u/shoreyknot

I really didn't understand what people meant by "heart rat". I'd had enough rattos that I thought I should understand if it was a common phenomenon. But I was adopting seniors that were already attached to their previous owners, and the first young rats I adopted were unfortunately not at all human friendly. Enter Tajin. Oh my gosh, this lil baby. I had no idea I could love something so small this much. Every morning I wake up excited to see her, and hearing her brux on my shoulder is honestly possibly even more rewarding than hearing cats purr. It just clicked. I was like "OH. THIS is what people mean."

Aaaanyway I'm obsessed. I know y'all understand 🥹🥹

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(Top right pic in collage is of my right hand, for comparison lol) first pic is of all that remains of my rat bite. Third is of fresh bite but pinkie bc that was the worst of it. The rest are just close ups of issue.

33 f, 5'8" and around 140 lbs, non smoker, healthy with no medical conditions of note, at least as of most recent blood draw last month

I have developed this weird swollen, painful ring finger on my left hand, seemingly overnight. It hurts a little to straighten and hurts quite a bit to bend; it also feels like I \*cant\* bend it all the way. Feels very stiff. No numbness, tingling, or anything like that just sore and stiff. When splinted in a straight-ish/neutral position there is zero pain.

Sunday it was hurting so bad during a movie I had to go get a cup of ice to stick my hand in. Its quite painful at times unless splinted.

My main theory as to how I may have injured it is that the day before I first noticed it I finished a digital art piece that took 45 hours total (not in one go mind you, over the course of a couple weeks). The last couple days of working on it I switched to my phone because I wasnt feeling well, so there were a couple hours-long stretches where my left hand was holding my phone. My phone is pretty large so my fingers are basically extended to hold it, with my topmost knuckle bent and my fingertips pressing into the side of the phone to hold it.

While focused on the drawing and bc of using a stylus and thus putting a bit of pressure into my grip to keep it steady, it wouldn't terribly surprise me if I strained it a little. But this seems extreme and now I'm about 4 days in and it doesn't feel any better. Going to the dr thursday if nothing improves.

HERE'S THE KICKER:

Around the same time I was finishing this drawing, I was bit quite hard by my daughter's rat. It broke skin in three places (she bit twice), my pinkie sustained the worst bite but my ring finger got punctured as well. While I'm fairly confident it isn't because of that, especially bc no other symptoms have cropped up, but naturally I am concerned.

Oh also, the swelling didn't begin noticeably until day 2 and got worse on day 3 and then evened out (didn't improve but didnt worsen). Any ideas on what this is/how I can facilitate it healing? TIA!

Tl;dr swollen, painful and stiff ring finger from possible overuse injury. Doesn't seem to be improving.

Wide angle lenses are the best thing to happen to rat photography and you won't convince me otherwise

I look away for half a second and she's tryna sneak a coffee. Shame her!!

(Jk yall it was empty dont worry)

Newish girl suddenly started very gently nibbling on my fingers (not just the nails but even my skin, very very gently though not a bite). What is this? I got her and one other recently that are much MUCH more affectionate than my other two so them wanting anything to do with me at all is new to me 😅

One of my new ladies was sitting on my shoulder and suddenly started doing this, please tell me these are happy sounds?

I told her if she's gonna eat all these treats she needs to start ratatouille-style controlling me through my workday so she can earn her keep and I can nap. No luck so far 😂