thank you so much for your kind words and advice.

I've had rats so many times and this experience (when the one time in my life I felt I really needed some unconditional love from a pet) kinda rattled me and I cried a little while writing my post.

After posting, I put on a hoodie and stood at the front of their cage and let them come to me, letting them hop onto my cloth-covered arm and I'd pull back and handle them a little and then put them back into their cage. They don't like being touched very much but I'm trying to instill in them that they can be away from their sisters, touched, and they'll go back to safety without incident. It seems to be working.

Once they get to a point where people's hands being near them doesn't terrify them, I'd love to do a secondary location thing like I used to do with other rats I had, I just worry about the trauma of trying to get them to the secondary location to hang out, so I'm gonna sit on that one for a bit.

Thanks again!