A Fond Fairwell to my Hand-Raised Wild Rats
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 08. 2024
- This is Kinky, the last of my hand-raised wild rats which I rescued as babies from our compost bin. He is now quite lonely, pining for his brother who escaped from their cage one night, so the time has come to set him free.
Overall, the experiment hasn't been a success, as they were never really tame, but they gave me a lot of fun, and I'll miss them
Yes, we let him go where he was born, down at our beach house in Blairgowrie, Victoria. This is very near where the first European ships anchored, so he may have been a descendant of one of these rats.
He didn't look back once after jumping out of the cage, and there hasn't even been a whisker in the mail box to let me know how he's going
I do hope he has a good life
Simon, I've been in your shoes before but only with wild mice that I freed from glue traps at my job. I had one living under my oven for about nine months. He was wild but I cared for him. There was food and water every day and plenty of room to have fun and explore my tiny studio. He found a way out one day. It was time.
I also had two others for a few months and then set them free. All we can do is make a small difference in a cruel world.
I certainly considered that.
When they escaped they successfully foraged for about 3 days. I caught Kinky but the other was too quick for me. I found where they had been nesting, and it was full of empty snail shells and bits of skinks that they'd eaten.
For the first few days Kinky was really wild, not coming near me. He has become friendlier but has never really been tame since. He does nothing during day but hide in his bedding, and nothing at night except try to find a way out.
I'm sorry you had to say goodbye to these boys. Rats are such sweet creatures (I keep pet brown rats, myself), and they can gnaw surprisingly large holes in one's heart. I'm glad you found them and were able to give them a good start in life. Your kindness will not go unrewarded.
"They can gnaw surprisingly large holes in one's heart"
That is so true, and so well said!
I posted this video, and others about these little guys, 4 years ago and still come back to watch them
My wife can't understand why I miss them so much!
(might have something to do with the time they got out and lived for a while in her bedside chest of drawers. Their food? Her socks and the string of her pearl necklace!
It's for the best... 💔❤️❣
No rats spread disease, it´s just a lot of prejudices. Even so-called sewer rats spread no disease. All rats are vere clean animals, and they do not eat and do not drink nasty stoff.
Are you sure it's a good idea to let him free? They're highly unlikely to survive in the wild as hand-raised rats - knowing that Humans = Food, as a male he's likely to be attacked by other rats, he'll be confused by new territory, has never scavenged/hunted etc. Also, in some places it's illegal to release wild animals. Apologies if you've already researched into this but the likelihood of his survival is pretty low.
I was thinking the same thing, plus theres traps that could kill him but its too late now. This was years ago
Awww glad you saved them :)
I'm sorry dude, I'm a rat owner myself. Me and my ex share our 6 Acacia rats. Girls: Lelu and Azura, Boys: Autumn and Battleborn, and Azura's surprise babies Snow and Dashkin.
Dashkin only lived 7 weeks, but Snow is alive and well.
But we lost Battleborn today. He had some cyst which had already spread too far by the time it showed visible signs. It was clear to the surgeon that he didn't stand a chance so they put him to sleep on the operating table.
I feel you dude
I saw your vid when they were a baby one died one ran away i cried
very cute
Hello, I stumbled upon your videos looking for information on caring for baby rats, I have been taking care of a baby rat for a little over a week now, I suspect he is 14-18 days old. I'm trying to work out what breed of rat he is and noticed you said you lived in Australia as well, how did you identify your babies as black rats?
Is that your Cage?