A Biter? No....Just a protective Mom.
updated 09/08/2012
So, the volunteer foster Mom said that the pregnant rats were all housed together at one point with all of the babies. Then it was time to separate them and get them to foster homes. Of course they couldn't tell whose babies were whose, but they knew that all the babies took turns suckling at all of Moms so they weren't too worried that a baby would be left unattended. So they divided the babies up and off they all went to their foster homes.
Once there and in the new tank all seemed good with Polly. She actually had no name yet and no one noticed her back toes.
The foster Mom thought nothing of reaching the cage, as they did in the shelter, to replenish the food and water. But then Polly bit her. That surprised the foster Mom. She thought she had just startled Polly. Then the next time she did it again. This time it was harder. And then they went to check on the babies and Polly raced towards them and slammed the cage wall at them as a warning. Finally, after tip-toing around and doing the best they could for a couple of weeks and the fact that the babies were now weaned they separated the Mom from the babies on that Sunday before we saw them on the next Thursday.
Because she had bitten so many times she was now labeled a biter. This did not bode well for her as who in their right mind would take a biter? Duh...Me....
Annhad taken a closer look at her when we first arrived and immediately noticed her back feet. She exclaimed with excitement that she was a polydactyl. And almost immediately we all said her name - "Polly".
Then it came time to move her to a transport cage for the trip to her new home with me. I talked with her for a while and Polly seemed just fine. Mary Mac had the transport cage open and ready for me. I put my hand in slowly, fingers hidden for less temptation, and let her sniff me. No aggressive moves from her. So I quickly caught her and moved her to the transport cage. No spinning around to bite - just trying to get down as any rat would when they are being picked up and they don't want to be. No sweat. She will be just fine.
My diagnosis - being such a young Mom, probably got pregnant at 5 weeks just like my Willow did, she was protecting her babies. She was happy with the other Moms and all the babies and felt secure. Then they were all separated and it now fell to her alone to protect the babies, which most likely weren't all hers. She was protecting them the only way she knew how since she didn't know the foster parents and the smells and noises of the new location were all foreign to her.
My concern is that I hope they were separated early enough.
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Take a closer look at Polly and you can see her back feet are Polydactyl. Here she is for the first time on my person exploring making absolutely no move to bite. |
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Yeah - the quality here is pretty bad. But this position of her was too good to resist. I was taking these myself and it is hard to take pics of one's self, isn't it? |
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Here she is trying to figure out how to get onto my desk. I haven't quite decided if I am going to allow them onto the main desk. There are just too many electrical wires and and outlet that little toes (of which she has many more of) can accidently slide in to. |
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She is sniffing my elbow here. I bet she smells the dogs and cats. Kind of hard not to get their smell on me as many of you multi-pet owners can verify. |
--------01/31/2011---------
So Polly has been out a few times now on my shoulder and all over my arms and chest. She lets me hold her, kiss her and pull her back when she looks like she is going to jump for my desk. She too loves to pull my glasses down from my head. That's ok - I don't like using them either.
And she is a girl so she can't seem to sit still. Sad. I am really sorry now that she is alone in her cage. Maybe once Willow's boys leave us, I can think about a little girl addition for her. But we will see. Right now it is a little crowded in my office with all the cages. Fortunately, none of them like to push out the litter from the cage. Jack likes to push it in my direction and sometimes up against the door, but not much comes out unlike Simon from the Ohio rescue. Although he has slowed down on that activity. Phew.
--------02/05/2011---------
Between last night and many times today I have found that Polly is lonely and has decided that she will be just like her babies in that she will let me reach in to her home and pull her out gently to sit on my shoulder or be in my arms getting love. And I believe that she is on the thin side - probably took alot out of her to have her babies. So I am adding some high quality cat food and some ensure to her diet for a short time to see if that will put a little weight back on her. I also changed out the previously used clean large tube for a newly made tube just for her with hearts on it for an early Valentine's Day present. I think that because she is small and alone the large tube was just too big for her. This one is the standard sized and I bet she will feel cozier inside.
She loves to play with the ball that has the bell inside. And she is already inside the tube. I guess that was a good call.
I really should get her a cage mate. But that would put me over my own limit of rats. But she is young enough right now that it would be easy to add another girl. Would have liked one of the other mothers. I kick myself for not thinking about that when I got her. But I just didn't know then if she was a real biter or a good mother. Sometimes I just need to learn to trust my instincts more. I guess hind sight is really 20/20.
--------02/21/2011---------
Awesome news! Polly is just a wonderful calm rattie girl. And now I feel really bad that she is alone. I should have kept a little baby girl too for her to be with so she wouldn't be alone in her cage. But I was told she was a real biter and was afraid that I wouldn't be able to put her with a cagemate. And I certainly didn't have room for another loner rat. And all I have are boys here now. She is really young. I bet she was about 5-6 weeks old when she got pregnant. She looks a lot like Willow. She also looks a lot like Jake - one of the baby Everett ratties I came home with.
She loves to come out and sit on my shoulder and then climb into my jacket and out again. She will eat on my shoulder. She too only lasts about 10 minutes out of the cage and then tries to reach back for her house.
She is a lovely grey with a white stomach.
---------04/03/2011---------
My call for roomies for Polly was answered by Lizzy and Ann. They each had a baby who was born on February 7th, Frenchie and Ozma. It is funny to see their personalities so quickly. Ozma, who won a ribbon at the show, is laid back and calm. Frenchie gave kisses and quickly tried to show Ozma, who is a little bigger in size, that she was the boss. I wonder what will happen when they finally meet Polly. I have a feeling Frenchie will be put in her place pretty quickly.
I can't wait til they can get together. They are close to the age of the other litters born at the Everett Shelter in January. But I believe Polly's babies had been born in late December 2010. In any case, I am sure Polly's motherly instincts will take over and she will look after them.
I took a few pics of Ozma at the show -
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08/13/2011 -------
Well - Congratulations Polly for getting your story published in the August issue of It's a Rat's World Magazine. I know you have been enjoying hearing the stories in the past issues as I read them to you. So now your story will possibly be read to other ratties as they are read to you. Of course you probably enjoy them a little more since story time also encompasses snack time. haha
During the night I hear a lot of battling going on. But whenever I look it is Frenchie and Ozma. Polly just sits quietly from up high in the cage staying out of the youngsters' way. And if they try to bring her in on the tussling, she will let them know that she is not to be a part of that. Gently but firmly as a good mother does.
11/13/2011 -------
Polly is doing great! She has roomies - Ozma and Frenchie are there, but Polly also got a little girl named Remi. She is a sweet little girl to which Polly has taken into her care. Remi was just 6 weeks at the show and so Polly and her sleep together. Remi was a little escape artist at the Port Orchard show and came home with me in the end. The second escape from her carrier took her behind a very tall and very heavy Remington Safe. Between the person who brought her to the show and myself, we finally got her out. So I named her Remi for short. Ozma and Frenchie get along with Remi too which is great. Polly doesn't use the wheel, but Remi does. Other than that - Remi is usually wherever Polly is.
Polly has remained on the smaller side just like Willow did after her babies when she was the same young age as Polly. And she is a very gently girl who waits for the treats and doesn't try to take them from my hand like Ozma.
07/24/2012------
I haven't update Polly's page since she has done very well. She never bit but then she didn't have any children here to protect. She is a wonderful girl. However, today I notices on her left tummy side by her back leg that she has a tumor growing. She is rooming with Judy and Remi right now. Ozma was just too dominating. She has always been petite just like our Willow was. I am not sure what to do. We would guestimate that she is about 1yr 9 months to 1yr 11 months old.
07/31/2012------
Today Polly had three, yes three, tumors removed. The first one mentioned above was getting too big too fast. So we took her to the vet yesterday and our vet, Dr. Mitchell, felt she could get the three off her pretty easily. Now Polly is 2 years old, but very healthy. So we decided to try and today was the day. Here are two pics of her where she is not moving because the pre-shot of sedative was taking effect.
"Do I really need to be here?" |
"I'm too tired to be mad." |
| 09/08/2012 | An update to Polly is that she is healthy again after having surgery for three tumors. One was fairly large by her back leg. But by the early evening she had removed the glue and opened the incision up all the way. And emergency trip was made to an animal ER and they operated and sutured the area and then ran a bead of glue along the buried stitches. She was fine for a few days until I saw something white and realized there was a bump on the inside. I took her to back to the ER play but during AM hours. They quoted what they charge for a small tumor - $500. Ouch. I went back to my vet and she and I decided to leave it be for a while and see what it was going to do since she is a rat that doesn't leave stitches alone. But she was to stay on the Bactrim medicine for another 10 days. By that night, while I was cleaning it, I squeezed it a little and out popped a marble-sized softish white tissue like stuff. Kind of like what an infected pimple pops out with. But when I tried to wipe it out, part of it remained attached to Polly. She proceeded to work on it to remove the rest. Yuk. The next morning I tried calling my vet but she had gone on vacation already. So I kept the area clean which wasn't open as much as the original surgical area was. It actually flattened against her and ended up healing just fine. When you look at it today you can't even tell she had surgery. Amazing. |
