Sandra Beasley and the Spaz Rats






Buffy



Buffy and Her Babies




Jenna had a friend who lived in Regina, who was forced to leave her home due to merital difficulties. Her friend was forced to leave her pets, two rats and a gecko, in her previous home as she hunted for a new home. The new apartment that she thought was a keeper had a no-pets policy. Jenna invited her friend to come live with her here in Moose Jaw until she found a place to settle, but that meant that she rarely had time to check on her pets who were still in Regina.

Jenna's friend suspected that Buffy was pregnant by her other rat, Speedy, while she lived in Regina. On the night of September 14, 2008 Jenna and her friend had gone back to her Regina home to see that Buffy had given birth. Buffy was distressed and was flinging babies out of the cage. They found 15 babies on the floor, some were under the TV unit. They brought the rats to Jenna's home to better care for them. Jenna's friend simply abandoned her rats into Jenna's care. In my opinion into the loving hands of someone who cared about them.

Jenna's friend had been feeding her rats dog food, rice krispies, and romaine lettuce, and told Jenna to continue this diet as Buffy lactated.

Jenna did the very best that she could in raising this rat family, having no knowledge on the care of rats herself. The information she received from her friend, who worked in a large-chain pet store, was contradictory and she found herself feeling responsible for the rats dimmishing health and the loss of lives that resulted. Jenna contacted the Moose Jaw Humane Society for help and they in turn contacted me to help her.

I received a phone call October 09 and was told that someone was having a sudden die-off of three-week old baby rats. I contacted Jenna to give her instuctions on what to give the rat family, baby cereals and baby foods, to put weight on them, and I would be around to adopt them in a few days.

Jenna's friend blames her house renovation for the die-off, but Jenna has been keeping the rat family in a heated garage during this time. I truly blame Jenna's (I believe now ex-) friend for her incompatence in the proper care of rats and passing on misinformation to Jenna. Confirms my belief that pet stores still don't know anything about the proper care of pet rats.

Jenna was now on the right track and was able to save as many babies as possible from starvation and neglect. All the babies were nursed back to health with a modified diet, lots of handling, and love.

Five days later, I went over to Jenna's to see for myself how this little family was doing. I was happy that Jenna had started Buffy on a better diet and introduced the babies to solid food early. Buffy's milk has dried up too soon, before the babies were fully weaned and Buffy and her babies had been starving from malnutrition on that rediculous diet her friend had suggested. As soon as Jenna put the rats on a proper diet no more babies have died since Thursday morning, These remaining babies look plump and healthy, in spite of their small size. Buffy needs to gain some more weight though. I was horrified that I could feel the bones in her tail. They will all be continued on the baby food cereals, along with other goodies.

Coincidently it was the cream-colored babies that had died. The seven surviving babies are a black berkshire, a black hooded, a dark agouti berkshire, and four dark agouti hoodeds. All appear to be girls. Jenna's husband doesn't want the rats in the house so she needs to rehome them. I adopted the rats that day, October 14,2008. They had a turkey dinner that night for supper, leftovers from Thanksgiving.

October 15, the next morning: I thought I had all girls but overnight I see I have six boys and one girl. The babies are very diminuative and the boys are very under-developed for being four weeks old. All the babies are top-eared standards, mom is a Silvered Black Berkshire Standard Dumbo, father unknown.

Jenna has done an awesome job with these kids. All of them are incredibly sweet and friendly.



Buffy
Buffy
aka: Buf

Born: April 10,2008 (Best Guess)

Silvered Black, Berkshire, Standard-coated, Dumbo, Doe,

Personality: Buffy is a big, boofy, girl who likes to cuddle in the crook of my arm
Mom to Pooky, Alvin, Brownlee, Chad, Chex, Gotham, and Timbit



Pookie
Pookie
aka:

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Dark Agouti, Hooded, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Doe

Personality: Likes to grab my clothing and pull me into the cage, EVERY TIME I walk by
Alvin
Alvin
aka: ALVIN!!!!!!!!

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Dark Agouti, Hooded, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Alvin is a very busy boy. He was the last to tell me his name. During the photo session he was infuriatingly busy and I just yelled ALVIN!!!!!!!!!!!! It made him stop in his tracks for a milli-second, just long enough to snap a picture, and he was off again. And the name stuck
Brownlee
Brown Lee
Named after Brownlee a village in Saskatchewan
aka: Browny

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Dark Agouti, Berkshire, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Laid-back
Chad
Chad
aka: The Twin (because he is difficult to tell apart from his brother Chex)

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Dark Agouti, Mis-marked Hooded, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Nervous, flighty
Chex
Chex
aka: The Twin (because he is difficult to tell apart from his brother Chad)

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Dark Agouti, Mis-marked Hooded, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Nervous, flighty
Gotham
Gotham
aka: Got'm

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Black, Berkshire, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Laid-back

Timbit
Timbit
aka: Lil' Bit

Born: September 14, 2008 (Best Guess)

Black, Mis-marked Hooded, Standard-coated, Top-eared, Buck

Personality: Laid-back, unassuming little guy






RIP ratties can be seen here






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