Ratablog

Rat pix!

Metro eating in his house.

Olie sleeps like this because he likes to hear me scream.

Abita gave the Frat Boys some avocado during playtime. Jim couldn't find a safe place to eat his avocado until Abita kneeled on the bed, when Jim immediately jumped on her calf and started enjoying his treat.

George after succesfully summiting Mt. Mommyhips.

When I took this picture, I didn't realize all four boys were in the hammock. They are Mr. Ratburn, who is resting on Arthur's butt, with Rabskuttle to the left and Misto waaay in the back.

The girls sitting on their top shelf, in front of their nest. From left they are Ohana, Neiko, and Arwen.

More birthdays!

Tomorrow is Calle, Olie, and Schwartz's birthday, but since Abita and I will be home late, we had the party tonight.

However, the party was delayed a bit when the party was crashed and an uninvited guest ate the cake.

The Birthday Rats: From top they are Calle, Olie, and their sister Schwartz. The boys are neutered and Schwartz has been spayed.

Olie and Schwartz enjoy their cake...

...as does Calle.

Calle decides he's had enough.

Pinky enjoys some cake.

More rat pix!

Imagine that.

The only one I can identify is that's Ohana getting groomed. The other two are Arwen and Neiko, but I can't tell who's who without looking at their tails.

That's Arwen on the left--her striped doesn't go all the way to her tail. Ohana shows her belly on the right.

Ohana contemplates pushing the red button. And now for the boys:

Domination games in progress between Mr. Ratburn (double rex) and Misto (standard coat). Rabscuttle (rex coat) referee's.

Mr. Ratburn peeks over the top of the castle.

Arthur the Bald wants none of this silliness.

More birthdays!

Today was Metro and Leather's second birthday! It was also a day to remember their brother, Kono. Yes, we had a birthday party.

Metro enjoys a lab block earlier today.

Metro and Leather lick the frosting from their birthday cake, just as any self-respecting two year old would.

Cake for everyone! There are more pix in the extended entry.

Metro and Leather.

Leather.

Yep, yet another pic of Metro and Leather.

Calle and Metro.

Pinky.

Pinky's birthday!

Happy second birthday to our fuzzy girl.

Here she's getting her Lasix before dinner.

The birthday dinner--what two-year-old wouldn't start with the "cake"?

Once all the frosting is gone...

Then eat the vegetables.

And what about the old rats?

After Kono's passing, a new alpha emerged in the boy's cage: Metro. Little quiet Metro has groomed his way to the top. I always thought it would have been Calle, because he was always challenging Kono. As far as I can tell, he hasn't challenged Metro at all.

However, Metro may not be with us that much longer. He has developed a lump on his side; it's similar to Witter's in that it's hard and cannot be moved too much. Due to his age, I'm going to let nature take its course.

Olie, it seems, may have hemorrhoids. A few weeks after his apparent leg injury, I noticed some bloody poops while the rats were out for playtime. Olie was the first rat I picked up and turned over, and his anus was bright red with blood. All of the other rats were fine. It was two days before I could get him to the vet, and of course, his anus and poops were fine. The vet did do a test on his poops and nothing untoward was found. We filed it under the it's-cleared-up-so-monitor-the-situation file.

Last week, Abita and I purchased a large five-foot tall cage and moved the Original Six rats into it, so we could free up a couple of cages for the new arrivals. After returning from Pennsylvania on Saturday, I noticed some very soft poops in the big cage, and an inspection of bottoms showed Olie had diarrhea. We decided to treat him with yogurt for a couple of days and if he was still having problems, we'd start him on some Dri-Tail the third day.

Last night, during playtime, Olie sat down on a piece of cardboard to groom himself, and when he moved, I noticed a smear on the cardboard that looked like blood. I flipped him over again, and sure enough, there was bright-red blood on his tail. I set him down, and he pooped--some blood was on the poopie.

Abita held him while I cleaned his anus with a damp cotton ball, and we could see no injury. While discussing what might be the problem, I had a flashback to a fourteen year-old personal experience, and I realized he may have had a ruptured hemorrhoid.

Because the blood is bright red, I'm not too concerned it's a serious problem, but I'll discuss it with a vet this week, when I take Calle in for an apparent sneezing problem.

As far as the girls are concerned, they're in much better shape, overall, than my boys. Leather is fine, if a little overweight, and Schwartzie, too, is fine, except for her obesity.

Pinky, on the other hand, is being treated with a diuretic, Lasix, for possible congestive heart failure. She had been having the 'hiccups' for quite awhile, but some trips to the vet showed no apparent problem. Eventually, though, she began to get grunty and slightly lethargic (for her, that means she slowed down during playtime). A careful listen to her lungs by Dr. G revealed some fluid in her lungs, so we treated her with Baytril for any infection, and we're continuing to give her lasix to keep her from retaining fluids. She now flings herself out of the cage whenever we open a door, so we're glad she's feeling better.

More Rat Pictures

Hope no one is sick of these yet, because we sure aren't.

The boys, all curled up together under their mother's picture. On the left, Mestopholes (Misto) is resting on top of Mr. Ratburn. On the right, Rabscuttle is resting on Arthur.

The girls get groomed beneath their mother's picture. From top to bottom, they are Neiko, Arwen, and Ohana.

Lots of new pictures

The new ratties are settling in, so here are some pictures:

Arthur.

A close up of Arthur, because he is just so cool.

Mr. Ratburn, Arthur's brother.

I tried bribing them with yogies to get them to sit still for a group picture: Mr. Ratburn, Arthur, and Mistoffoles.

Rabskuttle was a little late to the party, but he did a yogie, too.

The new girls and the frat boys are in the extended entry...

Arwen.

The girls in the attempted yogie-bribe picture.

Neiko's purposeful stride.

Neiko and Ohana explore.

The frat boys were not amused by the scents of other rats. They were all a little puffy here.

Jack: Someone's been sitting on my pipe!

Jim: Someone's been peeing on my bed!

George: Someone's been cuddling on my mommy!

New Rats!

About 410 miles and 8 1/2 hours later, Abita and I have returned from northeastern PA with seven rats. Check out our new additions!

Our new boys get their first glimpse of Maryland from the back of my CR-V, at the welcome center just across the Mason-Dixon Line. Front to back, they are Rabscuttle, Mistopholes, Arthur (in the box) and Mr. Ratburn. I think.

Arwen, a girl, checks out Maryland from the back of my truck.

The other two girls came out briefly, then went back into the box. This is Ohana resting on Neiko's butt.

I'll be posting more pictures later, but for now, everyone needs a rest.