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Alunai

Active Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2008
Messages
43
Location
Minnesota, USA
Howdy! =D

I'm Ashley. Friends call me Shlee, Online buddies refer to me as Alunai. I've kind of just recently really gotten into rats. I'm an animals-of-all-types-lover, and there's pretty much not a mammal/reptile on the planet that I don't like or adore in some way.
Well I've recently decided that I want to adopt a pair of rats, and I'm leaning towards two girlies. I prefer PEWS and lighter colored ratties, or parti colored ratties over solid browns and blacks but I think given the chance I'd fall in love with any little rattie that crosses my path. =D

So... Yeah. Some generals bout moi:

I'm going to be eighteen in about a week and a half-ish.
I'm addicted to changing my hair
I have two miniature schnauzers, a cockatiel and an appaloosa gelding. =D
I want to name my future ratties Pixie and Faerie.
I'm turning my room into a forest.
I love nature.
I'm quite random at times
And very hyper.
I'm best friends with my cousin.
We both pretty much rock at life.
I'm falling in love with a cowboy.
Unfortunately, he doesn't like rats.
He says their tails gross him out. (Don't worry, I'll warm him up to it. ^.^)
I really suck at typing on laptops. =D
I am absurdly amused by the fact that tickling rats will make them laugh.


Yeah. =)

Adios!

Alunai
 
:welcome: I hope that you find your two little girlies soon. Might as well get them a big cage, since you are almost certain to catch a bad case of GGMR* on this Forum!!







*serious, chronic, non-fatal but nearly incurable disease in which the person feels compelled to adopt more rats when shown photos of ratties in need of a home
 
^.^ Oh certainly. I'd probably buy an overly-large cage anyways since I tend to want to spoil my animals and provide them with everything they need and then some! The cage I'm looking at right now is a three level condo cage with two ramps, two doors, a full second floor.. It seems very nice! =) I will probably search my house for random objects that they could safely play with, too before I go out and spend all my money on oodles and oodles of spendy toys. I figure they'd play with just about any object, and probably moreso with the ones i already have rather than the ones i went out and bought! ^.^

So just to throw it out there, if anyone ever has two little girlies in need of a good home and you are willing to ship them, you can bet they'd be well provided for and showered with oodles of love from me!
 
Welcome Alunai!
Sounds like you are going to make a great rat mom... and I bet your cowboy is going to love them too once he sees them. :nod:
 
OH!!!! I'm so excited!!!!
:happydance:
I think I may have found some ratties for me!!! I found a nice shelter in MI that is willing to ship some ratties to me. I found two little girls that are very adorable that need adopting. Here's the ad:

http://search.petfinder.com/shelterSear ... &preview=1

The two girls that I'm looking at adopting are Vasya and Vitya. I've filled out the adoption application and HOPEFULLY the shelter likes me! I plan to buy the Rat retreat from martins cages for my girlies. A very nice roomy home for them! OH MAN!!!! I'm so excited.

I did look at the PEW girls, but I decided on Vasya and Vitya because the PEWS that I thought about have a potential adopter already and I wouldn't want to take anyone's dream ratties away from them. =)

And on the cowboy front, good news. My cowboy the one getting my ratties and everything they need for me! Although he's less than enthused that I fell in love with RATS, he is doing it all for me and says that if it will make me happy he'd get the biggest most expensive cage on the whole website if I wanted it! ^.^ (eventually, when i work my way up! ^.^) So he said that he was excited FOR me since I was so excited. I know he'll come around eventually... =)

Wish me luck in the adoption process!!

:joy:
Alunai
 
Thank you everyone! I really hope so too. I'm so excited, so far so good. Kaia told me that my information looks good. I'm making plans to get everything ordererd before I complete the adoption process.
I made a list of the items that I'll order while I'm vacationing in tennessee. Let me know if you think this will be alright for the first few days..
The Rat Retreat (Martinscages.com)
32 oz Lixit Quick Lock Flip-top water tank with valve (martinscages.com)
large Silent spinner wheel (Drfostersmith.com) ( a no pinch wheel! do the girls like wheels?)
Small pet critter litter kit (Drfostersmith.com)
Flexible Ferret Tube (martinscages.com)
playpen and mat for small animals (Drfostersmith.com)
Small travel kit (drfostersmith.com) (for when I take them to their first visit to the vet me)

Things I'll have at home
Water
Fruits and veggies
Bird toys that I know they'll LOVE
I'm going to make a fleece-bits bedding that i'll be able to wash and reuse.
LOTS OF LOVE
kleenex boxes
a barbie couch for them to crash on =D
coke boxes
Food dish
Internet if I need any additional help or information
More love!


Food is not listed because I'm hoping to get a weeks-worth of food so that I have a bit of time to try to find the same brand for the ratties that they're used to. =) How does that sound to yall?
 
Make sure your R-685 is powder-coated and has a flip top lid (nice cage btw)

For 2 girls a 32 oz bottle is overkill, why not get 2 - 8 oz bottles and fasten them in 2 places on the cage?

Silent spinner or a Wodent wheel are good...I use mesh Superpet ones myself but I have heard good things about the silent spinner

just pick up a corner litter pan and some Yesterday's News, don't pay for a cute little package :)

Link me to the playpen? It might be useless for rats (jumpable/climbable) and we can give you great options!
Link to travel kit? I use a small hamster cage as my kiddo's carrier.

Hellooo? Where are the copious amount of hammocks? :stickpoke: Lots of members on here make/sell playmats and hammocks, etc :wink2:

Dollar store - baby linky toys, metal shower hooks are a total necessity!

Food - see if you can order Harlan Teklad 2014 or 2018 from one of the rescues that sell it. Google Kim's Ark...its considered the best lab block out there.
 
This was just a "first few weeks" list, of all the items that I felt I NEEDED from the start. I was definately going to add to it as soon as I could, but this is the stuff that I wanted to get before i had my girls shipped to me.

The playpen seems like it would be great for rats since the bars are vertical and it's pretty high. I don't know how high rats can jump, but I did plan on getting the cover along with it anyways so that shouldn't be an issue. =)

travel kit: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=11175
playpen: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/p ... atid=17948

The cage is definately going to be powder coated. They are so much nicer! And the flip top cage comes built in on that particular cage. =)
I could definately downsize, I was thinking downsizing to the 16 oz anyways, because I like the flip-top water bottles best, they're convenient. =) Then I'd just place another smaller one somewhere else in the cage.

As for litter, I suppose I could do that too. ^.^ It'd be much cheaper and there'd ALWAYS be access to litter that way. Should the papers be shredded or just cut to fit? Seems like it'd be easiest to shred. But then again, the girls might get carried away and drag it all around the cage.

As for a hammock or two, I was actually thinking about making my own. I just think it'd be so special to make something filled with love for my own girls. =) I could make "carpet" for them too so that the wire of the cages isn't so hard on their little feet as well.

Dollar store is definately going to be a plus! Lots of baby toys from there would be awesome. ^.^
 
the wire carrier inserts are good from Superpet but the colourful fabric carrier sucks. The zippers break after only a few uses. I have had 4 of them by now. LOL My rats hated them too.

that pen is useless for rattikins without the lid...it needs to be a minimum of 2' and you see how small that Hamstet(?) is. You could get a Martin's Playpen or make your own with Coroplast...I am thinking of making another one if I can get the coroplast myself. :) The reall benefits of the coroplast Ratty Corral is that its cheaper and you can sit in there as well to interact with your girls (if you make it big enough). I love my Martin's Pen but miss the interaction. :(

The litter is paper pellets (Yesterdays News) and its a bit heavy so they don't always shove it out. :)

OK going home from work now :D
 
Your list sounds excellent but I agree with lilspaz about that playpen. I had bought that once, a long time ago, used it with baby rats and even then, it didn't take long for 3 week old rats to climb and be gone. :giggle:
 
WOW.

So this is my estimated spending for my rattie girls.
- necessities
* extras/toys

Ratties shipping fee = 150.00

-The Rat Retreat (R-685) > Martinscages.com = 109.00
-Enclosed Litter pan (SMP-31700) > drfostersmith.com = 7.49
-Cage lock (CG-19896) > drfostersmith.com = 6.99
-8 oz water buddy (CG-26052) > drfostersmith.com = 13.99
-food dish (CG-603059) > drfostersmith.com = 1.29
-Cleaner & Deodorizer (CG-11809) > drfostersmith.com 4.99
-Nature's Miracle Deodorizing Cage Wipes (CG-31267) > drfostersmith.com = 5.29
-cord protector (CG-29048) > drfostersmith.com = 6.69

= 305.73

2 Ratties adoption fee = 40.00

*Octoplay (CG-25464) > drfostersmith.com = 17.99
*Grass Hut (CG-19846) > drfostersmith.com = 7.49
*crinkle tunnel (SMP-31673) > drfostersmith.com = 8.99
*cozy cup (CG-31732) > drfostersmith.com = 4.49
*Super Pet Hammock (SMP-31709) > drfostersmith.com = 4.99
*Run about ball (CG-16735) > drfostersmith.com = 14.99
*Barbell (BAR-00) > martinscages.com = 2.00
*Mini-pop corn (CG-16819) > martinscages.com = 2.69
*Small Bungee Cords (SUP-144) > martinscages.com = 4.50
*Flexible Ferret Tube (AC-1130) > martinscages.com = 12.00
*small comfort harness (CG-12753) > drfostersmith.com = 5.99
*silent spinner (CG-19909) > drfostersmith.com = 18.99
*bell collar (SMP-32723) > drfostersmith.com = 3.79 (get 2)

= 152.69

Grand total = 458.42
 
Wow... that's quite a lot.
A few things you could leave out like the bell collars and the harness. Rats hate harnesses and the collar, not sure if that's such a good idea for rats.
 

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