Can't Get to Sleep Without the Sound of a Wheel

Although it's been only five days since I returned to York, I feel like I've been snoozing on the couch and browsing the forums for weeks. Now that the meeces have returned to hyper activity while I sleep at night in the same room rather than the room next to me, the sound of their wheel turning nonstop throughout the night, I miss my rattie babies even more. I do love the meeces a lot and play with them every day, but they're not just as interested in me as Peaches is when she cuddles next to me, or the twins who desperately want to lick my fingers for any remaining foodscraps.

Ricky reports how the girls are doing every day, and I get to talk to Peaches while she licks the phone. Hopefully, I will soon be able to see Noodle and Peach next week when Ricky visits next week.

Noodle is shedding off her fur again. I'm told that she looks like a baby bird with its feathers growing in. Cute.

Which brings me to why I should never get wrapped up in the rat forums, as they always somehow end up getting me upset. Forums, in general, tend to upset me, but when I found out about one for rats I thought that it mostly consisted of people giving sound advice and commenting on cute rat pictures.

While I read the forums every day, I rarely comment, mostly because everything that can be said has already been said on the topic, and that keeping up on a thread becomes nearly impossible when you go off to run an errand and return an hour later. By this point, the thread becomes people reiterating their opinion as strongly as possible, in the hope, I think, that their sheer persistence will convince the other person that they are, of course, right. While I have no problems with debate and good conversation (as usually that's what most of it is), when I saw a thread about the Spring Rodent Fest and a separate one about what makes a good breeder I become interested.

The first thread started off with a lot of excitement about the fest, but then the post-fest conversation turned into an accusatory hodge-podge of comments calling most of the breeders there "sketchy." When one of the ratteries I had met at the Fall fest came up, I raised an eyebrow and wondered if that person had even bothered to go up and have a conversation with the owners, as they are very nice people and very willing to talk with you about what they do and what they planned to do with the rattery. I had played with their rats previously, and all were very sweet and looked healthy. The people could afford to keep the amount of rats they owned and were very passionate about rescuing as well.

In fact, the majority, minus maybe one or two stands, were all breeders and rescues I had previously come across and talked to extensively. The woman who owns the apparently "sketchy" rattery/rescue recognized me from the Fall and we had a nice conversation. The other rattery and mousery people also recognized me and we talked for a while and handled the rats and mice.

The fact that some people feel that a decent rattery never sells their rats at a show I found interesting. If anyone had even talked to most of the people there, especially the people with more rats, they would have discovered that most of the rats there were already reserved and those people adopting had already filled out an adoption contract. Anyone observing the adoptions of the animals at the fest would probably have assumed the breeders were practically giving away their rats without any prior knowledge of the adopter, but, in reality, many people who were picking up rats (and mice for that matter) had previously filled out adoption questionnares. They then paid the adoption fee and filled out a contract there. The rats that did not already have homes were up for adoption by the attendees, but those people were also informed about rat care and asked the same questions they would have been if they had made a previous reservation. I think that meeting an adopter face-to-face and asking them questions there, allowing them to see and handle the rats, and informing them there would be the better idea.

I myself encountered many a suspicious mousery owner who questioned me about my mice and asked if I had owned mice previously etc. etc. It was a not a free give-away fest. And by claiming that none of those rattery (and, I assume, included mousery) owners are not legitimate, to me, just seems accustary, rather than informational to the those interested in adopting rodents.

Up next: Ratteries vs. Rescues
and the hybrid rattery/rescue