Curious Creatures

08/06/2024

Ursula (pictured) is my last remaining rat.

I just found her sister Lilo passed away. No symptoms leading to her passing. But she was very old (35 months).

Ursula lost her two last sisters within the last couple days. I don't expect to have her much longer but will give her all the love, snuggles, and treats I can in the time she has left.

06/06/2024

Yzma passed away while I was at work. She was my favorite girl from my last litter. Rest in peace. 💔

01/06/2024

My three old girls, the last of my rats. Front-to-back: Ursula, Yzma, and Lilo

Yzma keeps falling asleep in the middle of other tasks (like eating). I'm afraid this is a sign that she'll be departing soon. She and Ursula both have tumors. Lilo is tumor-free. They are 35 months old.

24/04/2024

Bianca passed away while I was at work. Rest in peace, sweet girl. I still have three sisters, who are all feeling their age (and spoiled as much as possible every day).

24/04/2024

Bianca is in her last days. She's gotten pale (ears have lost their pink) and tired. I give her special meals daily (she still eats the kibble, but I give her a ton of treats).

Her twin sister Lilo is by her side most of the time and grooms her often.

01/04/2024

The girls repurposed their hammock into a canopy. (Yzma is busy with a hardboiled egg.)

16/02/2024

I don't usually give the girls hammocks because they destroy them too quickly. But they inherited Mushu's bed.

Lilo and Yzma have settled in.

16/02/2024

Mushu passed away this evening. He was already pretty far gone this morning, generally unresponsive, but stretched a little when I pet his face. When I returned from work, his breathing was almost non-existent. I carried him while I did chores and said goodbye. I don't think he was aware of anything, but it was comforting to me. 🤷

He was the last of my boys. I like to think he's reunited with his brothers. I have just his four sisters left (of my 20-year-long breeding program that I ended with their litter).

Rest in peace, sweet boy.

05/02/2024

Mushu enjoying the sun.

14/01/2024

I'm preparing for the upcoming cold snap by moving the rats from my garage to a warmer room in my house. -- I have rat dander allergies, plus cats and dogs in the house, so the attached garage was a good spot. In the house, the rats have a constant audience. 😼🐶 (They don't seem to mind.)

My current (and last, at least for a while) rats are five 2.5-year-old littermates: Mushu, Lilo, Bianca, Ursula, and Yzma. All five are well but obviously elderly. The three rexes have some thin spots in their coats. They sleep most of the time, but the girls still like to stay busy in their waking time, exploring and dismantling cardboard boxes. They have great appetites and no signs of the old age illnesses common in their line (yet).

(Heart failure is the most common cause of death for the line.)

10/01/2024

Tetris passed away while I was at work. I anticipated it since for the first time ever, she was too tired to eat breakfast this morning.

She was aging all over with a small mammary tumor, early stage DM, and partial blindness. But it was heart disease, which came on pretty quickly, that sapped her energy. I suppose it's a blessing that heart disease claimed her before the DM robbed her of mobility. Until this morning, she got excited over food and got around with no issues. This morning, when she wanted no treats, I gave her scritches and told her she was beautiful and loved and could rest now because I knew it was goodbye.

After she passed away, her nieces buried her under cardboard bedding, exactly where she had been resting this morning. I moved her to the yard when I got home.

Tetris was a beautiful, sweet girl with cool zigzag markings, who loved the exercise wheel so much she carried her tail over her back. She was mother of four snuggly boys and a silly acrobat girl. She would have been three years old next week.

Rest in peace.

09/12/2023

Tetris is showing early stages of DM (degenerative myelopathy). Very subtle at the moment but you can see she's not standing/walking normally. -- Though she is adept at wiggling away from me. 😆(She has a piece of cereal and wants me to put her down.)

This is a condition that I've seen only in very old rats, and usually they've been males. It's not painful, and since my girls (being very old) are in a single story cage, it's not dangerous or affecting her quality of life at this stage. If you look through past posts, you'll find more about it. It progresses into hind leg paralysis and moves forward (it's a spinal condition). Some rats do well adapting to support themselves while they eat. Others need a little help eventually. There is no treatment, and it always progresses.

Tetris is 35 months old (around 90 in "rat years"). So she might not live long enough for the condition to become burdensome.

26/11/2023

Giselle passed away last night.The likely cause of death is heart failure. Her health has been fading for a while.

I got these pics of her surviving sisters giving me kisses this morning. (Their mom Tetris was eating breakfast in the igloo.)

15/11/2023

A pair of underpants gave up, so I gifted it to my girls. I tried to take a video of Ursula and Lilo playing tug-of-war, but they stopped when I hit record.

Anyway, here's a video of old lady scritches, mostly for Giselle (she is in advanced stages of heart disease and very tired) but also Lilo, Ursula, and Yzma.

11/11/2023

Good morning from me and Tetris (34 months young). We hope you have a lovely weekend.

07/11/2023

I got Mushu a new hammock from Temu. This time I ordered the right size. Super plush and soft.

I also got a few other items that came in boxes, so I gave the boxes to the girls. (My girls LOVE 💕 boxes.)

06/11/2023

Joy passed away last night. Rest in peace.

She was Tetris's only daughter. I no longer have either of the sons I kept. But Tetris is still doing well for her age. And she still lives with five nieces.

27/10/2023

Mushu in his snuggly den. I gave him a fleece throw to keep him cozy now that he lives alone. He doesn't leave the igloo much -- and didn't even before Kuzco died. Old men need their sleep.

24/10/2023

Kuzco passed away in his sleep last night. No symptoms of anything. He never slowed down or got puffed up fur. Never sick a day in his life. But he was old (as are all my rats), and it was time to go.

Mushu is my only remaining boy. Since this is the end of my line (and he is very old), I won't be adding a friend at this point. I'll love on him and give him all the soft beds and treats.

Tbh, I didn't expect to lose Kuzco. Several of my girls are fading but hanging on. Kuzco looked and acted the same as he did at a year old. He just went from normal life to a full stop.

Rest in peace, bud.

(He'll be the first buried on my new property. I've lived here just over three months.)

18/10/2023

Giselle has had the fluffy fur and fatigue lately. She might not be around much longer.

Still a super sweet lady, gentle, and loving her snacks.

15/09/2023

Mushu enjoying Frankenberry.

11/09/2023

The rats (and cats) have finally joined me in Tennessee!

Nine of the ten (geriatric) rats that I had in my Roanoke house survived to see TN thanks to being cared for and spoiled by my parents while I relocated. Most have tumors but little or no growth in the intervening months. They are settling into a lovely retirement space in the sunniest room in my house (with boxes to get out of the sun).

17/08/2023

I'm missing my rats lately. They are still being well cared for by my dad and brother.

I got cages set up for them in my new house in TN. A smaller one for my remaining pair of boys, and a large one for my girls. They'll be in the room with windows on three walls that's beside the kitchen, so they'll have a quiet, lovely spot (easy to spoil with snacks!), the best "old folks home" for all my geriatric little fluffs.

My family will be bringing the rats to join me at my new house (along with my three beloved cats) in early September.

Meanwhile, I've had my dogs with me for my entire journey. And I have baby chicks set to hatch in a week (if all go smoothly). You can follow my journey on my new page: https://facebook.com/smokyfluff/

29/07/2023

My dad (who is watching my rats) informed me Baymax passed away today.

He had a fibrous tissue tumor on his back that contributed to his loss.

He was my buddy. I'm sad I didn't get him to the new house, but I suspected not all of them would make it at their advanced age. Rest in peace, bud.

20/07/2023

I finally closed on my new house! And I'm starting a new chapter of my life with mini-farm dreams. I'm hoping to delve more into chickens. Seriously considering rabbits and/or geese in the future.

Since it is such a big change from the rattery I started with, I made a new page for it. (I figure you all might not be interested, so I'll let you decide.)

-- I will update you here on my geriatric rat crew as long as I have them, but I might not get more rats right away. If I do, they'll be at the new page.

Please follow Smoky Fluff Farm for updates on my continuing animal adventures.
>> https://facebook.com/smokyfluff

Following a dream of a micro-farm of fluffy things at the base of the Smokies.

15/07/2023

I should be closing on my new house in the next few days.

After that, just a little prep is needed before my cats and rats can join me. ❤️

I've been staying in an Airbnb on a farm for the past couple weeks. This setting agrees with me. My dogs Lupin and Dax have been staying with me. Poor Lupin (ever alert watchdog) hasn't had anything to bark at out here. Lol.

Dax, the Chihuahua, has been trying to pick fights with the bull. 🤦

08/06/2023

We're out of here. Starting the process of moving. (To my parents' house for the time being.)

That's Giselle's nose.

04/06/2023

Zoop passed away while I was at work. She was absent from role call when I was handing out treats this evening. Rest in peace, sweet matriarch. ❤️

24/05/2023

Ursula

21/05/2023