| Charlie and Locke's stange adventures. Week two. ..Revelations. - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| OldGeezer |
The new wildish boys, Charlie and Locke, have learned a few amazing things
during their second week here. Firstly, they're pretty sure I'm not gonna
eat them. In fact, for a giant monstrosity of a lifeform, I'm pretty damned
friendly, not to mention handy to have around, what with lugging all that
food in for the apparently endless all-you-can-eat buffet bowl, and always
keeping the water tower topped up.
They've also learned that, unlike their previous life of living in a small
transparent plastic box of sorts, they're in a mighty big cage, with plenty
of elbow and climbing room, and that they're only confined to that when the
alpha male is out. They're actually running for the first time in their
lives. 10-20 feet at a time! Annoyingly, they're already eyeing the other
rooms, sticking their noses under doors and smelling new worlds to explore.
It's only a matter of time before the living room baricade becomes child's
play to them. Steps will have to be taken. Preventative measures will have
to be implemented.
Most importantly though, they've learned the hands they feared so much are
attached to the head, shoulders, torso and laps they enjoy so much, that
they are all one entity. At least Charlie has. Just a while ago, for the
very first time, I crouched by the chair under which he likes to camp, and
laid my hand flat on the floor palm up - and he got on! He didn't skip
across to my sleeve, he stayed there, and to my amazement, let me lift him
up without jumping off before winding his way up to my shoulder. He did it
three times for me...three! It's like "boom!...I'm tame". I had made a point
of picking him up a couple times this morning (training), and he didn't
struggle or jump three feet through the air that time either, which also
surprised me. I assumed he was figuring "the *******'s gonna get me one way
or the other, may as well just get it over with, he seems to put me back
down quickly enough", but he seemed genuinely eager to get "up to me" when
I offered my open palm. He's got it all figured out, and I suspect Charlie's
gonna turn out to be scary-smart.
Locke is doing well, is friendly enough and reasonably trusting, comes
quickly enough most of the time when I'm calling him, and doesn't struggle
much at all when I pick him up, but is eager to get down once I do, yet he
climbs all over me on the futon...as long as he gets there himself I guess,
heh heh. I'm starting to suspect he may not be Charlie's brother. The fur is
kinda different even though the color is the same, he's bigger, and has a
way different personality. He's more laid back, almost lethargic by
comparisson, but seems perfectly healthy. Charlie's hyper-inquisitive, and
seems to be truly digging the human connection aspect of his new life...His
little display today though, has blown me away. He was the one I thought
would hurt himself jumping around in absolute terror when I bought him (you
had to see it to truly appreciate it), and yet his trust/bonding phase is
accellerating way beyond my expectations.
Anyways, I was wondering if I was screwing myself by getting two
four-month-old rats who hadn't been socialized at all, let alone socialized
as little babies like some are. I now have no doubt that perfectly great
pets can be had from such rats with the right amount of care and patience -
even ones that are completely terrified of humans, as mine most certainly
were. But I'll know more for sure after another week. Maybe another week and
I'll see how they take to the flashbulb
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| Vanessa |
I am always amazed at how well that they adjust, and how quickly too.
We all know how incredibly intelligent they are, but I think there may
be something more. It's like they have a sense of who the good people
are, and who the bad people are. Not a reaction that is built up
through a long period of either poor treatment, or good treatment,
(that happens as well) but something that developes more quickly.
Or, it just might be a collection of things, not just your direct
interaction. Like the clean environment they all of a sudden have, the
enrichments that they immediately discover, the warmth and quiet of
your home, the always full food dish, the sweet taste of the fresh
water in the bottle or bowl. The sound of words being softly spoken to
them with no harshness.
They are amazingly forgiving little ones.
I'm glad that your boys are coming along, and that they now have a
better outlook to their lives than they had before. I bet you they
will be big lumps of squish in no time.
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| OldGeezer |
Ew...I hope they don't get too squishy, heh heh. Are all the males totally
lazy when they get older? Right now Charlie and Locke are acting pretty much
the same as the girls did, getting into stuff and playing around, like hyper
little puppies. It'll be interesting to have more laid-back rats, but I hope
they don't lose that urge to get into trouble, at least not totally.
It's also funny to see how much "monkey see monkey do" goes on with these
two. Charlie kept amazing me last night; he started hopping right out of the
cage onto my arms/shoulders, and Locke, seeing this, just seems to follow
suit. No way Locke would have done that if he hadn't see the other do it
first. If I had a totally socialized rat living here when I brought Charlie
and Locke in, I bet they'd have been all over me the first night. It's like
I'm socializing Charlie, and Charlie is socializing Locke, coz I haven't
spent as much time with Locke, simply because he's shy, whereas Charlie is
more of an "in your face" kind of rat. Works for me I guess.
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| Tale |
OldGeezer wrote:
> Ew...I hope they don't get too squishy, heh heh. Are all the males totally
> lazy when they get older? Right now Charlie and Locke are acting pretty
> much the same as the girls did, getting into stuff and playing around,
> like hyper little puppies.
My older boys used to be hyper when they were younger, and they have become
somewhat lazy now that they're 1.5 years of age. But they still run around
if they feel like it, which is at least once every day. Anyway, boys
generally get lazier than girls, but it really is different for each
individual rat.
Great story by the way, you're certainly doing a great job socializing
them. :)
- Tale
--
"Oh, Rats!"
http://www.taletn.com/rats/
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| Joanne |
OldGeezer wrote:
> Ew...I hope they don't get too squishy, heh heh. Are all the males totally
> lazy when they get older? Right now Charlie and Locke are acting pretty much
> the same as the girls did, getting into stuff and playing around, like hyper
> little puppies. It'll be interesting to have more laid-back rats, but I hope
> they don't lose that urge to get into trouble, at least not totally.
>
> It's also funny to see how much "monkey see monkey do" goes on with these
> two. Charlie kept amazing me last night; he started hopping right out of the
> cage onto my arms/shoulders, and Locke, seeing this, just seems to follow
> suit. No way Locke would have done that if he hadn't see the other do it
> first. If I had a totally socialized rat living here when I brought Charlie
> and Locke in, I bet they'd have been all over me the first night. It's like
> I'm socializing Charlie, and Charlie is socializing Locke, coz I haven't
> spent as much time with Locke, simply because he's shy, whereas Charlie is
> more of an "in your face" kind of rat. Works for me I guess.
>
>
The fact that your boys have such a huge cage and lots of running time,
they may never get squishy and lazy, then again, it all depends on their
personality as well. I've got some boys that got lazy while others
continue to always run around and have fun.
--
Joanne
Owned by 17 rats.
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