Devil & Smokey

Yesterday we finally got our two new rat boys – Devil and Smokey. Their original owner apparently got sick of them and decided to put them in a bucket in the back of a garbage room to die. I could KILL people who treat animals like that. Seriously, they deserve to have their private parts put in a grinder.

A nice girl found the bucket with the scared, hungry rats in and took them to a rat shelter (which is where we found them). The extremely nice girl from the rat shelter took a train across the country to get the boys to us and I took yesterday afternoon off work to pick them up and take them home.

Considering what they’ve been through, they’re so brave. But they are terribly shy, careful and gentle. Our other rat (Panik) is quite the opposite. He’s energetic, playful and a little bit crazy. So we were worried that the three of them might not get along.

Well, they did. First thing they did when they met was crawl into this soft pink bag and cuddle. Except for a sneaky bite from Panik when Devil woke him up, they’ve been getting along fine. We’re not letting them share the big rat house yet though. They can bond and grow into each other’s differences when we have them out on the couch, and then, when they are all comfortable with each other, they can live together all the time. Hopefully, it’ll be soon because we hate having to leave Panik in the other cage. He looks so lonely, it’s heart breaking.

Devil and Smokey, although shy and timid, are quite the characters. Devil (the smallest one) is very curious and LOVES eating (I don’t know what kind of stuff they’ve been fed before, but they’ve been eating pretty much none stop since we got them). Smokey is a bit more laid back and does one of the most adorable things I’ve ever seen in rats – he sleeps on his back. His big, white belly just flopping out in front, feet up in the air. It’s amazingly cute and funny.

I just hope that everything works out. That we’ll have three chubby, happy rats getting along just fine. And that Panik doesn’t get all territorial, since he was with us first. Keep your fingers crossed!

Smokey (on his back!) and Devil, relaxing on the couch