You know, I always say I'll take in whatever animals I have space for and am able to care for... but I'm starting to see why the local rat rescue is always over their head and why most places won't even entertain the thought of taking in rats. It's not so much the rats themselves... it's the potential adopters.
Now, I know you've heard me go on and on about good adopters and bad adopters, and of course, with rats, there's good and bad as well. We've had about half the baby rats find their new homes, but the remaining ones... the only inquiries about them have been from, in my opinion... overly-enthusiastic-about-what-rescues-can-accomplish-and-afford-adopters.
I had one person who inquired about the rats, and wanted the two that were the most friendly and outgoing. I shared with them that all the females seem curious, social, and outgoing, but of course, that there are certain ones that will come to the front of the cage first when you open it, versus others that hang back. I mentioned, some will crawl into your hands sooner, versus others that take a more relaxed / cautious approach. Different rat, different personalities, just like different chins, guinea pigs, you name it.
So, they mention to me something about my ad saying they're friendly and outgoing and whatnot, and apparently my description of how only some of the rats come to the front right away wasn't friendly / outgoing enough to meet their standards for using those words. They asked about what I'd written, and I mentioned that when the rats were in the previous home, they had informed me about the rats personality and how they'll jump into your hands (and they will... with enough time to explore and creep out, cautiously) and so on. So, the potential adopter asks -- well, why aren't they at the foster home any more? Well, the main reason -- because it wasn't a foster home -- it was just the home that had the mother rat. They had the room to separate the sexes, but smaller cages (not that we have huge ones, but theirs were maybe half the size or thereabouts), and they wanted us to find homes, not the other way around. So I told the person, you know, they only had them until they were weaned and then the rats were brought here, and I explained, you know, that was a home with mostly adults, this is a rescue with a lot of people in and out, they may be more shy because it's a new, busier environment, and let's not forget, they haven't been here all that long. So the person comes back with, "don't you hold them?" Yes, but with 175+ animals at any given time, not every animal, not every day.
Needless to say, that ended the conversation. This isn't a foster home here with 2 animals and hours upon hours of free time daily. My breeding / show chins are here, along with about 90 other animals (chins, rats, guinea pigs, etc), plus chins that I'm chin-sitting, plus the rescue geckos right now (and more to come). Would I like to have a ton of time to handle the animals more? Well sure! But there's only so many hours in the day, and if you follow this blog, you know that I'm always behind on something, whether it's emails or orders, or trying to madly get ready for an expo... at the moment, there's just not enough hours in the day to handle every animal even for 10 minutes. Even if you figure there's 75 animals that could be, at any given time, available... 75 animals at 10 minutes each per day = 750 minutes... divided by 60 minutes in an hour = 12.5 hours JUST to handle the animals. Sorry... just not do-able. Even if you halve that and say 5 minutes an animal, we're still talking about over 6 hours a day... I'd have a hard time cramming an extra hour in per day. That's why I do try to foster out the animals that really need that one-on-one attention, but for the ones that don't need rehab, they are here and get handled when possible.
The other memorable person asking about the rats wanted to know (1) if they'd been vet checked, (2) if they'd had bloodwork done and been checked for the seoul / hantavirus, and (3) if we'd ship them. Also, if you follow along, you know our animals go to the vet when needed, but not just for wellness checks. If they're ill, they don't leave here until they are well, simple as that. Well... a vet visit at the local vet is $59 per animal, $79 per animal at the exotics vet. Let's say just for fun, we had all the rats checked out. For this sort of thing, we'd likely have to go to the exotics vet (as I'm pretty sure the local vet can't do this type of bloodwork), so $79 x 11 rats = $869. Bloodwork is $125 per animal, plus the virus check is another $70 per animal, so a total of $195 per rat. $195 x 11 rats = $2,145. So, vet visit ($869) plus bloodwork / virus check ($2,145) = $3,014 for 11 rats. 5 of them already found homes, bringing in a whopping $45 in adoption fees. Only $2,969 to go to break even!
Of course, if the rats warranted vet visits, they would go in. But personally, I think with adoption fees of one rat for $15 and every additional for $5... to me, that doesn't warrant spending over $3000 in vet bills, when the rats seem healthy. Yes, I understand, it checks for wellness, and whatnot, but... the rescue isn't a money-maker. If someone would like to give us a grant for a few hundred thousand a year (or find us a vet that wants to donate their time and wellness exams), we can undoubtedly vet check every one of the 250-300 animals (chins + others) that pass through a year. Until then, it's just not do-able. Especially not for the rats, when many people balk at the whopping $15 adoption fee, and yet want oodles of vet care provided for a healthy animal first....while still complaining over $15.
I'm sure there are rescues out there, rat-specific rescues, that may test every rat for the virus. That may vet check every rat, and may spay / neuter as many as possible. That's great. Really. But we are a chinchilla rescue, and when we get in other animals, we do our best, and provide good quality care, but this is above and beyond what we are able to do. While the rats (and chins & other animals) are here, they are well-loved, have good food, clean water, clean cages. That's more than we can say for many of these animals in their previous homes. They are cared for well here. They are treated for illnesses and medicated. They are petted, and given treats, and loved. But if you want a health-tested rat... I feel like it's like getting a dog. If you want a puppy out of registered, genetic-health-tested parents, be prepared to pay for it. Hundreds of dollars, many thousands of dollars. None of that is cheap. If you want a puppy from a humane society for $50, well, it comes with a lot less. Healthy, most likely, but not with all the bells and whistles. Same for these small animals. That is all.
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