Eric Fell Out With The Boosh Rats.
Hello Readers,
We thought we should write a blog post about a pretty significant event that happened a while ago. As you probably guessed from the title, Eric is no longer in a large group with the Boosh Rats.
I'd like to start by writing a little bit about Eric;
Eric has had a very traumatic past. He is probably one of the most neglected rats we have ever had in our care.
It all started a long time ago when Eric was initially taken in by Hamster Haven (rescue). Eric was dumped in a box and was discovered by an individual. Thankfully, this individual knew of Hamster Haven, and contacted them immediately.
When Eric was taken in, he was extremely underweight, and frankly very poorly. He was understandably very frightened.
Luckily, Eric bounced back and became a healthy weight, but the severe abuse and neglect had taken a toll on Eric. Due to this, Hamster Haven tried to introduce Eric to their group of permanent resident rats, but sadly Eric never settled well within their group.
We were then contacted to see if we could attempt to introduce Eric to our group of boys. We agreed and Andy collected Eric as soon as we could.
After Eric settled into our home, we began introducing him to our boys. Eric was a bit of a challenge to introduce but we did eventually successfully manage to bond him into our group of males.
The boys lived harmoniously together, they all adored each other and there was very little arguing between them. Tony was top rat, he was at the top of their hierarchy and kept the peace between them all.
However, Eric was always a little different. Eric would occasionally try and see how far he could push the boys, sometimes he would push that bit too far and they would size each other up, but Eric normally backed down.
Other than being a little bit of a black sheep and being a nuisance here and there, Eric would happily play and live alongside the boys.
Bolo was the first Boosh rats we lost. Understandably, there was a lot of grieving, but with Bolo being at the 'bottom' in their hierarchy, very little changed.
Eric did miss Bolo, they were very close and would often be found sleeping together.
Tony was next. One day, Tony fell very ill and very frail. He was on a special maintenance diet to keep up his strength but it couldn't stop the inevitable. Tony had a brain tumour.
Tony did eventually end up being put to sleep. The boys were devastated to say the least. They weren't their normal selves for a little while.
There was a brewing competition between Eric and Greg when Tony passed away, but we assumed it would resolve itself. There was nothing we could do but leave them to it.
Out of nowhere one day Eric and Greg began to fight, it was very serious. Andy managed to pull Eric out the cage and we kept him on the chair. After a quick examination, Eric was absolutely fine. Not a scratch in sight.
When Andy looked at Greg his stomach dropped, Greg had a huge tear down the side of his face, it was very close to his eye.
We put Eric in a temporary cage and rushed away to the vets with Greg.
Due to where the wound was, the vet decided against stapling the wound shut in case he pulled them out and made it worse. He was sent away with some antibiotics and antiseptic cream, and was to return in a week for a check up.
We did also discuss what to do with Eric after him brutally attacking Greg. We all came to an agreement that sadly Eric was to be separated from the boys, as it was likely this would happen again. Greg was extremely lucky to have come away like he did.
Greg's wound healed very well. At the check up we were all very happy with how it healed, he is now only left with a small scar.
After a few days of being in a temporary cage, Eric had a new rat cage to himself.
We did attempt to bond Eric with other male rats but with very little success, Eric would constantly try and fight the other males. We tried many different methods with different males but he would never successfully bond to another male or group of males.
Due to Eric's health and old age we have decided against putting him through any more introductions.
It has been very eventful and emotional, but we are dedicated to making that all our rats have the best possible life in our care and that all their individual needs are met.
Both Eric and Greg are old rats now and have developed on-going health issues in their old age. However, most importantly, both of them are very happy. They also have the treatment that they need.
You can keep up with Eric and Greg on our Instagram page.
We thought we should write a blog post about a pretty significant event that happened a while ago. As you probably guessed from the title, Eric is no longer in a large group with the Boosh Rats.
I'd like to start by writing a little bit about Eric;
Eric has had a very traumatic past. He is probably one of the most neglected rats we have ever had in our care.
It all started a long time ago when Eric was initially taken in by Hamster Haven (rescue). Eric was dumped in a box and was discovered by an individual. Thankfully, this individual knew of Hamster Haven, and contacted them immediately.
When Eric was taken in, he was extremely underweight, and frankly very poorly. He was understandably very frightened.
Luckily, Eric bounced back and became a healthy weight, but the severe abuse and neglect had taken a toll on Eric. Due to this, Hamster Haven tried to introduce Eric to their group of permanent resident rats, but sadly Eric never settled well within their group.
We were then contacted to see if we could attempt to introduce Eric to our group of boys. We agreed and Andy collected Eric as soon as we could.
After Eric settled into our home, we began introducing him to our boys. Eric was a bit of a challenge to introduce but we did eventually successfully manage to bond him into our group of males.
The boys lived harmoniously together, they all adored each other and there was very little arguing between them. Tony was top rat, he was at the top of their hierarchy and kept the peace between them all.
However, Eric was always a little different. Eric would occasionally try and see how far he could push the boys, sometimes he would push that bit too far and they would size each other up, but Eric normally backed down.
Other than being a little bit of a black sheep and being a nuisance here and there, Eric would happily play and live alongside the boys.
Bolo was the first Boosh rats we lost. Understandably, there was a lot of grieving, but with Bolo being at the 'bottom' in their hierarchy, very little changed.
Eric did miss Bolo, they were very close and would often be found sleeping together.
Tony was next. One day, Tony fell very ill and very frail. He was on a special maintenance diet to keep up his strength but it couldn't stop the inevitable. Tony had a brain tumour.
Tony did eventually end up being put to sleep. The boys were devastated to say the least. They weren't their normal selves for a little while.
There was a brewing competition between Eric and Greg when Tony passed away, but we assumed it would resolve itself. There was nothing we could do but leave them to it.
Out of nowhere one day Eric and Greg began to fight, it was very serious. Andy managed to pull Eric out the cage and we kept him on the chair. After a quick examination, Eric was absolutely fine. Not a scratch in sight.
When Andy looked at Greg his stomach dropped, Greg had a huge tear down the side of his face, it was very close to his eye.
We put Eric in a temporary cage and rushed away to the vets with Greg.
Due to where the wound was, the vet decided against stapling the wound shut in case he pulled them out and made it worse. He was sent away with some antibiotics and antiseptic cream, and was to return in a week for a check up.
We did also discuss what to do with Eric after him brutally attacking Greg. We all came to an agreement that sadly Eric was to be separated from the boys, as it was likely this would happen again. Greg was extremely lucky to have come away like he did.
Greg's wound healed very well. At the check up we were all very happy with how it healed, he is now only left with a small scar.
After a few days of being in a temporary cage, Eric had a new rat cage to himself.
We did attempt to bond Eric with other male rats but with very little success, Eric would constantly try and fight the other males. We tried many different methods with different males but he would never successfully bond to another male or group of males.
Due to Eric's health and old age we have decided against putting him through any more introductions.
It has been very eventful and emotional, but we are dedicated to making that all our rats have the best possible life in our care and that all their individual needs are met.
Both Eric and Greg are old rats now and have developed on-going health issues in their old age. However, most importantly, both of them are very happy. They also have the treatment that they need.
You can keep up with Eric and Greg on our Instagram page.
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