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Oh god I got my rat cage today. I've also got my names picked out (it's 99% likely going to be Boleyn and Tudor, both boys  ), and I should be meeting my breeder very soon too. I'm so goddamn excited, but I'm probably not going to be able to get them for another year or so. Why is being responsible and not overloading myself with animals such a difficult task?RazorBunny, I need more babby rat photos to get through this, I think.
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May 5, 2012 21:52
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FelicityGS posted:They look so soft and adorable They're all solid dark brown (not black or agouti, as far as I can tell) and have white bellies. Their bellies aren't uniformly white, though, they have different shapes, which is probably how I'm going to be able to tell them apart eventually. I'll work on getting some more pics for ya  Edit: Photos ahoy! One of them sleeps like this: Somewhere I have a VERY similar picture of Atahualpa and van Buren... So far I seem to have two brave and one shy. Here are the bellies of the two bold ones: I think the one on the left is the darkest of the three, the other two are both a little lighter in color. I don't know enough about rat coloring to say exactly what these guys would be called. Cute, I guess! Somebody fucked around with this message at 12:15 on May 6, 2012 |
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May 5, 2012 23:14
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RazorBunny posted:They're all solid dark brown (not black or agouti, as far as I can tell) and have white bellies. Their bellies aren't uniformly white, though, they have different shapes, which is probably how I'm going to be able to tell them apart eventually. Oh god the one on the right is all cute and acting like he's innocent and you caught him midsneak
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May 5, 2012 23:52
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Two of them are blacks (just poor/rusted blacks) and one is an agouti. They are all berkshires.
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May 6, 2012 00:11
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Superconsndar posted:Two of them are blacks (just poor/rusted blacks) and one is an agouti. They are all berkshires. Ah, ok. One of the blacks is finitely darker than the other, then. Most of the berkshires I've seen had a lot more coverage on the tummy. These guys' bellies remind me a little of Nibbler's, actually. Speaking of which, the cats were curious about what was on the table, so I picked each of them up and held them by the cage. The rats were curious, but the cats were like "Oh, gently caress this poo poo" and wanted to get away.  Edit - my brother-in-law picked out a little tub of salad garnish stuff that he thought the rats would like. It looks like it falls squarely in the "yummy junk food" category: quote:Dried cranberries, raw sunflower seeds, sesame sticks, slivered almonds, raw pepitas RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 01:38 on May 6, 2012 |
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May 6, 2012 00:40
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RazorBunny posted:Ah, ok. One of the blacks is finitely darker than the other, then. Markings vary greatly within their definitions. So do colors.
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May 6, 2012 02:06
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Finally found a new friend today. Will post pics and details tomorrow.
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May 6, 2012 04:21
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RazorBunny posted:
Saint does that, even though he is like 14 pounds. Since I know what a 'fraidy-cat he is, I've just sat the big Jumbo boy Butters on him before, and he will just freeze, let the rat sniff and play, and only run away when the rat is off of him. Saffy is a different story. Her eyes turn into huge saucers and she stares at them like food. I had an incident with her once when we first got her, where she stuck her claw in the cage in the middle of the night and caught the leg of one of the girls that I had. I have to really watch her with my kiddos, especially since we just adopted two new babies last week.
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May 6, 2012 05:08
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Hey folks, Khelmar had to remove my images, but I will resize them and repost them as soon as I'm back at my computer (tablet doesn't cooperate so well for that). Also, I think the agouti is going to be Garrus, because he is the bravest. I actually carried him outside with me to open the gate for Husker, and he was totally fine. Then he wandered around the table where the cage is sitting while I petted the other guys. He's also the only one who will take food from me yet. I'm going to have to get that new cage sooner rather than later, because the only good place for the food bowl in this cage is on top of the hide hut. I put down a second dish with cooked beans and they immediately buried it in CareFresh. Originally there was a bowl that sat in the shelf unit, but I've lost the bowl and none of my dishes fit in the slot. My son was kind of jealous of them last night, I was cooking up a big pot of plain beans to divide up and freeze and the smell was making him hungry. I ordered him a pizza and all was forgiven.
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May 6, 2012 18:04
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If you just add an l, m, or s to the end of an imgur pic (before the .jpg), it will resize the picture automatically.
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May 6, 2012 19:32
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Invalid Octopus posted:If you just add an l, m, or s to the end of an imgur pic (before the .jpg), it will resize the picture automatically. They were on my personal hosting.
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May 6, 2012 19:45
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Okay so lab blocks. These ended up working really well. RECIPEEEE: (amounts are approximate because lol measuring) 1 cup puree'd fruit and veg (tried to use a variety, I just reserved a cup from the dog food I make weekly. This week had yellow squash, broccoli, sweet potato, kale, alfalfa sprouts, apples, carrots, and lentils) 1/2 cup dry milk 1/4 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup plain yogurt 1 cup oat bran 1 cup flour (you can use any mix of flours, I had a mixture of spelt, millet, and rice flour I use for dog biscuits but for rats, plain ol' whole wheat flour is fine.) 1 cup dry baby cereal(any kind that contains a vitamin mix, because that's basically what I'm using it for) 1/2 cup ground flax seed Mix until it is dough. Adjust amounts until its stiff enough that you can work with it.  Flour it and knead it until its smooth and forms easily. It should be slightly stickier than pie crust but similar in consistency. Then, roll it into logs and throw it on a cookie sheet.  Stick it in the oven at 325 for 15-20 minutes, just until its kinda hard on the outside but still soft on the inside. You just want them done enough that they'll mostly hold their shape when sliced. Take them out, slice them up, and put them back on the cookie sheet:  Bake at 325 for 10-15 minutes, flip them all over over, and put them back in for another 10-15. Put them on a rack to cool, and put them somewhere to dry out for a few hours. You could stick them in a dehydrator or dehydrate them in the oven to speed it up, but mine were totally dry and pretty hard after about 8 hours just sitting on a rack.  I'm keeping them in the freezer and thawing a couple days worth at a time, but honestly they'd probably do totally fine for 1-2 weeks at room temp, so you could just store them in whatever. These can definitely replace lovely commercial lab blocks as a staple, but I did not attempt to accurately balance this recipe as a complete diet (it would certainly be doable, I just feed enough variety that I didn't bother) so these can definitely be fed as a staple in place of blocks or a mix IF they're getting fresh stuff and scraps and other things, but if you literally only feed blocks and nothing else, these would not work as a substitute. Brumby likes them and the new rat I just got thinks they're pretty cool too, and they're certainly miles better than "hi here's some soybean hulls and fish poop in a bag"
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May 6, 2012 21:34
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My wife and I bought 2 rats (ostensibly for my son, but we've fallen in love with them - that's why we're worried!). After reading more, perhaps we should've purchased them from a breeder rather than a pet store, but it's too late now. We bought them both from Petsmart. We bought the first 2 weeks ago, and I did a little reading and saw that they like company, so Rizzo got a new companion Thursday, Scruffy. My son is very imaginative with names, I know. Scruffy is obviously younger than Rizzo. We put them together last night and they're getting along great, but Scruffy sneezes a lot. We don't see any red discharge, but he sneezes a lot more than Rizzo. Scruffy is also not nearly as active as Rizzo - he sleeps a lot, while Rizzo is always at the door to the cage asking to come out whenever we walk by. Since I didn't see a section in the first few pages on the respiratory illnesses (mycoplasma? mycoplasmosis?), I wanted to get some feedback from you guys. Anything else I should be looking for? Should we bring Scruffy back to the store and get one from a breeder? Also a little annoyed that we initially bought pine shavings labeled for use for rats on the bag only to find out that popular consensus is that they are bad for them. Anyway, we are totally in love with the little dudes, especially Rizzo, and want to make sure they are healthy and with us for as long as they can be.
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May 7, 2012 03:50
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With Scruffy, a really easy way to see if he's congested/nose issues is to pick him up and listen to him. I usually do a 'congestion check' like that if I think one might be poorly off--hold him right next to my ear so I can listen for weird breathing. One of my boys was really sneezy till I moved to a different type of bedding (Carefresh paper, which thankfully doesn't make my allergies to them go nuts). Also, if you catch him in a sneeze, try and put your hand in front and see if there's anything coming out. If he's shy--one of mine is--you might have to wait a bit before he'll willingly move around with you around. I usually do surprise checks to see if the shy one is as active as the other two. Other people in the thread are probably gonna be more help than me though.
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May 7, 2012 04:18
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Keep in mind too, that rats sneeze in new surroundings, at least, mine always did. I've had two new girls for a week now and they're sneezing has gone down quite a bit, but they were also kept in pine bedding before I got them, so who really knows. FelicityGS is right though, see if anything is coming out of Scruffy's nose. If you feel really concerned, and don't want to give up little Scruffy back to Petsmart, just get him checked out at the vet. A good checkup with a great vet will do them good
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May 7, 2012 04:34
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FelicityGS posted:One of my boys was really sneezy till I moved to a different type of bedding (Carefresh paper, which thankfully doesn't make my allergies to them go nuts). Also, if you catch him in a sneeze, try and put your hand in front and see if there's anything coming out. That's actually pretty good advice. My girls seemed to not be able to shake this cold they were having, and vet said when I went to her last time that there was nothing wrong with their lungs. They also got over their 'cold' pretty quickly when I handled them so I came to the rather slow conclusion that it might be their bedding. I switched from Aspen to Carefresh and now they sound much healthier than they did.
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May 7, 2012 05:44
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Superconsndar posted:Lab blocks
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May 7, 2012 11:52
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With the expansion of my rat cage, I decided that it might be a good idea for ~one more~ rat. Couldn't find a Critter Nation cage though, and I'm not too keen on this whole warehouse truck shipping that petco/smart seems to have. EVENTUALLY. I needed an upgrade soon though, and while I was out I saw a female dumbo rat by herself on display. I decided to get her. I've never seen a dumbo in a pet store and she's quarantined in my smaller cage right now, I'll be taking advantage of the free 14 day vet check. Don't have any good photos yet because bad lighting/blur rats, but she's blue hooded (no idea what kind of blue) and her name is Donut. First time owning a dumbo and I'm already spazzing so much over it. Super: I'm going to buy some flax seed today and try making those "blocks". I'll post here how they turn out for me.
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May 7, 2012 14:49
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I have 5 rats and have had 5 rats for a long time (Two died off and I decided to rescue two more from being snake food) and so I took the two martins cages I had and combined them, so I have my own, 4 foot tall, custom martins cage. Besides the fact that it can be a total bitch to clean, my kiddos love it 
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May 7, 2012 22:20
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I went ahead and ordered the Critter Nation cage, along with a litter pan and a Wodent Wheel. These guys certainly don't need all that space yet, but the little SuperPet cage is just pathetic. Plus I have GOT to get them off the CareFresh. Having that stuff in my house is deadly.
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May 7, 2012 22:54
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Here's a quick, not so great quality shot of Donut.  She seems pretty mellow and affectionate. She also really likes those blocks from that recipe. They turned out great!  E: Although... they're not TOTALLY dry yet, but I'm working on it.
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May 7, 2012 23:04
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Bear Rape posted:Couldn't find a Critter Nation cage though, and I'm not too keen on this whole warehouse truck shipping that petco/smart seems to have. For whatever it is worth, I ordered mine from PetSmart and the manufacturer packaging was plenty sturdy for shipping. No one can deliver me a drafting table without damaging it, but my double Critter Nation made it fine. It ships flat, similar to flat-pack from IKEA, and assembly is relatively simple.
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May 8, 2012 21:34
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Well, we've figured out which one gets which name. The agouti is Garrus, and the fairly chill black with two white "stripes" on the edge of his belly is Mordin, and the one who leapt off my arm and ended up taking us on a merry chase around the box of dog toys is Joker. It was quite an adventure. Hopefully he wasn't too freaked out, he's already the shyest/squirmiest of the babies. Garrus and Mordin both had successful calm shoulder hangout time with my husband and me, and until he decided to make the death-defying leap Joker was okay with sitting on my shoulder for a little while as well. So, overall, I think it was progress, even if we had a mad scramble at the end.
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May 9, 2012 02:20
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I am endlessly amused! Conrad plays with me JUST LIKE I was another rat. He bounces, he "chirps", he "chews", he chases my hand around then switches it up and wants me to chase him, and he likes belly rubs while he grooms me entirely too much. He's awesome, I'm sad that he is already so far along in life, but hey, at least he can play with me all day and get out of that pet store. I don't let rat newbies around him though, just because of the chewing, it is definitely just play and doesn't hurt at all, but it freaks out people who aren't used to being around rats. Edit: I'm going to make a video soon of him playing with me, it's too cute.
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May 10, 2012 00:45
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Jin Wicked posted:For whatever it is worth, I ordered mine from PetSmart and the manufacturer packaging was plenty sturdy for shipping. I've never ordered from IKEA  I'd have to figure out where that will be dropped/shipped to because if it's some sort of curbside pickup, I have a really weird schedule so I'm worried about not being able to retrieve it (plus my boyfriend doesn't come home until 7 on most days and I'm pregnant so no heavy lifting for me). I suppose I can always call up and ask though. Sucks though, my now-empty ferret cage would be amazing for rats if the bars weren't so wide. Regardless, my rats have enough space right now, but hopefully I can expand it in the future. (And I love Critter Nation cages now that I've looked through this thread a lot, so I'll definitely be getting one, just not sure when.) My rats also got a huge benefit of me reorganizing my room!  They can watch all the goings-on in my room and out the window from where they are, and they seem to really like it. Donut is settling in well too. I thought she might've brought fleas with her, but turns out that was the ferret, and my quick
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May 10, 2012 02:07
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Scruffy's sneezing issues have gone away after changing his bedding. He's still a little timid, but he's new so I expect that. I take the little dudes out every day a few times for 20-30 minutes at a time as I find time, once with the kids up and active and a time or two after the kids are asleep. What can I do to help convince them that coming out of the cage onto my hands is totally awesome? They enjoy themselves once they're out, and they will cling to the bars of the cage with their back feet and climb all over my hands, they just won't get on them and stand there to be moved, so I have to actually grab them and pull them away. I give them treats and coax them out every day, I don't feed them through the bars or anything, so just trying to see if this is just something I have to work at longer or if I'm doing something wrong.
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May 10, 2012 13:26
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What kind of coating do they put on the Critter Nation cages? Looking at it, I know I could weld up a better one for cheaper, but the coating might make it un-doable.
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May 10, 2012 13:28
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Pretty sure that it's a powder coating, which is (as I understand it) pretty much impossible without an industrial-type setup.
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May 11, 2012 09:13
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Bear Rape posted:I've never ordered from IKEA Me either, but I shop in the store, and they Tetris poo poo into flat boxes like nobody's business. Atmus posted:What kind of coating do they put on the Critter Nation cages? Looking at it, I know I could weld up a better one for cheaper, but the coating might make it un-doable. Some variety of powder coating. It has a bumpy texture and feels more like paint, than like smooth shiny plastic.
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May 11, 2012 09:28
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I swung by Petsmart on the way home yesterday and looked at one. I couldn't tell if it is decently durable paint, or kind of crummy powdercoating. How much do they try to chew on the bars/structure? I know of some paints that won't come off short of an angle grinder that would also protect from urine and such. There isn't anything else special about the coating materials I should know about, is there?
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May 11, 2012 14:44
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I think chewing on bar varies rat by rat. Out of my three I have one that chews on the bars a ton, the other two don't even bother. If it's an issue, try putting really spicy chili powder on the bars, it's definitely deterred my one bar-chewer, but I make sure it's a paste/liquid so they don't breathe it in.
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May 11, 2012 15:09
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The box says "Platinum gray hammertone finish," whatever that means. Mine arrived yesterday. We haven't assembled it yet - I ordered some of the premade shelf and ramp covers because I don't have time to make anything atm, and I'm waiting for them to arrive before I move the boys. Husker was very upset yesterday when some of the beef trimmings I cut off our steaks last night went into the rat cage instead of to him. They also got one of the cooked bones after we were done, and much crunching was heard.
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May 11, 2012 15:58
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I've only had one rat who tried to chew the cage at all, and she mostly focused on the plastic pan. I know she chewed on the bars a bit, but I couldn't tell you where – there aren't any visible marks at all. Razorbunny, you go set that cage up and take some pictures already! 
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May 11, 2012 16:32
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Invalid Octopus posted:I've only had one rat who tried to chew the cage at all, and she mostly focused on the plastic pan. I know she chewed on the bars a bit, but I couldn't tell you where – there aren't any visible marks at all. Razorbunny, you go set that cage up and take some pictures already! The ramp covers and such should arrive in the next couple of days, and we'll set it up then. Their wheel is due to arrive on Wednesday. Daggerdragon sent me an awesome fleece tunnel and some hammocks for PISSmas several years ago, and I only ever used one of the hammocks, but I have no idea where the other pieces are  If I can locate them, they'll go up in the new cage. I also have a better water bottle somewhere in our storage room.The boys are very sneaky, by the way. I'm working from home and I haven't heard them move, but when I went to look someone had grabbed one of the frozen strawberries I put in the dish this morning. Sneaky sneaky.
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May 11, 2012 16:46
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RazorBunny posted:The box says "Platinum gray hammertone finish," whatever that means. That sound suspiciously like textured spraypaint I see around. Maybe I will do a test piece to see how tough that stuff is.
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May 11, 2012 16:48
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RazorBunny posted:Daggerdragon sent me an awesome fleece tunnel and some hammocks for PISSmas several years ago, and I only ever used one of the hammocks, but I have no idea where the other pieces are I should probably get back to making those again. Need a sewing machine...
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May 11, 2012 18:52
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daggerdragon posted:I should probably get back to making those again. Need a sewing machine... They were very cool. The tunnel was a bit big for the cage the old pair was in, but should fit nicely in the Critter Nation cage. I just wish I knew where it was! The storage room is kind of my husband's domain, so I'll ask him to venture in there and search for it. Oh, and he pretends to still be mad at me for bringing them home, but today he had to go buy cat litter and he came home with a bag of yogurt drops for them. He's so full of poo poo. RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 19:09
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I finally managed to get a photo of Folly and Gypsy running on the wheel together  edit: We're taking Angie and Folly into the vet tomorrow, for sniffles. This is our awesome vet: 
Invalid Octopus fucked around with this message at 22:00 on May 11, 2012 |
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May 11, 2012 21:52
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All the old rat accessories were located! And our mail carrier brought us the shelf and floor covers! I went to pick up some rat-appropriate litter and the fellas assembled the cage while I was gone. The rats are having a blast roaming around. So far they haven't used the ramp at all, just climbed straight up the bars. They love their fleece tunnel Hubby promised to get some good photos of the setup so far, with the decent camera - our family room is very dark, so it's hard for me to get good pictures with my little point and shoot. Once the wheel arrives we'll fit that in somewhere and see if they take to it. Also, they've figured out that the corner litter box doesn't fit snugly to the corner, so if they want to be left alone they crawl behind it
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May 11, 2012 22:12
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Gave the girls an egg today for the first time. They had fun.     
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May 12, 2012 00:51
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