Category Archives: Pets

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MenaTilda

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So last night, just after midnight, we heard a loud crash and our kitten Matilda came running.

She was climbing around, being a menace. I call her MenaTilda. She somehow got herself wrapped up from head to toe in one of those sticky fly strips that you use to catch and kill flies.

I grabbed her, trapped her in the bathroom, and pulled it off. Then I got her in a bath and scrubbed her as much as I could with Dawn dish detergent. The poor thing gave up fighting part way through. I combed through her fur as best I could. Then I wrapped her up in a blanket while my daughter made a cat cone out of a paper plate. She wanted to prevent Matilda from licking herself. We were scared the strip was toxic and she would get sick.

Meanwhile, I called the Animal Hospital. They had another number on their voicemail that I had to call. They said I did the right things so far, then directed me to Animal Poison Control. I waited thirty minutes for an agent to answer the line, but she turned out to be very helpful. The call was well over an hour, and I had to pay a fee for the consultation, but it was well worth it honestly. I feel much better. Also, my vet or I could call back at any time with my case number if needed.

Matilda is doing well for the most part. We haven’t noticed any of the symptoms that were mentioned by the agent. She’s still sticky, so I may need to give her a vegetable oil bath next. After that, I’ll see what the vet says or can do Tuesday, when I bring her in to get spayed.

This kitten is giving me even more gray hairs.

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Pet Rat Care Page

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While, I’m somewhat new to the rat world myself, I’ve picked up a few things that I thought I’d share. I created a Pet Rat Care page for others to reference. The following is based off of my own experiences as a new rat mom, as well as what I have learned via my own research and from others in the Facebook rat groups. I will be adding more to this page as I learn more as well.

How Many? Boys Or Girls?

You should know that rats do get lonely and depressed if they don’t have a friend. Even when you constantly play with them, they need their own rat companionship as well. Be sure to always have at least a pair of either male or females at a time. While every rat’s personality is different, girls seem to be more adventurous and boys are more laid back. I’ve also read that boys tend to be messier and will piddle more on your things. My goal is to find a super chill female.

Cage And Accessories

Since you are now looking at getting at least two pet rats, this means you will need a large enough cage for them. I’ve seen a lot of people love the Critter Nation cages. You can sometimes snag a good deal on Facebook Marketplace. Whatever kind you get, it should have multiple levels of activities with things like toys, hammocks, ropes, baskets, tissue boxes, and more. They love to explore and should stay active. If you decide to get a wheel, please make sure it’s the larger size. Otherwise, it can actually hurt their spines. Same thing with the exercise balls. They are not good for them at all.

*Please do not use an aquarium. Rats are very susceptible to respiratory issues. A tank doesn’t allow for enough air flow to get through properly. Bin cages are also not favorable, unless it’s fully ventilated and only for temporary use such as breeding.

Besides having a decent size cage with activities, I would suggest having the following:

  • Water bottle & food bowls
    • Preferably ones that attach to the cage
  • Litter box & flat, smooth “pee” rocks
    • Place in at least one corner of cage
  • Thin shower curtain clips, binder clips, zip ties, etc.
    • Great for attaching baskets & other things to the cage
  • Aspen bedding & large storage bin to store it
    • If left in plastic bag, it’s messy when dispensing
  • A good food mix & large storage bin to mix in
    • I use multiple types of food, paying attention to nutritional content
  • Vinegar water mix & unscented baby wipes for cleaning the cage & items
    • Safe & effective
  • Unscented baby wipes to spot clean your ratties
    • You don’t want to regularly bathe them

Shop around as much as you can to try to save some money.

When I first started, I purchased a starter rat setup from Petco for $110. The water bottle leaked, the food dish is a waste, and the spinning wheel seemed to just take up a lot of space. I also picked up a huge back of aspen bedding for $14, while I was there.

Once I realized the water bottle was leaking, I immediately replaced it with a perfect one from Amazon. It’s out of reach, and is really easy to refill. I later bought a slightly smaller cage for only $50, when we needed to separate the boys and girls. The doors stick a bit, but it’s not horrible.

You can also save a lot on accessories if you shop at a Dollar Tree. They have lots of baskets, plastic bins, dog ropes toys, rocks, and more. I also managed to find 230 L of aspen bedding on Amazon for only $20.

Now it’s time to adopt.

It’s better to adopt them from a rattery if possible, rather than getting them from a pet store. A rattery knows the history of the rats, and most likely has several generations invested in the line. They should also be temperament tested prior to adopting. There will usually be a rehoming fee of around $20 each on average from what I’ve seen.

Once you have chosen the right ones for you, and get them home, it’s time to start bonding. You are going to want to handle your new rats as much as possible. Be careful that they don’t wander off or jump away in the process. They are very curious. If you have other animals, gently introduce them. We have a large black lab/pit bull mix. He just sniffs at them and tries to lick them once in a while.

To see a few of our pet rat pics, go to the Ratties album.

**More info will be added soon. Please check back for updates at Pet Rat Care***

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Pet Rats Ready For Adoption

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Our ratties are officially ready for adoption. They are six weeks old. We are located in the Lehigh Valley, PA. I already have several people interested, and I haven’t even finished getting pictures of them.

I mentuoned recently that I created an Instagram account so that I can post updated pics there. It’s @Malakai_the.rat.king, where I share stories from Malakai’s view. I’ve been having a little too much fun with that LOL.

Here’s what I have so far of our girls. When I finish all the pics, I’ll update them here as well.

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Malakai_the.rat.king

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If you’d like to follow Malakai’s stories about his rat family and the humans that care of them, he’s now on Instagram!

Yes, I’m a dork! I made my pet rat an Instagram. His bio is that we once thought he was a Suzy, but found out he’s a Malakai. He now has 31 babies with Nora and Dollie. The saga continues…

I have been posting pics of all the rats from his view. He actually has gained a few followers already. There’s a lot more rat enthusiasts out there than I realized.

If you’re on Instagram, follow malakai_the.rat.king for bunches of cute rattie pics and silly stories.

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Mama Nora And Her Babies

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🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖🐁💖

Mama Nora’s babies are three weeks and three days old today.

They have been eating regular food for a bit now, but still need mama’s feedings yet. They have been climbing all over the cage like crazy and rushing the door when you open it. They’re so hilarious to watch. Here’s a clip of her from yesterday. She was picking up her babies and putting them in the hammock.

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Pet Rat Babies!

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I haven’t written much about it, but our pet rats have been extremely time consuming recently. I think I only mentioned getting them here, then made a few posts on Instagram and Facebook. When we adopted them, Nora and Suzie were 5 weeks and Dollie was 7 weeks old.

A lot has changed since then. Long story short, ‘Suzie’ turned out to be a ‘Malakai’. The rattery offered to swap him out for a girl, but we felt bad about it. Not to mention, we assumed at least Nora or Dollie was already pregnant by that point. So we left them together and prepared to have some rat babies. We did a ton of research so we had an idea of what we were in for. Over time, you could really tell Nora and Dollie were both pregnant. I took pics to show their progression and notated a few things.

One note was that Nora literally looked like she was going to pop. The next morning, she had at least 15 babies. I could only tell that one didn’t survive. We kept an eye on things from afar, without disturbing her. We just wanted to make sure everything was going well. Later that day, Nora was right back on the move. But we had to be careful. She was a bit snippy if you got close to her babies.

A few days later, Dollie had her babies. She took longer to have hers. I’m not sure if she had some trouble, or was just taking a break. At one point, she seemed done and we counted eight babies. Next thing, there was at least 17! We had to wait a few days to actually count them. We couldn’t get anywhere near Dollie’s cage to do anything.

Our final count was 14 of Nora’s and 18 of Dollies. 32 rat babies total! Honestly from what I’ve read, I feel like we were really fortunate. I’ve read some horror stories and much smaller litters too. We have been taking Nora’s out when we can. Since Dollie gets extremely protective, we haven’t been interacting with hers as much. I hope to get some pics of Dollie’s later today.

Nora’s Babies

I took tons of Nora’s babies, but here’s just a few to show how much they’ve changed over the days.

Day 5
Their eyes are closed yet. No more pink, you can see patterns on them now. They’re starting to move around a bit. Oh & their little whiskers are also growing too.

Day 8
Starting to get some peach fuzz. Moving around a lot more. Mama’s letting us get closer to them without getting snippy.

Day 9
Eyes are still closed. Getting velvety soft. Look at those cute feet! They are starting to make little sprints away from the baby pile now too. Nora lets us in more now.

Day 11
So much cuteness! Their fur is growing in. Nora’s totally okay with us touching them. She will just snatch them up & put them back in the nest.

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Rats, Cars, and More

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I had full intentions of making more financial posts, but as usual, I’m all over the place. To be fair, we have had a lot going on recently.

Monday our pet rat Nora gave birth to at least 12 babies. Then Thursday, our other rat Dollie gave birth to about 17 babies. We haven’t been able to properly count yet. It’s been a bit crazy. We will be adopting them out in about six weeks.

I also have been trying to get my car fixed. That has been an ongoing debacle of sorts for nearly this entire year. I think we are finally getting somewhere with that. I’m hoping anyways. I already had to give up on one car this year after dumping a bunch of money into it. It just had too much going on. Now I’m running into a lot of the same issues. At least, this time, I think we are heading in the right direction.

Earlier this week, I made an attempt to focus on other things. I even took a few days off from my normal work tasks. Except, the election has me glued to the all sorts of media. So, I haven’t accomplished anything in the end. Besides, adding some more anxiety that I didn’t need.

I did actually create a few site pages that you will be seeing shortly. I’m constantly moving things and fixing them, then adding more. Sorry about that. This time, I decided to bring back a photos page to display some of my favorites. There will be a lot of old pics, with a few new ones mixed in.

That’s all for now. I really need some ice cream!

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Our Puppy Bashy

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We have a black lab/ pitbull mixed puppy named Sebastian. He will be eight years old this year. He is my daughter’s Emotional Support Animal. I couldn’t imagine our lives without him.

When we rescued Bashy, he was only about five weeks old, and already had maybe three or four homes. I’m pretty sure he was on Craigslist at some point too. When I met with the last owner, they just gave him up like it was no big deal. I felt horrible for him. He was really tiny, full of worms and fleas. We got him to the vet and he was better in no time.

Bastian was originally supposed to be my puppy. My youngest daughter Scarlet really connected with him. She would carry him around and tell him what to do. He followed her everywhere and let her lay on him as he got bigger. While he is the most gentle, loving dog, he’s very protective of us both. Even when Scarlet and I are goofing around, he is on guard to make sure we don’t hurt each other. He gets so worked up that he dumps out his bin of toys and starts to rip them around.

Here’s just a few of my favorite pics of our Bashy.