#dwarf rats

Well this week has been…pretty crazy rat wise! I know its been a few days since I updated on my current rats, but that’s partially because so much has been happening with them.

First up, poor Olive had to go to the vet because she had some vaginal bleeding. I was worried it was a pyometra or another Bean situation (Bean had uterine cancer and it hemorrhaged, causing her to pass shortly after emergency surgery), but thankfully its just a bladder infection and the vet put her on baytril for the next few weeks to clear it up. Its only been a few days since that visit but already Olive has responded to the treatment, and is no longer bleeding or acting off at all

Now as for the more exciting news, I got 4 more rats to add to my group! Two come from Second Chance Hero Rat Adoptions in Richmond VA - an amazing volunteer helped drive them all the way to me (I’m over 3 hours away for context!), and both girls have settled in great! Those two rats are the standard sized russian blues - the russian blue berkshire is called Banana (and she reminds me so much of Bean that I keep calling her the wrong name - she really is like a little Bean reincarnated, right down to her sleeping habits!), and her sister (the russian blue variagated) is called Blueberry (her markings remind me of my late girl Blackberry, although unlike Blackberry she isn’t agressive and is much better with handling lol). Both girls are about 7 months old, and both are quite confident and love to explore (especially Banana, she just walks right into open space like she owns it and is SO enthusiastic about training time!)

And as for the other 2 girls, those girls are 10 week old dwarf rats! They won’t be growing much more, so their tininess will be here to stay lol. These girls come from Boggle Brothers Rattery NC. Both are super sweet and friendly, and the Harley black variegated is called Butter, while her sister (the black variegated with standard fur) is called Toast! Toast unfortunately will need surgery to correct an umbilical hernia - I was warned of this by their breeder, but I opted to bring her home regardless since the surgery is quick and easy and won’t impact her later life. She has already been to the vet once to be evaluated for surgery and to have the umbilical hernia confirmed, and we have a surgery date set for June 16th.

All and all its been a pretty eventful week rat-wise, but I’m very happy with all the new editions and soon I’ll be introducing them to my other 4 rats to form a group of 8! I’m a bit nervous for intros with the dwarfs because of their small size (both are well under 100 grams and all my standard rats are over 300 grams, with some being over 400 grams), but I think intros will go well and I’m just going to take it one step at a time to ensure everyone gets along safely…

(Please forgive my terrible pictures lol - we will be taking some better pictures soon, but just haven’t had the time yet!)