Lovely Liam as I called him, was a very very frightened boy that Jenny picked up for me in June 2013.
His old owner had him kept in a small tank alone, as her other rats always beat him up badly. He'd been alone a LONG time. Also when Jenny got there she was told he had a "sensitive skin" and needed to have gentle baths and picking up sometimes hurt him...of course he was COVERED in mite scabs and his fur was threadbare over his neck and shoulders...and also she was his 2nd home (at least), so now he's on his 4th (he probably thought he was staying at Jenny's) and home to stay.
This boy was frightened of absolutely everything, but Jenny worked with him gently and did a wonderful job with him. By the time he got to me he had stopped jumping at every sound and new thing and was more into exploring carefully.
In Jenny's own words...
"When I got to their place to pick him up, I was told that he is very skitty and they had others if I wanted one of them instead. I said that no, I wanted this boy. They warned me again saying that he has sensitive skin and that I would have to take special care of him so that his skin wouldnt hurt him... again, i said I wanted him. So, they met me outside their house, holding him. He kept backing up in their hands. They handed him to me and we continued to talk. He began to get a bit difficult to handle because he just kept skooting backwards to I put him into his travel cage and he stayed there, in a corner, while I talked with the people that I got him from. I could immediately feel all the scabs on the poor boy. He was covered and I knew he needed revo bad and that his sensitive skin issues were, in fact, a case of mites.
So, I took him home (this was to my parents place - I hid his cage in a box and put him in my bedroom in the basement so my dad wouldnt see). He literally sat in the corner of the cage for the rest of the 4-5 hours that we were at my parents place, shaking. Little trembles. It was sad. He also REEEEEEEKED!! I noticed it first in the car, but it wasnt as strong becuase of the A/C. He stunk up my entire bedroom! He had a strong scent of artificial vanilla on him. It was unbelievably overwhelming. Better then the nasty dirty pine and grossness that normally comes with rescues but still gross. It took 4 days for that smell to come off of him.
Anyway. This boy was crazy scared of everything. As soon as the door would open in the rat room he was watching... wary. Not the curious "whatcha got there? a treat?" kind of watching. He trembled a lot. He was very untrusting. If you held him he backed up fast and almost fell out of your hands. So I just left him in his cage, not making him come out at all. Left the door open, talked to him. I would have loved for him to come out, but I wasn't going to force him. I figured he would do it on his own, when he was ready.
Things started to really improve when he was put on meds. He LOOOOVES the strawberry flavour so I started using that to kindof coax him out. He started to come around. slowly. He was never super super relaxed at my place, he never really left his cage, but he was doing a whole lot better then the scared, trembling ball of fur that i brought home. Then he gets to Shelagh's place and he is running around, happy as can be. I was so happy to see him like that
Oh yeah, and his old name was Tonic... so unfitting for such a sweetie"
His old home
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His first hammock at Jenny's
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Being very very brave
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Just home with me...running from rody tunnel to box and back
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Liam was neutered and introduced to his new harem of girls...at first they flipped him and kept shoving him around but he's a tough minded little man and didn't take offense.
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He even relaxed enough for rubs and scritches
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and finally a big smile
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Liam gained weight and then started losing his fur in patches...he looked so funny
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His fur became very soft as well
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Gimme those puffs!!
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And finally an old old man. Still healthy. He never was sick, one day I just found him ready to go, pulled him out, cuddled him as he passed and that was it. Lovely Liam was gone.
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