Pet Rats
- Thread starter cedarridgefarms
- Start date
terrylamar
Well-Known Member
Well, if we are going that far, let's reduce it to the lowest common denomenator. They are RATS!
Cerberus
In God We Trust
but they are kinda cute in a rodent way. And just for the record there little teeth hurt like hell when they bite , almost as bad as a fkn hamster. little fkrs dont let go. worst rodent to get bit by in my experience is a chinchilla. not only do they pee on yeah but add insult to injury by biting your most tender part of the hand and not letting go. and not **** you can do about it cuz there is this little young child watching the whole time and it would be tramatic for her to see you rip the fkrs head off before it bites yur finger off so all you do is my in anguish dripping blood everywhere saying its ok its just a flesh wound it doesnt hurt. trying to hold back the temptation of murdercide on a rodent while prying its jaw open with your free hand baely being able to see since the damn thing keeps peeing in your eyes all while keeping on a happy face and in your mind thinking about getting some stupid rodent disease like ADD or similar, then finally getting lucky enough to just get enough room in the mouth to pull out your bloody corpse of a hand from the minature great white shark all while still smiling and now realizing everybody wants to see your hand. As you put your hand behind you saying its nothing but a flesh wound no big deal and dialing 911 w/o anybody noticing is tough to do. retorically speaking of course.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
What the hell did you get bit by? It wasn't one of these critters. One of them bit Mrs. Duck the other day, it was just a nip. But it was her fault. She had been pushing pistachios through the cage wires, and they were grabbing them and eating them. Then she got the brilliant idea to stick the tip of her finger in the same spot between the cage wires. To a rat, her fingertip was the same size and shape as a pistachio.
terrylamar
Well-Known Member
Toss them across the room and let the dogs deal with them!
Cerberus
In God We Trust
Thats was back when i delivered live animals to pet stores. Great job. I ended up getting on of those man fish tanks. Had 3 pirahna in this big tank. They were small when i had them, about 2 1/2 inch was the small one and the big one was about 4 inches long. Cool how they chased down the feeders and would actually bite the tail to slow it down then would swallow it whole up to the gills and bite down. So i had all these little feeder fish heads trying to swim around, lol.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
One of the rats fell asleep for about an hour sitting on my lap, wrapped up in my shirt.
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I got tired of him sitting there but every time I tried putting him back in the cage, he'd get all wiggly and try to burrow further into my shirt and it tickles. But I was afraid I'd accidentally injure the tiny little critter if I forgot he was there and stood up.
So I made him a little enclosed hammock to kind of replicate the little "pocket" in my shirt where he was hanging out. It's just an old sock, cut off at the toe and heel, with two little chains. I just bent the links open and hooked them to the cage wires. I put him in there. He crawled in there, peeked out the other side, then turned around and started licking his balls for a minute, then curled up and went to sleep.
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I got tired of him sitting there but every time I tried putting him back in the cage, he'd get all wiggly and try to burrow further into my shirt and it tickles. But I was afraid I'd accidentally injure the tiny little critter if I forgot he was there and stood up.
So I made him a little enclosed hammock to kind of replicate the little "pocket" in my shirt where he was hanging out. It's just an old sock, cut off at the toe and heel, with two little chains. I just bent the links open and hooked them to the cage wires. I put him in there. He crawled in there, peeked out the other side, then turned around and started licking his balls for a minute, then curled up and went to sleep.
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Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
This one just died a few minutes ago. Mrs. Duck said it fell while climbing it's tunnel, hit the bottom of the cage and walked around the cage a bit then laid down in a corner. When I reached in to grab it, it was already kind of cold. I tried "rodent CPR", squeezing it's ribs but that didn't work. In the time it took to smoke a cigarette, it was almost down to room temperature & rigor was setting in.
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I guess I'll wait and see if the other one mysteriously dies before we decide whether to get another one. If the other one dies, I guess I'll take the cage outside and bleach it.
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View attachment 15961
I guess I'll wait and see if the other one mysteriously dies before we decide whether to get another one. If the other one dies, I guess I'll take the cage outside and bleach it.
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terrylamar
Well-Known Member
Don't blame me!
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Both rats were the same size when we got them. After about a week we noticed one was growing, and the other wasn't. The one that died was the one that didn't grow. But he was the one that would let us pick him up and hold him. We thought he was a sweet rat, but maybe he was just feeling too sick to fight with us. The other one appears to be chewing his foot off at the moment, ... but other than that appears healthy except he's still afraid to be picked up.
Probably irresponsible breeding. Pet store rats are bred for quantity, not quality. Most people buy them to feed to their snakes. According to the people on this rat forum I found, there are "ethical breeders" who breed them to be pets, not snake food, & they actually study genetics. They cost more but they're not raised like KFC's chickens like the pet store rats are. I guess if the other one dies I'll bleach the cage and contact one of them breeders. I put too much work into making a kick-ass cage for them to just give up on having pet rats. I even found myself breaking into my secret hidden stash of walnut branches I've been saving for 2 years so I could make a little shelf for them to hang out on, and give them some wood to chew on that doesn't contain phenol oils, which is toxic, and is found in pine and cedar & other scented woods.
HoneyBadger
Well-Known Member
So sorry to hear the little guy didn't make it. At least his last few weeks were with a family of two-legs who really cared for him and gave him the best they had to offer.
Just in case he had something "catching" you might want to disinfect the cage. And don't let this keep you from getting another one, they are social critters and like to have company.
Just in case he had something "catching" you might want to disinfect the cage. And don't let this keep you from getting another one, they are social critters and like to have company.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
The other rat doesn't like to be held and always wiggles out of my hand. If he's not pigging out at the food dish, he's hiding in his little house. I just realized though, that the big door on the front of the cage is big enough for the cat to enter. Hmm.....
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I hate cats.
But Mrs. Duck says I can't shoot it. So instead I have this fluffy fur-ball running around all the time.
There's an orange Garfield cat living in the barn loft. I heard it moving around yesterday when I was in there. I made a couple cuts with the miter saw and it started moving around, then a while later as soon as I turned off the belt sander it was moving around again. I'd have already done killed that one but the problem is collateral damage if the bullet goes all the way through the damn thing.
Cerberus
In God We Trust
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