Two Monkeys from 1000 rats rescue come home

Sadie & Layla

The 1000+ rats rescue run by Northstar rescue out at Andy's Pet Shop in San Jose is going so well, it's mind boggling how the rats from the hoarder, which were in such awful conditions, are in a well organized situation, and all doing great. There are three large glass bins in the front of the store filled with baby rats all ready for adoption. If you put your hand in the bins, many of the babies will run to your hand to sniff, nibble and maybe even climb. The last two times I was there, there was one little girl who immediately would run to my hand, always the first, and start climbing up my arm. Maybe nine or ten times I would stick my hand in there and she would go straight to it. I thought "I'm going to do it one more time and if she races to me, I guess I'll take her." That ended up being Sadie, the hooded girl with little white diamond on her forehead.  I went through a bunch of names for her, but ended up with Sadie, which according to Babynames.com, means "princess" which is apropos. I had to take one of her sisters, so I stuck my hand in the bin again and figured which ever was the first to climb up my arm I'll take and it was another little monkey, who actually looks kind of like a monkey and I thought about calling her monkey (but couldn't find a similar name for the girl who became Sadie) so I took her and she's named Layla (arabic for "black").

These two girls are super friendly as the babies in the rescue have all been hand held since birth. In fact the plan is to let them get a little bigger and then integrate them with the fearsome foursome, none of who want to be held or touched. Rats are great teachers. If one rat does something, the others will learn from it. So seeing these two coming to me and begging for attention will teach the other four that humans are good for them and it's good to be held and pet. So for now the two monkeys are in a  two-level cage where they're getting their first veggies and first hammock and treats.  



Sadie's eating a piece of pizza crust. (her first picture)

 
I was calling Layla "monkey" the whole way home because she reminds me of a monkey, with the way
she climbs and looks and her feet look like monkey hands to me. I thought about naming her "Monkey" but couldn't find
a similar name for Sadie (since she's a climber too) and didn't want one to have a simian name while the other
has a cute girly name so they both got cute girly names.


Sadie examines her new temporary home. She's only known her home at Andy's Pet store
in the big glass bin with all her sisters so this is all new.

Rat on a Tripod

Layla was very hyper and mobile and didn't want to be photographed, so I put her on a tripod for a minute so I could get a couple shots of her.


 
Sadie inspects a plate of peas, corn and baby food, the first time she's ever seen this. And that's her very first piece of corn in her life.


 
Finally Layla sees the new food and has her very first piece of corn as well, all captured on digital film.


Here's Zuzu, Janey, Buster & Freddy all piled in a hammock together.
This is the eventual destination for Sadie and Layla (not the hammock, the cage)


Two beauties (Sadie whispers "I like it here" to her sister)

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