I love rats!! People don't know what they're missing!
I wanted rats for several years, and my parents never let me get them. I did research and joined forums and everything.
*long story ahead*
Last summer, my brother's roommate dropped his pet rat "Agatha" off for me to watch for a few months. She was living in a tiny plastic cage the size of a shoe box, eating a bird seed mix, and living on cedar bedding *cringe*
She barely moved, and her eyes and coat were dull.
Since I couldn't keep her I couldn't spend too much money, but I went out and bought her a big guinea pig cage, Carefresh bedding, and lab blocks.
I wanted to get her a friend since rats need to live in pairs, but I couldn't since she wasn't mine.
The change in her was remarkable. She became lively and friendly and sat by the door all day waiting for me to take her out. I took her out every day after school and she would fall asleep in the hood of my sweatshirt.
Then the guy said I could keep her!!
SO I bought her a Martin's cage (martinscages.com) and adopted two rats from a rescue!! Aggie, Daisy, and Fiona.
Aggie had a stroke several months ago. It was THE most depressing thing ever. She could hardly walk without falling over. She had no coordination and couldn't use her hands to eat. I took her to the vet immediately and he put her on steroids and antibiotics, and she got better!
But then she had another stroke, and got worse. I woke up to feed her every two hours- water/baby food, etc.
My pretty girl passed away
Daisy and Fiona had really REALLY crappy genes and had respiratory problems all their life, despite being on antibiotics. Daisy died totally out of the blue one day. She was just a year old. Fiona became really depressed.
So I went out and rescued two little rats from the feeder bin at Petco- Scarlett and Mable. Fiona cheered up, having the two young rats to keep her "young" but her respiratory issues ended up taking her a few weeks after I brought the new rats home.
So now my sister looks after Scarlett and Robin while I'm in college. I must say, they're the most destructive rats ever!! They chew their hammocks completely destroy everything! Silly babies.
I have millions of pics, so I'll have to post them tomorrow.