Henry & Max :)

I feel my first "real" page should be dedicated to my rat babies, Henry and Max. Their my inspiration for so much that I do in life. It's hard for people to really understand what they mean to me, I mean.. Their rats, people trap them, poison them, shoot them, anything they can do to kill them, and although everytime I tell people "I have rats" the response is always the same "EW" and then I'll follow with "no no, they aren't wild, their domesticated, and extremely clean and friendly" and people laugh, and never believe me, But seriously they are.

I got Henry May 9th 2013, he's a brown and white hooded dumbo rat, at the time I got him I also got a beige albino boy whom I named Bacon and lost only 8 days later after a very costly vet trip to find out he had pneumonia (an inflammatory condition of the lungs) which when it occurs in humans is not all that major but in pet rats it is almost always fatal unless caught in the early stages, however due to these being my first rats, inexperience caused me to not see the signs, although I was told he was sick when I bought him and at that point there was nothing I could have done for him I now know what to look for when buying a rat from a pet store to help ensure they are healthy. When I asked why my rat was sick the vet told me that when buying rats and many other animals from pet stores they are not kept properly, wood shavings are NOT good for rats and almost always result in a respiratory infection if kept there for too long. I will make a post to my thoughts on pet stores and buying animals from them later.

Rats always do best in pairs so a month later on June 7th 2013 I bought my 3rd rat Max, a black and white dumbo, so that Henry was not alone. I spend almost all day with my rats, I take them with me in the car (which they love), I take them to visit my family, they get on average 8-10 hours out of their cage running free each day (rats will need at least 1-2 hours to run free, mine are just spoiled rotten). 

Rats unlike hamsters, gerbils, mice have huge personalities. Both my boys are so different when it comes to their personalities it is so cute, Henry is very laid back, yet a huge momma's boy and is nervous around strangers, and will usually hide in my shirt when faced with a new environment. While Max is so friendly and loving towards everything and everyone, my other cats, and dog included. He will go to anyone and just loves to sit on your shoulder and give kisses. 

Rats are easily litter trained, both mine are almost flawlessly litter trained with very little messes outside the box, making cleaning their cage very easy to do everyday. I lay newspapers in the bottom of the cage for easy clean up, and use "Yesterday's News" litter for their box. I wipe out the whole cage with a lysol wipe everytime to kill the bacteria, then I wipe with water and then dry before laying new newspapers down (to ensure their is no cleaner in the cage for them to lick).

Rats also can be bathed, now.. Mine probably would tell you otherwise as they HATE it, so I try not to do it if that is possible, however I have seen rats on Youtube enjoy it.

Rats are VERY intelligent, they can even learn tricks just like your dog! (I will upload a video of my Max doing some tricks soon)

Rats are very clean, and spend just as much time a day grooming as your cat does. 

TL;DR? Rats are the best. Hands down. :D

I will be posting more posts devoted so some of the points I briefly mentioned above, but if there is anything you want to see a post on, leave me a comment below :)