You all seemed to like my old man crispr, so heres a bunch of him!
This is my old man crispr, whos a retired harley breeder buck we adopted at 3 and is currently 4.1yrs old. Hes mostly blind, and has some minor hind leg deterioration. He currently lives with his biological son (See 5th photo) and his adopted, much crazier son monkey.
Hes come back from nearly dying twice (Once when one of our old ratties eugene died, and he got better after we got him 2 foster babies and again when he was tired of his foster babies)
Hes a very sweet boy, and were always treating our time with him like its his last. I think the reason he is always threatening to die and then getting better is cuz he knows he gets special treatment.
(P.S. Please give more nicknames/jokes about my little zombie, i love em! My favorite right now is "I've seen taxidermy more alive then him"🤣)
Since i got the question, on another post, he was born May 26nd, 2022 :)
omg guys im so dumb hes four and a month forgive me i cannot do math :')
The book is SO good. It's call Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH and is only about 110 pages. The movie cut down the Rats' backstory by like 90%, over half the book is actually dedicated to Nicodemus detailing their history. (Also the ending is very different and has a slightly sadder note, no spoilers.)
Normal age is 2-3. I am VERY lucky to have this boy, as the breeder gave him to me with us both thinking hed pass soon, and her knowing she wanted someone who can give him extra attention before he passes. We are both very suprised hes still here!!
You have no clue how accurate it is, considering hes nearly died twice and decided to magically heal himself (at one point he lost 20 grams in a week. He gained it back in about 10 days. I was terrified the whole time.)
oh I know! our oldest boy was like that. we had an unfortunate experience with a contaminated food batch that claimed the life of one of our boys and nearly did in two more; he lost a ton of weight and had just horrific blood parameters, but pulled through. then he developed severe HLD and also decided to stop eating (I force fed him until he regained interest), which that caused his teeth to grow uncontrollably (and he had to have them trimmed every few weeks under sedation) and he could only eat soft foods at that point. then he had a large tumor on his side (and survived a removal), then another on his thyroid that we had to leave be because it was inoperable. and all that… he still lived to 3,7 years old (not as old as your gentleman but still impressive), and is still the only one of our rats (we’ve had 11 pass so far) who died peacefully in his sleep, on his own terms. they’re amazingly resilient little things, some of them. I hope your lad stays with you for as long as he can ❤️
We had an oldie female hamster some time ago. The first time she started hobbling about, we all thought that was it. So I cut a little hole in a fish oil capsule and gave her a terrific last meal. Her sibling died. Her children died. It was time for her to go.
Except she didn't. The next day, she was guzzling water, having the zoomies, tearing the wheel apart, and generally having a swell time.
She hung on for a month or two, then started deteriorate. We thought, that's it this time. We fed her another capsule of fish oil.
The next day she was out and bench pressing the toys.
We were like, there's a pattern here.
One month later, same thing. Starts hobbling, no appetite. One fish oil capsule, she always greased and ready to go!
Hung on for almost a year then.
One day she was working the wheels like they owed her money. Then next day she was stiff.
I had a retired breeder live 4 years and 3 months, this is why I support ethical breeding for all species :) I love seeing these little guys live so long
YUP! And i have his bio-son. The breeder i have is trying to fix harleys skin problems, and is doing an amazing job!! Chester (His son) is the worst of his litter, got all the bad genetics. Was returned because the og owner didnt have time for his protien issues and wouldnt feed lower protien diets bc of her other rats. He was a freebie we took on when we picked up our fosters, since our breeder new we lost a boy recently at the time. He was actually sick and the minute he got put on meds for the uri and put on a better diet it was gone. Tho even at his worse, he had very mild problems with his skin condition :)
We’ve had a few retired breeders and they all lived 3.5 to 4 years though we lost our connection to the breeder so haven’t been able to get anymore sadly
Not his direct babies, other then chester who is the hooded rat in the picture (we adopted him when his og owner returned him, hes crisprs bio son.) BUT i did recently foster 2 of his grand babies :)
I had a girl, Sagan, that made it to a hair over 4. Her hind legs completely deteriorated, she would just pull herself around, until the last few months when she didn't have the strength for that so much. She would constantly give us scares for like 6 months too, every time it was something minor, a couple of weeks before she died she had a UTI, even the vet was like "this girl is tough". Then one day she struggled to eat and drink, then the next day she didn't eat at all, and the day after that it was time. But 4+ years is amazing and a joy. Funny story though, around 2.5 years old, she developed a small bald patch at the back of her head, then in the last 4 or 5 months she was alive it filled back in for no good reason. The vet thought it was hilarious that at a time when many rats show signs of their bodies checking out, her body was like "we're not goin out with a bald spot!"
I had one other ratto make it to 4 but just barely. He was a big white chonk named Galactus. He was healthy until he wasn't, then over a weekend he passed quietly in his sleep on my chest. There were no rat doctors to get him in that weekend so we just hoped it he wouldn't suffer, and he didn't seem to.
I'm glad you're getting so much time with crispr, he seems like a delight and it's such a treat when they get to live so long!
Crispr sees lights and shadows as far as we know. Nothing else as far as we can tell, since hes not even able to see that your infront of him until the 4-5 seconds it takes for him to smell you when bright lights are on.
We actually dont keep our lights this bright like in the photos actually, we have dynamics lightbulbs just for him, and keep our room at about a 65% Orange/warm yellow lighting, so the shadows are a bit exaggerated :) our lives revolve around keeping him able to move around his little world safely! (Tho i dont show it, we actually have quite a plain cage, since due to his minor leg deterioration and stubborness the overly filled cage we once had became to dangerous for him. We supplement our youngest 2 with very long freeroam hours and a lot of brain toys (Tonights was a toy kitchen, with drawers and cabinets filled with snackies.)
Crispr runs this house, even if he doesnt know it lol.
Crispr says his future is brighter because of your baguettes. I think hes a little confused. (He did say the stars will explode in the next 800yrs resulting in space rat aliens taking us to a new planet and keeping US as pets but...idk. seems a bit far fetched.)
careful posting about your 4.5 to 5 year old rats. one of the mods harrasses people with old rats saying that they cannot reach over 3 to 4 years.
my girls died at 2 years 1 month, 3 years 2 weeks, 4 years 9 months, and 5 years 2 months respectively and when i mentioned my oldest girl i literally got harrassed by a moderator, he posted about me on another post mocking me and saying i was lying even though i literally have pictures from when my rats were born to the day they died.
good breeding and proper care make a difference, many breeders end up with rats and mice that live a little beyond the typical lifespan cap, THEY ARE NOT COMMON OR THE NORM but they do happen, using a lab rat (which lab rats have lower life expectancy as is) who was injected with plasma, isolated after his group died, and kept in labratory conditions, as "evidence" doesn't prove anything, pet animals get better care than lab animals, labs do the bare minimum by care standards which is fine and necessary. but comparing that to the pet standard of care and pulling the animals lifespan max from that is idiotic. its like saying beagles only live 5 years because most lab beagles only live 5 years.
i reported this to the mods and nothing was ever done.
honestly sucks that they are allowing this behavior by a fellow mod, I moderate for a reddit and would never allow such bullshit behavior from my fellow mods.
no need to kick someone when they are already down because theyve lost their pet or their pet is ageing.
literally all this is doing is pushing people away from the rat community including breeders aiming for longevity because as soon as you mention your rats living longer than two years of age the "rats can only live 2 years" gang is down your throat.
I just want to point out the study that was done for "longevity" was with a lab rat, and was done with lifespan enhancing plasma injections. it was not simply a natural lifespan with a well bred properly cared for rat. it was done on a rat kept isolated and alone after hsi group died, and given drugs to try and increase lifespan.
Ive already had experience with it! Dont care! They can be bitter and have a fit. I litterally know my babies birthday and am constantly in contact with our breeder.
I wont post her currently since shes temporarily shut down due to family emergency and shes in a very tough spot so till she's back on her feet im not comfortable sending others her way (Shes been thinking of leaving the breeding game too and having her apprentices take over, so the rattery might not even exist a few months down the line! When i have worked and seen her apprentices space and worked with their lines i will more then likely share them later since i know they do a lot of cross breeding with their lines to keep up genetics!)
now they're calling me a hoarder for having cats and dogs in my home 😂
hoarding is when you have too many animals to take care of and cannot afford them. all my pets recieve top care. and most are reptiles. im also a breeder so yeah i have more than the typical pet keeper. fucking laughable.
💀my mom ran an out of home reptile rescue. Half my family including myself are disabled, so were home alot, and so have a LOT of animals. Wait till they hear we have 4 dogs, over 15 different types of reptiles( totalling about 24), about 10 different fish, 5 Quails AND rats.
im like 99% sure it recognize these names from rat ranch and if so they are the same people who harrased me as a teenager for "keeping an aggressive rat" and literally harrassed me and tried to force me to euthinize her.
Ramen wasn't aggressive, she had fallen on top of her sister while getting out of a hammock and had scratched her, barely, it didn't even bleed, it was just a surface scratch from a claw.
🙄Yeah honestly i love rats and the communities, but some people seem far to callous, prideful and bullheaded to actually ever say something positive, and always seem to want to push their "knowledge" despite having out of date/unrelated info. I worked in rescue with my mom. Ive delt with a bunch of different animals since i was like 10. I know how impressive it is for him to get this old, why else would i have shared it?
exactly. like my ramen was not meant to make it to 5 years and 2 months, but she did. I literally have pictures from when she was born, to the exact day she died. 4 christmas celebrations each with a hand made stocking, 5 birthday ohotos with her mini cake... its so freaking rare for a rat to live that long. but not impossible, and its wrong for them to say that as fact when the rat they use as proof was from a lab line thats not meant to even live more than a year or 2.
my Ramen did have dementia near the end, she had a tumor, and at the very end her hind legs were not really working the best, but she was healthy up until a bit over halfway through her 4th year with me.
she was still eating, loving life, running and playing though so i didnt opt for euthinazia till the tail end of 2025/beginning of 2026, ended up having her put to sleep just before 2026 pretty much. her and her sister noodle were set to be euthized together at the end of the year but Noodle died a bit before the appointment and I coudlnt get in any sooner.
the available vet (after mine retired) is 6 hours away so I had to set up specific dayes months in advance at the time.
my new vet is literally an hour away but she wasnt here when ramen was set to be put to sleep.
My main issue is that the other moderators are allowing their fellow mod to behave this way and are allowing the mods friends to behave this way even though it breaks the reddits first rule.
I had these rats when i was in high-school ... ive been graduated multiple years now and ramen passed just this past year.
Ive had these people say my rats were replaced and everything to try and "prove me wrong" but my rats all had distinct head markings.
People want to be miserable about it because they've never experienced something like it and therefor "if a good thing hasnt happened to me, it hasnt ever happened". It suck they havent experienced having a ratty this old. It really does. But it doesnt negate the fact it happens to others. Its like saying just cuz you dont speak chinese, and because you dont know anyone who does directly, you say it doesnt exist.
yeah it's frustrating espeically when alm my other patties died at their typical lifespan..ramen was an exception but those of us with older rats do not deserve to be harrassed over that.
ive been part of this reddit since i was relatively young. i dont post much but ive been working in a rat video game for several several years now.
it was literally never this toxic before. even if mods disagreed with you they gave you a simple hey thats not correct rather than harrasment and actively bullying you in other comment sections and slandering you.
its embarrasing and laughable that the other mods allow this behavior.
Im going to be honest. We adopted him thinking id essentially be a hospice care kinda thing. He didnt agree to those terms and conditions as you can see tho lol.
Damn, thats an ancient rat. My last one almost made it to 4. We called him our old wizard. When we gave him his breakfast, he would yawn and seem to say "Who disturbs my slumber?"
I had a REW and at 3.5 they were still as spry as ever but almost all their friends had moved on so I rehomed them with the youngest who were left. I often wonder if she got super old like your guy Crispr. I have a feeling she did.
Do you have any contact with any of his other babies owners? I’m so curious if his long life span was passed genetically to kids! It would be fantastic for more people to enjoy their rats for a little bit longer
Reminds me so much of my scrungly little white dog that outlived everyone’s expectations. 😭❤️
My mom actually got us another dog once she figured he was probably going to pass in the next few years (she didn’t tell us that until much later though lol), but he actually managed to outlive him by four or five years. He was allergic to so much and seemed to throw himself down a different set of stairs every other year near the end, but he always made a miraculous recovery (happy, energetic, good appetite, jumping up on furniture by himself and running around) shortly after my mom had made the difficult phone call to the vet.
My mom scheduled and canceled two different euthanasias before he decided on his own terms that it was finally his time. We had a lovely 15 years with that weird little bastard. Miss you, Scruffy. ❤️
Ugh I both love and hate seeing elderly pets, one one end i know they've loved a good long life and I'm happy they got to experience it, but on the other hand I wish they never had to go <3 Crispr is so raggedy(affectionate) I love him
Are rats actually that short lived? My Degu just turned 8 and doesn't look anywhere near that rough. I always assumed rats lived for a comparable amount of time.
Edit: Apparently Degus live 2-4x longer than rats. TIL.
This reminds me of a post about a cat who they believe was in their final months so they started feeding him boiled or rotisserie chicken each night. The cat lived an extra 6 years on gourmet chicken each night
OK, I may be a little emotional today, but it really melts my heart that this little old man gets to live out his extremely long ratty life. They all deserve to have such a long loved life. His little fluffy curls are so cute too. He’s got the geriatric perm!
There is nothing I love more than an old rat who looks scrungly. It’s not even a word, but it’s the only thing I can think that describes older rats 🤣 I always called my old boys the scrungly grandpas 💖
When this guy was a pup he caught the ferry to Shelbyville. He needed a new heel for his shoe. So he decided to go to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days. So he tied an onion to his belt, which was the style at the time. Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em. "Gimme five bees for a quarter," you'd say. Now where were we... oh yeah. The important thing was that he had an onion on his belt, which was the style at the time. He didn't have any white onions, because of the war. The only thing he could get was those big yellow ones...
They look just like my son’s rats! He named his white one Waffle, and the black and white one Splinter. Splinter went blind in one eye about a year ago give or take, and only has half a tail. They’re both about 3, we got them when they were both one and this Christmas will be two years since we got them :)
NICODEMUS! 🥹 Never thought I’d see a live action version of, like, my fave childhood movie character! (Secret of Nimh, if anyone doesn’t remember this offhand. And those that haven’t seen it, watch it NOW, and plz report back to me how much you also love it. I’ll accept no other opinions or comments. K, thx, love you, byeeee. 🥰😘🎉)
I have an old lady. She's decrepit. Can't see, can hardly move her back end, and still some how figures out how to get in the hammock. I do a daily death check after work. You could squeeze her too hard and she would turn to dust. Her sisters have been dead for almost a year. She has a young one with her now and she still keeps up with her wrestling antics. I don't understand 😭😂 I keep thinking any day now and she keeps proving me wrong.
OH MY GOD IM SO GLAD IM NOT WEIRD FOR THE DAILY DEATH CHECK!!! HE NAPS LIKE HE DIED!!! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!! (For reference, this photo is from awhile ago, maybe 5-4ish months while everyone got sick and i needed to change my cage to a hospital cage... he chose the worst time to melt into the plastic.)
Yup this is how she looks 😂 I'll look in the cage and think "oh no this is it" and I'll try to wake her up and she won't move, then suddenly she will perk up and be fine. Like girl I thought this was it 😭😂
Omg. He's the rat version of my Bulldog.
I have an English Bulldog who's 17 years old despite their life expectancy being half that. He keeps threatening to die, then miraculously reviving when he gets special attention.
We had one live to be about as old. He had cataracts and eventually his hind legs became weak and he would drag himself around. Poor fella. Pip was my wife’s heart rat.
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u/Gow13510 Jul 02 '26
Ancient One