A several weeks ago we received a call from a social worker asking us if we could take some rats from one of the people she works with. He is a hoarder living in a SRO in the Downtown East side. We said yes but she would have to get time to us. She tried but though in theory the owner was ok with giving up most of his rats the reality was much different. Flash forward to late last week and we get another call. She has rats! 14 of them.
She brought over 3 juvenile males, 4 juvenile females, and 7 3-4 week old babies. For all the issues with health and cleanliness associated with a hoarder on the verge of being evicted he took good care of the rats. They are friendly and healthy. I've been weighing the juvenile girls daily as they are too small to spay but old enough to be pregnant which is a possibility as none of these rats have ever been in a cage before. Weighing them is pretty much the only way to see if there is a good possibility of pregnancy when they are that small.
I am only a way station for these rats. A place for them to go while SARS figures out homes as I have different rats coming on Sunday. The juvenile girls left this morning which, after cleaning gives me the chance to separate the sexes of the babies (4 boys and 3 girls). If you're wondering about MouseRat, she went to a new foster home the day before the Envy Mischief arrived. Why Envy? All their names are shades of green.
