Samantha's Babies
Day Thirty-One - July 22, 2000
One Month Old

Columbus meets her new owner

New Homes For 4

It’s cool how sometimes things just fall into place just right.  This weekend I was up in the Bay Area (I’m from SF and generally go up at least one weekend a month) and delivered four girls to two homes. Both homes were literally just a few miles apart and both were really fine homes that the girls will grow up happily in.

On Friday, I took out the four girls and put them in a travel cage for their trip to the Bay Area. It was the first time they had ever been outside the house, the first time they’d ever seen natural light, the first time they’d ever been in a car.   They were extremely nervous.  I put the cage in the passenger seat so I could keep an eye on them the whole way.  Only one of the black hooded girls really came to the front of the cage most of the trip, playing with my fingers, constanly begging for treats. The others would periodically come to the front, but spent most of the time under a box or in the hammock.  The shaky car, the new noises and smells were scary for them.

Saturday, the one month birthday of the babies,  we went to the first home. Karla in Santa Clara has two rats already, two extremely tame girls who welcomed our affection.  The babies met their new owner and being the human friendly little girls they are, seemed to fall right in place in their new surroundings.  We put them in their new cage and after about a minute of sniffing and exploring, they started wrestling each other, totally forgetting that their mom and siblings weren’t around anymore.

Columbus and B'dub enjoy the first few minutes in their new home.

I could see they were going to love the situation.  The cage was a nice size and they weren’t sharing it with nine other rats.  They had everything they could possibly want.  Later, their cage was put up against the other cage with the two older rats.  Everyone was doing fine.

Just a few miles up the road, Scott in Mt. View received his two girls.  Their new cage was the exact same one they were born and grew up in.  And they were only sharing it with one other rat, a beautiful dumbo rex who bonded with them immeadiately.   It was amazing watching the girls sniff their new cagemate and their new cagemate sniff them.  When we put all three in the cage together for the first time, everything went smoothly as the girls inspected their new home and its original tenant kind of followed them around.

Scott holds his new rats & my nephew's shoulder is the meeting place for the three new roommates.

Both sets of girls were going to be living the life of luxury that they had become accustomed to growing up.  They were going to be getting their usual veggies and treats, only now they didn’t have to fight with a bunch of others to get to them.  They have spacious quarters and were going to get more quality time with their owners as again, they wouldn’t have to share their affections with a bunch of other siblings.  Knowing that they are in great homes is extremely satsifying for me and I hope the remaining babies can end up in as good as homes as these four have found.