Animal House: Frat Rats ~ The early years
Pearl and Emily
My first two little rat girls were adopted from the humane society on July 31, 1998 at about 4 weeks old. They were Emily a black hooded female and Pearl a white rat with himilayan markings. At first Pearl, Emily and I had a hard time getting used to each other. They were shy and I didn't know how to convince them I was their friend. They did slowly warm up to me, but things really changed once I brought home a third rat, an agouti with a white diamond on her stomach, from Animart on October 25th. We named her Cous Cous. Cous Cous taught me what a rat likes to do and I was able to use that to spend a lot more friendly time with Emily and Pearl. Out of the four Pearl who was the most shy around people was none-the-less the alpha of the rat group.
A selection of pictures of the early days, these are my first three rat girls.
In the spring/summer of 2000 three of my four rats had died. Emily and Pearl both had strokes within a month of each other, apparently it was a family problem. And Cous Cous died while trying to recover from surgery.
Sesame was my first rat from a breeder. I went to a pet show in March 99 and brought home a fourth rat, Sesame, a cinnamon dumbo rat. She was much calmer than my other girls in general and was very sweet. When out with me she was very snuggly and kissy. We called her Zemmi for short which means 'great mole rat' and eventually she GREW to fulfill that meaning. She outlived all her cagemates and met new younger companions.
In July of 2001 Sesame passed away in her sleep.
...a nose shot of the great Sesame aka Zemmi...
and Raindrop...
demonstrating how all the rats use plump Sesame as a pillow.
Raindrop was a black hooded rat, born about 1/00. She and her siblings were in a rat rescue home in Illinois where we picked her out on the Fourth of July 2000. She has a little drop of white on her forehead which is why we call her Raindrop (her name in foster care was Pepper). Rainy was a sweet rat and in spite of a chronic respiratory problem lived a relatively healthy life. She suddenly became much worse near Christmas of 2001 and died on Jan. 2nd. We will miss her gentle presence.
Raindrop had learned a lot from Zemmi the oldtimer. She found out that people coming to visit the cage is a great thing and that they usually bring a snack or treat which is worth grabbing up. She became very curious and friendly. Rainy occasionally enjoyed giving us the slip and hiding out for awhile occasionally, which none of my other rats have ever done. Most of them would sell their soul for a yogurt drop treat so they come right out to me.
Frat Rats Page 1
follow Sesame home
OR
Visit Page 2 of Frat Rats.
(With current rat pictures and links.)
