Rattitude – Where Rats Rule!

Following in the tradition of past years I am pleased to release my World Rat Day 2010 graphic. This year I have captured the likeness of the elusive Easter Rat since World Rat Day falls on Easter Sunday. Enjoy … and Happy Easter!

One of my favorite Rat Rescues is enjoying the wonders of baby rats … two litters worth actually. Brittney, the fine young lady that runs Star’s Rat Rescue, recently took in two (pregnant) female rats who gave birth to a total of 20 baby rats! You can follow along with their daily progess reports at the RatChatter forums, here are the links:

• Pearl and her 10 new pups
• Kiwi and her 10 new pups

If you can make room in your heart and your home for some new born rats, please contact Star’s Rat Rescue. I am sure they would appreciate the help.

Here are a few iPapers, just to show what sweet little babies these are:

Just something to share for those fancy pet rat keepers that like to have rat iPapers … and for any rat lovers in general.

Our Shadow left today … some time in the early hours of the morning.

He is survived by his brothers: Turq!, Tanzi, and Colby … may they see the New Year through.

It’s been a few days now and it still is not any easier to write these posts. Our second Mynx, one of the Prodigal Sons passed to the Rainbow Bridge on Dec 22, 2009. I will remember him as one of the strongest willed rats I have known … and I will miss his indomitable spirit.

Read Mrs.R’s post for Mynx on the RatChatter forums

… and I simple have no words.

Being on vacation this week let us sleep in a bit so breakfast was a little later than usual. Even with that extra bit of sleep you cannot be prepared to wake up and find one of your little ones passed on to the Rainbow Bridge. Since everyone is used to eating earlier I immediately make them breakfast once I wake up. Today, like every day, I count heads once I put the plates into their homes; and, I make sure there are no stragglers … everyone needs their breakfast.

BJ was nestled into a corner so I reached in to pick her up and put her with her sisters. She was cold to the touch. She was gone. Mrs.R and I both had the same dream that one of the girls has passed, little did we know it was BJ saying goodbye.

A great video on YouTube …

Bear has been an iPaper model in the past but being as he is so photogenic here is another rat friendly ipaper featuring Bear. Bear is a special fancy pet rat kept by RatPirate on the RatChatter forums. He wasn’t feeling well of late, but appears to have made a full recovery as indicated by this iPaper.

A little smile for the readers of Rattitude, with so much sad news to write about lately this little guy brings a big smile. Thanks for sharing, Amber.

Black Jack played his last hand today. He played it well, then in the quiet of the afternoon he left for the Rainbow Bridge.

Today is Friday and like most Fridays I spend the day taking care of things around home. I do laundry. I clean the boys’ cages. I vacuum. I run some errands. My day fills up quickly.

Laundry was laundry, what can i say … it’s laundry. Cleaning the boys’ homes was fairly mundane with the exception of taking the doors off Black jack’s section as he had managed to coat the entire lower frame with his splashing about in his meals. Black Jack’s diet of late has been primarily our “baby food” breakfast. He always had his dry staple food available but with his “advanced” age it was much easier to make sure he was eating by providing breakfast four to five times a day, depending on his appetite. Black Jack had what I call “old man syndrome”, appearing much older than what his chronological age or as compared to his brothers. As frail as he was he was still very spirited and if left to his own devices would quickly find his way to the floor or some other place that he really should not have gotten into.

Today was no different for Black Jack, or at least that is what I believed. I had moved him to his “box” while I cleaned up his home. He seemed comfortable and went to sleep, although I was a little concerned when I picked him up from his cage. He was cool to the touch, more so than the room temperature would cause and although slightly agitated and freely moving he felt “stiff”. After I had finished with his Ferret Nation and was preparing to take him home I decided to sit with him for a bit as he seemed … he seemed … well, his eyes were near empty.

We sat together for a while. He slept for a bit, then woke up seemingly refreshed and ready for lunch. There was still a bit of breakfast left from this morning, enough to tide him over for a couple of hours. He was more interested in simply going home and getting comfortable in familiar surroundings … little did I know. Black Jack bluffed me into believing he would be fine, although I think I really knew that today was likely going to be his last and just was not ready to accept it, yet.

I put Black Jack into a freshly made nest, and finished getting ready to go out. Black Jack played his last hand while I was gone; this time … it was a bust.