The Gatton Crickets - A story of community, rescue and love.

7 Jan

Written By Rachie's Ratirement Home Inc.

A wonderful tribe member contacted the rescue to alert us to some rats in need, these survivors appeared to be some lovely domesticated rats who had somehow found their way to the old barn at the cricket fields. Fancy Rats who are raised in domestic don't cope well in such circumstances, so it was all action stations to help these babies.

We suspect these rats had been dumped at the grounds and whilst we will never shame a person's decisions of circumstances, we absolutely encourage anyone that needs to surrender an animal to do so through a registered rescue or animal welfare organisation.

A trip to save some rats who our tribe guardian angel had already trapped and to investigate the barn for more rats in need.

Our community guardian angel had already secured some of the little dudes and ladies so on the 28th November 2019, Rachie and Crystal went on a road trip to the fair lands of Gatton, QLD. Whilst in Gatton we collected the rats who had come into care and set live traps up to see if we could find any other candidates. Of the rats rescued in this operation, two of the girls were pregnant and one, Pup, was barely old enough to be separated from Mum.

Whilst all the rescue babies from Gatton have flourished despite their situation, the most amazing transformation goes to our much-loved Gatton Crickets. Whilst visiting the barn, Rachie noticed three starving blind pups in the dirt, nosing around in a desperate attempt to find mum and a meal. To look at them you would guess that they were barely a few days old, turns out they were closer to a week and a half! In their condition, it was very unlikely our little crickets would survive so we raced them to the UQ Veterinary Clinic who provided Sub-Cut fluids so they would survive the journey to Brisbane.

(Click through the gallery to read on!)

The following image shows the three Crickets and a Thunder Bean, all approximately the same age - highlighting the lack of developmental progress when we found them.

Covered in dirt and critically unwell Rachie and Crystal raced the babies to #AdminAlly where we hoped they would be fostered by Mumma Nari. Unfortunately, Mumma Nari wasn't ready for more babies so we did another round of handfeeding, hydration, warming and cleaning before racing the babies to Cait at Sanguine Rattery to try one last foster mum. Amazingly, Foster Rat Mum Dolores agreed to the newest additions to her litter and immediately started nursing and nurturing our little trio.

In the meantime, our tribe decided that this little trio of survivors would come to be known as Batty (girl), Wicket and Cricket (boys).

Under the watchful eye of Cait and the attentive care of foster rat mum Dolores, our little trio flourished, a few days into their care they opened their eyes to see the world they had heard so much about which also marked these tiny babies at approximately 2 weeks of age. We were increasingly hopeful that our formidable trio were going to be ok. Yes, they had a higher chance of complications and health issues due to their start to life, but with the right care and attention - they might just be ok.

Batty, Wicket and Cricket continue to thrive, still in the care of Sanguine Rattery to maximise their access to good nutrition, care and lessons from Mumma Dolores on how to be a rat. When they are ready, they will return to the Rescue and we will strive to find them furever families that will mean life is on the up and up from their early days.

This was an incredible operation which was only possible due to the amazing dedication of the Gatton Guardian Angel, boss lady and critical care expert Rachie, our foster partnership with Cait at Sanguine Rattery, our transport volunteers Crystal and Alana, our foster carer Christy and our incredible Foster Rat Mum Dolores.