two seconds and as young as five weeks, right around where these guys were sitting. Then I chose the first two girls to leave their little enclosure, since they were all the same color and practically identical, and they came home with me.
I got home that afternoon to find a box of hammocks on the doorstep, all awesome and huge and stuffed full of fabric. As I was unloading stuff and squeeing over colors and squishy fabrics as I threw them into the washer, my Dad told me I was acting like I was expecting. He then followed that with "I don't care how much stuff you buy, I do not want rats in this house" before going off to get a bowl of stew.
Unfortunately for him, my new agouti baby girls were already sitting in a cat carrier on my bed, covered up by my coat so they could calm down from the car ride in a dark space. HEH.
Mom was standing right behind him in the hallway and gave me a sort of look, then followed him to get some stew. Apparently she gently informed him that it was too late (gently because I didn't hear his reaction from the laundry room) and he asked me what my rat's name was when I went out to get a bowl myself. My reply: "Julie and Audrey." Silly Dad thought I would get just one. Ehehe. No. It's not psychologically healthy for rats to live alone.
The day after, I was happily staring at one of my little monkeys crawling around her new cage, trying to figure out what the heck a tube was and how she should play with it, while the otherwas exploring the wheel that needed to be replaced with a bigger one as soon as possible. I definitely have a pair of runners.
Besides personality, the only way for me to tell them apart is by their tails, where one has the barest bit of white and one has maybe a centimeter more. The markings are a tiny bit different on their bellies, but they're too timid to get a good look most of the time. They were socialized to a very small degree, but they need more handling before they're completely comfortable with "the hand" and people. They're about two months old right now, turned over to the shelter by a local Petsmart wo had the mother abandoned at their store when the babies were pinkies. The employees raised them until they were old enough to be weaned, socializing as best they could while working.
Here's Audrey in the first few days of being home, scared out of her wits and utterly adorable.
Burrow! Julie went under my ear and Audrey loved my hair, seeing as those were the only hiding spots available after I removed my protective hand-cave from the picture.
Since the cage was only hastily set up for them before they arrived with maybe two hammocks, a tube, the liners, their box, and some accessories... I wanted to do a liner-swap and really spruce it up with some of the beautiful accessories made for me.
Finished cleaning and setup. All it needs is ratties!
Sweet little Julie, practically swimming in her extra-huge double decker hammock! This is the first time I saw her in any of the fabric items. Yay!
Here's Audrey in much the same situation as her sister, a week later. They look so cute, dwarfed by the double decker hammocks!
Following their return to the cage, Julie-bear decides to begin her exploration.
Their igloo was on the ground floor following their surgery and now it's up again, so of course she has to check out downstairs.
Wheel-check complete. It's still there! It also smells distinctly less like pee. All good.
She actually came up to the front while I was sitting there and snapping pictures, which is more her sister's style. Quite bold for her!
Okay, enough of that. Back upstairs to the igloo! But first, a quick photo-op.
"Is the coast clear?" asks Audrey from the igloo.
Nope! Thomas is intently watching his favorite station, the Fud Network. Talk about high definition!
Here's a robe full of ratties! They were caught mid-cuddle. Or at least, mid-crawling-around-the-robe.
I've actually had a bit of luck with treats recently. They still aren't interested in the yogurt or dried fruit treats and are only mildly interested in bits of melted frozen carrot, but they love peas. Audrey will take them from my fingers if she's in the mood, though Julie's much more hesitant about The Hand.
They won't take treats if they're in a precarious situation, though, like on my shoulder or body. They have to be on 'even ground' (even if that ground is climbing up a hanging robe) to even consider nibbling on anything. It's definitely progress, though! It just took a couple weeks for them to be comfortable enough to allow it.
I made them a hardboard playpen and they were having a blast with the cardboard box fort I put together. I had Audrey snatching peas for nearly fifteen minutes.
...! Oh yes, I almost forgot. She LOVES Farina, which is this soft, delicious, mushy stuff made by Cream of Wheat. My mom recently introduced us to it and I offered it to her on a whim from my spoon. She sniffed, tentatively licked, and then grabbed the spoon with both hands and tried to yank it away from me. So cute! She spent the next minute or two licking it all up before I gave her some more.
Another incarnation of their cage setup. I find that it's working really well for me to swap the liners out twice a week and change everything up on the weekend. They absolutely adore their Wobust Wodent Wheel, which is huge for them right now!
I also constructed them a "super sekkrit base box fort" out of whatever materials we had on hand at the time and they had a ball with it.
Here are a pair of ladies co-exploring a hyge double decker hammock. These things still absolutely swamp them! It's so cute...
With a pause for cuteness, here is one of the girls in an awesome trippy flower-power cube. It wasn't easy catching them in there, let me tell you!
I finally got a good shot of each individually so that their little shaved tummies are in view. Audrey really didn't care much about the camera. Julie protested but was eventually snapped just the same.
When my hand's not in the way, the marking on Audrey's tummy reminds me oddly of a flying dragon.
Julie did not want to be photographed.
And just for the sake of cuteness, a head poking out of their pocket hammock.
Then. THEN. Because these beautiful girls weren't enough and I knew that my cage safely had room for more...
Jeremy and Ondo have arrived! Four is the max that I feel will comfortably fit in my cage, so I have my mischief. Two boys, two girls, and a whole cage full of zoomy babies!
My brother's girlfriend was kind enough to 'model' the new boys for me. Their names are Jeremy (agouti with white) and Ondo (black with white). Both of them are a tad more social than my girls, with Jeremy being the bolder boy. For all intents and purposes, they're pretty much the same age as my girls. Such handsome young men, too! They, their eight siblings, and their parents were all rescued from a shelter and fostered by Small Angels Rescue until... well... today!
Jeremy is a handsome little beast and he knows it. Look at those goolies! He's quite proud. Of course, they'll be one of the first things to 'go' as soon as I can chat with Doc.
Quite the curious boy. He investigates! Look at that precious little spot on his head.
Ondo is a photogenic little man. Look at that handsome stripe across his face! This isn't a great shot of it, but I'm sure I'll catch one eventually.
He's investigating and giving my 'model' a run for her money. Leeeeeg!
Here he is, taking a moment to sniff the air. Which is currently full of the smell of my room. Heee. It shows off his splashy markings beautifully.
The girls tend to hop in and out of hammocks like poppers, but the boys will sit and chill for a little while longer. I brought them home yesterday and put them all in the corner pocket to relax and get used to the freshly cleaned cage in a snuggly, warm space. All four of them stayed in there together for hours, and the boys pretty much overnight. Of course, that meant it was full of pee and raisins in the morning, but eh. It was time to do laundry anyway!
Here's a picture with two-and-a-nose rats as proof!
I don't know if I knew the story behind them or not but now I do - it's awesome you were able to get them all adopted out, and 'fixed' and everything!
Very cool the arrangement you worked out for getting your ratties... ahem "altered." 
