Lowstorm
Well-known member
literally. Since the rabbittalk forum is the most open, awesome board I've ever found I decided to post here in hopes some of our other pet-centric people have pet rats and can help me.
Story time! Okay, not so much...
My kids have snakes. One of those snakes is a stubborn as heck ball python who will.. you guessed it.. Only eat live rats.
Insert a trio of rats into the household last night. Well, a trio and two younger ones, now minus one. She ate for the first time in a month. We tried everything from f/t to newborn baby bunnies (which I have coming out of my ears....) and the petstore was out of rats for a month. The snakes previous owner has a large collection, and sold me the rats for a buck each. Great deal! Grab five! Okay...
So he never, EVER handles his rats. There were like, a hundred of them so totally understandable. They were purely breeders for his snake collection. The three adults I have are pretty darn cute, but totally unsocialized. I can handle them without getting bitten... but that's about it. I have one of the females (who is already hugely preggos) licking peanut butter off my fingertip. The male my husband has claimed as his new pet that he totally wants to chill with him at all times when he's home (lol. Sadly, he's serious. He introduced it to the bulldog last night, the bulldog is so darn happy to have a new friend!)
I'm honestly surprised they aren't biting and mean. The male and preg. female seem very willing to be our friends. The other female is much more stand-offish. But noone's biting (I had a little nibble this morning, but that was her trying to get ALL the peanut butter RIGHT NOW plzthx. So if you didn't understand the ramble til now. How can I make them super friendly and happy to see us? They were crammed 15+ to a bin at the breeders, so they're still kinda in shock at the moment. The male seems happy he has two females and no other males to compete with. The females seem content too. But if I make them into pets... Well, ya know! Attachment and all that jazz. I do it with my meat rabbits too. Happier until the moment of death and all that. Things rat people may not understand, so I'm here.
Story time! Okay, not so much...
My kids have snakes. One of those snakes is a stubborn as heck ball python who will.. you guessed it.. Only eat live rats.
Insert a trio of rats into the household last night. Well, a trio and two younger ones, now minus one. She ate for the first time in a month. We tried everything from f/t to newborn baby bunnies (which I have coming out of my ears....) and the petstore was out of rats for a month. The snakes previous owner has a large collection, and sold me the rats for a buck each. Great deal! Grab five! Okay...
So he never, EVER handles his rats. There were like, a hundred of them so totally understandable. They were purely breeders for his snake collection. The three adults I have are pretty darn cute, but totally unsocialized. I can handle them without getting bitten... but that's about it. I have one of the females (who is already hugely preggos) licking peanut butter off my fingertip. The male my husband has claimed as his new pet that he totally wants to chill with him at all times when he's home (lol. Sadly, he's serious. He introduced it to the bulldog last night, the bulldog is so darn happy to have a new friend!)
I'm honestly surprised they aren't biting and mean. The male and preg. female seem very willing to be our friends. The other female is much more stand-offish. But noone's biting (I had a little nibble this morning, but that was her trying to get ALL the peanut butter RIGHT NOW plzthx. So if you didn't understand the ramble til now. How can I make them super friendly and happy to see us? They were crammed 15+ to a bin at the breeders, so they're still kinda in shock at the moment. The male seems happy he has two females and no other males to compete with. The females seem content too. But if I make them into pets... Well, ya know! Attachment and all that jazz. I do it with my meat rabbits too. Happier until the moment of death and all that. Things rat people may not understand, so I'm here.