They're adorable, Flip! They're gonna bring you a lot of happiness. My little sister has a rat, and she loves him to death. Really cute and really smart. Oh, hi!!! How did I miss you signing up here!! Welcome to the forum, buddy!!!
They're certainly bringing my joy; rats are the best pets I've ever owned and I've owned a LOT!
And you're welcome!! I'm actually thinking of adding a few extra scenes in Guilty Until Proven Innocent since for me, deleted scenes can't stay deleted for long... <_< I'll get more on that on the actual thread of importance. Anywho, keep going with that fanfic of yours!! I can't wait to read it!!
And ooooo, I take you're fully aware of what I'm talking about concerning my new babies' names!!
I hate rats but I'm glad you got them. That's alright, I don't expect everyone to like them. Thank you for the good wishes though!!
Congratulations on getting your new rats, Sparky! They’re very cute! And I loved hearing your observations about their personalities. Thank you, Pangy!! Observing them has been a very interesting past-time!!
So these two are from the same litter? Wow, I didn't know that was possible; I'd always assumed that Dumbo rats were a separate breed or something. But if that's true, then I guess it must be some sort of recessive gene that gives them the funny ears. Interesting. Well, the thing is, rats haven't been domesticated long enough for true breeds to emerge. Right now, we call the differences between them "variety", so they can all occur in the same litter. Plus, their mom's standard ear, their dad (a wonderful beige hooded rat named Jackson) is dumbo. Surprisingly enough, the majority of the litter are dumbo. Claiming Koopa was very lucky as he was the only standard-earred male in the brood and competition for these baby rats was surprisingly fierce. Luckily, I got first dibs cause I waited outside in the cold and rain HOURS before the store even opened! THAT'S dedication!!
I'm pretty sure that all three of my siblings have told me at some point that they would love to have rats as pets (as would I). It’s probably not going to happen as long as Sasquatch (our cat) is around, though. Oh well. Watch this:
VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ikm3o5hDks However, from what I heard, I think Sasquatch might be too hyper to be trusted around ratties!
Aww…that is so sweet, and so sad. I know right. I was visiting just yesterday and she was still acting like that. This time, she tried to slip away from Dad and when I looked back as I was walking away, I saw her watching me leave (anthropomorphism imminent: she looked very sad, like she was being abandoned). And here I thought it would get better with more visits, but I felt even worse than last time!
Good luck on training your new ratties (especially Tanooki) to not be afraid of you I'm gonna write an update on that actually, as soon as I finish with this response!!
Random observation: I spy a Dragonite plushie (and a heap of smaller, indistinct plushies) in the background of the video! Yup!! Most of my plushies are still in their bags, but currently (and during the time of that recording) I have my giant Dragonite and Gengar plushies, as well as my Super Mario Bros. Plushies consisting of: A Koopa Troopa, a Paratroopa, a Dry Bones, a Hammer Bro, and a Boomerang Bro.
...Man....this obsession really is bad.
Last-minute thought: Ooh! You should find some way to record Tanooki's Water Bottle Ritual. I'd love to see that! I've been thinking the same thing! I bet it'll be a big hit on youtube!! Now if I can figure out a way to record it in a decent, non-shaky manner with my webcam without freaking Tanooki out...
Time for the Update!!
Last Saturday was their 7th week of life. They can now be considered teenagers! At first, my attempts to regain Tanooki's trust hasn't really been working out, so I had to change my methods a bit: this time, I focused on the encourager of Tanooki's fear (aka, Koopa) using a combination of Trust Training and Forced Socialization (which I prefer to call "Hands-On Therapy"
).
Basically, in addition to my previous method, I hold little Koopa for 20+ minutes. The reason behind this is that a rat cannot sustain its fear for more than 20 minutes. After that, they begin to relax in your hold and realize that you're not going to hurt them. Using this method, Koopa now allows me to pick him up out of the cage without a struggle. He's also skilled at shoulder riding and is nibble-grooming me (a great sign of affection among rats). Whenever he's exploring and gets spooked, he runs to me for safety. He knows how to come when called and to stand on his hind-legs on command. Currently, he's learning how to
walk on his hind legs and he's had his first Fetch session this morning (he's got the chasing the ball of string down, but bringing it back is something he'll still need to master). Despite his skittish beginnings (he's still terrified of strangers), he's a very fast learner and I'm so proud of him! Ah, the power of Cheerios!
With Koopa no longer fueling Tanooki's paranoia, I've been making some progress with Tanooki as well. He still runs and hides (and prompts Koopa to do it as well, although I can tell Koopa's doing it to simply follow his brother rather than actual fear) when I make too much movement in his direction and he still squirms when I remove him from the cage. But once he's out, he tucks his head into the crook of my arm and practically falls asleep. Just the other day, he was bruxing (when rats are happy, they grind their teeth) for the first time whilst being held by me. He seems to react with interest to certain music (Specifically this one:
VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNWGnTtKZwA ) in that he'll peek out from my arm curiously whilst it's playing and he now enjoys getting ear massages. I can tell he's still nervous about me, but it's definite progress.
