Joey - July 2012 to March 20, 2015
Joey was originally named Beadie and was a surrender to HH rescue. He came in biting and aggressive so was promptly neutered. Unfortunately it may have stopped the hormones but didn't stop the biting, and Beadie became one of the unadoptables I eventually took in. He was an angry guy, and when I met with Lynds to get him, his spooky, bitey girls etc, I saw the wounds on her hands as he would bite her daily and even that morning. She even gave me the cage he was in so we didn't have to transfer him. Beadie had a very loud grinding brux and when I heard him in the car on the way back home I was sure it was anger or fear bruxxing, but I eventually figured out that it was regular bruxxing for him.
When I got them home, and into their new cage I just decided to go for it a few hours later. I just reached in and pulled Beadie out (now renamed Joey), and he didn't try to bite me. He climbed up on my shoulder and let me pat him...he crawled down to my arms and I was able to stroke him over and over as he lay his head down on my forearm and started licking my arm. It was the beginning of a love affair between us. I think at first Joey nipped me a couple of times probably by habit in the first few months but looked mortified afterwards...he was a bright boy.
Unfortunately he was very protective of his girls...and if another rat went near their cage he was there at the side huffing and puffing at them. One Saturday I was home and looked up to see Joey standing stiffly on the shelf and when I went over I saw his mouth was FULL of blood. Later on we determined that he had tried to bite a rat outside of his cage and got his teeth stuck on the bars of his cage and freaked out and broke them off. Unfortunately after almost losing him, and finally getting metacam into him for pain and swelling, his whole muzzle swelled up. I got him into the vet as soon as I could and they diagnosed a fractured maxilla bone (nose), and it took a LONG time to heal and he always sneezed after that, but after being not himself for a good month, regained his fun, licky ways again.
Joey was a wonderful boy all his life and lived until a lovely old man, lying on girls whether they liked it or not, licking and bruxxing his way. :D
On my shoulder that first night
the day after :)
then happy Joey was here to stay
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