My rats

Ronja

Born Sept. 94

Died Jan. 95 at the age of 1 year and four months

My first rat was Ronja and she was a black hooded. I bought her in a pet shop. She lived a while with just me but I think she was lonely because she and Mimmi got very close when they had finally decided who were the boss. She was crazy about cucumber and often ran away with a slice so none of the other rats could get hold of it. They didn't care much because they wanted the peas instead. Ronja didn't like peas that much.... =)
One morning I couldn't find her in the cage or on the table and I found a paper box on the floor. We looked everywhere in the apartment but we couldn't find her. Finally I went to the laundry room to look a last time and saw something in a bag with old rags I used in the cage as bedding. She had climbed up on the washing machine and got to sleep in her old dirty rags. It smelled like home! But how she had manage to climb up there I never found out.
She got problems with her lungs when she was six months old. I got antibiotic and a medicine to clear her throat to cure her with. But she didn't get well again, it only helped her when she got her attacks of asthma. She lived till she became one year and four month and I think she died because of her lung problems. But most of the time she was ok and didn't have any trouble.

Mimmi

Born Nov. 94

Died Mars 97 at the age of three years and four months

Mimmi was my former boyfriend's rat but she lived with me and the other rats most her life. She came from a pet shop and still she got so old. She didn't have any illness at all during her long life. She was an chocolate irish and she were the leader off the rats. She was the oldest of my rats and you could tell that she was a bit older by the way she moved, more slowly and carefully, and she had troubles to keep her balance when she walked on branches. She was a real lady and have always been. She protested when I lifted her up but once in my arms she was quite happy. She often came up to me and sniffed in my face when I stand by the cage talking and playing with the rats.
Mimmi was the only rat I have met that stood still when she got bathed. She didn't like it but she hold on to the sink and stood still! =) She got a tumour in her stomach and I had to put her to sleep because she got skinny and had problems to move in the end.

Pixie

Born April 95

Died Nov. 96 at the age of one year and seven months

Pixie was an light chocolate and was also my former boyfriend's rat. Pixie came from a pet shop. She had a little trouble with her lungs and she made sounds when she breath. This with her lungs came when she was older. She was a bit tired and often lay down on my bed when she was out of the cage. But she was active but slow as Mimmi, she had a good balance and appetite. She died November 96 because of lung problems... =( I found her in the morning on the floor of the cage and the other rats on the top floors. When my rats are sick and are dying they go to the bottom of the cage to die. I don't know why...

Chillie

Born April 95

Died Aug. 96 at the age of one year and four months

Chillie was an silver-black. She was Pixie's sister and came also from a pet shop. She died the summer of 96 because of her trouble of breathing and she got thin of not having enough strength to eat and her eyes and nose was red because of the tears (being red on rats) were running. I was at my parents country place and couldn't get to a veterinarian. =( She starved to death and I never let any of my rats suffer as much as she had to do any more. I let them live as long as they are happy and don't seems troubled from their illness. Then I go to the vet to put them to sleep.

Minna

Born Aug. 95

Died Oct. 96 at the age of one year and two months

Minna was an black berkshire and she has always been an adventurer, but she got sick and had a tumour and ran around less than before. She was still very active and I didn't want to put her to sleep as long as she ate and had enough strength to play with the other rats. When Chillie died she didn't move for a week before she died and that was heartbreaking to see her starve to death... =( I decided that no one of my rats will ever have to do that. So when Minna's tumour got bigger and she got skinny and had problems to eat and move I decided to put her to sleep in Oct. 96.

Lisa

Born Aug. 95

Died Aug. 96 at the age of one year

Lisa was an cinnamon hooded and was like me when it comes to food... =) She just loved food! And it showed on her behind, she was a bit podgy but she were so sweet! She never stopped eating if it was something good left. She also found out that the soft, sweet, chewy material around the cables was delicious and she was very careful so that I didn't see her biting. She walked long turns around the telephone wire. Once she bite the telephone wire so that the telephone rang and I heard who it was in the other end, but they didn't hear me... She liked the cables so much that I had to put them all high up on the wall to get her to stop biting them. no one of my other rats have been as keen on cables as Lisa was... =) She got troubles with her lungs and she got a lot skinnier than on the photo above... And I had to put her to sleep i the end of the summer of 96.

Kajsa

Born Oct. 95

Died Jan. 97 at the age of two years and two months

Kajsa was an agouti hooded. She was the most nervous rat I ever met! She jumped for everything and defended her cage and herself when I reached for her. No one of my other rats have never done anything like that. I think it all came from that she was nervous by nature and she came from a pet store that mostly have snake food rats. They never get petted with during their youth. She was very shy when I got her and now I know that I should have been with her more when she was small. We got along in the end when she was out of the cage but not when she was inside... then she was an devil i disguise. But she had a fur that was so smooth! She got a nervous disorder in November that came from mycoplasma that give the rats their lung problems, but sometimes it goes on the nervous system as it did with Kajsa. She got problem to hold her head straight and eventually she had problems to move and eat. So after Christmas and New year's eve I went to the veterinary and had her put to sleep.

Trulsa (Aridea)

Born Dec. 95

Died Oct. 97 at the age of two years and ten months

Trulsa was an mink rex and she came from a breeder that spent a lot of time with them when they where small. She was curious and very active. She liked to play with me and often came up to me and wanted to know what I was doing. Rex rats have curly fur and curly whiskers, Trulsa had more wavy fur but her whiskers were very curly =) She could sit on the edge of the table and reach out after me and grab my trousers and tries to get me closer so she could climb up on me.
Once my ex-boyfriend got really upset with her when she was trying to get to his plate and he pushed her away but she didn't stop trying to reach his plate and he wanted her to stop it. He grabbed her and tossed her on to my bed to make it unpleasant to come back to his plate. She landed on her feet and looked stunned and jumped around a bit on the bed and then ran from the bed, behind the cage, up on the windowsill and out on the table and to my ex-boyfriend's plate. My ex-boyfriend did the same thing again when she came up to him. And this time when she landed she was less stunned and didn't jump around as much as the last time. She ran back to the table and after five or six time my ex-boyfriend started to be curious, because he did it so she would leave him alone, but he started to think that she liked it. He put the plate in her way, but she didn't care about it. She was turning and going back and forth on the spot she was picked up earlier and he tossed her to the bed and she ran back again. She had found a roller coaster for rats but she didn't know how to start it! =)
She was my favourite rat and she always wanted to play and came up to me when I was sad and comforted me. I miss her a lot. She died because of a tumour in her stomach and I put her to sleep in October 97.

Snövit (Andikithira)

Born Dec. 95

Died July 97 at the age of two years and seven months

Snövit was an pearl berkshire rex and Trulsa is her sister. She was also very active and they played together a lot! They often rolled around on my bed and tried to put the other one on her back. Snövit often climbed up on me and sat on my shoulders but only as long she wanted. Then she jumped off! Her fur is supposed to be nearly white but as you can se on the picture above she is more grey than white, if you compare with her paws. Her fur wasn't as smooth as Trulsa's but I liked her curly fur anyway. She had even more curly whiskers than Trulsa had. A problem rex rat use to have is that they loose their fur when they get older. But no one of my rats did have any problems with their fur. So it is a shame that I didn't take any babies from them. But you should let them have their first babies before they are one year old. But it wasn't until they were over one and a half year old I realized that they had such good genes to pass on. She got problems with her lungs when she got older and I had to put her to sleep as well.

Modesty (Arinella's Åkerkulla)

Born Nov. 96

Modesty is a Beige with ruby red eyes and she comes from a breeder of rats. She is a bit shy and marks sometimes taking my finger between her teeth that she don't want me there. She does that sometimes when I clean the cage. Because she isn't very happy about my way of making her cage in order sow she do her own bedding with ripped old newspaper. She like to make nests and do it her way.

Nikita (Violen's blue ocean)

Born Dec. 96

She comes from a breeder and she is a blue irish with black eyes. She was very shy and jumpy when I got her but she is better now. I don't think the breeder played so much with the babies because she was very scared of me when I got her. Nikita is the leader but she have some lumps and is getting tired a lot, so Nellie is trying to take her place, but both of them have tumours and will get ill in a while.

Nellie (Violen's blue eyes)