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!

Babies and Babysitting!

...Another rattie arrived today.

Last night Ricky and I picked up a friend's rat for me to babysit over the winter break. She's having surgery over the break and already has an ornery old himmy to look after, so I said I could babysit (since Ricky has the other 6 girls...). She came into my friend's care based on my suggestion - someone had dropped off a poor older female rat at the pet store because her cagemate had died and the owner decided that they didn't want to take care of her anymore. I decided to tell my friend about the white rat in the pet store, and, sure enough, three days later she was roaming around her room. When she asked me to take care of Trill, I couldn't stay no.

For all of the rat nerds out there, Trill is a beige capped girl with a white blaze. She's maybe a year a half old and has some hair loss on her tummy (I think from overgrooming) and around her ears. She spent a good amount of time curled up on my lap while I scritched her ears. Having a rat that is, for five weeks, mine, is ridiculously exciting to me. Having a lone rat (especially a girl) is hard work since females have the tendency to get bored easily. That means lots of toys and playtime every day. As a bored college student on winter break, this is perfect for me. I plan on spending most of my time playing with Trill and the meeces along with lots of reading and relaxing.

Besides Trill, I soon might have some more babies in my life. The pet store also breeds sweet fancy mice, and they currently have a pile of already-spotted pinkies. I've already gone over a few times this week to hold the babies, and hinted to Ricky that maybe a larger cage and some more babies for Christmas would be nice...

My Rodent Wish List:
- more blue berkshires...
- some adorable meeces
- a new mouse cage
- rattie and mousie toys
- a maze for playtime
- lots and lots of Carefresh and Regal Rat!

A Meece Story

Before I begin on the long story that is my relationship with rats, I thought I should comment on my 3 mice, Lehanne, Sweet P, and Chloe (all Project Runway designers, yes...). I ended up aquiring these "mini rats" when my boyfriend and I traveled to Rising Sun, MD, a hour or so drive from Chestertown, for our first ever rodent show. Having never been to a rodent convention, I had no idea what to expect. What ended up happening, however, was an insane cuteness overload of chincillas, rats, ferrets, and, of course, hundreds of little mice. Even though Ricky had sold me on the cuteness of rats, I was still hesistant about the cuddle-factor of a two-inch long fluffball.

To my great surprise, I received a refreshing welcome and introductory lesson on mice from Mike Chiodo of Mikiodo Mice, who let me hold a miniscule fuzzy male mouse who decided to "purr" while I pet his head and giggled to myself, much to Ricky's amusement and horror. After holding another Siamese female (yes, there are Siamese rats and mice) and resisting the pull of two half-sister ratties, Ricky and I decided the best course of action was to purchase three mice, two from Mike and one from Whiskers N Tails Mousery.

While I can say I did have a momentary pang of regret for implusively buying three little mice, a travel cage, and many, many treats, today I am extremely grateful for my little fuzzballs. Rats can be fun, but they tend to be much more moody than the mice, who will gladly be held and pet at whatever time for however long a time.

Another plus is that mice have personalities too. Lehanne, a tiny variegated grey and white rex, always runs up to people first and loves sitting still in the palm of your hand. Chloe (aka Spike), a satin blue tan, obsessively runs in her wheel like no other rodent I've seen before, and almost always never sits still. Sweet P, an imperfect tricolor (it's why she was sold) is the largest of the three and thinks everything is food. Luckily, mice nibbles don't hurt at all. Back in October a friend came over and took lovely pictures of all of the girls, and when I get some pictures back I will be sure to post them.

If you are thinking of purchasing a mouse, please do your research. Although I used to be terrified of rodents, I still had experience taking care of hamsters, gerbils, and rats for many years. Go to Google and type "mousery listings" and you'll find some great websites which list all of the mouseries in your area. I recommend the Mousery Database. Or, check PetFinder to see if there are any rescues in your immediate area. If you know your local pet store breeds nice mice (mine does), then talk to the owner and see if you can reserve some babies.

Some more tips: If you want more than one mouse, I highly recommend females. Male mouse are fine by themselves, but females should be purchased in pairs or in threes (in case something happens). Think about the cage you want: many wire cages are inappropriate for mice. If their head can get through, so can the rest of them. Think about the plastic cages, or better, glass aquariums with mesh lids. Provide one or two wheels for your babies and places for them to hide. Also, NEVER use pine or cedar shavings. While mice do have small noses, some still react negatively to these kinds of bedding. Only use hard wood, such as aspen. Personally, I used either EcoBedding, Carefresh, or Softsorbent for my babies. And, when it comes to food, get some high quality grains and cereals to make a mix as well as a nice quality dog food. Those seed mixes at Petco are not what your rodent needs.

Alyse and Ricky's Rat/Meece Mix:
- One cup of puffed wheat
- One cup of puffed rice
- Two cups dry oats
- Two cups Total cereal
- One cup muesli
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds - my mice loooove them
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or any other dried fruit)
- One cup of any other yummy cereal we find at the store
- Equal to previous amounts dry dog food

Snacks for Ratties and Meeces:
- grapes (every day!)
- yoggies
- brocolli
- dog biscuits
- carrots
- fresh yoghurt
- apples
- dried banana chips (Healthy Toppings)
- any other whole food that looks yummy...

Most people may think the above lists are a bit much, but I've learned by following these healthy food guidelines that in return you have happier, healthier rodents. Trust me.

- End of the mouse story (for now)

And the saga begins...

After having experienced the joy of little rodents running around for about a year now, I've decided to write about the many little girl ratties and meeces that have somehow crept into my life. I never really decided to start the venture into rodent land, I just somehow ended up in the middle of it. Here I intend to record my history with the tiny poofballs and how they have changed my outlook on little furry things.

Before I begin, I thought I'd introduce my favorite girl, Princess Peach. She came to me and my boyfriend by the chance of making adorable faces at us while we were making our occasional petstore visit. Ricky, my boyfriend, already owned two ratties, but the sight of her ridiculous face made him (and me) pace around the apartment all weekend and decide to snatch her up the following Monday. She is the friendliest rodent I've ever met and never ceases to do ridiculous things every day. Here she is in all her glory:

And now, our story can begin.