Caz
Our house has had a rather sad couple of days.   As some of you know, we are keepers of pet rats... or we are owned by rats..not sure some days ;)   Our boys are quite spoiled, we have built them a rat condo and they get fresh fruit & veggies and all manner of healthy good food.  They get toted around on shoulders all day long by Sam (who almost invariably is sporting a rodent on his person if we are home lol) and incredibly rat play grounds get built for their enjoyment.   Some people like cats, some dogs... we love rats.  

Our boys (the furry ones) are Nibbles, Latte, Mocha, Peaches, and Cream.  We lost Tickles to a respiratory infection several months back.  Well apparently it was a common issue and is able to hang around for some time as Friday night hubby & I noticed a commotion in the cage, and when we went to check,  Mocha was still & not breathing.  It was fairly obvious he had just passed away.   He was an adorable rat, with a wonderfully playful & loving personality.   His holy grail was popcorn and grapes... oh my did he love some grapes.    We found an appropriate container for him so Sam could help bury him the next day.

Well the next morning when the kids woke, we called them into our room to let them know what had happened (as Sams' first stop in the morning is the condo to say good morning and check water containers... he's a VERY good rat keeper).  Sam rushed out to check the cage and found Peaches was dead as well.   Oh no.   We had noticed he was rather subdued the night before but wrote it off to stress over the death of a cagemate.   So a double funeral it was.  They were buried just as the full moon rose  in the sky, which the boys thought was rather special.

The three remaining boys (Nibbles.. the old guy, Latte, and the youngest Cream) were very subdued, and I would swear depressed! the next day.   Lots of attention and treats seems to have pulled them out of their funk  a bit.  And Sam is surprisingly doing very well... I guess he understands the rat life span is only 2ish years at the best of times.  But that's ok.. he will be barraged with little furry friends many many years from now when they meet him at the Rainbow Bridge.

Here is a piccy of the boys playing with Latte & Mocha  when they were just a few months old :)

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4 Responses
  1. Wendy Says:

    I am sorry for the loss of both Mocha and Peaches. May they find rest in the Summerland. :(

    How is Sam doing?


  2. Caz Says:

    hehe we were obviously scoping out each others blogs at the same time. Sam is doing really well with the loss, I think that's why he's holding the other rats so much... maybe he feels a little sad that he didn't hold Mocha that evening before bed. I think he intends to make sure that doesn't happen again.

    In the pic, Mocha is the ratty boy with the dark 'hood' ... I need to find a pic of Peaches to post.


  3. Kez Says:

    I have to admit that the idea of rats gives me the creeps! However, having said that, I'm very sorry for your loss - losing any loved pet is hard :(


  4. Caz Says:

    Kez.. you just haven't met the RIGHT rats :) The cute, domestically bred, CLEAN and sweet ones. I was surprised how much I took to them myself!