Rat count: 6

Housematt and Maddo have been making fun of me for the past couple of weeks, telling me I am going to turn into a Crazy Rat Lady. Housematt is no longer allowed to make fun of me, however, because he just found me another rat. I am merely as my environment has made me, folks.

That's right. We now have 6 rats as of August 27th when Jadis and Lilith get to come home. Our newest addition is another psych rat, who as luck would have it is a brother of Tweaker and The Brick. That's what convinced me to take him, in all honesty. It means that he will be easier to introduce into Tweaker and The Brick's cage, since their smells will be similar. I am also hoping this will help The Brick's current problem.

Everyone, meet Neo. (Neo, everyone.) Yes, I know he looks just like S.T. Strange, Tweaker, and Melvin to you, but I can tell the difference. XP* The picture does him no justice. He is the most calm, alert rat I have ever met. And he is also a complete babyface. You can tell he's overwhelmed right now, but he's definitely not unhappy. We've gotten him to take snacks from us, though he doesn't devour them as greedily as his brothers.


After Housematt called and let me know he was home today, I was very glad I took him in. He'd been living in an aquarium, which was apparently filthy beyond all reason before Matt scrubbed it out. He predicts that the bedding had not been changed for two months. (I see a bath in Neo's future.) He's also been fed the exact wrong diet (exclusively seeds and dried corn, no treats, no fresh food), and wasn't being played with. His brother got taken away at the end of the class, so he was also living alone, which is not good for a rat who is used to living socially. I know he's lonely-- he got a whiff of the boys tonight and spent the rest of the evening in the area of the cage closest to theirs.

In a couple of weeks we get to start the actual introduction process. By then they will have been living near each other long enough to recognize each other's smells. After that we bathe them with kitten shampoo, smear them with vanilla extract, and leave them alone to bond over grooming. Finally, we deep clean and completely re-arrange the cage to make it seem new, then plop all three of them in.

Yes, there will be wet angry rat grooming pictures. How could I not?

Six rats, two cages. I am so glad we are seniors.