5 Tiny Faces

Back in 2020 a friend of mine was diagnosed with Cancer and could no longer care for her 2 rats, Coco and Lasky. I had been feeding them in the holidays for a few months by then and was more than happy to take them in. What we knew was that Coco was the shy one and Lasky was the curious one, but this quickly changed as they got more confident. Coco was the brave little idiot, always getting in trouble. she once found a gap in the wall of the room and got into the sauna! I was afraid of being bitten so I always wore gloves, which was actually a good choice as Lasky once bit me VERY HARD and it would've been very painful without the gloves. We moved house in October 2020 and the rats moved into my new room with me. That's how I discovered just how loud they were at night, as they kept me up at night a lot. We even had to remove their water bottle and leave them with just a bowl because they kept banging it against the bars.

In November 2020 Lasky got sick. I heard the awful noises she was making from my bed, and my whole family were all freaking out. The only time Lasky was calm and quiet was when I was holding her in my arms. Despite our best efforts, we had to put her down a week later on the 4th of December. It was heart shattering, as I was the one who stayed with her the whole time, giving her medicine on bits of food, and trying to hydrate her with cucumber. But the poor thing couldn't even stand by the end of it, and when we put her in the travel box to see if the vet could do anything I knew deep down that we would return without her. A month after her death we asked the pet shop if we should get Coco a new cage mate, but they said it might stress her out too much, as she was almost two by then.

We were sure to spend a lot of time with our little Cocobean, and she did the funniest things. We once fed her while sitting a bit away from the cage and watching her take some food, jump under cage to eat it and then come running back for more. After a while she started eating on my shoulder! It made me so happy to see her take the snacks we gave her and then deliberately climb up to my shoulder to eat it instead of hiding under the cage. Unfortunately, we lost Coco on the 3rd of December 2021, one day off being a year after Lasky. She didn't suffer as much as Lasky did, thank goodness, but it still hurt when my parents returned from the vet without her. But the real thing I noticed was the deafening silence. Even just writing this and remembering is bringing me to tears. Without Coco the cage was too quiet, no food crunching, no running around, no straw rustling.

It hurt so much that we got three baby rats, 5 weeks old, only a few days later on the 7th. We welcomed Cracker, Peanut and Cheese into the family. Unfortunately, I was having an Anxiety spell when we chose them, so I was in and out of the pet shop feeling quite Sick. But I made sure to ask my parents: "Can we please get the one with the black stripe? She's the one who came up to see me when I was looking before!"

This mysterious and brave little rat would later be named by my mum. Little Cracker. The second rat to be chosen was chosen while I was trapped outside, and she was chosen by my dad. According to him when they lifted the house to get to the rats, they all SCATTERED and staring running around. This poor rat got dropped and RAN across the cage at high speeds. That's why my dad wanted her. Later in the car I asked if we could name her "Peanut" as she is light brown and white, or "peanut coloured." Finally, we decided to get one of the black rats. we almost got a different one to our little Cheese puff, but she was holding on to a different rat and we didn't was to separate them. So, we were blessed with Cheese, our third and Final rat.

They were so tiny when we first got them! Cheese was so shy we barely saw her for the first few days, but she ended up being the first rat out on the floor! She's our crazy baby, always poking her nose where she shouldn't be. She even used me as a launching pad TWICE while trying to get to the shelf where we keep the snacks. The first time she almost made it, but I was able to stop her just in time. The second time she just splatted into the wall and fell on the ground. Do not worry though! She is fine! We learnt quite quickly with Coco and Lasky that rats do crazy things to make you panic when they are totally fine.

The second rat on the floor was Cracker. For some reason she feared the floor at the start. And I mean JUST the floor. She came out onto the box we put out so that the ramp wasn't so steep just fine, and we even put a towel on the floor, and she was quite happy on there too. It was just the floor part she didn't like. Cracker is our sweet baby. She never starts fights and is always wandering around my room chattering away happily. We think she is a little deaf, as she never gets scared when we drop things like the other two and she doesn't react to the food jar opening like Cheese and Peanut do. She loves chewing things and actually chewed her way out of the cage when she was smaller. She chewed through the plastic base and since the bars on the bottom have larger gaps, she was able to squish through! Luckily, she didn't go far, as I heard her rustling a bag next to my desk. The rats feel very safe in their cage and even though they love to explore they always return happily!

Peanut has difficulty seeing, so she took the longest to come out. She actually came on the floor quite quickly, but something must've happened cause for a month or two she refused to leave the cage. She'd just stay in her favourite tube or watch us from the cage. But one day she started to come out a little after we lured her with food, and when she first started to come out onto the floor, we couldn’t get her back in!! She HATES being picked up, unlike Cracker who you can just scoop up, or even Cheese who avoids being picked up but is fine once you have her. If you manage to pick peanut up she FREAKS OUT. I've been practicing it with her a lot as I'm scared that if there's a fire, I must be able to get them in their carrier box quickly. She's a lot better now, panicking less when I pick her up and I only hold her for a few seconds before I put her down so she knows she can always get back to the cage.

Two of my friends got rats after meeting mine. One girl wanted Mice and came to meet our rats so they could see what it was like to have rodents and by the time she was going home she was asking her mum for rats instead. Another girl is now my classmate and she actually already had cats! But after meeting the three babies she instantly wanted rats too! Sadly one of her 4 babies fell ill and died a few weeks ago. I'm glad she still has the other 3 to comfort her along with her cats, so at least she still hasn't experienced the deafening silence yet.

Rats are an amazing choice of pet. They are clean, intelligent, funny animals. Rats don't like to be alone, so you should always get 2 or more and make sure your cage is big enough for the amount you're getting. You should spend a lot of time with your Babies, especially when they're younger. When you first get them, you should leave them alone for a bit though, so they get used to their new home. Baby rats will bite, but they're just seeing if you're food, and they learn to stop after a month or so. make sure they get used to your presence by talking to them and let them leave the cage at their own pace. Don't grab your rat unless its an emergency and NEVER pick them up by their tails! Scoop the babies or let them come on your hand when they want to. You should clean their cage every 2 weeks, or clean one half every week like we do. Rats are very susceptible to respiratory diseases and tumours, so check for tumours every now and them and if you can hear your rat squeaking when they breathe go to the vet. Sometimes they just have a stuffy nose, so only if it persists should you be concerned. Rats are very resilient creatures, so don't panic if one drops from a Hight or jumps into a wall unless they start limping or acting different. These are just some of the things I've learnt by having pet rats! The only real downside is their short lifespan of about 2 years, unlike cats or dogs who have 12 years to spend with you. So, make sure you spend a lot of time with your little ratties while you still can!