Then it happened… I mentioned that I’ve always wanted a pet rat. 5 minutes later we were picking a baby rat up…
The decision we had to make was whether we wanted a male or female rat.
Males are lazy, kind of like male rabbits.
Females are active, kind of like female rabbits.
We chose to get a male rat.
The seller warned me that they have great big testicles when they are mature. I had to laugh at that.
This is Mushroom’s first photo. He was scared.
He was 5 weeks old, born on the 16th May – Button’s Birthday.
Luckily we had an old bird cage that we changed into his new home.
This is the make-shift cover we put on his cage for the first night.
We couldn’t decide on a name for him, we came up with many different ones from Nibbles, Russell, Squeak, Ratatouille, Rat-a-tat-tat, Ratty-tu-tu … but none of them suited.
We had been playing a PS4 game called Life is Strange 2, and in it were brothers called Sean and Daniel. They ended up saving a dog which they named Mushroom. Because the game is an emotional ride, I felt it was important to pay homage to Mushroom the dog. So, Ratty-tu-tu became Mushroom.
The lady who sold us Mushroom said that they are better in pairs, so we are considering getting him company. But, we are also thinking about breeding them, so we may get a female. At the moment it’s up in the air, but it is a consideration we are making.
We saw pictures of fluffy rats, which we both fell in love with.
These were the fluffy rats.
After some research I found out that they are Rex rats. Which makes sense from a rabbit perspective.
I also read that Rex rats can go bald. Which is sad.
* these three pictures are not mine. I don’t claim them as mine. They are here for demonstration purposes.
We were considering breeding for a fluffy rat. But according to the internet, Rex rats only stay fluffy in temperate climates, so it would be highly unlikely that they stay fluffy in Australia. But there’s no harm in trying.
I think I will end up making a rat section…
Anyway, back to Mushroom…
Mushroom was scared, so I gave him some oaten hay to hide in. He loved it, making tunnels and rummaging around.
The lady who sold us Mushroom gave us a bag of pellets for him. She said that he will need them 24 hours a day with a slice of bread.
We gave him the water bottle I had and cable tied it to the side of the cage.
For dinner on the first night I shared Whiskey’s salad with him, giving him some rocket and lettuce leaves. It was gone in the morning.
I picked some grass for him and Whiskey, he ate some some of it but played with the rest.
We didn’t like his first cardboard box house, so we gave him a brand new bachelor pad, a tea bag box with tissues.
I’m going to design a house for him and 3D print it, along with play things like ramps and platforms.
After a couple of days he started to settle in, and we could give him cuddles on the couch. He enjoyed that a lot and started to feel more comfortable with us.
Good ol’ Mushroom. He’s tiny, soft and cute.