#ratfosterdiary — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #ratfosterdiary, aggregated by home.social.
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The person who adopted Peanut and Raisin reports that they reached Johannesburg safely, and are settling in well, having been introduced to the rat-in-residence.
That's Raisin on the left, and Peanut on top of their new sister.
I miss them! I keep catching myself starting to prepare supper for them, or wanting to take them out for a cuddle.
And apparently someone is interested in adopting Twyla and Zen too...
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Today, Zen's second breakfast was baked apple and egg.
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From the Rat Foster WhatsApp group... the babies I saw on Monday have started to climb! Imagine being responsible for nine of these determined little gremlins.
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From the Rat Foster WhatsApp group... the babies I saw on Monday have started to climb! Imagine being responsible for nine of these determined little gremlins.
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From the Rat Foster WhatsApp group... the babies I saw on Monday have started to climb! Imagine being responsible for nine of these determined little gremlins.
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From the Rat Foster WhatsApp group... the babies I saw on Monday have started to climb! Imagine being responsible for nine of these determined little gremlins.
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Zen's getting a bit thin, so she got her very own second breakfast this morning (some of my porridge with baked apple)
#RatFosterDiary #rats -
Zen's getting a bit thin, so she got her very own second breakfast this morning (some of my porridge with baked apple)
#RatFosterDiary #rats -
Zen's getting a bit thin, so she got her very own second breakfast this morning (some of my porridge with baked apple)
#RatFosterDiary #rats -
Zen's getting a bit thin, so she got her very own second breakfast this morning (some of my porridge with baked apple)
#RatFosterDiary #rats -
Zen is recovering well from the surgery. Not picking at her stitches, and taking her meds.
The vet's office put a sticker on the meds packet that looks just like her. -
Zen is recovering well from the surgery. Not picking at her stitches, and taking her meds.
The vet's office put a sticker on the meds packet that looks just like her. -
Zen is recovering well from the surgery. Not picking at her stitches, and taking her meds.
The vet's office put a sticker on the meds packet that looks just like her. -
Zen is recovering well from the surgery. Not picking at her stitches, and taking her meds.
The vet's office put a sticker on the meds packet that looks just like her. -
Zen is recovering well from the surgery. Not picking at her stitches, and taking her meds.
The vet's office put a sticker on the meds packet that looks just like her. -
Big rat day today. Drove to Kraaifontein in a windstorm to take Zen in for surgery, and deliver Peanut and Raisin to one of the other rat foster people. She's looking after them till Saturday, then they're being couriered to Johannesburg to their new home. She's also fostering a rat mom and her babies, so I got to meet them all. Tiny babies!
I left before sunrise to miss the traffic. My husband went with me as he was worried about me driving alone in the storm.
And he's right, it's a proper storm. Driving rain and strong wind. Trees down, branches on the road. Schools are apparently closed today and tomorrow.Zen's surgery went well. She was spayed and had three mammary tumors removed. Now she's safely back home with Twyla again.
Twyla, who'd been alone all day, gave Zen a very thorough sniff inspection when I put her back in the cage. Then she crawled into my lap for a cuddle of her own. Also to ask for supper.
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Big rat day today. Drove to Kraaifontein in a windstorm to take Zen in for surgery, and deliver Peanut and Raisin to one of the other rat foster people. She's looking after them till Saturday, then they're being couriered to Johannesburg to their new home. She's also fostering a rat mom and her babies, so I got to meet them all. Tiny babies!
I left before sunrise to miss the traffic. My husband went with me as he was worried about me driving alone in the storm.
And he's right, it's a proper storm. Driving rain and strong wind. Trees down, branches on the road. Schools are apparently closed today and tomorrow.Zen's surgery went well. She was spayed and had three mammary tumors removed. Now she's safely back home with Twyla again.
Twyla, who'd been alone all day, gave Zen a very thorough sniff inspection when I put her back in the cage. Then she crawled into my lap for a cuddle of her own. Also to ask for supper.
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It's supposed to be autumn but it feels like full winter. Blustery rain all day long and chilly. We don't have central heating so the rat cages each have their own little infrared heater. I improved the insulation on the their cages to keep out all drafts and keep the heat in.
They're quite cozy.This is Peanut and Raisin's last night with me. Tomorrow they begin their journey to their new home.
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Yesterday I picked up a food donation for the small animal rescue org. It included a small bag of expensive rat food pellets. The woman said her rats hadn't liked it.
I tested some on my foster rats last night, in addition to their usual supper.
This morning I found their dishes empty, so I thought, well, success. Then I noticed that Twyla and Zen (I suspect Zen did most of it, she's the organiser of the two) had stored all of the pellets in a box at the top of their cage.
And Peanut and Raisin had put all of their pellets in their litter tray.
That's a strong opinion, I would say! 😂
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Peanut and Raisin are telling ghost stories this evening.
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One of the other foster-rat people just shared these photos of the baby rats they're looking after. They are TINY!!!!
And I'm going to meet these little guys on Monday. I can't wait. They're not coming to me, I'll be visiting the person who's fostering them. I'll be dropping Peanut and Raisin off with her, and she'll take them to the courier, who'll ship them to their forever home in Johannesburg.
In other news, Raisin has just started running on the wheel in their cage. Hopefully Peanut will do it too. They're such high energy girls and I've been worrying that they'll get frustrated in their cage. They get free roam time outside their cage at least once a day, but that's not really enough.
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I've just heard that there's someone wanting to adopt Peanut and Raisin. She's in Johannesburg, so these two little hooligans will be travelling via courier.
I'm going to miss them. The last few days they've really started to trust me. -
(bathroom free roam continued)
Twyla and Zen also enjoy the blanket-covered bathroom. Twyla is positively cuddly and comes to settle in on my lap so I can stroke her. She's the biggest female rat I've ever seen, she's like a raggedy little teddy bear.
Zen disgraced herself last night. I have a pair of cheap wired headphones I use when I'm with the rats as I don't want them chewing on my expensive headphones (and they absolutely will, given the chance).
For some reason Zen is obsessed with the wire and last night she bit right through it, so now only the right channel is working.Going to have to switch to earbuds! I haven't before because I can just imagine a rat absconding with an earbud and having their way with it under the bathroom cabinet.
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I've been trying a new way of entertaining the foster rats during free roam. It's a challenge because, especially the two young ones, they can't be left unsupervised. The only rat-safe room is our tiny bathroom, which is kind of boring for them.
So I sewed some cheap felted blankets together, and drape that over the toilet and bath to create a sort of soft maze /jungle gym.
They absolutely love it.
I'm especially charmed by Peanut and Raisin who, when they arrived were quite wild and barely tolerated being held.
Now they constantly check in with me during free roam, occasionally both climbing on top of my head at the same time.
They're still quite wild. If I get up, they instantly demand that I pick them up by trying to climb up my legs. And if I don't comply fast enough they start nipping me. Gently, though. Just placing their teeth on my skin.
Or they leap up and catch hold of the bottom of my bath robe, swinging on it like little feral monkeys. -
Supper time for the baby girls and the big girls. They like their egg with the shell!
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Peanut and Raisin snarfing their morning medicine.
(they've got a mild respiratory infection) -
After almost two whole days apart while Zen went to the vet, Twyla and Zen are very happy to be together again.
They're usually fairly independent, often snoozing in seperate hammocks. But since Zen is back they've been inseparable. After this photo, they crept into a hammock together.
Peanut and Raisin are back with me too. Luckily they travelled together so had one another for comfort the whole time.
(the exotic vet is about an hour's drive away so they all stayed over with someone from the foster org who drove them there and back. Like a big rat slumber party)
It's nice to have them all home again.
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I finally got rid of my old bathrobe ("I don't need two") and what do you know, I immediately need it again.
I'm not used to having rats in the house that haven't been introduced to one another. Turns out there are consequences to the rats smelling the "intruders" on me. I let Peanut and Raisin crawl around inside this bathrobe. Then a few hours later, I took Twyla out of her cage. I was wearing the same robe. Instant alert. Here she is, hell-bent on getting down so she can find Peanut and Raisin and whoop their little butts.
Going to have to be more careful. And probably get another bathrobe.
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Still not quite getting those adoption-ready photos of my fosters. Slightly blurred, just not quite right.
In other news, three of my foster rats are going to the vet soon. Peanut is a bit wheezy, Raisin might be too, and Zen has a lump that might need surgery. Thankfully I don't have to pay for the vet visits myself.
This is my least favourite part of looking after rats. Small animal medical care feels like a big responsibility.
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Oh wait there's this one too...
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I tried to do a photo shoot with the foster rats, get some cute pictures that would help get them adopted. This was the only picture I got of Peanut that wasn't just a blur, and Raisin refused to come out from under the bed.
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Peanut and Raisin need lots of free roam time, and they're quite entertaining to watch. This is Peanut investigating a LED lamp
The video: https://youtu.be/XsxR18MxsOM
And one of Raisin investigating the lamp inside a laundry basket: https://youtu.be/IlotIktu2FY -
Weighing a small wiggle butt.
This was the only way to get Peanut to stay on the scale. -
I had the unique experience today of making breakfast with a rat in each sleeve. Two little whiskery heads, one under my left hand, one under my right, closely observing everything I do.
I felt a bit ratatouille-puppeted -
Peanut is just ridiculously cuddly. She loves being stroked. But she also knows how to set a boundary, see the video 😊
https://youtu.be/rWnymZa9AuE?si=mF8asdlaunNMcTxw
#rats #RatsOfMastodon #RatFosterDiary -
Peanut enjoying being petted.
Dark, so video quality is not great, but still really cute. -
Am currently sitting in the (dry) bath doing free roam with Peanut and Raisin. Peanut is actively seeking out cuddles my pushing under my hand.
Raisin has been much wilder, but she's graduated from "I will place my teeth gently upon you to remind you I can bite" to "ok so being stroked is kind of nice I agree to sit still for this"
The are both high energy girls.I am working at getting Raisin used to my hands. I need to be able to pick her up quickly without scaring her.
Right now she has discovered my ear and is investigating with her whiskers. Tickles!
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The new foster girls arrived last night. Peanut (the creamy Siamese ) and Raisin (the black hooded).
As you can see they are still a bit tense and suspicious of me. Peanut is the tamest. Raisin tolerates being picked up, but only briefly. She's nearly impossible to photograph as she's constantly moving.This is a big change for them, they came from a cage with five other rats. So they're probably feeling a bit bewildered right now.
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New foster rats alert! Peanut and Raisin have been confirmed. I'm fetching them tomorrow evening. Must give their cage a proper clean first to remove all trace of the most recent occupants, the Blaze Boys.
I know almost nothing about Peanut and Raisin except that they are quite young and female.
The Blaze Boys are un-neutered males, and my other fosters, Twyla and Zen, are un-neutered females, which made me just a bit stressed. They were kept on opposite sides of my (tiny) house, and absolutely totally separate, but they could still sense one another. Especially when I picked them up, they could smell one another on me and my clothes. So not ideal.
Sensing two new girl-rats on the other side of the house might make Twyla and Zen feel a bit territorial, but it shouldn't stir them up like the presence of the Blaze Boys did.
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I've just heard that there might after all be someone adopting Twyla and Zen! I'm supposed to take some cute photos of them to increase their chances...
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The Blaze Boys have gone back to their owner. I'm going to miss them!
Last night they free-roamed in the bathroom while I was in the bath. I had the light off, and draped a towel over the edge of the bath so they could climb up to me.It was a bit magical, waiting in the dark for their small white faces to appear, completely silently, peering at me like little pixies or fairies. They dipped their hands into the water, then crawled onto me, then flitted away again.
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*Someone* placed this silk cloth near the rat cage. *Someone else* dragged the entire cloth through the bars into the cage. This is a great mystery.
(Luckily the cloth is mostly undamaged, just one or two small holes.)
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This is Smokey and Stormy. I'm looking after them for a few days, for one of the other foster people. She's just literally a few minutes ago decided to adopt them herself! I watched the conversation happening on the Rat Foster WhatsApp chat.
Smokey is the one with the lighter markings. He's the more confident of the two. Stormy has a darker back. He's much shyer and more reserved. It took them about half a day to go from thinking I'm a dangerous monster to climbing all over me without a care in the world.
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I'm exhausted so no photos (long complicated family day), but I'm looking after another rat foster's rats for the next few days.
They are ✨gorgeous✨ they look like little badgers, with dark patches and white blazes on their faces.
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Bathroom at night works well for free roam time. I spread a blanket over the side of the bath so they have something to climb.