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AYA

AYA

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2019
Messages
12
Location
Slovenia
Hi there.

As some of you might already noticed, I did things in the wrong order. I should introduce myself first before posting.
I'm now here to correct this.

I came from a small European country Slovenia. English is not my first language. I hope you'll forgive me unintentional grammar mistakes.

I owned degus for a long time. After they passed away, I decided to care for any small animal that'll need my help, no matter what kind.
I came across an advert, that someone is giving away two one year old female rats. I decided to take them. They gave me their cage, equipment, and everything else, as they were moving abroad. That's why they couldn't keep the rats.
I felt the cage they gave me was too small, regardless the cage calculator calculated it should be fine for three rats. I posted everything about the new cage in the habitat section already.

But first thing first.
One of the two girls had a swollen tummy, so I took her to the vet the very next day I got her. The vet did ultrasound and found a bladder tumor so large, it was impossible to remove it, so I had to put her to sleep the very first day I got her. (why people don't care for their pets properly?)

I was left alone with one poor rat, named Dumbika. Luckily she's a very sweet and outgoing thing, not easily scared, so changing the environment didn't stress her too much.

I was trying to find a new cagemate for her, determinate I won't buy rats from the store. That's when I meet a vet student, that worked in the pet store and told her my story. She was able to get me a rat in a week or so. I was told, that my new baby was meant for a snake food and she "stole" her to save her. I named her Sneki.

I intended to go through a long process of introduction, but after I saw, how well they get along in the neutral territory, I soon put them both in Dumbika's play area. No fights whatsoever. I saw they both benefit from the interaction, as Dumbika was lonely and Sneki was scared. Dumbika's presence has encourage her to explore and stop hiding. They were soon together in the cage, snuggling together. How lucky I got two sweet girls that were able to accept eachother so well.

I really hope I'll be able to provide them a life they deserve. I'll sure try my best to do so.
This forum already helped me a lot. I'll stick around in case I'll need more help, and maybe after a while even provide some help.
 
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Hi, welcome to the forum! While I'm glad your two girls are getting along well, keep in mind that for any future additions to your rat family that you should always quarantine them first. Below is a link to help you with that! (the quarantine helps to ensure your new rat will not get your other one sick). I look forward to chatting with you in the future, and enjoy your ratties!

http://ratguide.com/health/basics/quarantine.php
 
Yes, I later realized, I did a few mistakes already, despite best intentions. There' s so much to know and read, that I missed some things. I'll never repeat those mistakes.

Luckily both girls are fine and healthy. Sneki was at the college where veterinarian students learn, and it would be quite ironic, if they'd keep and hand out ill animals. But you're right. Better safe than sorry. I'll for sure quarantine the next acquisitions.

In case I'll find there are one or two rats, that nobody wants, I'll take them. I have a spare cage and the new one that, according to the cage calculator, can hold up to nine rats. Nine would be too much. However, I can take care for one or two more.
I think I'm already developing GMR disorder :)
 
AYA said:
Yes, I later realized, I did a few mistakes already, despite best intentions. There' s so much to know and read, that I missed some things. I'll never repeat those mistakes.

Luckily both girls are fine and healthy. Sneki was at the college where veterinarian students learn, and it would be quite ironic, if they'd keep and hand out ill animals. But you're right. Better safe than sorry. I'll for sure quarantine the next acquisitions.

In case I'll find there are one or two rats, that nobody wants, I'll take them. I have a spare cage and the new one that, according to the cage calculator, can hold up to nine rats. Nine would be too much. However, I can take care for one or two more.
I think I'm already developing GMR disorder :)
Click to expand...
Believe me, both the GMR and the mistakes are normal. All of my rats are froma pet store, and I hadn’t realized the horrors of that until reading on this forum. The best thing we can do is learn from our mistakes and do our best for the ratties!!
 
Congrats on doing a successful introduction! I love the names, they're very pretty. I'm sorry you lost a rat so quickly; at least she passed on in good hands.
Any advice I'd give out has already been mentioned. I'd say be on the lookout for any illnesses, but I suppose we all do that naturally anyways! Okay, I sorta lied. One piece of advice. It's probably a good idea to get Sneki (assuming she's a baby) some rats her age. Depending on how old Dumbika is, babies may play too roughly with her or pester her to play too much. Older rats, while they enjoy the company and having new babies, can sometimes be too lazy for babies and babies may pester the adults too much.

I have eight unaltered rats, so I'm definitely going all in. I have the time and funds necessary to care for so many rats, especially since I have three who are about to be 2 years old and two more who are almost 1.5 years old. I personally love having such a large group because then rat piles are extra large and extra warm.
I'm also assuming GMR means "get more rats" and isn't a quantum mechanical magnetoresistance effect (I looked it up because I'm so unhip and don't know the abbreviations and whatnot).
 
Yes, I was already thinking to get two more babies (that kind of GMR, yes :)).

The only problem is, I have no idea where to get them. I refuse to buy them from the store. The only self declared rat breeder in the country apparently keep breeding only two females, although their adverts are everywhere. I certainly won't support that. The girl I got Sneki from, is incredibly busy. I guess I'll have to wait for an accidental home litter.
 
AYA said:
Yes, I was already thinking to get two more babies (that kind of GMR, yes :)).

The only problem is, I have no idea where to get them. I refuse to buy them from the store. The only self declared rat breeder in the country apparently keep breeding only two females, although their adverts are everywhere. I certainly won't support that. The girl I got Sneki from, is incredibly busy. I guess I'll have to wait for an accidental home litter.
Click to expand...

That may be the best thing to do. I have emailed all the pet rescues in the area and offered to foster or take in any rats they find. I live in GA in the US and there is a single rat-taking rescue near me and it is over an hour and a half away! I'm hoping this way I can satisfy my GMR while helping out the patties near me who need a good home.
 
Good. I support your refusal to buy from stores. I don't know if Petsmart and Petco are US-only or if they're now international, but it may never hurt to research the stores near you to see if they do humane practices.
I don't know if Petfinder is hosted in your country, and if it may know of any rescues near you. There's Craigslist, Kijiji, Hoobly, etc. although I would be cautious using those since they aren't generally rescues and are just random people. Again, I don't know if these sorts of sites exist in Slovenia.
As always, be on the lookout. Sometimes things just come to us.
 
Welcome to the forum !! :)

I am so very sorry that your girl was so ill and had to be put to sleep.
Congrats on the new baby …… as previously mentioned, babies need another baby to play with
Perhaps if you mention it to the girl you got Sneki from, she might be able to locate one or two more babies

Otherwise, maybe you will hear of some in need of a good home.

In case you are not aware, it is important to spay female rats for health reasons ….. so if you have access to a good vet with the knowledge and experience to safely spay rats then it is something you may want to consider
https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/why-spay-or-neuter-rats.35402/

(Btw the Reference Thread is a good resource https://www.ratshackforum.com/threads/reference-thread-read-only.35894/ as are ratguide.com and joinrats.com)

I hope you will post lots of pics and stories of your girls
 
Thank you for all the kind suggestions. I certainly have a lot to learn.

I did try to contact the girl I got Sneki from and offered her to either pay her for two more girl babies either send a donation in her name to whatever animal rescue she supports. Hopefully she's not too busy and she'll find the time. I have a strong feeling, she'd choose the donation.

If that won't work, I've found an ethical rattery, at least so it seems. If the owner posts angry posts about animal abuse and uncontrolled breeding should be a good sign. Demanding contract for future owners and providing free advices for all the buyers is a good sign as well. However, that'd be the last resort. I'd rather rescue.

I never thought spaying would be so necessary. I'll think about it. I'm very much afraid of anaesthesia, because I lost one of my gerbils I had that way, despite taking her to a good rodent vet. I did chose the other vet since, but I'm not sure I want to risk it.

Edit:
It's pretty impossible to take a good photo of the girls, as they go nuts as soon I came close to the cage. They would do anything but pose for the photo in the play area.
I'm left with bunch of photos of tails, white and black blobs and blurred nose close-ups.
 
Yes, finding a good vet that knows how to do surgery safely is essential
I am very sorry about your gerbil

LOL re pictures, yes I know what that is like, a former member who would post amazing pics of her rats said that she had to take 100 pictures to get a good one ….
 
Aww, I'm sorry for your gerbil. I hooe a new vet will do better!

I totally understand that picture problem lol. Whenever the rats are doing something cute, you don't have your phone on you or they move the instant you hit the button after being still for however many seconds.
I have one who likes to pose, but that's usually just him being drowsy and very patient.
 
The girl I got Sneki from said they had a litter. She'll check if there are any girls for my girls. Yay!

This time I won't mess up the quarantine, I promise.

I'll also take time at the weekend and take 200 photos of them, hoping for a good one to post.

edit:
They keep doing this as soon as I get close to the cage. I guess they want to go out.
Sneki:


Dumbika:
 
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I'll try to get them whole on the picture. Fingers crossed.

I'm relieved that I didn't go and buy from the rattery mentioned above, the one, that seemed ethical.

I just checked the owner on the Facebook and she has photos of her snake eating a rat :(
She claims it's fine as she get those rats dead and because they're ugly. God, people disappoint me so much sometimes.
She seems to breed rats only for appearance, coat type and so on. Not a single word about health. I can't believe she almost fooled me.

I did read an article, which claimed that charging more for different coat types and so on is a bad sign for rattery. She does that. I didn't quite understand, why is it bad to charge more. Now I got my answer. Myself, I couldn't care less about the colour, coat and body type, as long as they're healthy and happy.
I'm sad and I had to vent somewhere.
 
I totally understand! I'm sorry that it was a disappointment. I hate going on Craigslist and seeing people charge astronomical prices because a rat just happens to be a dumbo-eared rex rat.
The only time I can get all of my rats in one picture is when there's food involved. I always struggled to get my heart rat to sit still for photos, so I resorted to giving him a treat just to make him sit still, even if it was only a few seconds!

I hope you do find a great place to rescue from or even get a new baby from. They're waiting for you somewhere.
 
It became a bit messy. This is the only way I could convince them to stay somewhat still. It didn't last long, though.

Sneki


Thank you so much for posing, girls


Sneki eating, Dumbika scratching


The best one of Dumbika. This girl doesn't like the camera at all
 
I got Sneki not one, but two young girls. I also got Dumbika a bit older girl so they can snuggle when youngsters will play.

Right now I got all of the three new ones in a spare cage in a different room. They seem tired from the trip and stress, and they're sleeping. It's so hard to leave those cuties alone. Especially the hairless one. She's so freaking cute.

Can't wait for them to settle down so I'll be able to show you some blurred photos of their rears, tails and ears :D
 
Haha! The photos thing! I totally feel your pain! I have an iPhone, and sometimes, it's easier to get a good shot if you hold the picture button down a second or two. It will take many photos in one go. Then you can go to edit on the photo, and pick the one, or however many you would like to keep, and delete the blurry ones. Or not. :p I find that is one easy way to get pics and not really miss them doing whatever cute thing it is they are doing at the time! ;)
 

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