IN-PERSON ADOPTION PAGE
Please Note: This page covers the option of selecting your rats in person. The information is related to making an appointment that does NOT coincide with one of our scheduled in-person adoption events. If you are signing up for an in-person event, specific details will be sent to you regarding the process for that specific event.
Who will be available for you to select from?
We are only able to bring rats that are currently able to go to a home as of the date of your scheduled in-person meet up date. All of our Available Rats have information regarding when their first "Go Home" date is. The largest drawback of this item is that many of our rats are reserved before their go home dates, so your selection will be limited. During certain times, there may be no rats at all available for this type of adoption, while other times we may only be offering litters for in-person selection.
Can we meet today?
All appointments are subject to my available schedule, and meeting the same day you are approved or first contact me to begin scheduling is usually not possible at all. I need at least 3-4 days in order to coordinate schedules with you and be fully prepared for an in-person appointment. There are also adoption forms that need to be filled out by you and approved by me.
If I am available on the same day, and it is possible to get the rats ready by a reasonable hour, I do sometimes make an exception to this rule, however there is a minimum $25 convenience fee requested ahead of time for same-day appointments during our normal breeding season. The convenience fee is higher from October through January, on or around any holiday, and if I agree to rearrange any pre-scheduled items to accommodate your needs. This fee applies even if I have a scheduled in-person adoption event happening as I will still have to do the extra work of processing your request on short notice.
How many rats can you meet at our appointment?
For in-person selection, we are able to bring up to six rats for you to pick from. We do allow adopters to pick which six if they have certain ones they would like to meet. We need the SQKN#'s in order to ensure that we bring the correct rats.
Is there a fee to meet in person?
Yes. We charge a $10 fee in advance to allow you to pick your rats in person. Picking in person takes significantly longer than picking up rats that have already been reserved. The fee is for my time and does not go towards any adoption fees.
To view all of our payment methods we accept, please go to our Payment Information page.
Do I still need to become an approved adopter to select rats in person?
Yes. Being approved for adoption is the first step with us, and selecting rats comes afterwards. To begin the approval process, please go to our Approved Adopter page.
Do I still need to fill out the Disclosures & Agreements form to select rats in person?
Yes. Before you can take any rats home, you will need to complete this form. The form has a lot of helpful information for those new and old to rats. Many of the links have been praised by our past adopters and we want to make sure that they get out to ALL adopters. The form is mostly about education for rat owners so that our Squeakin' Pups have well educated caretakers and you can go into your new relationship with them feeling confident of success!
Looking for that form? Please go to the Adoption Process page to find the link to that form.
A note on the myth, "I want to meet them so I can see their personality for myself."
The #1 reason adopters request to select in person is to find out what their new rats are like before adopting them. Although some traits of a rat can be seen from a very young age, a rat does not have a set personality at the age when they normally leave our rattery. What you see at our meeting may be very misleading. A rat may seem docile or uncertain at an appointment because it didn't enjoy the car ride or the bath it received before the trip. Certain times of day the rats will all want to sleep and seem very laid back, while other times of day they will be full of energy and seem to bounce around like popcorn!
Baby rats have a cycle of waking, eating, playing, then sleeping. They are very much like human toddlers. In the same way you really can't judge what a person will be like as an adult by how they act at the age of two, you can't be certain your new rat will be the same as an adult as it is as a baby. All babies play a lot, eat a lot, and sleep a lot.
It can happen that some babies will show qualities that are out of the norm. Some litters will be much more intent on coming out of their cage to play, while others may seem born to give kisses. These traits do not always stick for life even when they are with us. Part of a rat's personality is dictated by heredity, while part is also dictated by the role it fills in its own little rat group. The influence and interaction of adopters makes the largest impact on the rats personalities overall, however. The more time you are able to spend with them, the more engaged they will want to be with you as well. Rats are total gluttons for attention and just want to be loved. The best tip of all - the way to a rat's heart is through its stomach! I am definitely the treat lady over here, and all my rats love to hear me coming (and I get such reproachful looks when I forget to bring treats!)
Is meeting in person pointless then? No, definitely not. Meeting in person can give you the opportunity to find a rat who chooses you. My middle daughter was the one we first wanted to get rats for, and she quickly became saddened by our rat owning/breeding experience. She would fall in love with baby after baby based on looks, but the rats were all afraid of her! Serenity, despite her name, is very full of life and energy - and she can be pretty loud and quick in all she does. These are not traits most rats enjoy. One day we received a baby rat from another rattery, she was tiny and runty, but the brightest tangerine orange I'd ever seen. That rat took one look at Serenity and they were best of friends. Mon Petite Cherie, as we named her, has just as much spunk and energy as my daughter. The two are a perfect match. Cherie is only ever happy when out visiting with Serenity, and she took more than a year to have any interest in anyone else in the family at all. Things like that can't be guessed at by a picture, and even when you meet a rat at first, the connection may not be instantaneous. We had well over a dozen litters of babies before Serenity found her heart rat. We've had dozens more since and she's never connected with another in quite the same way. Heart rats are special because they are hard to find. It is only through time, bonding, and owning multiple rats (usually) that you find one you really connect with.
Will you find a heart rat at first sight? Maybe, maybe not, but it is always worth a try.
Have other questions? Please feel free to ask. We are always here to help!
Who will be available for you to select from?
We are only able to bring rats that are currently able to go to a home as of the date of your scheduled in-person meet up date. All of our Available Rats have information regarding when their first "Go Home" date is. The largest drawback of this item is that many of our rats are reserved before their go home dates, so your selection will be limited. During certain times, there may be no rats at all available for this type of adoption, while other times we may only be offering litters for in-person selection.
Can we meet today?
All appointments are subject to my available schedule, and meeting the same day you are approved or first contact me to begin scheduling is usually not possible at all. I need at least 3-4 days in order to coordinate schedules with you and be fully prepared for an in-person appointment. There are also adoption forms that need to be filled out by you and approved by me.
If I am available on the same day, and it is possible to get the rats ready by a reasonable hour, I do sometimes make an exception to this rule, however there is a minimum $25 convenience fee requested ahead of time for same-day appointments during our normal breeding season. The convenience fee is higher from October through January, on or around any holiday, and if I agree to rearrange any pre-scheduled items to accommodate your needs. This fee applies even if I have a scheduled in-person adoption event happening as I will still have to do the extra work of processing your request on short notice.
How many rats can you meet at our appointment?
For in-person selection, we are able to bring up to six rats for you to pick from. We do allow adopters to pick which six if they have certain ones they would like to meet. We need the SQKN#'s in order to ensure that we bring the correct rats.
Is there a fee to meet in person?
Yes. We charge a $10 fee in advance to allow you to pick your rats in person. Picking in person takes significantly longer than picking up rats that have already been reserved. The fee is for my time and does not go towards any adoption fees.
To view all of our payment methods we accept, please go to our Payment Information page.
Do I still need to become an approved adopter to select rats in person?
Yes. Being approved for adoption is the first step with us, and selecting rats comes afterwards. To begin the approval process, please go to our Approved Adopter page.
Do I still need to fill out the Disclosures & Agreements form to select rats in person?
Yes. Before you can take any rats home, you will need to complete this form. The form has a lot of helpful information for those new and old to rats. Many of the links have been praised by our past adopters and we want to make sure that they get out to ALL adopters. The form is mostly about education for rat owners so that our Squeakin' Pups have well educated caretakers and you can go into your new relationship with them feeling confident of success!
Looking for that form? Please go to the Adoption Process page to find the link to that form.
A note on the myth, "I want to meet them so I can see their personality for myself."
The #1 reason adopters request to select in person is to find out what their new rats are like before adopting them. Although some traits of a rat can be seen from a very young age, a rat does not have a set personality at the age when they normally leave our rattery. What you see at our meeting may be very misleading. A rat may seem docile or uncertain at an appointment because it didn't enjoy the car ride or the bath it received before the trip. Certain times of day the rats will all want to sleep and seem very laid back, while other times of day they will be full of energy and seem to bounce around like popcorn!
Baby rats have a cycle of waking, eating, playing, then sleeping. They are very much like human toddlers. In the same way you really can't judge what a person will be like as an adult by how they act at the age of two, you can't be certain your new rat will be the same as an adult as it is as a baby. All babies play a lot, eat a lot, and sleep a lot.
It can happen that some babies will show qualities that are out of the norm. Some litters will be much more intent on coming out of their cage to play, while others may seem born to give kisses. These traits do not always stick for life even when they are with us. Part of a rat's personality is dictated by heredity, while part is also dictated by the role it fills in its own little rat group. The influence and interaction of adopters makes the largest impact on the rats personalities overall, however. The more time you are able to spend with them, the more engaged they will want to be with you as well. Rats are total gluttons for attention and just want to be loved. The best tip of all - the way to a rat's heart is through its stomach! I am definitely the treat lady over here, and all my rats love to hear me coming (and I get such reproachful looks when I forget to bring treats!)
Is meeting in person pointless then? No, definitely not. Meeting in person can give you the opportunity to find a rat who chooses you. My middle daughter was the one we first wanted to get rats for, and she quickly became saddened by our rat owning/breeding experience. She would fall in love with baby after baby based on looks, but the rats were all afraid of her! Serenity, despite her name, is very full of life and energy - and she can be pretty loud and quick in all she does. These are not traits most rats enjoy. One day we received a baby rat from another rattery, she was tiny and runty, but the brightest tangerine orange I'd ever seen. That rat took one look at Serenity and they were best of friends. Mon Petite Cherie, as we named her, has just as much spunk and energy as my daughter. The two are a perfect match. Cherie is only ever happy when out visiting with Serenity, and she took more than a year to have any interest in anyone else in the family at all. Things like that can't be guessed at by a picture, and even when you meet a rat at first, the connection may not be instantaneous. We had well over a dozen litters of babies before Serenity found her heart rat. We've had dozens more since and she's never connected with another in quite the same way. Heart rats are special because they are hard to find. It is only through time, bonding, and owning multiple rats (usually) that you find one you really connect with.
Will you find a heart rat at first sight? Maybe, maybe not, but it is always worth a try.
Have other questions? Please feel free to ask. We are always here to help!
Does in-person adoption sound like a good fit for you?
If you would like to try in-person adoption, just complete the process for being approved first. Once that is done, you may send us a message through our Contact Us page, or if you want to hurry the process along, you can also find us on Facebook and message us there. We do quite a bit in the rat community on Facebook, so it is the best way to get in touch with us quickly. Once you reach out, we will try to expedite your approval and begin working on scheduling your in-person appointment.