Ratties Move....New Cage Purchase

Libby has been moved to the downstairs BC-6. She is living next store to Bella. Bella has been moved from the home with the 5 girls. They do ok, but Bella has 4 tumors and Libby needed a friend. Bella was ok with the other group of girls but she was not so bonded that she didn't like the change. She seems to love having a part of a cage to herself and still be able to visit with Libby.

Libby also has a small tumor and she is also pretty old. :( So they are two little old ladies that hang out side-by-side in their hammocks.

Mimi and Junior were moved back downstairs into a BC-6. Junior still gets a bit nervous around a lot of noise but he so enjoys hamming it up when he knows you're looking at him. These are the 2 I hope to put the 2 spayed girls with. Mimi is also spayed of course.

Sherman and Luke are in the lower BC-6. They have lots of fun. I've thrown in lots of newspaper in all of the cages and they've gone to town with making nests. It cracks me up to see the 2 boys in their hammocks with newspaper all around them. They have blankets too but it must be something about the paper. lol

Upstairs, the BC-7s are waiting to be cleaned. Remi is currently hanging out downstairs while this is happening. Remi will be moving into a split BC-7 with Cricket on the other side. Hopefully they will get used to each other so the divider can come out. Potter and Joey are also in a carrier waiting for the BC-7 (they used to live in a BC-6). I've downsized the room to 2 stacks of BC-7 and moved all of the BC-6 downstairs. Of course the 4 custom multi-leveled cages are still up there.

Trixie, Pixie and Boo have moved into Tickle Tower! (Remember Boo is neutered.) So far so good. Since Libby has moved downstairs, she was living in the upper level of the Tower, there was more room to move the 3 in. Boo doesn't know quite what to do. The tower has lots of stuff for them to play in and hammocks to sack out in. Sadly, the matriarch, Shäst, has really slowed down. I'm hesitent to move her though. I put everthing she needs on the level she stays on. Although water is available on all levels. She spends most of the time in the hammock. I don't want to move her out because her friends Lucy and Nona are good company for her and take care of their old friend.


I did purchase a used Quality Cage, BC-11 1/2 cage from a private party. I went to Quality Cages and purchased a stand, as shown in the picture. I also had extra doors made for easier cleaning. I also need to purchase 2 more doors to cover the nest box holes, but that is not a problem! Turns out they made a new product for the chinchilla cages. It is a powder coated metal shelf. So I got 3 of those to try out in this cage. I'll see how they work and might order more, maybe even wider shelves. It's so exciting. The cage is very big, but if I keep it downstairs, which is where it will eventually end up, I can just roll it out the front door to clean. Currently, this cage is in storage.

Anyway, it has been very busy at the village.

Mischa and Molly

I'm adopting two little girls from Little Mischief Rescue. www.littlemischiefrescue.org. I highly recommend if you are looking for rats, to consider this organization.

I'm having the little girls spayed before they come down. It is WAYYY cheaper to do under the deal with the rescue....$44 per rat vs. over $200. This opens up the groups they can join when they move here. I'm hoping to put them with Junior and Mimi. But we shall see.

These little girls were dumped near a pet store in Canada. :( What is freaking wrong with people?!?

Anyway, I'm loking forward to meeting these soulful little girls! They'll be here on June 19th!

Health Checks and First Penis Plug

I do health checks on my babies. I check for tumors, any abscesses or injuries. This week was no different, except they were also getting their Revolution doses.

Poor Bella has 5 tumors. She's already had one removed and then this "crop" came up. She is about 3 years old and since so many have come up, we've opted to NOT have surgery. She is being moved downstairs with Libby as her next door neighbor. Libby too has a tumor, although not as fast growing.

One of Betsy's tumors is slowly getting bigger too. :(

I have had my first experience with penis plugs. Poor Crinkle has to suffer the indignity of having his mama groom him. I noticed during his check his area was a bit dirty. So started to check and out pops a plug. Now this means if I go anywhere, I have to have someone that will clean this area for him twice a day. Don't know why he doesn't clean himself, he is NOT the biggest rat of the 6 brothers...that honor goes to Brick.



Weighed Brick, 800 grams. OMG! Big lump of squishy boy! But he can clean himself just fine!

I'm still doing health checks, but I'm hopeful the rest are all doing ok.

Libby, Bella, Sherman, Luke, Mimi and Joey will be moving downstairs this week.

Knick Departs

Sadly Knick had to be helped to the bridge today. Knick was one of the first few boys adopted from the Oregon Humane Society. He was also here last year when the great "illness" swept through Vermin Village, which is what his brother died during although Knick was the first one sick. That was a very sad time. Knick would have been 2 years old in July. He is survived by his cage mate Remi. He is preceded in death by his brother Knack who died during the Illness and his cage mate, Tank.

Go and play with your friends little one!

Seattle Trip Furkids To New Home!

Today I got up at 5am so I could scrub and change all of my water bottles and clean a cage before heading off to Seattle to escort a pair of rattie girls to their new home. One rattie from www.littlemischiefrescue.org and one from a breeder in Vancouver, BC. They came down on Friday night and stayed in Seattle with another rattie friend. John and I went up there to pick them up to escort them to their new home.

On our way up, a blue and white van with Washington plates, I believe the 1st 3 characters were 554. Persisted in cutting everyone off. There was less than an inch when he tried to squeeze in between every car. I need to get a camera phone, just to take pictures so I can post it on CL...in the rant section. Guy was a jerk.

Before we left with our charges, Lynn gave me the grand tour and I got to see all of the ratties! They were all so sweet. Then my husband braved the stairs (stairs are hard for him) because I was taking too long. (I mean sheesh, I have to see everybody!)

Finally we were on our way south again. My husband stopped at Dairy Queen so I could get ice cream and use the bathroom. He scoped out a BBQ place for next time we had to come up. Anyway, got in to the Dairy Queen and there was a line of 5 people with one person at the counter. I had to turn my license over to get the key to use the bathroom. I was pissed. I left and I didn't buy anything.

My husband stops at the Chevron to fill up. I went in to get the bathroom key and walked out to the door...out of order. ^%$%$#%$###@ So he took me to Burger King as he wanted a soda. I went to the bathroom. And OMG, it actually worked.

We stopped at my brother's in Rainier, Oregon on the way back home to drop off a rice cooker and some stuff my mother had shipped here in December. (The package included long underwear...it's now May. lol) He met the two little girls and thought they were very cute. (He is not a rodent fan as the house has mice....they live in the country and so they are frequently a problem.)

Our visit was too brief but John and I were extremely tired. But it was nice to sit with the little man. All 6'5" of him. hehehe We'll be going there again soon.

We then headed to our new rattie friend's house to drop off the two girls. They were ready to go and met their new mother and hopped into their temporary cage. So cute. They will have a great home with a really wonderful family.

On the way home I was hungry, John was hungry so we went to GoGos Mongolian Grill. It was pretty good. They even have it set up so you could do italian, texmex and asian dishes. It was really cool. I got full real fast!

Finally we got home and I spoke with my neighbor a bit and asked how her ratties are doing and they all appear to be doing well.

Now I'm sitting in my chair typing this entry, about ready to sign off. It was a rattie filled day. The next couple of days I'll spend doing homework, preparing for a midterm and cleaning rattie cages.

Other than the 3 parts were we made wrong turns (although it was more of a case of getting in the wrong lane when exiting a freeway) we made pretty good time.

Hope everyone had a great day!

This trip was in honor of Knick (that will be helped to the bridge Monday), Zeb that was helped to the bridge Saturday and Tank, that passed in the wee hours of the morning Saturday morning.

Zeb Leaves Us

Sadly Zeb had to be helped to the bridge. He was 2 years 7 months old.

Zeb and his pal Nemo came to us from a private party that due to health problems had to rehome them. They were really well loved and even got to go back for a visit. Due to my busy schedule, we never did get to get together again with the boys.

For the last few days of his life, I had him living downstairs in a tote I set up just with him in mind. He didn't have the use of his back legs so everything, including the water bottle were put low. He also got cold easier so while the top had the window in it I hung a piece of fleece over it so it would diffuse air coming into the tub. There was also a small window on the side for air flow and to hang the water bottle.

Having 2 little guys go the same day is very hard. I'm so upset right now.

Rest in Peace little one.

Tank

Tank passed sometime during the night. He had CHF and was on medication. He's been looking rather spry and moving around his cage, I don't know what happened last night but he was laying under the hammock this morning.

Tank is survived by his brothers Potter (who did not live with him as he was brought here separately) and his brother Remi, who did live with him. And his cage mate Knick.

Rest in peace little one.

Duke Passes

Duke passed away early this morning. I walked in and found him curled up right in front of his house. He was a spunky old guy. Poor little guy had a hidden pea pod tucked away in his cage. His brother passed earlier this year.

Rest in peace little one.