Matt and Liz talk about losing a rat, rat babies, A Wrinkle in Time, Magic, and Jessica Jones.
Ratty News – A listener ask how long to wait after a rat’s passing before introducing new rats to her remaining rat. In general, after 24 hours have passed, it’s fine to introduce a new rattie. Make sure to do intros slowly and have a separate cage to house new friends in until your intros are complete.
Check out podcast Episode 1, Episode 6, and Episode 11 for detailed information about how to introduce new rats to a pack. 
Another listener noticed red discharge coming from his rat’s eyes – good news, even though it looks like blood it’s probably porphyrin, a red discharge which is pretty common from rats’ eyes or nose. If you rat has no other symptoms (wheezing or difficulty breathing, swollen face or tumors, or a visible scratch) then they’re probably ok, but check with your vet if you’re not sure.
Our precious foster rat Nova, the biter, died. She had been losing leg mobility in her back legs but was still healthy, but within 24 hours she stopped eating and looked ready to go so we had her put down (with many, many tears on our part.) Liz talks about letting her frantic cagemates say goodbye to her body which helped them calm down and stop worrying about her.
Many animals have mourning rituals to say goodbye to friends who’ve passed on because animals are so empathetic – check out this National Geographic video of an elephant herd mourning a lost leader (if it’s not too sad for you). Liz convinced Matt to adopt Pinky and Sparkles because she can’t give them up now after fostering them for so long and after losing Nova.
And, Liz and Matt get new fosters – a rat momma and her 10 babies! Squee! Adoptable in 4 weeks.
Check out podcast Episode 8 for information about caring for rat babies and mothers.
Local Animal News – We give a shoutout to the East TN Give a Heart Rat Rescue. They are raising funds in April via a Facebook auction. You can also support them by volunteering to foster rats if you live near Elizabethton, TN, or by adopting from their rescue if they’re local to you.
**Podcast correction – we said that they weren’t 501(c)3 registered yet, but actually they are!! Sorry about that, we based that on an older news article.**
If you’d like a shoutout for your local rat rescue on The Nerdy Rat Podcast, email us at thenerdyrat@gmail.com or reach out on Facebook.
Nerdy Topics – Liz saw the movie A Wrinkle in Time. She loved the book, but was underwhelmed by the movie – it wasn’t a good adaptation because it cut too much plot and character development from the book. But, the cast was great and the visuals were nice. 
Matt is getting back into playing the Magic card game. He talks about selling cards, finding new places to play, and getting into the current cards.
The 80’s are officially over because ToysRUs is closing. Nooo! Our favorite childhood toystore!