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/\/\/\I'd be cool with five. Only two to start, though.Superconsndar posted:Today, I had THREE Petland employees struggle, and then fail to sex a rat. They keep them in the back, and I told them to gimme a female because I just needed a generic female. I was standing just outside the staff area and could hear all three of the employees back there going "uh, is this a female?" "uh, yeah...yeah, that's female." I didn't check or even look in the box until I got home because how do you gently caress up sexing a rat, but I could see its GIANT RAT BALLS as soon as I popped the lid of the box open. I also told them to give me a large, and it is like 5 weeks old. At Petco, our training includes looking at drawings of rat junk to avoid just such a mistake  I'm hoping that the rats in our store have fleas because otherwise I may be allergic to rats now and that sucks because I was planning on getting a couple. I was grabbing a feeder rat and after boxing her up my hand started itching like a motherfucker. There was a tiny scratch from the rats claws, but there was also a big giant bump that looked like an insect bite. I so do not want to be allergic to rats.
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Dec 27, 2012 04:54
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| # ? May 31, 2024 09:20 |
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I've got Casper in my lap about to die. It's been a long happy life for him so I wont be upset for long. Hes a tough little bastard. Every time I think hes gonna give up he snaps awake for a second before going limp again. I love you little guy. I'm gonna miss you.
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Dec 27, 2012 20:04
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Oh no  At least he can go out being cuddled - something none of my girls have ever been able to have happen. Poor chap
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Dec 27, 2012 22:44
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I'm sorry but, I'm glad he's peaceful. That's all I want for my guys when they pass.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:24
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I think we should all be so lucky as to die peaceful and warm being cuddled by a loved one.
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Dec 27, 2012 23:42
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       Man, I didn't realise just how chilled out my original trio are for girl rats. Moxxi and Pandora, even though Moxxi's only about a month or so younger than my ~six month old girls, don't stop. Five rats is my limit, I think. When everyone is wide awake and bouncing, I just get totally swarmed.
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Dec 28, 2012 00:11
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I'm down to one.
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Dec 28, 2012 02:20
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Just sent Casper for cremation. Made sure they would do it while hes wrapped in my scarf.CompactFanny posted:I'm down to one. None.
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Dec 28, 2012 18:29
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I'm sorry Slidje The scarf is a lovely idea.
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Dec 29, 2012 00:54
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I'm really sorry, Slidje (and CF). Are you guys finished with rats now or do you think you'll want to get more?
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Dec 29, 2012 17:17
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I haven't decided, but I know I'm going with females if I get another pair. Sprocket will be 3 in march and he never stopped peeing all over me every chance he gets.
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Dec 29, 2012 18:49
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Amelia has picked up an interesting new hobby -- attempting to pull our lips open so she can lick the inside. Where the hell did she even get an idea like that? I love her anyway.
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Dec 30, 2012 01:01
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Your mouth smells of food, she wants that food. I would reeeeeally advise to NOT let her do that, because not only is it unhygienic, it's also potentially dangerous if she decides to suddenly chomp down.
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Dec 30, 2012 14:14
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Fraction posted:it's also potentially dangerous if she decides to suddenly chomp down. LEARNED THIS THE HARD WAY.
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Dec 30, 2012 16:48
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Superconsndar posted:LEARNED THIS THE HARD WAY. I read somewhere once (maybe itt?) about someone who owned a rat who ripped a chunk of their lip off trying to get into their mouth  I am always really cautious if my girls go anywhere near my mouth.
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Dec 30, 2012 16:55
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Yeah I personally don't like animals near my mouth. Or people  My ex tried to kiss one of my rats once right after dinner and was rewarded with a pierced lip.
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Dec 30, 2012 19:42
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 This is Hecuba We have had our rats now for a few weeks and so far things are better but Hecuba is still having issues with biting fingers and things. She is still high strung slight movements or motion make her flee and hide. She rips things apart when given the chance, and she's now drawn blood with a bite. I am unsure as to what to do with Hecuba. She does love getting out of the cage and exploring she also loves to jump and run when she can. getting rid of her is not an option I will love that rat for her life I just want her to have a better life. I also have to fault myself, what am I doing wrong? What can I do better? My wife and I spend as much time as we can with the rats letting them run and climb all over us and around safe spots in the home. They love yogurt chips and my wife and I both spoil them rotten with them.  This is Cara Noeli Now Cara on the other hand is entirely different she loves to crawl and climb but is less wild then Hecuba. However she is awfully cage shy she likes to get out of the cage but will hesitate when Hecuba is already off and away. Something else comes to mind when my wife purchased the pair the handler admitted she may have "spooked" Hecuba when cleaning the cage. That statement should have sent off alarm bells but they were the last two rats and my wife and I agreed that we were not going to leave the rats alone.
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Dec 30, 2012 20:31
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Fraction posted:Your mouth smells of food, she wants that food. I would reeeeeally advise to NOT let her do that, because not only is it unhygienic, it's also potentially dangerous if she decides to suddenly chomp down. Oh yeah, we redirect her every time she tries. She's doing it less and less, though. And here's some photospam:  Post-bath towel time!   She was capped as a baby, but it turns out her adult coat is almost Himalayan? 
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Dec 30, 2012 20:52
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We're thoroughly fed up of cleaning the large plastic based monstrosity we have and really want something with a bottom tray that'll slide out. Does anyone have any immediate recommendations? This is currently #1 on our list. http://www.cagesworld.co.uk/p/Liberta_Explorer_Rat%2C_Ferret_and_Chinchilla.htm
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Dec 30, 2012 21:03
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Gooses and Geeses posted:We're thoroughly fed up of cleaning the large plastic based monstrosity we have and really want something with a bottom tray that'll slide out. Does anyone have any immediate recommendations? Do you use fleece or substrate? I have an Aventura cage (when it was on sale for £89  ) and had to stop using aubiose/hemcore because it just got everywhere. I use cardboard strips now, which they fling out but at a lesser rate than the hemp bedding. If you use fleece and can deal with spot cleaning and all that, the Liberta Explorer/SRS/Aventura/etc cages are amazing.I can't really be assed with fleece so I just clean up the cardboard each day V  VIf you're looking for something slimmer than the explorer/etc, I really like this cage. With the code DECEMBER you get 25% off today, too.
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Dec 30, 2012 21:13
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We just have newspaper and shredded paper which they love love love making nests out of. Any time we've tried to use anything else they just punt it out of the cage. Thanks for the links!
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Dec 30, 2012 21:15
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If your current cage has a fairly high sided tray, expect to be cleaning up a lot of paper scraps. I don't even know how my rats manage it, but the cardboard gets everywhere (the hemp was so, so much worse though ). What sort of cage are you looking for? The liberta explorer and similiar cages are fairly wide; and they're over 5 feet tall on the stand. How many rats are you looking to accommodate (now and in future)?
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Dec 30, 2012 21:23
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We've got five and that's the limit! The current tray is quite a deep one, yes, and paper everywhere wouldn't be ideal. There's no height restriction but it needs to be less than 1 metre wide and less than 70cm deep, so the ones linked before fit the bill.
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Dec 30, 2012 21:29
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Okay cool. I have five in an Aventura; if you're willing to throw the money down (and either switch to fleece or just pick up the paper scraps a couple times a day) you'll only need to do a full cage clean every week or so, maybe even less if you use the shelves. Bigger is always better, but bear in mind that with the Liberta Explorer/Aventura type cages, a full cage clean uses a lot of substrate. The two shelves together take nearly as much substrate as a full tray in the Aventura. I'm not sure about the explorer shelves, but it looks like the shelves don't actually have lips? In which case I guess you'll either have to clip fleece on or deal with the rats very easily pushing substrate off of them. It does take a lot of maintenance, and you do use up more substrate simply for the fact that you're basically filling three massive trays full of substrate. I will say that if you get an Explorer, find a way to clip one of the doors shut. Only one door opens on each level on my Aventura and holy hell. It's difficult enough with rats pouring onto you out of one door; I can't even imagine how hard it must be if you have young or attention-hungry rats trying to climb out of both doors.
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Dec 30, 2012 21:35
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Does using fleece not increase the smell? I always thought the newspaper would 'hide' waste and prevent a smell? We've recently switched to fleece with our indoor guinea pigs, so I'm not completely averse to change.
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Dec 30, 2012 21:37
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If you use fleece, I suggest investing in a handheld vacuum, or else picking up poop by hand. (You can try litter training, but my rats never took to it.) You'll probably want to change the fleece liners twice a week, too, rather than once; in my experience they do tend to soak up the pee more, and get gross after more than ~3 days. Someone like Invalid Octopus, who regularly uses fleece liners, might be able to help you more on fleece questions 
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Dec 30, 2012 21:50
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Fraction posted:If you use fleece, I suggest investing in a handheld vacuum, or else picking up poop by hand. (You can try litter training, but my rats never took to it.) You'll probably want to change the fleece liners twice a week, too, rather than once; in my experience they do tend to soak up the pee more, and get gross after more than ~3 days. We already do that with the guineas actually, so that's a neat idea. Hmm..
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Dec 30, 2012 21:57
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Invalid Octopus posted:Could you try cleaning the room with Nature's Miracle? This is decently reviewed, though I haven't used it – it's supposed to remove odor from the cage, but it might help with the cat odor near the cage. You could also try feeding them extra stinky food and/or giving them extra places to hide. Just wanted to pop in really quick and say thanks for this. No Nature's Miracle but I dutifully tried to keep the cat stink out of the room (they shed all over the blankets mostly and no one really ever uses that bed so I washed everything), and shoved a ton of paper towels into their cage. I think they've also just generally gotten used to it, as occasionally a cat will pop in and they don't seem to be skittish at all anymore. I think the hidey holes especially helped, there were a few boxes in there beforehand but I don't think it was doing the trick for them. They seem much happier now though!
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Dec 31, 2012 09:26
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Not The Platypus posted:Oh yeah, we redirect her every time she tries. She's doing it less and less, though. That's the same rat? Woah.  Speaking of coat fading, my friend's rat Ren has faded from a banded siamese to... just siamese? As a young 'un:   (Stumpy, Ren's sister, who had the same back-stripe, though his was darker.) Now:    
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Dec 31, 2012 15:58
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Fraction posted:That's the same rat? Woah. It's normal. Siamese rats can definitely be marked, those markings just fade as they molt into their adult coats and they're left with only points.
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Dec 31, 2012 17:49
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Nono, the black capped is a different rat. Amelia started off looking champagne capped --you can still sort of see it when she's wet.
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Dec 31, 2012 18:31
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Fraction posted:think you'll want to get more?
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Dec 31, 2012 19:30
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The girls are so sweet. IMG_0186 by cerebruminc, on Flickr
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Jan 1, 2013 04:38
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I just spent about two hours cleaning the rat cage and redesigning everything. BEFORE THE CLEANING   Top of cage.  Bottom of cage.  Big ol' full cage view.  Rare as hell group shot. Left to right: Valentine, Pandora, Alice, Chell, Mad Moxxi. what is my life when did i become a ratlady 
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Jan 2, 2013 23:56
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Do they stay in that tub? I had to buy a cat carrier for my boys because they go to great lengths to escape wherever I put them while cleaning the cage.
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Jan 3, 2013 00:19
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What a lovely rat bouquet! 
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Jan 3, 2013 03:06
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You know it's funny, the rats typically don't show much interest in the cats at all, but tonight my husband brushed the cats and ended up with a dense bundle of fur a little bigger than a golf ball and we chucked it in the rat cage on a whim. They're having a blast sniffing it and rolling it around, and stealing it back and forth from each other. Cheapest rat toy ever?
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Jan 3, 2013 04:51
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RazorBunny posted:Do they stay in that tub? I had to buy a cat carrier for my boys because they go to great lengths to escape wherever I put them while cleaning the cage. There's a lid for the tub with breathing holes in it  The only reason they hadn't climbed out whilst I took a picture was because they'd just woken up.Amiss posted:What a lovely rat bouquet! Rat bouquet best bouquet
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Jan 3, 2013 09:09
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The box full of squirming rats must be quite a sight. Here is mouses.  White ear fluff.  Mohawk!   Their coats haven't changed much since I got them except Daria is a little bit more glossy, (the black one). They seem to be very content. I'm living at my parents' at the moment and they get nice fresh herbs from the garden. When I clean the counter under their cage, I put them on the floor, and Gary always takes the opportunity to watch them VERY INTENSELY like it's the greatest show on Dog TV. At first he would try to paw at the cage but now he just stands there when I tell him to LEAVE IT and stares. He is a good dog. I wouldn't trust him with them out of the cage though. I was wandering around the house today and couldn't work out where the smell was until I realised Amy had pissed all over me.  Thanks mouse. Thmouse.
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Jan 3, 2013 14:26
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| # ? May 31, 2024 09:20 |
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So uh, random morbid question: would it be dangerous to feed rats the f/t pinkies my snakes refuse? I don't want to just toss em, that feels like a real waste. Plus I heard rats can and do eat mice, but if it's too much protein I won't consider it. As I type this I am imaging a  expression from a million ratladies.
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Jan 3, 2013 20:27
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