Baby!

(Finally I have the time to post this.)

On Sunday, Ricky and I traveled over the bridge to Pasadena to pick up little Panya. Even though the night before, we attended WAC's Birthday Ball, a fete of great proportions in which we and our friends danced badly and watched drunk people make bad decisions, as well as taking silly pictures beforehand, we still managed to get there at a pretty early hour.


Ricky's gonna kill me for this. =)

Okay, no more human pictures. We, after all, are subservient to this new adorable fluffball:



















They're a little blurry (still frames from video), but still cute. =)

Diana at BSS is so nice and produces beautiful babies, so Ricky's mom has decided to get (or for us to pretend to get her) two babies from BSS. Happiness!

Waiting and waiting

This week has literally been insane for me and Ricky. With tests, essays, and applications of sorts due, at Wednesday we are very, very tired. In order to keep me from sleeping through all of my classes, Ricky has lately gotten into the habit of putting Peaches or the twins on top of me in the morning, which this morning had the opposite effect of me curling up with the ratties and promptly falling back asleep. Oh well.

What really has me excited, though, is the fact that this weekend we'll be picking up little Panya from BSS. After weeks of waiting, this is finally it. We also changed our BHR reservation from the Justin/Taylor litter, as she had a false pregnancy, to the Chevy/Quest litter. I also made a hopeful reservation on the Stewie/Skyye litter, as I prefer the dumbos and Ricky prefers standards, but there will be no guarantee for babies from that litter because breeders are getting first choice.

A few weeks ago I took extensive video/pictures of all of the girls, so I hope to take the time today and upload them so I can post a few things. There are currently no pictures of Bridget and no fantastic pics of Luffy or Pumpkin (oops).

Weird/cute behavoir side note: 1. The meeces have begun nesting in the hamster potty on the second story of their house. Chloe likes to stick her head out and rest her chin on the side like a puppy. 2. Bridget is obsessed with the demented sushi fabric cube I made over the break. She rarely leaves it now unless we determine she needs playtime. 3. Pumpkin is getting...nicer? She doesn't mind a few cuddles now and then.

And, of course, the twins are up to their usual "Give-me-that-treat-oh-now-I-lost-that-treat-can-I-please-have-another?" routine. It's like a house full of manipulative adorable puppies. =)

Valentine Rat

Yesterday, Ricky and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day, full of sushi and good movies. Around 11, I received an email from Blue Stone Siamese, a rattery specializing in Siamese rats in Glen Burnie, MD (right next to Ricky's hometown of Pasadena). We stumbled across the website about a month ago, and soon become interested in getting a companion for Luffy from the rattery. Luckily, she had two females still available from a recent litter, Panya, a Siamese rex, and Shai-Nefer, a standard Siamese. I immediately fell for the rex and got myself on the waiting list. However, there were a few complications in adopting Panya and also a rattie from BHR (Blue Heaven Rattery) that went something like this:

1. BHR had first dibs on the rex if she was a blue point Siamese, so I had to wait and see if they would take her first. Meanwhile -
2. I was also on the waiting list for BHR's Justin/Taylor litter, hoping to get an American Blue girl. But -
3. Taylor was a week late, meaning a. very few babies or b. a false pregnancy, so while I straightened out the details on that
4. I waited to see what Panya's coloring would look like, eventually leading to
5. The email last night finally telling me she was available.

Yay! The world of ratteries.

If you would like to see baby Panya, or are interested in adopting from a future litter (which include Siamese dumbos as well) check out BSS's Myspace. If you're into blues, I would recommend looking at Blue Heaven Rattery's website.

And, as a plug for adopting rescues, SNR House of Rats (where we got Mimi and Xing Xing from) just got in a TON of adorable rescue babies. Check out their myspace as well.

Meeeeeces

While most of my time is spent entertaining the rats, I do try and make the time every day to spend time with the three Project Runway meeces: Chloe, Leanne, and Sweet P. As they are all around 5-6 months at this time, I thought I'd post some pictures to commemorate their half-year birthdays. Happy birthday babies! (All of these pictures were taken when they were around 1-2 months old by my friend Insley and her wonderful high speed camera.)

Chloe:
Peekaboo!

So tiny.

Tubey.

Peering over the edge.


Leanne:
Even tinier.

More tubey!

Sniff sniff.

Sweet P:
Eh?

Meece attack!

Fin.

Rats Lovers in a Panera Bread

Sunday afternoon, Ricky and I adventured into Baltimore for our first Baltimore Rat Meetup monthly meeting. After the initial awkardness of walking up to complete strangers and asking "Is this is rat meeting?", we settled down with four other people for a three hour discussion of anything (and everything) rat.

Danielle, the meetup organizer and her friend Julie brought books by Debbie Ducommun, also known as the "Rat Lady," including Rats and The Complete Guide to Rat Training (both of which we already owned), along with some adorable snuggle scarves for sale which, not possessing one, we immediately snatched up. Much of the initial talk focused on the World of Pets Expo held a few weekends ago, and introducing all of our ratties. I brought my video camera and played some clips I had taken the previous evening. Along with talking about the rats themselves - not being there themselves we had to provide a personality overview - we discussed breeders, rescues, and rattie tips.

As I could spend all day recapping the lengthy conversations, here are a few highlights:

- Discussing favorite type of rats (dumbo, standard, hooded, etc.)
- Pros and Cons of female and male rats, and male genitalia (Ricky and I seemed the only ones squeamish about their gigantic balls. They're huge. Ew.)
- Vet Care
- The life and death of each individual rat

Needless to say, Ricky and I left ridiculously excited about the next meeting and very much wanting to go play with the girls.

We also realized that compared to some rat owners, we are very, very normal. When discussing genetics with my fellow rat lovers in the library, I receive plenty of weird looks from my friends. When someone is discussing the aesthetic appeal of intact male rats, I'm the one who is (slightly) weirded out.

Weird topics and all, I cannot emphasize how much ridiculous and nerdy fun we had. You probably could've let me loose at the Faerie Festival and I would't have had as much fun. And now that the extent of my dorkiness is revealed, here's some info about the meetup:

The Baltimore Rat Meetup has been running for a while, but will shortly be shutting down its meetup page simply because of the costs. If you are interested in joining, let someone know on the webpage so you can get on the email list for future meetings, or just ask me for the email.

In other news:
Still waiting on baby Panya's coloring. Her name means "mouse" in Egyptian, which I find awesome. So far she looks like an adorable ruby-eyed siamese rex.
No more news on BHR Justin and Taylor's litter. Will post as soon as I know.

Happy nice weather!

Mini Rattie Roadtrip

All right, so it wasn't so much a roadtrip as it was driving across the Bay Bridge into the land of concrete and gas stations that makes up Pasadena, but for Peaches and Luffy, I'm guessing it was a roadtrip (of sorts).

Why make this 1.5 hour excursion to spend the weekend when Ricky and I both have papers due?

Why, The Baltimore Rat Meetup Group, of course!

I stumbled upon the group during one of my obsessive-compulsive "must search the entire internet for new things about rats" fits a few weeks ago. When we found out their meetup for the month was gong to be in Baltimore, we decided to attend and check it out. Knowing that Luffy would probably get lonely, as we have never been away from her for a night, we decided to bring her and Peaches along.

Upon arriving, Ricky's mom fawned all over the girls. We discussed our plans for the day, and then decided on a whim to call the rat's vet, Dr. Reggie Cox, who recently opened up her own practice in Glen Burnie. We went for a quick visit, chatted rattie, and made sure Luffy's lack-of-eye was doing all right.

And so, tomorrow we attend the meetup. I am dorkily excited.

Clean clean clean clean

Along with the story of any rodent(s), comes the story of cleaning their cages. In order to get a sense of how often and how much we use to clean with, I'll be trying to keep a tally on this blog.

Sunday (February 1): Rat Cage Day
In order for you to get a sense of how much cleaning we do on a weekly basis, here is our general cage setup for 6 rats (the 3 cages in the corner) and 3 meeces (the smaller two-story cage on the bookshelf). The lower bottom white cage is actually only half of a much larger cage we used to house all the girls in (excluding Ron, she had her own cage, the blue one on top), but due to Pumpkin's continuous and obnoxious harass/hump behavior toward Peaches, we decided to separate her.

Blue Cage (on top): houses Luffy and occasionally Peaches so Luffy has company
Includes: One envelope hammock from Chelsey's Cozies and a regular hammock from Petsmart, along with a climbing rope and medium blue igloo and random cardboard boxes.
Black Cage (Martins R670): houses Pumpkin and Bridget, who prefer to be alone together
Includes: Two hammocks from Chelsey's, two from Stars Rat Rescue, and one demented cube I made, along with a climbing rope, chew blocks, and cardboard box(es).
White Cage (Prevue 4-Story): houses Mimi and Xing Xing, and also Peaches
Includes: Two hammocks from Chelsey's, two climbing ropes and a chew log.

The Mice Cage (Critter Universe): one small igloo, one hamster potty used as a nest, a wheel, and many tubes.

THE RAT CAGE-CLEANING PROCESS

Because I am obsessive compulsive about cleanliness, this is a constant daily activity in my life, whether it be vacuuming around the cage or cleaning up poops that are somehow flung to all reaches of the apartment. They are like monkeys sometimes.

The Process:
1. Unstack all cages. Remove all hammocks from cage into the wash.

2. Remove the twins from their cage. Empty out bottom of cage into trash can. Vacuum up leftover poops and bedding pieces. Spray with organic/non-rat killing cleaner and wipe down with paper towels. Wash food bowl. Replace bedding. Put back pissed-off rats who hate everything being clean. Watch them poop and pee all over everything again.

3. Somehow get Bridget and Pumpkin out of their cage. Repeat.

4. Remove Luffy and repeat again.

5. Remove Meeces from their cage - either scrub out cage with cleaner or soak in the sink, depending on how ambitious I feel. Meeces have the worst stink, as they poop everything 3.2 seconds.

6. Get the stink eye from the rats while hammocks are in the wash. Feed them treats.

7. Place hammocks back into cages. Happy rats!

8. Now, repeat 1-3 times a week.

And there you go! Whoo cage cleaning! I actually don't mind it (Ricky does).

Remember, when considering cages, bedding materials, and toys:
- NEVER put in anything where your rats have a risk of injuring themselves. For some strange reason, hurt rats do not have a tendency to call attention to themselves, leading to a major freakout by their owners.
- ALWAYS use bedding such as Carefresh, EcoBedding, and Yesterday's News, NOT Pine or Cedar shavings. I cannot emphasize this enough. If you use soft wood bedding, be prepared to have rats with major respiratory problems down the road.
- If you use newspaper, change it out very often, as rat pee on newspaper makes a stinky ammonia that's not good for anyone's noses
- And remember, the more hammocks, ropes, and chew toys, the happier (ie less bored) your rats will be.

Happy cleaning!

Over a Month Later: New Rat, New Semester...New Puppy?

NEW PUPPY:

My winter beak become suddenly busy when I began babysitting an additional pet while everyone else was at work/school: a new puppy. My sister managed to convince my parents that a puppy from her friend's accidental litter should permanently stay with us. Now, while Chloe (two Chloe's now!) is adorable and altogether a smart, well-behaved puppy, you can imagine the chaos of watching an 10-week-old puppy while cleaning out a Martins R-670 and brand new but hard to assemble mouse cage. Most of my days went become a monotony of this:

1. Wake up to puppy whining
2. Sprint downstairs to alleviate puppy whining - let dogs out
3. Clean up puppy mess in the puppy kennel
4. Entertain puppy for about an hour until she passes out
5. Grab rat from cage and cuddle while making food while reading while puppy sleeps
6. Rat happily grooms puppy until puppy wakes up - puppy is terrified of rat's sniff attack - put rat away
7. Play with puppy again - shut all doors so puppy cannot harrass rat
8. Puppy sleeps - pet half-asleep mice and feed meeces and rat/change water
9. Puppy wakes up...etc.

On top of this, I was trying to make plans with friends for times when I wasn't puppy sitting, or letting the puppy in and out every 20 minutes, trying to make sure she didn't run out into the street.

NEW RAT:

Ricky visited York during the break, so I decided to to take it upon myself to expose him to a five-week old litter of adorable kittens (baby rats) at the local pet store. I had visited the day prior and the lady knew I possessed more rat knowledge than her, so she readily let me reach into the tank and pull out a black-hooded girl. Except…

Me: “Ricky?”
Ricky: “…what?”
Me: “One-eyed rat. One-eyed rat. One-eyed rattiiieee.”
Owner: “She only has one eye? I can’t really sell her then. She’s free if you or anyone else wants her.”
Me (now terrified one-eyed rat is going to be snake food in the next 5 minutes): “Ricky. Call your mom.”

And he did. Now, Luffy, named after a character in One Piece (we are nerds) is now Ricky’s favorite rat and he dotes upon her like nothing else.

Although I DO NOT recommend buying rats or any other small pet from a pet store, especially large chains like Petco and Petsmart (I'm being a complete hypocrite here - 4 of our 6 rats are from a pet store), here are some tips if you decide to do so.

1. Check out the pet store first. Ask the owner or an employee if they buy from a reputable breeder or take in rescues. If they have no idea – bad sign. Peaches and Pumpkin were from a local breeder (who I think used to have a larger rattery), and Bridget was a rescue at the local petstore in Chestertown. Luffy was also a rescue, as she would have been snake food.

2. Ask what the pet store uses for bedding and what they sell rodents for. They should only be selling rodents as PETS – NOT FEEDERS. My rant about that will come later.
Good Bedding: Aspen shavings, Carefresh, Eco-bedding, Yesterday’s News
Bad Bedding: Pine and Cedar Shavings, using nothing at all
Good Food: Harlan Teklan lab blocks, high quality dog food, high-quality grains, minimal amount of seeds, fresh foods like fruit and veggies
Bad Food: Most of the pre-made mixes you see at Petco (Fiesta, etc.). No no for the rodents.

3. Approach the rat cage. Do the rats come up to? Are they interested? Will they let you pick them up? Do they have runny eyes? Runny nose? Lots of sneezing? Sores and bitemarks?
Remember: A healthy rat means less vet bills. A typical check-up can cost $30-50. Save your monies for other things, like hammocks and toys.

This is not to say that all pet stores are bad ones. That Pet Place in Lancaster, PA (they also have a web site www.thatpetplace.com) is FANTASTIC. I could hang out there and play with their baby rats for hours. So cute.

On a sad note, Ron Howard, our oldest rat, passed away on January 7 in her sleep. She had steadily been recovering from the worst of her pneumonia symptoms, but after being taken off medication slowly faded once again. She was the last of the original pair Ricky rescued from Petco, and will always serve as a reminder that loving rats can come from the feeder tank, but are also riddled with many health problems.

Because I don’t want to end this post on a sad note, we have more good news!

…We’re getting a playmate(s) for Luffy!

We recently discovered Blue Stone Siamese, a rattery in Glen Burnie which, as the name suggests, specializes in Siamese rats. We are on the wait list for either a standard or rex coat Siamese female, and we are ridiculously excited.

I also have a reservation on a female from Blue Heaven Rattery, another excellent rattery and rescue in Philly. Once the babies are born, we can pick her up at the end of March.

Babies! Yay!