Saul

Saul came to us from a transport of a group of rats sent to Best Friend Rodent Rescue and intercepted before he was actually given to them. With a box labelled, "Grumpy Old Man" we couldn't resist taking him.

The "Grumpy Old Man" who is now called Saul and who has recently joined our home has no idea what a yogi is. Oh my... And he doesn't seem to know what a hammock or tube is. Guess we have a lot of fun work ahead of us.

He was originally dumped at a pet store. Then adopted and then returned because he was biting. But the person who returned him felt really bad about giving up on him and went back to get him. She found that he had been taken in and was about ready to be frozen and given to a snake. Phew. He was rescued and now he has been rescued again and given a forever home here with us.

Today he still hasn't ventured into the hammock or tube - but he has discovered what a Ghiardelli semi-sweet chocolate morsel is. But he didn't know how to take it from me. He just froze in place when I offered it. Maybe as we get to know one another more he will learn how to take gently like Perseus has. Saul LOVES to be talked to. I am going to put something appetizing in the hammock to see if I can entice him into it at his own pace following his nose. If anyone has any other suggestions they would be appreciated.

My original post on Facebook -

On 12/7/2012 I went and picked up some 4 week old baby boys, some baby girls around the same age (although there were at least three that seemed more like 3 weeks old), a mom with 6 - 1 week old babies which were looking really healthy and the mom was really sweet, and 7 larger boys about 4 months old with one a littler older. And then there was the Grumpy Old Man who was said to rush to bite you when you put your hand in his cage. I delivered all these guys and gals to Joanne at our local Best Friend Rodent Rescue's (BFRR) new location - their new home. Joanne got all the cages ready while my husband and I picked them up. They all look very healthy and ready for new homes. All except the Grumpy Old Man to which I could not leave behind. His face was too cute and he just looked at me and I him and there was a connection. He has one underdeveloped eye and a missing testicle on the same side as the eye. So they may have been from birth. A person who saw a video I posted on Facebook of him pushing out the bedding at me from inside his carry cage saw him and suggested the name Saul. I asked this old man, and he seemed to like the name so that will be his name.

12/17/2012 - Today I am taking our Best Friend Rodent Rescue rat - Saul - to get neutered. I hope all goes well. While he is out, I was hoping the vet could look him over and see what else may be under-developed like his right eye and right testicle. This morning he was out for an hour on our bed and discovered he could make it to the top of our headboard. So he explored all around taking a testing nip out of each stuffed animal up there. I finally got him down but he was getting mad - I think he knew I was going to be putting him back. He had been letting me give him back rubs without stiffening. But once he had gotten down from the headboard, he started the stiffening when I touched him. I tried to pick him up to put him back but he wriggled and squealed. So I put him down - mostly because I lost my grip. Normally I would continue to hold on to let them know wriggling won't work, but not this time. So when he got onto one of our pillows, I just picked it up and walked to his cage and he walked right in. I talked to him a few minutes and then shut the cage door. There was no huffing or puffing or tantrums this time. I think he tired himself out. So please, send good mojo his way this morning... I will be there at 9am PST. I also took some pics of him playing and cleaning his little face which I will get up later on my website...

12/17/2012 Part 2 - His ordeal from being masked to when he got to go home was about 2 hours. He has three incisions instead of one. It seems the right testicle was small and up inside. It wasn't a typical undescended one as it was attached to his bladder. The vet also asked me if he could see well. She thinks he is getting an early onset cataract in his normally developed right eye. I hope not. He let me pet him a lot afterwards - but then I had the advantage of him being really groggy. He seemed to enjoy it though so maybe he will remember that. Once we got home, he let me pick him up with no trouble and put him back into his home. Of course it wasn't like he left it since I removed all the cloth, washed down the cage floors and added clean material. And since he hasn't actually slept in the nice hammock or tube hanging in there yet, I thought I would try having an older clean hammock on the floor where he was sleeping and see if he gets the pocket cuddling idea which may lead to sleeping in the hanging hammock.