Ben's rats !
Ben's rats !
My boyfriend Ben has many pets other than his rats in his bedroom. These include a few species of stick insects, many African land snails ,two Axolotl called Fern and Pety, Oscar his reed frog and Peggy the rainbow crab. Also in his house he has a tropical fish tank, a Jack Russell terrier called Barney and two cats called Johnny and Poppy. His rats consist of four does Betty and Wilma his first two, Mouse from Alpha Centauri stud and Ro from Luna's litter as well as her two brothers Apollo and Tigger.
Betty and Wilma !
This is Betty and Wilma, my ratties friends all of which enjoy each others company when they visit one another. Ben got them from a pet shop and they where very hard to tame, he had to work really hard and only a short time ago they were very timid and quite unhand able. They are coming on for two years of age now and love destroying Ben's bedroom.
Betty is the hooded and her nickname is "Betty bitch!" because she still sometimes bites. Wilma is the black/dark chocolate in the photo above right, her nickname is "Wilma witch!" because she escapes a lot and tends to chew more then Betty. Wilma is a kamikaze suicidal stunt rat who likes to jump from units about 5ft high !!! (although she always lands safely).
They both live in a Super pet ferretrail 4 storey cage like my adult rats and have now been joined by Mouse and Ro.
Betty and Wilma's chew list of destruction . . .
Back of a small cupboard.
Compacted bandage.
Water proof trousers.
Window blind cord.
T.V. cable.
Stick of camouflage cream.
Rubber window sealing.
Frill on bottom of bed.
Straps on college bag.
Wire holding their water bottle.
Geography folder.
Stickers.
Kinder egg toy.
Sim card.
Rubber/Eraser.
Mobile phone case.
Mobile phone charger.
Plastic frog.
Computer cable.
Books.
Other destructional features of these rats ....... They both enjoy collecting the glow in the dark stars stuck around Ben's room and collecting Tazos/milkcaps from the desk. They also love to dig in the cacti and succulent pots around the room and occasionally dig up and steal some of the smaller cacti !
Ben would like me, to point out that he does give his rats suitable toys to chew on, but they prefer more exotic things from time to time, not to mention the stick insects which Wilma recently discovered, in the tank next to her cage !
Recently it seems that Wilma is loosing her position as top rat to Mouse and Ro who seem to stick together when any small scuffles break out.
Mouse and Ro !
Mouse is a Mink Berkshire doe from Alpha Centauri Stud and Ro is a mismarked Striped Roan from Luna's litter. Ben traveled to Weston- super-mare which is about 100 miles to get Mouse as a companion for Ro. I gave Ben Ro as a present to thank him for his help in looking after Luna and Seal etc. while I was on holiday.
(More photos of Mouse and Ro when they decide to keep still !!! )
There is two weeks in age between Mouse and Ro and when Ben first got Mouse she would follow Ro everywhere and crawl underneath her although they get on wonderfully now as cage mates. However this wasn't the case to start with, with Betty and Wilma.. Both Betty and Wilma were very jealous to begin with of the new arrivals and Wilma used to get very "huffy!" with them and hang on the inside of her cage and snort really loudly at them and try to grab them through the bars.
All the does now share the one cage and seem to get on 98% of the time. Although small scuffles do break out from time to time which we put down to the boy's presence in his room and to the fact that they are trying to sort out who the top rat is again now Mouse and Ro have grown up!
Apollo and Tigger !
Apollo and Tigger are both mismarked Striped roans from Luna's litter. Ben loves mismarked rats as he says it gives them more character ! Apollo is an s-marked buck, originally I was going to keep him but for several reasons I decided not too and when Ben decided to have them he let me name him as he knew he was my favorite!
Ben had given Tigger his name long before he had decided to keep him because of the three stripes he has on his side. Ben has longed to have a buck ever since he looked after Seal their father but had decided against it as they pong a bit more then does but finally gave into the idea when mine where looking for homes!
( Starting from the top of the pyramid, then going left to right. First photo is of Tigger, second is of Apollo and the last one is of Tigger showing off his stripes!)
Apollo is bolder then Tigger and is the more dominant of the two, he is also very cheeky as he tends to bolt down Bens bed from their cage. Tigger became quite reserved once he was separated from his mother and has since become a big wimp and needs encouragement from Apollo to come out for playtimes, which he loves once he gets into it! We think this variation in character is great as it shows even when two rats are brought up in the same environment they can have different personalities!
Recently the boys have managed to get a nice new 4 story Ferretrail cage (a version with out the tubes) because Ben thought they had been fighting as they had scabs on their backs and thought that they needed more personal space. However it turned out that the scabs where caused by mites, which soon cleared up once treated and the boys where left with a nice new (expensive) cage!
If you wish to contact Ben for what ever reasons about his rats or other pets then please feel free to email him at [email protected]
Ben feels that it is necessary to point out that he is not an authority on any of the animals mention on this page.
Last updated
27th April 2002.
All photo's and some art work are produced by me, unless stated otherwise. Please do not take any of my art work or photos as allot of work has gone into them. If you do wish to use some of my art/gifs/photos then please email me for permission first.
Copyright Podels 2001-2002.
Disclaimer = I do not claim to be an authority on rodents or rats and any information on this page is just opinions and advice and is by no means a substitute for good books or veterinary advice. All the toys on the toys page are just ideas and may not have been tried out so it is up to you to implement them and judge there safety.