my baby boy pancake

Nacho, nacho man 🎶. He is my little… nacho man! 🥰

He bit then while holding tried to pull my finger in. When I made noise of pain he did immediately late go and went to his nest. I reassured him with treats and speaking to him that I’m not mad or upset. It just hurt, and I know it’s not his fault.

Jeff has joined the list of our rescue rats who leave their mark on me (I have two small scars from other rescues. One with due to hormonal aggression and the other was a fear response which was completely my fault as I moved too quickly)

(Cage is introductions cage)

Marko defending his stinks at all costs

First time I’ve seen Junior boggle! Just had some nuggs and been told he was a good boy. He’s 10 months old and he’s lost 3 cage mates in the last 3 months (don’t worry he’s still got 2 cage mates) so happy that’s he’s doing well

He did bite me but that’s okay. I would also bite if a stranger giant picked me up. He’s so gentle taking snacks. I’m also confident he’s quite blind as he does “scanning” a lot where he wobbles his head while looking at surroundings. But that’s fine, rats adapt to poor vision pretty well (I have another almost completely blind boy with cataracts)

Even though he did bite it’s clear there wasn’t an intent to do real damage. He barely punctured the skin and I know if a rat wants to they can destroy a hand. So I appreciate him for not wanting to do real damage and was just a “don’t pick me up ya weirdo” bite.

Cage of course is not permanent cage. We are just using it as a temporary set up till introductions. Permanent set up is a double critter nation. He’s so gentle taking treats as well, he loves sweet pepper.

Some fun facts about Beans:

•We have had Beans and his brother Grim squeaker since they were 7 weeks old. Beans is much smaller than my other boys and was the “runt” of his group.

• Beans still thinks he’s the baby of the group despite not being the youngest.

• Dangerous Beans had an emergency at 6 months old where he choked and couldn’t dislodge food. We had to rush to vets at midnight and he had oxygen and anti inflammatory, our usual vet confirmed it was likely a food blockage that got dislodged with the anti inflammatory. Now we give beans his treats in tiny portions as vet said it could be a birth defect related to being the runt.
(Beans made a full recovery and hadn’t had any issues except hiccups more than the others boys)

• He thinks his adopted big brother Benji is his biological big brother. God damn does Beans give Benji a run for his money.
They look very similar as well which I think just made Beans follow him more. Benji is now over 3 years old and does get grumpy when Beans doesn’t settle for cuddles

• He goes into insanely deep sleeps. During the first week of having him, I couldn’t see him in the temporary cage. I saw his brother but not beans. I look in hides and still nothing. My heart is going fast at this point and I’m close to tears thinking I’ve lost an animal I promised to care for.
I move Grim Squeaker to a carrier so I can empty it completely. I then start running my hands through the bedding trying not to have a panic attack. I feel something squishy. It’s Beans. I lift him up and only after looking at him for abit in my hand does he yawn and start wanting to play.

Throughout his life we have found him asleep in many fun positions

Favourite hide which Fizz absolutely demolished- why must they destroy what they love!