It's a Family Affair

We got a family of rats from TAS West a couple of days ago. I don't know what the story is, but I assume someone got two rats without realizing they were male and female, then six babies later, decided to give up on the whole thing. And this is why I'm strongly in favour of learning to sex whatever animal you own - it is an invaluable skill, people.

 Here's the dad, Clark Gable. As always, I couldn't resist naming the family in a theme. I think it's nice to give them a connection to each other, and it also makes it easier to keep track of who is related to who. Clark Gable here is a dashing gentleman, as befits his name, and quite an easy-going fellow.

We also have momma, Grace Kelley. It's funny, we don't normally get to see both parents, but in this case it didn't help much because the kids look almost nothing like either of them. Mrs Kelley is looking very round around the middle so it's probable she's pregnant again (of course), which means she is off to stay with the amazing Grace and Casey for a little bit.

And then we have the kids! Bogart here is the only one who looks like mom at all, and the easiest to pick out of the litter. He's a super active boy and it was a pain trying to get a photo of him, which is why he looks like he's being strangled (I swear he's not).

Pacino is the other easy one to spot. He's the only Berkshire rat in the litter, and stands out easily from his brothers. I think he's probably the smallest - he's a sweetie but fast as lightning!

And then we get into the hooded boys. The other four brothers are all hooded rats, although their markings make them easy enough to tell apart when you take a closer look. This is DiCaprio, who has almost no markings on his back, and is probably the shyest in the litter (based on the five minutes I spent with him taking his photo!).

You can't really see it in this photo, but Nicholson here has a thick black line running straight down his back that is pretty unmistakable.

I left the names of the last two up to the Facebook page - this is Sinatra, who can be ID'd due to the big patch on his back, and also the incredibly offended expression he gives you if you stop him from crawling off a chair.

And lastly we have Hoffman, whom I ID through process of elimination. No thick line, no big patch, but still has markings on his back? Must be Hoffman!

In the days of yore, receiving this many rats would have been a big problem for TAS, but now it's no sweat. Someone is supposed to adopt two today, I'll post them on the rat rescue forum, and we'll send half of them to Pet Valu. I bet they'll be gone in a week! Hey, even Jiminy & Cricket, who were older and quieter, were adopted within a week.

Speaking of adoptions - our "Fall in Love" cat campaign was CRAZY successful! We basically cleared out the shelter. For a day there, we actually didn't have any cats available. Every cat in this post has now been adopted! So awesome.
I can't wait for our Christmas campaign!