Updated: 2/12/10The Story of Mercy -

 Strolling through Craigslist, I came to an ad about a Mama rat and 7 babies that said that the owner needed to get rid of them, if they were not picked up tonight she was going to throw them in the snow.  The posted stated that she did not want to be contacted by "Fake Rescues" but had to get rid of them tonight. I made the contact and found that it was someone who I had contacted previously, before the start of the rescue aspect of my rattery. This particular rat had been "rescued" by this person only moments before being eaten by a snake. She thought she was in a very nice cage, until she saw the snake come out. She decided, probably pretty spur of the moment, to "rescue" this rat. Come to find out, she was pregnant and now she has a bunch of babies to deal with in addition to the original rat.

Now I come into the picture and contact her and get a very rude response that I was a fake rescue and that I did not keep to my word, ect. I was shocked and did not know what to say. I tend to be a very outspoken person, at times, and had to think seriously about what I was going to say to her before I emailed her back. I sent her an email with my phone number asking her to call me so we could discuss this. Less than 5 minutes later, I got the call. I spent half of my time trying to calm her down and reason with her. Apparently a girl I was having issues with on Craigslist that I had adopted some rats from, they were not a rescue and it was before the rescue was created. I got 2 girls and found that my love of rats was just as strong as when I had been a child. She seemed to have no issues with the thought of my breeding rats, so I had gotten some boys from her, which I would be mating with other rats that I had gotten.

Before I had gotten to that point, I had started the rescue. This girl whom I had gotten the rats from had posted some very nasty stuff on Criaglist about me, most likely just a ploy for attention. Well, come to find out, this same girl was contacting this other woman and telling her stuff about me. Colie, my foster, had been in contact with this girl trying to get the rats previously, but had not told me of her attempts, which kind of made a bad situation worse. We have worked it out, as we are friends first and in this second. We have chosen to work together in this rescue effort because of our mutual love of rats. Although I had a bit of work, I did get the woman to surrender the rat and babies to me that night.

When I went to pick up Mercy, I found a rat that was very thin and skitish, I found 7 babies that were 4 weeks old, but the size of 2 week olds. They were so small I did not think they had their eyes open yet. I found them to be very afraid of humans and more like mice and jumpy than like baby rats. She put them into my carrier cage and them picked Mom up by the tail to put her in there. I am thinking to myself, "Bite your tongue, bite your tongue, just get the rats and get out!" After I got them, I tried to get some background info and found that the babies are fathered by the mother's brother. I have no idea how far back the incest goes in their gene pool, so I figured that it would take some time working with Mom and babies to get them socialized. 

When I got them home, I took them into the bathroom to do a quick evaluation of them, just so I knew what the general health of them was and if they escaped, it would be in a secure room. I put on gloves, just in case Mom was aggressive, as I had bben told she was. As I picked her up to look at her, my husband decided to be brave to see if she would bite him. He put his knuckle up to her for her to sniff, but she didn't bite him. I took off the gloves and found her to be quite tame, not a biter at all. I was able to do a quick check of her teeth as she was quite thin, to the point of her hair was falling out. I was able to look at the bottom, but that was fine. She was already stressed from the move, so I did not want to stress her out too much, so I put her back with her babies and gave her some healthy food and also gave her some  stale bread soaked in baby formula and let her have some time in our quarentine room to calm down.

A week has passed and now Mercy is able to come out of quarentine. We moved Mercy and her babies into our main room, so I am able interact with them a bit more. As I do a quick look into the cage, I find that in the past week the babies have doubled in size. Mercy wants to be held, so I play with her a bit and it is amazing. She was skitish, but friendly when I got her and now, with letting her have time to adjust to being here, she has calmed down and now wants a friend. The babies, although not ready to be picked up, are now willing to sniff at your hand, as long as you don't move it, inside of the cage. I move Mercy and her babies into another cage, so I can clean theirs and most of the babies let me pick them up without too much fuss. Mercy, however, would rather I hold her than clean her cage. I get everyone moved back to their cage and play with Mercy a bit. She is going to a foster home tomorrow, so I don't want her to bond to me.

The next day I take Mercy and babies to Colie's house, where they will be living. Colie has agreed to adopt Mercy, since it is best for Mercy to be in a home without small children, due to the situation she was in. It is believed that the children in the home she was in, were teasing Mercy, so we would rather she go into a home without small children. Colie does not have children, so this is a good deal for Mercy. The first night there Mercy is already grooming Colie, bonding well with her. By week's end, she is able to be moved into a cage with other girls, as her introduction with them went so well. Mercy is so excited by this that she can not sleep, even after an extended playtime that wore everyone else out. So, Mercy keeps herself happy by grooming everyone in the cage.

The babies are coming along well, growing faster than normal, due to being so small when rescued, a true rescue. Although I can not say we have a happy ending, as we have not adopted everyone out yet, we do have hapiness so far. Mercy has found a home with Colie and will live out her life there. Not a bad deal for a feeder rat. Although her life began, her purpose, what she was born for, was to be a feeder rat, The Goddess in Her grace and wisdom has brought her to a wonderful home and will give her a better ending than a beginning.

Foxy and Racy are living with another foster, while the boys are living with Pam. If you are interested in adopting any of them, please let me know.

If you are interested in pictures of Mercy's babies and would like to adopt one or more of them, please contact me at the_ratlady@yahoo.com

Foxy and Racy sitting on their favorite hammock which will be going with them when they are adopted.

If you have come here from CL because of something posted there about Mercy, let me clear a few things up:

1.) This lady did not breed Mercy, she got her pregnant
2.)While it is, in theory, a valiant thing to "rescue" a rat from being fed to a snake, it MUST be understood that rats are a natural food source for snakes. To "rescue" a rat from a snake, to buy from a feeder breeder or a pet store that you buy out of pity does not send the right message.  When you "rescue" a rat from a snake, you are not actually rescueing, you are swapping. The rat you have "rescued" has been pardoned, but there are plenty behind it to take it's place. If you are rescuing because of temperment or colors, this is a different story than just because.
3.) This is not a bashfest. I did not express opinions about her, her home or her parenting skills, wheither I should have or could have is a different issue and is not appropiate to discuss in a public forum, but as a private matter.
4.) This is a true story about a rat from a rescues perspective, not a story about a person who surrenders it.

November and 3 boys - Chimp, Matty and Pokey

I was contacted via email about some rats that were in need of rescue. The rescue started out as 4 males in need of rescue. Not because she could not care for them, but was too over run by rats. She had originally gotten a female, as she preferred females to males, from a pet store and found out later that she was pregnant. The boys were left over from the multiple litters. Apparently one of her boys escaped and decided the girls cage would be a good place to go hang out and they had a small party, resulting in a few unplanned pregnancies. As I am emailing with her, as she is also trying to find them homes instead of surrendering to a rescue, her boyfriend finds that he wants to keep one of the boys, so instead, she decides that she would like to surrender a hairless girl with 3 of the boys.

After getting everything sorted out, we end up picking up 3 agouti boys, very playful and energetic, and 1 hairless girl that has some aggression issues. We get them home and find the boys to be a bit shy, but no aggressive tendencies and no health issues. November, the hairless girl has some aggressive tendencies, but is not too bad.

For our first Adoption Day, Colie, my first foster, comes to meet with adopters (Pam was unable to make it) and meet my own rats. Well, she agrees to foster November and and adopt the 3 boys. We were able to get the boys out and let them roam for a bit and found that one of them is quite the boxer, and likes to play tag. All with very nice, although shy, personalities.  Colie falls in love with them and adopts them that day.

Now, a few months later, November is finally finished with foster care and able to be adopted and will be going to her new home on June 13th. We are going down to Bloomington to meet the new owner halfway. I am happy to say this is a rescue story with a happy ending. November has been rehabilitated from her aggression issues and will be finding a new home and will be be introduced to her new family in just a couple of days.

Update: November has made it to her new home and is settling in nicely. Also Chimp, Matty and Pokey have been renamed Lutz, Tracey and Dr. Spaceman. They have been nuetered and will be moving in with some female cagemates (which should make them happy) and are doing well. They will be moving with their Mommy when she relocates out of state to further her education. We will miss her, but hopefully when she returns to the area she will be able to help out with fostering again as she was a wonderful asset to Social Rats and will be greatly missed.

Marshall

Marshall was found in a woodpile, by a compassionate soul. It was obvious that he was not a wild rat, partially due to his coloring, wild rats don't tend to come in black hooded variety, and partially due to his temperment, he is shy, but not nippy. When I was contacted about taking in Marshall, (named Marshmallow at the time) I didn't know what to expect. Debbie sent me some pics of him and I thought that he was definitely not a wild rat, so agreed to take him.

When Marshall arrived, Debbie mentioned to me that he had, what appeared to be, an abscess by his eye, or possibly a very bad eye infection. She said that she had not noticed it til that day and the pics she had sent me, though did not show that side of his face, did not show the swelling that woul dhave been evident in the pics, so I tend to believe her. After contacting Deb "The Rat Lady" (owner and creator of ratfanclub.org) and having a vet tech look at him, it was determined to try to treat him here before taking him to a vet. The vet tech gave me some antibacterial ointment for his eye and told me to stick with what I had been doing, which was using antibiotics and warm compresses for him. This was on July 12th. Now, 10 days later, he is completely healed up, his eye looks wonderful, no sign of infection and we are just waiting for him fur to grow back in, as the infection caused it to fall out around his eye. We did discover, about the second day of treatment, a small wound under his eye, which is what was causing the issue. I was afraid we would lose his eye, assuming that he was going to be blind. I am happy to report that Marshall not only has both eyes, they are both fully functional. I am happy to report that Marshall has found a home and, although is having some issues introducing to a cage mate, his new mommy is keeping in contact with us about his progress and she is working hard to get him adjusted to his new cage mate, Felix.

Unfortunately Marshall did not get along with Felix and was returned. Just a few short weeks later, he was introduced to Marcus, who he took to very quickly and bonded to. Marshall and Marcus were adopted out a month later and are doing well, last I hear.

Snuggles, BP, Gizmo, Old Blue and the Unnamed Soldier

The above named ratties came to us when they where about 3 years old. They did not have names when they came to us, so it took us some time to figure out names.

The Unnames Soldier passed away just a few days after coming to us. Most likely because either he finally felt safe enough to pass, or the stress of everything was too much for him.   

Old Blue was adopted within a month of coing to us. Someone came to us looking for an older rat for their fixed female that was about 2 years old and after meeting him, fell in love with him and adopted him on the spot, after spending only 10 minutes with him. Last I heard (3 days after adoption) that he was doing well. I have no idea if he is still going stong.

Gizmo and BP (short for Butt Patch, because he had a bald spot by his butt) based within hours of each other in October of '09. When I got up, I found both of them passed on in their cage, close together. I believe that after BP passed, that Gizmo snuggled up to him and passed away shortly afterwards.

My favorite and the one I was expecting to pass, Snuggles, lived the longest after coming to us. Snuggles passed away the Tuesday before Thanksgiving '09. He had a stroke on Monday sometime, but it was after, I believe, I had done my rounds to check on him. He was, at that time, caged with Fargo and Heuy, a couple of my own rats in a very large, long cage. Snuggles had suffered from Hind End Weakness for some time after he came to us. He had it when he got here, so I made sure to set him up in a cage that would still allow for him to move around. Amazingly, he would still, still not sure how, climb into the hammock I had in the cage. When I found him, he was lying, on his side, in the cage after having had his stroke. He could not move the left side of his body, not even to close his left eye. So I held him for hours on that day, put ointment in his eye, to keep it moist and to help relieve any pain from it being dry. I gave him Ensure, with a syringe, to help give him some energy. I clipped his teeth, as they were overgrowing, due to being on a soft food diet for as long as he was. I snuggled him, hugged him, stroked him and told him how much I would miss him when he passed on. I told him that it was ok to go, that I was ready for him to leave, even though I would miss him, that I knew it was what was best for him. I asked him, when he got to the Rainbow Bridge, if he could take care of Smudge and Squeaky for me. He kind of squeaked at me, so I think he was telling me that he would. After a few hours, I put him down in a small carrier, snuggled into a blanket, to give him some alone time, and to spend some much needed time with my daughter. While she was sleeping, in my arms, I heard Snuggles take his last breath.

While they did not last long after coming here, I believe that I gave them the best life I could have while they were here. I did not attempt to find them homes, as I knew their time was coming soon.  Snuggles and all of the boys, became a part of my heart and helped to remind me why I do this. I knew, when they came in, that I would be sanctuary, not a temperary home for them, but I did not mind. They were wonderful ratties and we will miss them all.

Blondie, Squirt, Tiny, Violet and Iris

These 5 girls came to me from a very loving owner who was very distraught having to give them up. Originally coming from a pet store, she put a lot of work into them to get them socialized. Of the 5 girls, 4 of whom have been adopted so far. Blondie and Iris were the first to be adopted. They went to a wonderful home that even takes their rats on vacation with them. They were even willing to keep in contact with their former owner, so she knew they went to a good home. Then Squirt and Tiny were adopted by a wonderful family that fell in love with them as soon as they met them. Violet is still here, having issues with a sore under her neck that she keeps scratching open. As soon as her wound fully heals, and she is socialized a bit more, she will also be available for adoption. Violet is a fawn hooded, very pretty, about a year old. She is caged with 4 other females that she has bonded with pretty well. She is so funny, because when I try to get her out, to work with her, she will jump in her wheel and take off at a full run, like she is actually getting somewhere for a good 3-5 minutes. She will stop, to see if I am still "chasing" her and as soon as she realizes that I am still there, she takes off in her wheel again. Too funny. After about 3 or 4 tries, I am usually laughing so much that I scare her and she runs under the blanket. Because I don't want to stress her too much and leave her a place that she feels safe, if she is hiding in her blanket, I let her have time to calm down. She is a sweet little ratty and I believe, with work, she will socialize and be ready to go to her new home in no time.