# Some wild and half-wild ladies of mine :-)



## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

Last week I took some pictures of a few of my girls, and for the most part, they kinda co-operated with the help of a dog-scented blanket, which apparently smells AMAZING and kept them very happy for a while :lol: 
All are either half-wild or wild.

Carrier of girls

















Escape!

































Tilty Frog, she was nearly my dogs dinner, with a broken leg when she was a baby. I have had her a year now and she dosen't tolerate anybody but me holding her, screams at my vet, and tends to bog brush when anybody else is in the room 

































Wimpling, who has a cleft lip, deformed mouth and can't eat some hard foods properly. I fished her out of my dog's pool and treated her head tilt.
As her name suggests, she is a bit of a wimp! The dark bit on the side of her muzzle is where her face splits. She is around 7 months old.

























Rose, one of 9 half-wild babies I took on 20 months ago and ratty PR extroadinaire  She licks EVERYTHING and EVERYONE, and isn't phased by anything.

















Her sister, Bourbon, who is just as in your face and loves attention! The only way I can tell her and Rose apart is she is slightly darker in colour.

















Moss, another of the same litter, who is easy to tell apart from my other agoutis, as she has quite a big white irish blob and is shyer than her sisters, but will happily sit and cuddle with you unlike her siblings who want to be off exploring!

















All together, and looking really lovely at 20 months old, not even a sniffle so far  

































These are some of my youngest half-wild ladies, Thorn, Stig and Elara, and are sisters. They are really lovely girls.
































































Don't ask me who is who in the above group of pictures, I have no idea! They are pretty identical until I pick them up and judge who is fattest :001_tongue:


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## polishrose (Oct 26, 2011)

They are all stunning!


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## Guest (Nov 18, 2012)

Gorgeous girls :001_tt1:


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## blade100 (Aug 24, 2009)

What beautiful girlies I do love the agouti colour.

Do you think there much hardier than the fancy rat Laura?


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

blade100 said:


> What beautiful girlies I do love the agouti colour.
> 
> Do you think there much hardier than the fancy rat Laura?


I don't know.

I don't think so though...despite the litter Rose and her siblings (half-wildies) coming from, all being totally problem free at 20 months, all 9 of them, that's pretty good going as the UK average is 22 months.

Me personally would say...that half-wildies (having an excellent, tough breeder rat parentage on one side, and wild on the other) are probably the better mix.

5 years ago I took in a litter of half-wild kittens and their mum (petshop rat) and they were dire health wise...really bad, but so was their mum, so unsurprising. My current ones seem miles better.


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

To be honest hun I don't know how you have tame the wildies so well!!! I am very impressed! You are clearly so dedicated to your crew.

Lovely, lovely ratties!


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

Their lovely, but by wild, do you mean their the same as the rats you find in sewers and dumps? If so, how come your allowed to keep them, aren't they classed as pests? And don't you get seriously horrible diseases off wild rats? I'm not slating or anything, I'm just curious, I spent ages convincing my mum to let me have mine by telling her they were not the same as the "big black/brown rats" she was imagining.


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## simplysardonic (Sep 1, 2009)

Wobbles said:


> Their lovely, but by wild, do you mean their the same as the rats you find in sewers and dumps? If so, how come your allowed to keep them, aren't they classed as pests? And don't you get seriously horrible diseases off wild rats? I'm not slating or anything, I'm just curious, I spent ages convincing my mum to let me have mine by telling her they were not the same as the "big black/brown rats" she was imagining.


I think you might have read too many stories in the Daily Mail


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

Wobbles said:


> Their lovely, but by wild, do you mean their the same as the rats you find in sewers and dumps? If so, how come your allowed to keep them, aren't they classed as pests? And don't you get seriously horrible diseases off wild rats? I'm not slating or anything, I'm just curious, I spent ages convincing my mum to let me have mine by telling her they were not the same as the "big black/brown rats" she was imagining.


Yes those rats 

And no, they don't carry 'seriously horrible diseases', in fact all mine have tested negative for pretty much everything including Leptospirosis/Weil's disease....so they aren't a danger to anybody.


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## kodakkuki (Aug 8, 2011)

Wobbles said:


> Their lovely, but by wild, do you mean their the same as the rats you find in sewers and dumps? If so, how come your allowed to keep them, aren't they classed as pests? And don't you get seriously horrible diseases off wild rats? I'm not slating or anything, I'm just curious, I spent ages convincing my mum to let me have mine by telling her they were not the same as the "big black/brown rats" she was imagining.


Yea; daily fail strikes again! Lol

No, wild rats don't give you the Black Death- your cats fleas might (more so than a rats!) but unless you're going to lick a wildies face or bum I doubt they'd make you ill!

Those are gorgeous girlies! May I ask- how were they have breeder rat half wildie? Did a rogue get into a rattie shed?


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## spoiled_rat (Mar 24, 2008)

There is more info here on how I came to take on the older half-wildies
http://www.petforums.co.uk/rodents/165202-some-half-wild-rat-babies.html


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## kodakkuki (Aug 8, 2011)

Ahh, I see! Very nice of the breeder just getting rid of their pg girl 

You've done ace with them though!


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## sully (May 3, 2008)

Sorry posted before i read reply!


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

I have never actually read the Daily mail, but I had read wild rats carried stuff like whiels disease, and as wild ones live in sewers and stuff I figured it must be true. If they really don't have anything like that though, why do they have such a dreadful reputation? I mean if my next door neighbor knew I had 4 pet rats, she'd call pest control out! If their ok to keep as pets like yours obvs are, and actually don't bite your fingers off or tear your throat out ( yes I've read that too!), why are they thought of as any different to any other rodent?


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## niki87 (Nov 18, 2009)

Wobbles said:


> I have never actually read the Daily mail, but I had read wild rats carried stuff like whiels disease, and as wild ones live in sewers and stuff I figured it must be true. If they really don't have anything like that though, why do they have such a dreadful reputation? I mean if my next door neighbor knew I had 4 pet rats, she'd call pest control out! If their ok to keep as pets like yours obvs are, and actually don't bite your fingers off or tear your throat out ( yes I've read that too!), why are they thought of as any different to any other rodent?


Any wild, unsocialised animal is likely to attack you if it hasn't run first. It is not just rats who have that reputation!


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

Yes, but no other animal has such an awful reputation as a rat. I always thought that this was due to them living in sewers and carrying/spreading disease. If that isn't actually true, where then has the idea of a 'nasty dirty rat' come from?


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## Guest (Nov 19, 2012)

Wobbles said:


> If that isn't actually true, where then has the idea of a 'nasty dirty rat' come from?


Take a read of some of your history books, or have a look at the majority of childrens books that have a rat or two in and you will have your answer. Add to that the decades of the daily fail, sun and other tabloids that like to stir things up and play up to stereotypes and there you go.

Some people can't get past the dark ages and realise it wasn't the rats that spread the "Black Plague" but it was the fleas that both CATS and rats helped to spread.

Then add to the fact that wild rats live in areas that us humans would consider unclean and unhygienic but then think about it, rats are scavengers so of course they will be is areas where we get rid of our supposed waste because that is an easy source of food for them.

I'm surprised you didn't learn all about the black death at school tbh. But wild rats are not this disease ridden thing that we must run screaming from before they infect us :hand:


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## LostGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

theres also sayings of "dirty dog" etc, women should be in the kitchen tied to the sink just because there is a saying doesnt make it true wobbles 

They are stunning!


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## blade100 (Aug 24, 2009)

And don't forget it wasn't the rats that bought the black death it was the fleas or little bugs that latched on to the rats so when the rats came off the boats that how it spread.


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## Wobbles (Jun 2, 2011)

B3rnie said:


> Take a read of some of your history books, or have a look at the majority of childrens books that have a rat or two in and you will have your answer. Add to that the decades of the daily fail, sun and other tabloids that like to stir things up and play up to stereotypes and there you go.
> 
> Some people can't get past the dark ages and realise it wasn't the rats that spread the "Black Plague" but it was the fleas that both CATS and rats helped to spread.
> 
> ...


Wow, so the rats spread the fleas so they were classed vermin, but the cats did as well and they weren't? That is really strange, guess people just never liked the poor rattie's appearance end of:nonod:

I did learn about the plague, and knew the rats had fleas, but I always said it was the fleas carrying it It's pretty interesting though, technically if you don't treat them, dogs can give you fleas and worms, both which spread things, but people just say" oh he needs treating" not that dogs are dirty or vermin. Yet rats which had fleas centuries ago, when the world was a different place, are still thought of the same way today. They saying give a dog a bad name and it sticks appears certainly true for the rat world.

You rats are beautiful spoiled rat, I really am amazed that their wild ones, just goes to show how a negative image can set things in your mind and the impact it can have.


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