Elderly 2-year-old rat is scary smart
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00:00 I find that a lot of times people aren't really aware of just how smart rats are.
00:04 Can you give me a tissue?
00:06 Good girl.
00:07 This is here, number four.
00:09 Can you find number four?
00:11 Is that number four?
00:13 Yep.
00:14 My name is Esther and this is Donut's story for GeoBeats.
00:17 You want to try to get back up?
00:19 Oh my god.
00:20 Donut knows lots of different tricks.
00:22 Alright.
00:23 Good job.
00:25 Pretty much any trick that you could train a dog is something that I've attempted to
00:29 train with my rats.
00:31 And Donut definitely knows all sorts of different things.
00:34 Oh no.
00:36 Donut has a little bit of an interesting story.
00:38 Back in January of 2021, I had just four rats left.
00:43 So I was looking around for some rats.
00:45 I saw an ad in a local rat group by a local professor who was rehoming Donut.
00:50 She put me through a bit of a process on figuring out if it would be a good home for Donut.
00:55 And she did decide to rehome Donut to me.
00:58 Good.
00:59 Look at her.
01:00 She's currently two years and nine months, which is very old for a rat.
01:03 Unfortunately, you're usually looking at like 25 to 26 months.
01:07 Good job.
01:09 Oh, Donut.
01:11 She has had some issues pop up.
01:13 Bring me the donut.
01:14 Bring me the donut.
01:15 Don't steal her food.
01:16 Number four.
01:17 Really incredibly, they were able to get her on some medication that just completely changed
01:21 her life.
01:22 Within eight hours of starting the medication, she was already moving around again and so
01:26 happy.
01:27 Even though she gets daily meds, she has a very full quality life, which is something
01:30 I'm very thankful to the vets for because it wouldn't have happened otherwise.
01:34 Donut is a very confident rat.
01:36 One thing with rats, they're a little bit skittish of new places because they're prey
01:40 animals.
01:41 But with Donut, it's the exact opposite.
01:42 If you make a loud noise and the other rats would get a little startled for a few seconds,
01:46 she instead will run towards the loud noise.
01:48 I like to joke she has no survival sense.
01:51 So sweet.
01:52 She wants to be with you.
01:53 She always shows her emotions very clearly.
01:55 What's really incredible about her is that her mind is just so sharp still.
01:59 And she's so eager and motivated.
02:01 Most of the time you see rats get kind of more chill as they get older and that did
02:05 not happen with her.
02:06 I'm not quite sure what drives her, but it's pretty amazing.
02:09 Good girl.
02:12 Close her up.
02:13 The big thing with rats, you'll see that people dismiss them and people don't really think
02:17 that they can learn or they see them as unfortunately pests, but it's very easy to train them like
02:22 a dog.
02:23 And they're pretty good at remembering tricks.
02:24 You can go for several months and they'll still remember it.
02:27 Rats are really good at adapting to your schedule.
02:29 For example, in Donut's case, because she's been on medication so long, she knows her
02:33 medication schedule and she'll wake up five minutes before it's time to be medicated and
02:37 be at the door waiting for me.
02:38 How many rats do you think can fit in this tiny house?
02:41 They're very fun pets, very energetic and sweet and affectionate and just really incredible
02:46 little animals.
02:47 They'll snuggle in their hammocks.
02:48 They sleep in together, which is super cute.
02:50 Wow, Butter.
02:51 Real tough.
02:53 They'll nibble at each other and make sure that they're all clean, especially helpful
02:58 when they're older because the young rats will help the old rats out.
03:01 They share their food and just resources in general.
03:04 Give me your butters.
03:05 There's a word in the rat community that's called heart rat.
03:09 It basically means favorite rat.
03:11 I've had several heart rats.
03:12 Donut is definitely one of my current ones.
03:14 I worry about all my older rats, but with Donut, it's a little bit special.
03:18 I thought she was going to pass in a few days to a few weeks.
03:21 So her still being around at this point is pretty incredible.
03:24 Oh, my sweet, sweet little donut.
03:27 You are an incredible rat.
03:31 [Music]
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