Russian Blue Agouti. Gentle Giant Male and possible companion C'ville, IL

[ratty_pack]

    My neighbor had adopted this boy last summer as a baby.  He is a Russian Blue Agouti Dumbo rat.  He is a *cuddler* and the biggest rat that I've ever seen.  2 pounds maybe?  Enough to hug and yes, he likes his hugs and cuddles.  He is *very* overweight -- though it is a part of his slow gentle giant charm.
    Her husband developed allergies and she asked if I could find a home for him.  He bought her two rooms of furniture to get her to part with her beloved rat!
    As a baby, he had much more blue.  He developed more tan at 6 months.  Now, he looks like a "soft" agouti.
    Also available is the splotchy face boy photographed with him.  His companion is 6 weeks old.
    I adore both of these boys and will simply have them fixed if they stay with me.  Shine (Russian Blue) and Buffalo (boy who posed as girl at adoption time!) both give kisses and are **FULL OF LOVE ** 
     Your welcome to meet these boys before deciding.  Their personalities will... uhm...  steal your heart!
     Buffalo had a respitory infection at adoption time (like his last photo), but it has cleared up very nicely.  He is a healthy boy now!

[guardiantrinity]

I PM'ed you. 

[ratty_pack]

Guardiantrinity, you sound like a wonderful potential owner.  Please let me know when you will know for sure about being able to commit to adoption.

For the time being, I'd like to keep them available for adoption.

I'm also concerned about Shine's weight.  He had a cooked breakfast each morning with my neighbor so maybe being with me will start helping take off some weight.

Hope to hear from you soon!

[guardiantrinity]

Fingers crossed I will have an answer for you this week(end?). I spoke to my roomie and we are both concerned about fitting all her things, all my things, and the rat cage into the apartment (1 bedroom). We've decided to get everything organized and I'll be picking up the Rat Manor so we can set it up and eyeball it in various places around the apt. I'm moving in there tonight after my graduation ceremony so we probably won't be able to really start organizing until Monday, however she is in finals week (also graduating, but not for a couple more weeks) and has 2 huge projects due Thursday. I do not want to prevent them from finding a good home if this falls through, but I really hope we can give you a proper commitment before anybody discovers this amazingly adorable duo

[ratty_pack]

Honestly, there is no issue holding them til the end of May so you and your roommate can avoid rushing this decision.

BTW, Shine is getting much more active with an exclusive Harlan diet and bigger cage.  Looks like he won't be over-eating so much when not served a cooked breakfast each day!  He seems to want to keep pace with Buffalo.  Though sadly, no giant hug this morning.   

[guardiantrinity]

Thank you so much-- holding them to the end of May would be wonderful. Thank you so much, it really means a lot to me. <3

We're discussing our options today and hopefully we'll be able to get a little storage unit, which in theory will free up some other space around here. We need to work through budget stuff though as they are a wee bit pricier than I expected.

Give the boys scritches for me, and good luck with Shine's weight. I'm going to have to move a scale from my "this would be a really really good thing to have" list to "this is a necessity" just for him.

[ratty_pack]

BTW, if you would like....  Shine's cage from my neighbor can go with the boys for free.  The mesh will need to be restapled back down.  It got damaged in the move....

[guardiantrinity]

  It looks like a lovely cage, but unfortunately I have nowhere to store it and no way to move it, hehee. Thank you for the offer though. =D

Also, wanted to verify, by C'ville you mean Carpentersville correct?

[Popcorn]

Shine looks like an adorable boy and so does his little buddy.
Hope it works out for all of you!

[ratty_pack]

Yes.  I'm in Carpentersville.  1/2 mile from the Spring Hill Mall.

[guardiantrinity]

Yay! I love the Spring Hill Mall... haven't been there in 2-3 years, but it's still lovely.

What should we/I do about a travel cage? I will be looking into one for vet visits but should I make a point to have one asap? I want to make sure I get something big enough for Shine to travel in comfortably. I have a small cat/dog carrier I may be able to use but I'm not sure about the bar spacing grid on the front. Is Buffalo still small enough to squeeze through 1" bar spacing? Do they seem to be big chewers?

[ratty_pack]

   On that note, Shine came with a another cage, food, and water bottle.

   The "other" cage is a 10 gallon aquarium with very nice lid.  It could make a nice carrier for the trip home.  Definitely, too small to be the regular cage though.

    Will be happy to pass along his supplies that are wanted.  Nothing huge...  Treats, water bottle, etc.  I've been restricting him to a single yogi after playing.....

[guardiantrinity]

If we can make sure the lid is safe and soundly secured for the ride home, then the 10 gallon should work just fine. ^__^! I'll gladly take Shine's old things with him & Buffalo as well-- I have absolutely nothing rat-wise right now (except the cage is coming tonight! lol) so I can certainly use it all. Hopefully I can hit Hancock's tomorrow for fabric for cage liners and get them put together. What sort of diet are they on right now? If I need to do some online shopping for their food then I'd best get on it tonight or tomorrow.

What do you think my chances are of getting these boys litter trained?
Also, are they big chewers?

[ratty_pack]

   I'm feeding them both Harlan exclusively.  I can sell you a 33 lb bag for $20 at pick-up time.  It will last you 2-3 months.  I have a source in Wheaton at that price. 

   Also, I had picked up a ten yard bolt of fleece for $20.  Could sell royal blue fleece for $2 a yard (I think the average price is usually around $5 a yard)  Willing to sell up to 13 yards of the fabric.

    On that note, if you buy the food, then we can waive adoption fees for the boys as well.

    How's that for an affordable start? 

    Litter training advise would definitely be better from someone who has tried it.  I never really tried it as I swap the fleece and shake it outside before washing it.

    Boys tend to chew much less than girls.  They chew even less as they age.  Chew toys in their cage are essentials.

[guardiantrinity]

That sounds glorious! Gotta be careful though that I don't start running so fast in excitement that I trip and fall over something we've overlooked. Roomie and I are hopefully moving the majority of the furniture tonight/tomorrow so we can really get a good look at how much room we have. Still not for sure, but I've got my fingers crossed and things are looking very promising on my end. I can't wait to see these boys, play with them, and give them tons of cuddles and scritches. <33

Thank you so much for being willing to work with me on my circumstances. I sincerely appreciate it. =)

Edit: Alright, I'm going to give litter training a shot and if it works, wonderful! If not, then I guess I'll be doing laundry a bit more frequently

As far as chewing, I've just seen a handful of people around this forum who seem to have rats that chew everything in sight and was wondering if these boys were among them.

For fleece, I'll let you know tomorrow after visiting Hancock's. I'm worried it might be too warm during summer months? What are your thoughts?

[rattiez21]

Hi Did you guys work it out with getting the new male?? If not may I pleeeeassse have him?? I am in a real need of an older male. My Prince Humperdink passed away and left Master Splinter all alone. He is very depressed and needs a new buddy his age. I promise to take very good care of him. Does he get along well with other rats? I need a male that will bond with Splinter. 

[guardiantrinity]

I only have one final bit of business to take care of-- the leasing office of the apt complex is going to get us paperwork/forms/written consent to have the rats here on Tuesday. Not much to do between then and now but wait. I'll be out of town for the weekend (until Monday night) so no replies from me until then. Thanks again =D

[ratty_pack]

I'm afraid to say that I seem to be *terrible* at identifying gender.

Buffalo is Buffette.  Yes, a girl -- and a pregnant one. 

Guardiantrinity, please let me know if you would still like to adopt Shine.

Rattiez21, I really can't answer your question about how Shine would react to an adult male -- especially after living alone for so long.  He sleeps in the corner closest to the girls cage and gazes so sadly.  Think he would be much happier fixed and with the girls.

I've had very tough challenges introducing adult males.  Shine is so big-- he could really hurt another rat if he wanted to!