Seriously, there are rats everywhere! Soo many rats. Rat adopters, come on down.Thelma and Louise came back with their litter on Saturday. The babies are too young to be weaned, but come next Saturday (the 21st) they'll all be available for adoption. Ready for some cuteness?
Each of the babies looks like Thelma instead of Louise, which is funny, because while Louise is the real mom, Thelma has basically been raising them.
They follow Thelma around, and she protects them, while Louise just steps all over them. I think she'll be glad when they're gone and she gets her friend back from mom duty!
All the babies are very sweet, and while they're a little squirmy, they're very comfortable being held. Their foster parents did an awesome job!
They haven't been sexed yet (they will next week), but since there's nine of them, I'm sure there will be enough of each sex to keep them in pairs at least.**Edited to add: I know we can sex them now, pretty easily, we just haven't bothered as they're all together and we can barely tell them apart. If someone is interested in a specific one in regards to knowing the sex, I'll get right on it, but otherwise they'll probably just be sexed when they get separated. Thanks for all the tips though - glad to know there are so many experts out there! :)
Haha, this little one is my favourite. Look at that face. Those whiskers!
I love their little hands. So very human-like!
These guys are all fat and healthy, with beautiful colouring and bright little eyes. They are as cute as buttons and very curious and friendly.
They really need to find homes right away, because they are going to grow right out of that cage. Firstly, we don't have any more cages to put them in. Secondly, we just can't keep this many animals in our little Room. These guys are in the back right now because there's no room. We can't end up being a warehouse for rats, with 12 of them hanging around for months - they need homes, now! And by now, I mean next week when they're weaned.
And then we have the two other boys, the boys of spectacularly bad timing. Why did they have to show up now?
Hudson and Arizona are quite sweet, but they're also very shy. They never nip, but they hide most of the time, and they need a home that will give them love and patience - and help them lose weight!So - who wants a rat? :)
8 comments:
You should be able to sex the young ones from birth. Males have a greater separation between the genitals and anus, and have swelling in that area where the testicles will drop. It may seem hard, but when you compare males vs. females its really easy to tell. I am raising my first litter right now, and I was able to tell males and females apart at 2 hours old, even though I've never seen a baby rat before.
Good luck, and good job! :)
Hi anonymous,
Yup, I'm sure we could sex them now, we just didn't bother yet since they don't need to be separated. We have a staff member who is much better at it than I am, and he was away that day. Next time I go in, we'll sex them. They don't even have ID numbers yet, so right now we're just looking at them as a big mass of babies =P
Thanks for the tips though!
Aww, look at our little monkeys! We miss having them around, but I'm glad they are doing well back at the shelter. Isn't Louise a terrible mom?! LOL If she wasn't nursing, I think she'd be completely useless. LOL Thank God for Aunt Thelma! The pics are great, by the way - we had an impossible time getting good photos of them. Clearly we need a better camera. Good luck getting the littlins adopted! We'd seriously consider a pair of them if we didn't already have a full house here, especially since we've known them from day 1!
~ Grace & Casey (former foster parents)
What BEAUTIFUL markings! These guys will hopefully get tons of attention :) I've reposted this to my blog to get these guys some attention. I might have to drop by myself to check them out and drop off cages. <3 sending tons of positive energy in your direction with hopes they get adopted real quick!
Thanks for everything you did, Grace =) Yes, Louise is a fairly terrible mother lol, but at least she's a nice rat!
Anonymous, I hope you do drop off cages, that would be absolutely fantastic! Thanks for the re-post!
Is there a guess at how old Thelma and Louise are?
Unfortunately we don't know their age, as they came in as 'strays'. I would say they're quite young though. I think we estimated them to be about 6 mos, although they could also be a year.
hi i really wanna a rat but my mom doesn't think its a good idea cause i have cats. Do rats get along with cats if they are introduced proporly? or does it always end in a hissy fight? oh and have any ideas how to convince my mom getting a rat is a good idea?
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