A sad story

This is so awful....

http://pawofjustice.org/?cat=2

I am so enraged that rats are not protected against cruelty the same way as cats and dogs. This is just not right.

Where was your petstore rat born?

Ever wonder where those cute little petstore rats came from?

Here's what a commercial rat breeding facility looks like: http://www.ratz.co.uk/rodentfarm.html

They are no different than the rats in the feeder bins...just given better care in the petshops (since the public can see them). It's no wonder they are often terrified and sickly. The same goes for all the other rodents that are being sold.

Buy from GOOD breeders and do not support this sad trade...

Peach's Progress

Little Peach did well on the three hour car ride. I'm staying at a friend's house, so she is getting lots of new people to sniff and see as well as a cat, puppy, and rabbit. She let them pet her and even jumped on top of her pink igloo to sniff them better. For the next week I'm just working on letting her sniff people and see if she will come up to hands. If she comes up, there may be a small pet on her back until she decides to leave.

Vacation time...

...does not start off easily. I got up this morning to hose off all of the rat cages (in the middle of a rainstorm caused by our most recent tropical storm. Thanks, Debby!). Cleaned every inch of the cages, washed all the bedding, washed everything in the cage, put together a very detailed list for my petsitter, organized the food containers, set out medicine, ordered this month's shipment of rat block, got the sick rat's cage and meds in order, and got little Peach's travel cage ready.

Phew!

I'm going to be so worried about them while I am away...especially since I have 2 breeding pairs. Luckily neither of them will be due anytime soon.

Ophelia's belly

Rat-sitting Gift

The family I rat-sat for gave me this adorable figure!

Shelter Pups :(

This shelter gives animals 3 days to find a home...then death. My beautiful husky came from here. If you are thinking about adopting a dog...PLEASE check here first and save a life: http://www.petfinder.com/pet-search?shelterid=FL118

Located in Bronson, FL

Caring for a rat with a head tilt

My precious girl, Saoirse, now has a head tilt from her ear infection....this means she will not be able to live like a normal rat.

Since her sense balance is completely gone...she cannot walk without sliding/falling/rolling....so she must be supervised in an area without anything to climb on or she will fall off and injure herself. Her new home is now a giant plastic storage tub with windows cut out for air. She cannot be in a cage because she will try and climb the bars and fall. She gets visits from the other rats and I'll let some stay with her in the tub.

The fact that she cannot walk straight does not stop this girl, though. She still roughly shoves things out of her way, burrows into blankets, shoves my hand away if she wants to get past and loves to get out and explore. ]

I love this girl so much. She'll be a grandma for the second time this weekend!

Rat News

Ophelia should be due on or around the 17th of June. She's getting pretty large now.

I will be breeding Lenore and Laertes (Both dumbo Siamese), on the 13th...in two days! They will probably be petite rats as both parents are pretty tiny for their age.

The waiting list is filling up nicely.  I'm excited!

More rat happenings: Victor escaped and was in the porch the entire day. He stole the dog food, cat food, and hid them in his cage.

Saoirse's ear infection appears to be clearing up. I thought she was gone for sure last Tuesday. She still may not recover, but she's on the road to getting better, so here's to hoping! She's my special girl and I don't want to lose her earlier than I can.

I sold my My Little Pony plushie for $130 this morning. I am putting this towards the girl's Critter Nation cage. I will be making and selling more plushies so I can hopefully convert both cages into triples. 

Rat Mansion

The new cage is here! I ran to the door very excitedly when the UPS man showed up. The poor guy...

Showing!

I think Ophelia is starting to show! There's at least a week and a half left. She is very healthy, receiving lots of healthy food and protein enriched mixtures.