We got a rat! His name is Dapper Dandy. Hes a cutie hooded dove of about three months old.
Dapper had a rough start. He was purchased along with on other rattie by a high-school as their psychology finals experiment (no neurological tests or anything, he just ran mazes) and then he was going to be returned to pet-smart two days later after they were done with the experiment.
Apparently the pet store said that returned rats would be taken to the back and used as snake food. The psychology students figured out about this and decided to try and find homes for the ratties instead. One rat was adopted by a student, and the other (Dapper) was posted on Facebook for adoption.
After talking with the family that posted him on Facebook I went to their house to check him out and see if I wanted to take him on. Of coarse I couldn't leave him, (even though it was pretty possibly he had an RI infection coming on). The family had taken him home in a cardboard box so he would be saved from the snakes, but they didn't have any cage or food for him. I figured I could at least keep him until I contacted the local rat rescue.
He was pretty terrified after his long day of mazes and scary cardboard boxes, so he was quite lethargic for a while.
Of coarse the drama wasn't over there! After falling head or heals with him after we got home on Tuesday, the next morning we had to take him to the vet because I was pretty positive he at an RI.
Right now Dapper is on meds for a secondary Respiratory Infection, so we'll see what happens from here. Quite a start into the rat world for me, and I still have so much to learn about them.....
Dapper had a rough start. He was purchased along with on other rattie by a high-school as their psychology finals experiment (no neurological tests or anything, he just ran mazes) and then he was going to be returned to pet-smart two days later after they were done with the experiment.
Apparently the pet store said that returned rats would be taken to the back and used as snake food. The psychology students figured out about this and decided to try and find homes for the ratties instead. One rat was adopted by a student, and the other (Dapper) was posted on Facebook for adoption.
After talking with the family that posted him on Facebook I went to their house to check him out and see if I wanted to take him on. Of coarse I couldn't leave him, (even though it was pretty possibly he had an RI infection coming on). The family had taken him home in a cardboard box so he would be saved from the snakes, but they didn't have any cage or food for him. I figured I could at least keep him until I contacted the local rat rescue.
He was pretty terrified after his long day of mazes and scary cardboard boxes, so he was quite lethargic for a while.
Of coarse the drama wasn't over there! After falling head or heals with him after we got home on Tuesday, the next morning we had to take him to the vet because I was pretty positive he at an RI.
Right now Dapper is on meds for a secondary Respiratory Infection, so we'll see what happens from here. Quite a start into the rat world for me, and I still have so much to learn about them.....
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