These girls originally came to us on 7/1/2024 because their owner was no longer allowed to keep them at their housing. They were adopted 8/17/24, but unfortunately their new owner had to return them on 1/4/25 because they were moving and couldn’t take them along.
Fostered by Annie in Brighton, MA.
RESERVED!
#2024370N, “Melanie”, Rat, Beige and White, , Standard Ears/Standard Coat, Female, DOB: 12/30/2023, Spayed/Neutered?: No
#2024371N, “Starfire”, Rat, Beige and White, Hooded, Standard Ears/Standard Coat, Female, DOB: 03/15/2024, Spayed/Neutered?: No
#2024372N, “Amethyst”, Rat, Beige and White, Hooded, Standard Ears/Standard Coat, Female, DOB: 03/15/2024, Spayed/Neutered?: No
UPDATE 2/20/25:
These girls continue to be so sweet, exuberant, and friendly! Caring for them is like living with the world’s most enthusiastic kindergarten class. All three just seem to get happier and more enthusiastic by the day. Playtime! Snack time! Trick training time! New cage setup time! Everything is a fascinating delight.
Starfire continues to be a brave intrepid explorer who wants to climb all over you and to the top of everything. Still the most food motivated, it takes a bit of care to ensure Starfire doesn’t creep into overweight without risking Melanie falling into underweight, but is not too challenging if you are paying attention.
Amethyst has gotten much better about nipping in the last few weeks, although she still occasionally does it through clothing. A high pitched squeak if she does nip does seem to convey to her that what she did hurt you and should be avoided. Amethyst has begun enjoying playing with a “hand rat” and will have fun chasing your hand around if you move your fingers like legs. Amethyst is maybe the most dedicated wheel user of any rat we have cared for, running at very high speeds for long intervals many times a day, like she is a serious athlete in training.
Although Melanie is still the shyest, she has actually become fairly friendly and is quite fond of us. She still does not love being picked up, but in the circumstances where we have found it necessary or convenient to do so she is now relaxed and tolerant as long as she gets warning. She loves to groom our fingers. It really is delightful watching her become more and more safe feeling, confident, and happy. Her body language is so joyous now! Melanie is still an avid wheel runner. She does not run as intensely as Amethyst does, but spends long stints running and pausing running and pausing throughout the day.
UPDATE 1/29/25:
We delayed posting these girls because right after we posted the first update, Melanie hurt her knee and required both medication and limited movement in a separate hospital cage for two weeks. She was just returned to the cage with her sisters after making a full recovery! During the two weeks we got to see a little more of their personalities as they warmed up to us even more.
As mentioned in my first update, these girls are exuberant, energetic, and playful! There are many times a day they are bouncing with joy, and evening playtime is an especially jubilant affair. We have started some very simple trick training (chasing a small thrown ball) and they both love and are picking it up very quickly.
They have all become much more confident with us, tolerating getting picked up to varying extents (Melanie has to be in the right mood for it), enjoying little head pets when they are resting, and climbing all over us during free roam time. A quirk of these girls is they never poop outside the cage, even when out for almost two hours
Melanie is still the shyest of the three but has warmed to us considerably in the last two weeks. She is cautious but very trusting of me and my partner. When we’ve had playtime with other humans, it’s very obvious how much more comfortable she has grown with us compared to her natural trepidation. She also did very well with the vet, who commented on her especially sweet demeanor. She did better than we expected in her hospital cage, but clearly missed her cagemates very much. The cage she was staying in was pressed up against one side of the main cage and she would frequently position herself to be as close to cuddling the others as she could be. When she returned to the main cage, she spent a lot of time running on the wheel before joining a giant cuddle pile with the others. It became clear when we separated them that Melanie is the most diligent nester of the three.
Unfortunately Amethyst became a little nippy once she got more confident in her new home. These are curiosity bites (mostly of fingers and clothing); not hard enough to draw blood but hard enough to hurt. We’ve been working on discouraging the behavior and she’s improved considerably over the last two weeks but hasn’t entirely stopped. Amethyst has become as big a wheel lover as Melanie, running on it in an ecstatic sprint a half dozen times a day when she’s just too excited about something to sit still.
Starfire continues to be the bravest intrepid explorer of the three, as well as the most food motivated and human oriented. If you offer her a hand, she will check under every fingernail to make sure you didn’t miss any tasty tidbits. She has put on a fair bit of muscle since arriving from all the climbing she does around the cage!
UPDATE 1/11/25:
Starfire, Melanie, and Amethyst are extremely sweet, gentle, curious, playful, and happy rats. All three of them adapted to a new home and humans quickly and cheerily, showing surprisingly little fear, trepidation, or timidness, primarily reacting with joy and curiosity to their new home.
They are not particularly cuddly with us, but are very gentle and curious, frequently bounding over to see what we are up to or if we are going to interact with them or give them a snack when we enter the room, wake up, or go by the cage. They are very good at picking up cues from humans, and have learned what certain tones of voice as well as intentional cues for desired behavior (such as leaving their cage so we can set up breakfast or climbing in our robe so they can get carried back to the cage) mean in a matter of days. Although we haven’t done any, we suspect these girls would enjoy and do well with trick training.
Energetic and very playful, they all use the wheel frequently and have amused themselves for long stretches by running, exploring, and climbing in the play area with or without us whenever they come out for playtime (which they are always very eager for!) They spend the rest of the day foraging, nesting, and cuddling with each other.
Starfire is the boldest of the three and was immediately comfortable with us. She loves to explore and climb humans and is usually the first to interact with us during playtime. If you have a snack, she will love you instantly. She doesn’t mind being picked up although she is fairly squirmy.
Amethyst is less human oriented than Starfire but took almost no time to be comfortable with us. Like Starfire, she isn’t scared of being scooped but will probably wriggle around so you will let her go and she can pursue something more fun. She has a longer attention span than her sisters and tends to be the first to figure out more complicated foraging toys.
Melanie is the shyest of the three by far, and the only one who is afraid of being picked up. That being said, she quickly warmed up to us when we offered her other options to get around, like crawling into a sleeve to be carried between the play area and cage. She has a curious spirit like her sisters, but usually needs to see someone else do a new thing before she is confident enough to try it herself.
Although all three girls use the wheel, Melanie uses it the most, gleefully bounding on it several times a day. These girls are loads of fun and have no observed behavioral or health issues. They are suitable for first time rat caretakers (as long as they are ready to devote time and energy to providing plenty of enrichment), and given their gentle demeanor and good rat social skills, would also likely do well being introduced to a rat who needs companions. They are very close to each other, and we recommend they are adopted together.
Amethyst
Melanie
Starfire
Melanie (top) & Amethyst (bottom)
Amethyst (left) & Starfire (right)
Melanie (top), Starfire (left) & Amethyst (right)
