Of the two sexes, I've always preferred girls.
My family kept boys, and we had one called Buster, who I seem to remember as being a huge, lovable, and very lazy!
Everyone I know who has boys, say they are more relaxed, and are much more likely to let you mollycoddle them, but, while a huge male rat who adores kisses and treats is a tempting offer.. I do seem to prefer my ladies.
Girls always seem so much more active. They have an irrepressible cheekiness, which I adore, and the love they give you on the way to and from the important business of being a rat, is always appreciated because it's not given quite so readily.
The delight I feel when one of them decides I need grooming, or comes over to see what I'm up to, always means so much, because they have taken time out of their own busy 'schedule' to pay me some attention.
I honestly went to see my local rat breeder, with every intention of getting a boy this time.
But as soon as I saw Nova, I knew she was for me.
She stood out among her 4 cage mates straight away.
At 7 weeks old, she seemed so tiny, but she was fascinated with me, and she kept hopping playfully over to my hand, then scuttling off again in the cutest way. When I picked her up, she sat on my hand, and one proper look at that daft expression (Dumbo rat owners will know it well!) and I was sold!
Nova - My ADHD shoulder buddy!
Freya was the more nervous of the two, and I think this is because she was a bit older when I got her.
Freya was in a cage with 5 other girls, all just passed baby stage, and they were so active!
They all looked very similar, and it seemed like an impossible choice, so I spent some time just watching and interacting with them. Within minutes I had chosen Freya.
She was very interested in my hands, but stood back from the other rats, and I noticed that the other girls would stop whatever they were doing to go up and give her a shove, or direct power displays towards her.
At one point all of them sat on her, ignoring her squeaks for mercy!
I think part of me just wanted to rescue her from being trampled on, and I do love an underdog, so I picked her up and held her for a bit. She was understandably nervous, but she was very interested in the new smells and the change of perspective, and I knew right then that she was the one for me. (Well, the other One..)
;)
I got Freya a few weeks after Nova, so we had to go through the necessary (though thankfully trouble-free) introduction stage.
In retrospect, it would have been easier, to have bought the two together, and I wholeheartedly recommend that approach, as would any vet, or breeder, but I had my own reasons for getting them separately.
As it turns out, I was lucky, during the first meeting, they greeted each other like old friends, snuggled down in their rat carrier, and refused to come out!
Sleepy Freya - A moment of calm.
;) xx
