Current Stars:
Butter
Butter is one of my first dwarf rats, and she alongside her sister Toast came to me from a semi-local breeder in late May of 2022. She's a black variegated dumbo harley dwarf, and is the smaller dwarf of the 2 sisters. When it comes to the larger rats she has always been much quicker to startle than her sister, and because of this it took nearly 5 months to introduce my dwarf girls to my older standard girls, as poor Butter would freak out whenever they came near her. Her one saving grace was my standard girl Blueberry, a rat who is very gentle with the dwarfs and who quickly put Butter at ease. Blueberry alongside Butter and Toast lived together before intros with the other standards were completed, and now that everyone gets along they all live together in my triple critter nation cage. Despite her initial nervousness with most of the standards, Butter has always shown remarkable confidence with humans and has always been the first to jump onto your hand or onto your shoulder. She's a super sweet and energetic girl and also adores training, and has quickly become one of my favorite rats to train with due to her ability to quickly pick up new tricks!
Toast
Toast is a black variegated dumbo dwarf rat who I adopted alongside her sister Butter from a semi-local breeder in late May of 2022. Weighing in at 97 grams, Toast is the bigger of my 2 dwarf girls but much smaller than any of the standards. Toast is a crazy energetic little rat who adores exploring, and rates it above everything else. She is a tad less confident with people than Butter, but still enjoys handling quite a bit. What Toast lacks in people skills she makes up for in her interactions with the other rats though, as Toast has been known to boss around all my standard rats, who are all at least 3 times her weight (and in the larger girls cases, 5 times her weight!) She takes crap from no other rat, and is absolutely willing to pin one of her larger buddies if they get too uppity. Toast also enjoys training time with me, and has learn quite a few tricks - agility in particular has become a fast favorite, and she picks up new courses super quickly!
Blueberry
Blueberry is a russian blue variegated rex rat and she came to me with her sister Banana from a semi-local rat rescue. An amazing volunteer drove the girls down to me, and both girls have slotted in great with my current mischief. Blueberry is slightly less confident than Banana, but still very confident by rat standards and very sociable towards people. Once she adjusts to an area she will often chill and nap right out in the open, and she's been my dwarf girls favorite standard rat since day one due to this gentleness. Blueberry does have a few eccentricities, namely some mild cage agression and a strange obsession with my older rat Olive. Her obsession with olive in particular slowed intros, as Olive did not return her feelings and wanted Blueberry to buzz off! But after a few months of careful meetings, both girls adore each other and now often chill together whenever they can. Blueberry has also made great strides in training and in reducing her cage agression, and I look forward to working more with her.
Banana
Banana is a russian blue berkshire rat who I got along with her sister Blueberry from a semi-local rat rescue. Her amazing rescuers drove these sweet girls 3.5 hours down to me in June of 2022, and they've been with me ever since! Both girls were 7 months when I got them, and from the start they were determined to show that you can absolutely teach an older rat new tricks - Banana here in particular quickly picked up fetch, flyball, and basketball, and she also enjoys balance based tricks like walking on a rolling barrel and agility! Banana is the more confident of the 2 girls, but she's also more high strung and very cage agressive - in fact the girls were given up because she bit her prior owners child, and having had her for a while I can say that was likely a good decision. Banana is very much a sweet rat once outside of the cage, and is slowly learning to trust inside it - I adore this little daredevil and even if she has given me a few new punctures, I would do anything for her!
Omelet
Omelet is a seal point Himalayan rat, and her and her sister were a bit of a spur of the moment decision. Both girls come from an oops litter, where their mom was a feeder rat, but ended up giving birth the day she was bought for that purpose. The owners decided to raise the babies and give them to pet homes if their temperaments turned out well enough, and needless to say they all ended up being very sweet rats and so got to go to pet homes. I ended up getting 2 of the girls, both who seemed to be pink eyed whites at the time, so I was pleasantly surprised when Omelet developed Himalayan points which made her easy to distinguish from her sister. In regards to personality, Omelet has proven to be energetic, friendly, curious, and while not the most confident rat in regards to handling and touch, she tolerates it well. She also rules the entire rat cage with an iron fist, and is the main rat new rats have to get on the good side of before the group will accept them!
Egg
Egg is a pink eyed white rat (PEW, and in this case an albino), and a super sweet and licky rat. Both she and her sister Omelet came from an oops litter from a pregnant feeder rat. Both girls are very sweet, and of the two Egg is the slightly more confident one, and is more tolerant of handling and touch. Egg can be distinguished from her sister as Egg has stayed a true pink eyed white, while her sister has developed Himalayan points on her nose and butt. Eggs forte in tricks has quickly proven to be item tricks, and she mastered fetch and scent detection at a very young age (7 weeks and 9 weeks respectively). Since then Egg has continued to learn quickly, and now as a senior rat (nearly 2 years old) she is one of my favorites to train any item trick with!
Olive
As my previous older rats got up there in age, I knew I needed to add rats to continue the group, and that's where Olive and her sister Donut (and later their sister Pickle) came in. All 3 girls are my first rats from an ethical breeder, and all have proven to be extremely well tempered, being very sweet and easy to handle. Olive in particular is a black self velveteen with dumbo ears, and she is extremely outgoing and confident. Olive reminds me a lot of my prior heart rat Bean when she was younger, being very energetic, focused on training, and loving attention. In addition to that, she's a dream to train, being easily motivated and rarely loosing focus. I've now had her for nearly 2 years and while she's an older girl now, she's just as energetic and smart as ever!
Donut
Donut is a velveteen Berkshire rex rat with dumbo ears, and is the sister to Olive and Pickle. Donut is an extremely sweet and social little rat, and while she is a bit less confident than her sister, but still extremely outgoing, both with her environment and with people. I've now had Donut for nearly 2 years, and she has become one of my favorite rats, both for training and ust in general. She has mastered dozens of tricks, and has gone on to be one of my best agility rats. She's also mastered item based tricks, and while these weren't quite as easy for her as they were for her sister Olive, she has show great perseverance and is not an expert in them. Great job Donut, and I can't wait to keep working with you!
Past Stars:
Pickle
Pickle was a dumbo red eyed marten rat, and one of Olive and Donut's sisters. I initially only brought home 2 girls (Olive and Donut) when adopting rats from that litter, partially because I still had 4 older adults, and partially because their breeder was planning to keep 5 females. But due to outside circumstances, 3 of their siblings got returned, and so Pickle was then offered to me to add to my group. And I'm happy to say that Pickle handled the reunion to her sisters very well - and not only that, but she also got to live with 3 unrelated cagemates! Pickle gave me quite the ride when it came to accepting her youngest cagemates, but thankfully she did accept them with time, and went on to live happily in a group of 6. I'm so glad I got to add Pickle to my group, and her crazy energy and spunky personality really added some liveliness to the group!
Sugar
Sugar along with her sister Spice and mom Peaches came to me about 3 months after I got their first 2 siblings (Mocha and S'more). Both girls were quite skittish, but Sugar was the more confident of the two. Due to her and Spice being practically identical though, that led to me mistaking them quite a bit - only once they got to their adult size could I reliably say who was who! Overall Sugar was fairly skittish, just like her siblings and mom, but she made huge steps forward as she gained age and experience. She learned to readily approach people to climb onto your hand or shoulder, and she really enjoyed the hans of nature of trick training. Sugar and her family were always meant to be foster rats, but after seeing how well they meshed with my rats I decided to keep them - I'm so glad that I was able to provide Sugar with her permanent home because I really saw her come out of her shell, and I know that she would never have enjoyed a typical pet life of frequent handling or touch.
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S'more
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S'more is one of my skittish girls that never quite warmed up to people. She would have rather been with other rats for socialization, just like her sisters and mom. I accepted this, but even so I wanted to find other ways to bond with her, and training turned out to be the key! S'more was a huge fan of playing basketball, playing fetch, doing scent detection, and pretty much any trick she could get her paws on. She never became the most social rat, but her confidence skyrocketed since beginning training and I will always be super proud of her! |
Bean
Ahh Bean. Sweet, smart, fun, loving - Bean was the whole package! Bean was initially feeder bought for her intended purpose, and for 6 weeks was offer again and again as prey. Evidently she got lucky though as she kept getting rejected and eventually grew too big, prompting her owner to post her free on craigslist. Once I saw that she was just 5 minutes away from me, I just knew I had to get her and I picked her up the following day! Despite her background and poor experiences with humans Bean was friendly and human-oriented from the start, and she retained that for all her time with me. She did have a bit of trouble adjusting to living with other rats, especially after being alone from such a young age, but she did adjust and once she did she absolutely loved her cagemates. Training wise Bean was also just amazing, channeling her crazy energy into learning and quickly mastering any trick put before her. Bean was just a perfect little ratty and easily one of my heart rats, and I was so lucky to have her!
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Peaches
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Peaches was a rat I got after her prior owner needed to rehome her, her cagemate, and Peaches remaining 2 female babies. I had already adopted Mocha and S'more (babies from her accidental litter) a few month before and so I decided to take in Peaches and the rest to foster and adopt them out. Well one thing led to another and their super shy temperaments combined with a lack of good adopters quickly convinced me to keep them as part of my permanent mischief. Temperament wise Peaches was quite shy, but she along with her daughter Mocha were definitely the most confident of her related group. Peaches excelled at scent based tricks and very much enjoyed training in general. She wasn't the most human social rat, but she came a long way and I was always proud of her! |
Spice
Spice was one of Peaches 4 daughters, and sisters to Mocha, Sugar, and S'more. She was by far the most skittish of these related rats, although S'more strikes a close second. It took Spice a long time to come near me, let alone take treats, but as she aged and gained experience she really started to come around. And a lot of her confidence boost was thanks to trick training - it sounds strange but once Spice learned basketball (a slow process just due to how easily she got startled) she really became so much more confident around me. Its was great to see her confidence climb and she became one of my favorite rats to train. |
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Mocha
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Mocha was one of Peaches daughters that I got from someones oops litter. She along with her sister S'more came to me as super timid 6 week old babies, and despite S'more not warming up much Mocha definitely made huge leaps confidence wise. Mocha never became a super human oriented rat, but unlike her sisters who disliked touch or handling Mocha tolerated these very well. She was also a blast to train, and was the first of her siblings to pick up item-based tricks like fetch. Overall she was an awesome little rat and I was so happy to see her confidence grow over time! |
Coconut
Coconut was a fun and spunky rat who came to me in when she and her cagemates needed a new home. Coconut was formerly a feeder rat, but was bought by her first home as pet. Just like the rest of my feeder rats Coconut was exceptionally friendly, personable, and just amazing all around! She was about 9 months old when I got her, and lived to about 2 years old, but during that time never lost that spunky baby rat energy. Unlike most rats she never outgrew hand-wrestling, and would constantly play and snuggle with me during free-range. She and Bean were particularly close, and both were always ready at the cage door to greet you. Coconut was also incredibly fun to train, although her chaotic energy made keeping her attention a bit difficult. Still, as with other rats as she gained more experience her attention span increased and she ended up learning more than her fair share of fun tricks. Overall Coconut was just an amazing little rat and definitely one of my heart rats!
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Marshmallow
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Marshmallow was my first personal male rat and as a neutered male is happily living with his 5 female friends. While I adopted Marshmallow as a 1.5 year old rat he showed great training potential, and within his first few days got spin and paw down pat! He was also quite the cuddler, and enjoyed evening cuddle sessions with my older girls Cookie and Cream. |
Espresso
Espresso was one of the 3 feeder babies I got early in the summer of 2018. She was an adventures little fluff and always ready to explore! Training wise she was quite the performer, provided you worked at her quick pace her and didn't allow her to get bored. In any case she really kept me on my toes and was an amazing little ratty in every way <3 |
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Biscuit
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Ahh, Biscuit. Biscuit was yet another of my feeder babies and the sweetest rat you can imagine. On day one she was already showing off her playful and sweet side and out of all the babies she was the one you could count on to always put a smile on your face. Her absolute favorite things in life included grooming my hands, hand wrestling, and cuddling, and I'm so glad I got the chance to have such an amazing rat! |
Oreo
Little Oreo was the 3rd and final feeder rat of the feeder trio that I rescued during the summer of 2018. She was a sweet little rat and actually reminded me most of my first trick trained rat Shadow. Like Shadow she could concentrate for an amazingly long time - at 4 weeks old she already had an attention span of 10-15 minutes, which is something even adult rats can struggle with! With time her trick capabilities and attention span only continued to increase and that along with her keen ability to pick up any trick I threw at her made her the ideal trick rat. |
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Cookie
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Cookie was a super sweet and social rat that was a lot of fun to train and play with. As a baby she was super energetic and very into hand wrestling, and this made it difficult to keep her attention while training, But as she grew more experienced she was able to channel this energy into focus and learning and she ended up being one of my favorite rats to train, and quite the accomplished trick rat! |
Cream
Like her past cagemate Berry, Cream's relationship with people was always been more subdued than her more sociable sister. Cream started out with some serious fear issues, pooping, peeing, and even screaming when touched. But with daily socialization and good treats, Cream eventually realized that people aren't so bad! Cream became a super chill adult and was a lot of fun to train. She's definitely one of the rats I remember fondly for how far she came from start to finish, and it was a joy having her as part of my ratty mischief!
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Blackberry (Berry)
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Blackberry or Berry for short was a sweet girl who never quite warmed up to people like her sister Latte did. Berry used to be quite the hand-biter but with lots of work she came around, and as she aged she enjoyed shoulder rides and doing any sort of back-up related tricks for fun! Overall Blackberry excelled at trick training and it was her favorite way to bond with me - she was an extremely quick study and learned the most backwards themed tricks of my rats to date! |
Latte
A sweet rat with an amazing personality! Latte got along with everyone and everything and was quite confident for a rat. She enjoyed foods of all types and would do anything for a cheek rub. When she was younger, Latte excelled at any agility tricks, and was able to learn courses in one go! Once she got older she became less inclined to learn active tricks - but what she lacked in activity she more than made up in love, and she was more than happy to enjoy a daily petting session or two! |
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Shadow
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Shadow. The love of my life, my very first heart rat, and the most amazing rat that you could imagine. I loved this rat like nothing else, and she clearly loved me back. Shadows started out life with me in a bad way, with her sister dying just 2 days after they came home. To make matters worse, Shadow came down with the exact same thing just days after her sister passed. But Shadow was lucky. One vet trip later and she was housed in an Oxygen tank, being given antibiotics, being nebulized, and even being force-fed when necessary. I'll never understand exactly why Shadow changed after that vet trip. When I brought her in, she was shy, timid, and terrified of humans. When I got her back two days later, still terribly sick and on course for euthanasia, she was different. Gone was the timid and scared rat, here was a cuddly, sociable, and human obsessed sweetheart! After I nursed Shadow back to health, she became the sweetest and most dear rat out there! Shadow went on to teach me how exactly to train rats, and to this date she's the only animal I've trained that could read my wants like a book!
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Sonic
Out of all my rats, Sonic is probably the most skittish. She started out much like my current rat Cream, constantly pooping, peeing, and screaming when touched. But just days after coming home the most confident member of her group died, leaving only her and another skittish rat (Shadow). Things got even worse when days later, Shadow got sick and had to be hospitalized. After bringing Shadow home, I had to devote much of my time to nursing her back to health. This limited human interaction paired with her naturally skittish natured made Sonic incredibly hard to tame. I finally broke down and just picked her up, after which things did improve (she stopped freaking out when held). However, she never developed the confidence Cream has and stayed wary of everyone but me till then end.
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Ninja
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Ninja was a sweet and sociable baby whose time with me was cut way to short. I initially got her along with her same aged sisters Sonic and Shadow to be part of my first trio of rats. Unfortunately Ninja's stay was short lived because just 2 days after coming home she got terribly sick with acute pneumonia. Despite our best efforts she just wasn't able to make it, and ended up dying on the way to the vet. |
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