Growing up is though!

I was looking through my old pictures and found these.
They're pic of one of my ratty, Toby who unfortunately passed away over a year ago. He was really sweet, and not too smart
as you can see in the second picture, he has a funny looking foot. He was born that way but it never bothered him one bit.

Here's Toby as a baby, playing in his barn:


And here he is a few months later, not realizing that he's too big for kids play:


Such a clown!

He's a cutie!!, I've never had a rat..but I hear that they are very intelligent?

Originally Posted by Miss Mew

He's a cutie!!, I've never had a rat..but I hear that they are very intelligent?

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Yes, they are very intelligent. As with any intelligent animals, they each have their own personality but most of them are sociable, smart and playful (except for fully grown males, who are more lazy than playful)
Only down sides is that they are difficult to litter train (I heard that some people manage to... but I've never been really successful with that) and they have a life expectency of only 2-3 years.

Thay are very cute, ou en mon pas tres bien francais, ils sont tres mignon!

Originally Posted by marie-p

Yes, they are very intelligent. As with any intelligent animals, they each have their own personality but most of them are sociable, smart and playful (except for fully grown males, who are more lazy than playful)Only down sides is that they are difficult to litter train (I heard that some people manage to... but I've never been really successful with that) and they have a life expectency of only 2-3 years.

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this is a great point! ..I didn´t know about it!
Great Pic´s Mary!

ok, I've been digging in my old pics some more.

here are pics of all the rats I've had over the years:

my first rats: Bindy and Roxy (notice they're always in pair... rats like the company of other rats)

Bindy:

My favorite rat. She was so friendly and affectionate. She would climb right on my shoulder when I opened her cage and would stay there while I walked around.
Unfortunately, because of my own ignorance and my vet's ignorance about rats, she didn't have an easy life and died before the age of two.

And here's her "sister" Roxy (not sure if they were really sisters but they were in the same cage at the pet store)

Roxy was not as friendly as Bindy but she was still sweet and so cute.
She is what rat people call a Dumbo Rex rat (dumbo because of her large ears and rex because of her curly fur and whiskers). She also died before age 2.


Second pair of rats: Toby (see above) and his brother Dexter:

Baby Dexter


Big Boy Dexter:


He was more independent than Toby but also smarter. And very docile. He grew up to be so big and squishy
He lived to be 2 and half years old.

And lastly: Lissy and Nicky

Lissy as a baby:

She was so cute as a baby! I'll look to see if I have any grown up pics of her. She is now over 2 years old and still alive. (my only rat left)

And her adopted sister Nicky:

Poor Nicky had a hard life. Her first owners were keeping her in a small cage in a closet and then got tired of her so they gave her to some guy I know to feed to his snake. The guy actually had her in the snake's cage but his girlfriend couldn't let her die and took her out. She couldn't keep her herself so gave her to me. That little rat was soooo sweet . She was completely blind (probably had cataracts from birth or developed them after growing up in a dark closet) and so trusting. After all she had gone through, she still LOVED people.
I had her for about a year and she died very suddenly