IYH I'll soon have baby pets (don't like? don't look!)

↑ Ruchel ↓

Wed, Oct 27 2010, 4:16 am

Because you know you want it!!

Skinny rat couple. Both with extremely social and loving (clingy, ok) personalities, and perfect physical type. I HOPE they are fertile. In the mean time they enjoy life together and he can't be away from her!! lol Yes, in a pink maternity cage. Tongue Out

Something's hungry!

Life is hard in the last ~~mont~~ week!

↑ Ruchel ↓

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 12:36 pm

She gave birth during shabbes, under my eyes! A HUGE crazy 14 baby littler shock

POTENTIALLY UPSETTING

As was foreseeable, such a big litter included several still born babies (lo alenu) Sad

. She is VERY tired now and I hope she'll be able to nurse everyone. We will have to check during the night.

Also, Tmima passed. She was heavily disabled (lo alenu), blind, deaf, no balance, stroke prone, so it wasn't such a surprise, but it was still very hard. She was sold me to by someone who "forgot" to mention her slight health issues Rolling Eyes

And BH she ended up here, where we wanted and could take care of her.

hannah95 ↓

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 12:43 pm

Two weird questions (sorry embarrassed

) from a cat person Smile

How do you deal with the dead pets ? Do you have to return the bodies to the vet ?

and

Are you not afraid of breeding too many rats ?

↑ Ruchel ↓

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 1:07 pm

Dead pets: My husband owns a sthetoscope and if the animal is non responsive to reanimation and gone for sure, it gets a burial nearby in the park (it only needs to go to a vet if it weighs more than 40 kilos, or if it's big enough to cause issues in a small park, but wild rats live here and routinely die here so yeah). I personally have managed to avoid seeing one up to now BH, but I always cry a lot.

Many rats: Look on ebay and leboncoin, even plain adults rats find homes kinda easily, but pretty babies can be selled easily for 10 eu each. Wink

You can't make money with rats because they eat a lot, but I have good hopes for the guinea pigs litters. Easily 30 eu/baby, and very special ones go up to 150 or even 200!

↑ Mama Bear ↓

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 6:21 pm

Dont you need a license to breed and/or sell pets? Idont think in the US you'd be allowed to breed or sell animals without a license. especially mice, which is a species most people try to get rid of, not breed!

enneamom ↓

Sat, Oct 30 2010, 6:31 pm

She breeds rats, not mice. And many more people have pet rats & mice than you would think. Yes, there are people who appreciate them. They are among the more intelligent animals. Besides, pet mice are a different breed than your common house mouse.

I wouldn't know about licensing, though.

↑ Ruchel ↓

Sun, Oct 31 2010, 2:50 am

That.
But rats and mice don't really need a license, most breeders don't have one. Now, dogs, cats, horses... for sure you need!

↑ Ruchel ↓

Sun, Nov 07 2010, 5:45 am

Many new pics for ya!

This big lady

Gave birth

While the previous litter is getting bigger and bigger

To Mati's never ending fascination

↑ enneamom ↓

Sun, Nov 07 2010, 2:09 pm

They are so cute!
I'm just wondering...do you let them ride in your snood when you're wearing it, too? I can just imagine the reactions..."Hey! Your snood is squirming! what on earth??" shock

↑ Ruchel ↓

Tue, Nov 09 2010, 3:45 am

LOL only for pics.

So, bad news.

My black hairless piggy has been badly hurt in a fight (teenagehood starting grrrrrr). He has scars (white on black skin)and a lacerated eye. It SHOULD recover with the treatments the vet gave, and BH he's not in pain, but if he doesn't recover he won't be able to enter contests Sad

Worse news even: one rattie has been diagnosed with an immune disease. He's skinny and always has somekind of cold. He's also BH BH not suffering... for now. If he starts not eating or squeaking continuously, we may need to have him put down Crying

↑ Ruchel ↓

Tue, Nov 23 2010, 4:56 am

Bad news again!

One of our favorite ratties had a very hard birth Sad

3 out of 6 babies haven't survived, and one of the survivors is in difficulty. We are trying to keep them warm and feed them every half hour. The mother is depressed (?) and doesn't take care of them. We have an appointment at the vet this afternoon.

↑ Ruchel ↓

Tue, Nov 23 2010, 6:18 am

Shana has a blocked baby inside! That's what the x ray shows, and explains why she's weird. It should come out later (most probably not alive Sad

), and then we can hope she'll nurse her kids, or another mom will. Will be a stressing week!

↑ bnm ↓

Tue, Nov 23 2010, 6:23 am

Ruchel wrote:

Shana has a blocked baby inside! That's what the x ray shows, and explains why she's weird. It should come out later (most probably not alive Sad

), and then we can hope she'll nurse her kids, or another mom will. Will be a stressing week!

they can't pull it out with a tweezers?

↑ Fox ↓

Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:21 am

I look forward to these updates! I love seeing your "families"! I remember keeping white mice when I was a child, and they were amazingly great pets. They didn't need the constant hands-on care of a dog, say, but they had much more personality than most people realize. I'm sure the rats are as much or more fun!

↑ Ruchel ↓

Tue, Nov 23 2010, 7:28 am

Thank you!

Rats are like tiny dogs, sooo clever and if they're used to human beings they are extremely social. And their personalities are so different!

I hope Shana's milk will come in eventually...

↑ Ruchel ↓

Thu, Nov 25 2010, 4:14 am

Milk didn't come.

We're hand raising them. One of the three (the weakest) died (difficult breath) Sad

The two others are eating and all well, but breathing very difficult, so this aftenoon, back to the vet. Crying

↑ Ruchel ↓

Thu, Nov 25 2010, 7:50 am

It's not helping, they have a malformation. It's not curable by surgery either. I'm DISGUSTED. They'll be under pain killers all their life (they are not suffering yet, but too much uncomfort can turn into pain) which may be short anyway. The mother sleeps all day. Sad