Sooki Passes

I'm so sad.  My little Sooki has passed today.  He was the kissiest rat!  He came into my heart in 2010 when my friend brought him to say hello when she was dropping off my two girls from quarantine.  I was hooked.  She let me adopt the little guy when he was ready to go home.  My 2 girls were spayed so he got to live with them.  He also lived with Chase and Liam.  They were quite a bit older and passed earlier this past year.  Rose, Poppy and Sooki were later joined by Lobo, another neutered boy, who joined them in Febrary 2010.

Sooki is survived by his cage mates Rose, Poppy and Lobo.

Rest in peace little guy.

Dirty and Stinky with Guildenstern

Dirty and Stinky, both spayed girls from San Francisco, California, with their cage mate, Guildenstern.  Guildenstern was alone after his brother passed.  These two lovely ladies brighten up his life.

Wire Cutters, Reducers, Bushings and Couplings

I had to return the wire cutters to Home Depot last night.  I'll have to order them online.  I also picked up some reducers, bushings and couplings to shorten the tubes from cage to cage.  Hopefully I can try it tonight.  There was a suspicious package left at the Willow Creek Transit Center so I'm waiting for the light rail to get the all clear.

Poppers Passes

At the age of 2 years and 9 months, Poppers the adrenaline junkie Syrian hamster has passed.  He and his sister Peepers were two of the first hamsters I've had.  (Precious and Colonel from the Washington County Animal Control were the first two but they were so cool, I brought two more in the sanctuary.)  Two babies that their previous owner had tried to breed (and kept in the same cage)!  They came here and were immediately separated.

Poppers has been a real joy and he will be sorely missed.

Rest in peace my little odd-eyed guy.

Picked up Remains and Visited OHS Vermin

I went to OHS this morning to pick up the cremains.  It is really sad because they ask the pet's name.  I had to tell them the list is long, it's the large group of rodents.  Oh yes, they bring the urns out.  I really appreciate this service.  If you have to have any pet cremated, I highly recommend their service for cremation.  It's very reasonable and it generates a little money for the animals there.

Of course I had to go in and look at the rodents in rescue there.  They just took care of a big pet store case and have  LOTS, so if you are looking to adopt a few fuzzies, please consider adoption before purchase.  They have mice, gerbils, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits now and often have hamsters, chinchillas and degus too!

After visiting for a while I had to do my 3 hour quarantine but was already meeting my parents for brunch so it all worked out!

Then I went to Home Depot and picked up a set of wire cutters to to try to cut the wire flush so that I can make special wheel holders.  I hope it works!

Forgot to mention, when I was at OHS, I picked up some of the Oxbow Essentials Rat Formula to give to the mice.  Running a bit low on Harlan 2014 and wanted to try out the Oxbow food for them.

Vet Visit for the Guardians of Vermin Village

Black Friday we took our 4 kitties and 2 ratties to the vet.  The kitties went for their annual and the rattie, well, we needed some A/D cat food to help him put on some weight.  (We brought the ratties Sooki and Rose.)

Majah has a dental appointment in about 10 days for getting his teeth cleaned and 2 teeth pulled.  Poor little guy.  (We get their teeth cleaned about every other year but Majah's are pretty bad.)  This might be why he has been throwing up because he doesn't really chew his food, which may also be why his back teeth are covered with tarter because he hasn't been chewing.

Gadget got his butt shaved.  Both he and Deemka will go in on the same day to get shaved completely.

Padjar, his skin condition is ok.  He got an extra shot.  We are going to transition into a new cat food this week to see if that will help.

Otherwise, everyone is doing fine!

Deemka

Nebulizer

A nebulizer is an important tool to have in your rattie kit.  My friend, Joanne Gemmer, from Best Friend Rodent Rescue, www.bfrr.org, posted a link to a site that carries them relatively cheaply.  http://www.frontlinemobility.com/John_Bunn_Neb-u-Lite_LX2_Nebulizer_Compressor.html?gdftrk=gdfV22691_a_7c1030_a_7c3890_a_7cGRF_d_JB0112_d_110  I purchased mine on ebay, but this is a better price than I paid.  It's best to purchase it when you can shop ahead and get a deal than it is to purchase it late at night, if you can find a place, for an emergency situation.  Consider it a worthwhile investment.

Cash and Carry

I went to Cash and Carry for the first time today!  I LOVE this store!  I got the rats some raspberry Torini syrup to mix their medications in.  I was also able to get a pump for it as well.  I got smaller paper boats to use for the smaller groups of ratties.  They also carry LARGE tubes of plain yogurt for the rats.  I will be going back.

Cremation Run :(

Went to drop off remains to be cremated at the Oregon Humane Society.  This is a wonderful service they offer and it is very reasonable.   Then I went to the movies to go through quarantine before going home.  (They have rodents for adoption at this facility.)

Tot Passes

Tot is one of the Idaho rescue boys.  He passed this morning.  This was not unexpected as he had been battling respiratory illness for some time.  He is survived by his brother Tator, his cage mates, Harper and Spud.  He was preceded in death by his cage mate Mr. Checkers.

Tot was one of 3 ratties taken to the Hillsboro Argus to promote the first Come Fall For Rats in 2010.  He made quite the impression.  He was an agouti dumbo boy that looked like he had been laid in semi-dry paint.

He will be taken to the Oregon Humane Society this weekend for private cremation.

Rest in peace little giant.

Mr. Checkers Passes

Mr. Checkers, one of my Idaho rescue boys, has passed today.  He has battled respiratory illness for some time and this was not unexpected.  I will never understand how this works.  Half of the cage is fine, the other half has issues. :*(  He is survived by his cage mates and fellow Idaho rescues Harper, Tator, Tot, and Masher.  (Both Tot and Masher also have respiratory issues.)  Rest in peace little one.

Sultana Passes

Sultana passed this morning in her cage.  I found her when I went in.  :*(  Only Lobo remains of the group of New Mexico ratties.   Sultana, along with her two sisters, was not very social but it only took one or two times sitting with them for 20 minutes each where they opened up and allowed themselves to be handled.  She was the last of her 3 "sisters" that I adopted from the rescue.  She is survived by her cage mates:  Gus (n), Lil' Mama, Opal, Sapphire, Emerald, Jade, Bailey, and Sweet Pea.  A lot of names are new so Gus is a fellow that came to me because his previous owners were scared of him as he kept biting.  (He doesn't now.)  Opal, Sapphire, Emerald and Jade came to me because their previous owner could no longer keep them.  Bailey came to me because she was also a poorly socialized little girl.  We're still working on her.  She's very...squirrelly.  And of course Sweet Pea was one of the Idaho rescues.  Sultana was well loved with her cage mates and she will be sorely missed by her friends.

Please note, her death is not unexpected, she has been battling chronic respiratory issues for some time.

Rest in peace little girl!

Trip to Kenmore, Washington and Mousies are Here!

My husband and I went to Kenmore, Washington last weekend to help Joanne get the pictures of the critters on petfinder.  I took over 200 pictures!  It was so nice to meet everyone and to visit with the critters.  We also picked up my 6 mice!

The girls names are Speedy, Chunky, Twitter, Streak, Tease, and Holiday.

They live in a modified quality cage.  The cage is lined with 1/4" x 1/4" wire.  To keep down the smell, I use Good Mews as the litter and then they get shredded paper for bedding.  They have 4 wheels in their cage and lots of cardboard tunnels.

I typically feed them blocks.  I purchase Harlan 2014 from various sources along with some of the grain mix.

Remmy Rests

Big Remmy was helped to the bridge Saturday morning.  He had been feeling poorly the past few days.  He finally was ready to go.

Rest in peace Remmy!

Lady Fu Passes

Lady Fu passed 8/14/2011.  She is the mother of Dip and Chip.  This was not expected but I also don't know how old she was.  She was a fuzzy little lady rescued from some twit on CL by my friend Cindy.  The original owner purposefully bred her and then basically abdicated her responsibility.  Luckily Cindy took in 2 of the kiddos so they all had good forever homes.


Rest in peace little lady!  Keep running on that wheel in the sky!

4 Girls Searching for New Names....

I adopted 4 girls last night from someone on CL. They are all very sweet and are slated to be room mates with Gus, the little boy that was neutered. I am still trying to decide on their names. I just wanted to make sure it was documented on here that they were adopted on 7/15.

Catch-Up & Gus

I'm working on catching up on my blog! I've been busy with work and taking care of the critters. I've only adopted 1 rattie boy this year. He was neutered last week. He was originally purchased by a family from a pet store and he has socialization issues. We are working on those now. Hopefully he will adapt. His name is Gus and he is about 4 months old. He's a handsome little dumbo boy. He's recently learned of the joys of hammocks! :D

Precious the Hammie Passes :(

I went in this evening to feed the critters and in checking on the hammies found that Precious had passed in her igloo. :(

She was an AWESOME hammie and loved to be held and cuddled.  She was a Golden variety of Syrian hamster.

Precious came into my life because her and the late hammie Colonel were dropped off at the Washington County Animal Shelter.  The shelter doesn't have the means to house rodents so a friend was contacted who in turn contacted me.

It was because of both Precious and Colonel's outgoing personalities that I decided to adopt Syrian hamsters when needed so room was made to always keep a few that needed homes.

Rest in peace little Precious.  Hopeful you have the best stash at the bridge!

Precious has been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.

Rodent Mix Reformulation

The current basic dry mix is:

Regular or Thick Cut Rolled Oats (100 pounds) www.azurestandard.com
Rolled 9 Grain Flakes⁺ (50 pounds) www.azurestandard.com
Triticale Flakes (50 pounds) www.azurestandard.com
Rolled Barley (25 pounds) www.azurestandard.com
Rolled Rye (25 pounds) www.azurestandard.com
Kirkland Low Fat Dog Food (Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul, Light formula or Diamond Lowfat Dog Food also work for this mix) (40 pounds)  Costco
Dried Carrots (10 pounds) http://www.northbaytrading.com/air-dried-carrots/
Blueberry Pomegranate Total  (12 boxes) Amazon.com No longer made
Cranberry Crunch Total (12 boxes) Amazon.com
Dried Cranberries (4 pounds) Winco Bulk Bins
Raisins (4 pounds) Winco Bulk Bins
Banana Chips (4 pounds) Winco Bulk Bins

*I do sometimes add another cereal like Cheerios, Corn Flakes, et cetera, for variety.
⁺Hard Red Wheat, Oat Groats, Triticale Berries, Rye Berries, Dehulled Barley, Soft White Wheat, Spelt Berries, Hard White Wheat, Flax.

This makes me 5 18 gallon totes to store this in.  With the exception of the dog food, all foods are human grade.

Frozen mix is (with amounts listed):

Normandy Mix (broccoli, cauliflower, yellow squash, carrots) 11 pounds (Costco)
Green Beans 5 pounds (Costco)
Corn 5 pounds (Costco)
Peas 5 pounds (Costco)
Kale 5 pounds (Whole Foods)
Sweet Potatoes 5 pounds (cooked, purchased raw from Winco)
Beans 10 cups (cooked mixed beans purchased from bulk bins at Winco)
Basmatti Brown Rice 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)
Quinoa 12 cups (cooked, purchased from bulk bins at Winco)

I steam the rice and quinoa the day before combining my mix. I also cook the beans.  I boil them for 3 minutes then let simmer for 3 hours.  I cook the sweet potatoes.  I put the rice and quinoa in the freezer overnight and the beans and sweet potatoes in the refrigerator overnight.   The next day I cut up the sweet potatoes into cubes and mix everything together.  I then divide into freezer baggies for me to pull out and heat up daily for the critters.

Again, these diets are their BASIC diet.  They do eat other foods.  I mix in additional items in their frozen mix, for example bok choy, apples, canned mandarin oranges, et cetera.  Just watch the items on the forbidden food list.

The Dapper Rat http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet
Dream Mountain Rattery http://www.dreammtnfarm.com/rattery/about.htm
RatFanClub http://www.ratfanclub.org/nutreq.html
Rattie Rascals Rattery http://www.boardmanweb.com/rattery/nutrition.htm
Shunamite Diet: http://www.fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=shunamite

Chase Passes

Chase was actually sick last month and had been doing lots better and was just taking a maintenance dose of Cipro.  I went to feed the fuzzies tonight and he had passed in the igloo.  The others must have thought he was cold because they covered him with the blanket.

Chase was a beautiful, loving rattie and he loved his cage mates.  I think the loss of Liam upset him and he just gave up.  (As Liam was sick, Chase built a nest around him in the lower level of the cage and slept with him to keep him warm.)

Chase loved to hang out with his girls and his favorite food was Blueberry Pomegranate Total.  He would try to eat all of the pieces before anyone else got downstairs.  It was hysterical.

Chase is survived by his cage mates RMIS Rose, RMIS Poppy and Dmnt Sooki.

Chase, you left us too soon.  Rest in peace.

Chase has been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.

Blossom Passes

Blossom, one of my little Idaho girls passed away unexpectedly.  She was found curled asleep in the igloo. :(

She is survived by her "sibling" Sweet Pea and cage mates Currant, Sultana, Little Mamma, Jelly, and the ancient one, Isabella.

Blossom loved to dangle from the top of the cage and dart through the tunnel.  Her favorite food was broccoli.  Like other girls, she preferred to scrabble around than hang out with me but she did like to be pet and play hand chase.

Rest in peace Blossom!

Liam Leaves Us

After fighting a myco flare up, he just kept getting weaker and weaker.  He spent Friday night through Sunday 2am with me.  I woke up ever couple of hours and fed him and gave him fluids (along with his medication).  At 2am I realized he was not going to get better and helped him to the bridge.

Liam was an odd-eyed boy that wasn't too big on being held but put up with it on a regular basis.  My husband really bonded with Liam.  And the day I brought him to work he was a big hit and he was a gentle boy while people fussed over him.



He is survived by his cage mates RMIS Rose, RMIS Poppy, Dmnt Sooki and his best buddy Chase.

Rest in peace little guy.  You are greatly missed.

Bedding and Litter and Vermin Village

I have some updates to this post.  After several years under my belt, I've refined my preferences.

Rats get fleece in the cage and Good News (or other paper pelleted litter) in the litter boxes.  I get the fleece cheap from either Ikea or Joanne's fabrics.  The fleece is tossed after use.

Mice get Good News (or other paper pelleted litter) as the main substrate and then I add tissues and shredded paper, or Clean and Cozy for nesting material.  The paper pellets are better at controlling the odor.  The best place in the Portland metro area that I know of to get Good News is Winco.

The gerbils get crinkle kraft paper that I order from Staples in 10# boxes.  I provide paper and tissue and some Clean and Cozy for nesting material.  They seem to really love shredding it and tunneling through it.

Hamsters get Kaytee's Clean and Cozy.  I find the crinkle paper tends to stick to them if they have longer fur.  I order this from petmountain.com.  I used to order it from Drs Foster and Smith but when they were taken over by Petco, they stopped offering the pet store size and it became too expensive.

I wanted to provide the updates because after 10+ years experience, this is what I have found works best here.

Previous information:

I've tried many items for bedding and litter.  I use Good Mews in my litter boxes and in the mouse cages.  It controls odor well.  It is heavy though so while I have used it in my cages, due to the number of cages I have and where the cages are located I prefer not to use it in the cage bases.

I've used wooden pellets but they smelled funny to me.  I was not a fan of the aspen shavings.  I did like the Aspen Sani Chips but the ratties had so much fun tossing them out and it is expensive to get.

I'm currently finishing up the Douglas Fir shavings I have and have been pretty pleased with them but the large bales sometimes have a dampness to them so I have to let them dry.  The smaller bales are better about being dry.

I just recently purchased rice hulls at the feed store.  I've used it in several cages so far.  A bale lasts me for at least 2 cleanings of all of my cages and the bales are available locally at NW Concentrates for $14 as of this posting.  It is better if I give the area of the cages, which is 8784 inches.  This is just the area where the hulls are placed.  It is good for a week, with little odor at that time.  It absorbs well.  The rats do like to dig in it so it is best with deep pans of at least 3 inches, but it does vacuum easily and is less likely to clog the hose because the pieces are small and uniform in size.  There is little to no dust.  The bedding itself has barely any scent and certainly nothing to irritate sensitive rattie noses.

In the gerbil cages I just use shredded newspaper.  In the hamster cages they get rice hulls and newspaper.  In the mouse cages I use Good Mews and newspaper.

The downside with rice hulls is the difficulty in finding them where rice is not grown.  Luckily Portland has a place that orders it from the Davis, California area.

Cage Set-up Changes

As you may notice, I'm a big fan of Quality Cages, www.qualitycage.com.  They have made every cage and carrier in use at Vermin Village except the mice bin style cages and that is because the wire is a real pain to work with.  I have several designs of cages that I use but at this moment I'm in the process of converting to temporarily retiring my multi-level cages and going with single level cages.  The reason I didn't do it before was because of the size limitation, how do you make side-by-side cages bigger but still fairly easy to clean.  I finally found a way to do that.  This set up makes introductions easier and are definitely easier to clean.

• Honey-Can-Do 5-Shelf 42 in. W x 72 in. H x 18 in. D Black Shelving Unit Model # SHF-01440 Internet # 202493261 from Home Depot as the shelving units.  You could opt to have them make stands for you and then stack the cages but I like the extra storage these provide.  I actually purchased wheels for these shelves from Ace Hardware Outlet [www.acehardwareoutlet.com].  Ace Trading SHF-01939 Casters 4-Set, ACE# 5603923 MFR# SHF-01939.  Please note, 36" wide shelves will NOT work for these cages as the cage itself is 36" wide.

• 2 BC-7 or FC-7 cages from Quality Cages (I prefer the BC-7 cages but the FC-7 cages will work too).  Also, get powder coated, it is well worth the money.  The center divider in the BC-7 slides out.  Each cage comes with a solid and wire divider so introductions work well too!

 Have the cages customized in the following manner:

• Make the doors as large as possible to fit items like wheels, igloos, et cetera through the door. (Measurements to follow.)
• Make sure the cut a hole in one side of the cage (measurements and placement to follow) on each cage.  Make sure that each pair of cages has the hole cut in the center facing of each cage (so one cut is on the right side of one cage and the left side of the second cage).  Pictures of cuts to follow.
• Put the door over the hole.  The door should be 10" x 12"  with the latch on the 10" side.
• 2 ceiling collars (sold in the vent section at Home Depot)

• Machine screws and nuts, and washers. (sizes to follow)

Currently, for the tube I use a 12" long 4" PVC pipe and two 3" to 4" reducers.

I'm going to be working on a metal tube solution with Quality Cages because the PVC ones are kind of a pain to clean and if I have them make it, the tube will be 4" through the entire tube.

Anyway, when the tube is in use, the doors are open (they should be set to open down.  When the tubes aren't needed, the doors can be closed.  Perfect for cleaning.  To clean the tube, I recommend purchasing a toilet bowl brush just for cleaning the tubes.

I use 4 pairs of BC-7 cages for the rats.

O-ren Passes

O-ren, a bitey dwarf hamster passed away sometime Tuesday.  I noticed she didn't come greet me at the door and after pulling her tunnels apart found she had passed in her cage.  The only time she hasn't tried to bite me when pulling her out.

She's been prepared for private cremation at OHS.

Rest in peace you little air attacker.  (For her penchant for trying to bite the air when you walked by.)

Harold Leaves to Reunite With Brothers

At the age of 31 months, Harold has been reunited with his brothers, Chupachup, Billy and Rutherford.  Harold, like his brothers, was a sweet gentle giant.  Always greeting you at the cage door, these past few weeks he lost the use of his back legs.  He still could scoot around until I noticed Sunday he had slowed down quite a bit.  He passed away while I was at work on Monday.

He has been prepared for private cremation at OHS.

Rest in peace little giant.

Raisin Unexpectedly Exits

I'm very upset, Raisin, one of my New Mexico rattie girls, has passed unexpectedly.   She went through so much to get here and now she has gone.  The only comfort I have is that she at least was with her cage mates.

She has been prepared for private cremation at the Oregon Humane Society.  She is survived by her 2 "sisters" Currant and Sultana.

Rest in peace little Raisin.

Frozen Rodent Mix

Taking a leaf from the Dapper Rat's site on her frozen food recipe, I decided to try a frozen mix myself since I'm always so pressed for time.

Thanks to another friend, I found Whole Foods sells frozen kale.  In the interest of time I also used the frozen rice and beans.  In future mixes, I'll make the rice and beans myself.

I gave them some tonight and they all LOVED it.  I will vary it every batch but there are some base ingredients I will use in every batch.  I'll add other items for variety.

• Frozen Whole Kale  (10#)
• Frozen Chopped Broccoli, Cauliflower, Squash, Carrots (11#)
• Peas (5#)
• Corn (5#)
• 10 cups of cooked beans
• 12 cups steamed brown basmatti rice
• 12 cups steamed quinoa
• Frozen Green Beans (5#)

For those in the Beaverton/Hillsboro, Oregon area, I get items to make the mix at the following locations:

• frozen, chopped blue kale - Whole Foods
• frozen corn - Costco
• frozen peas - Costco
• frozen green beans - Costco
• frozen Normandy vegetables - Costco
• brown rice - winco bulk food bins (you can get any grain, but since I eat the basmatti brown, that is what I buy them, it is more expensive)  And I actually purchase my basmatti brown rice at Costco or Winco, depending on which one is cheaper.
• mix of dried beans (I buy a combination of dried beans from the bulk bins in Winco; I do not include lentils or split peas because I already have frozen peas and the lentils don't seem to hold together so well.

I steam the brown rice in a cooker.  I have the small cooker so when I cook it, it takes 2 pots of it for about 12 cups.  I then cook the quinoa in the cooker and it also takes 2 pots to get about 12 cups.

I cook 1 cup of dried beans for every 2 cups of cooked beans.  I place the beans in a pot on the stove and cover with water and bring to a boil for 3 minutes.  Then I turn down the heat and let simmer for 2 and a half hours until the beans are tender but not mushy.  I then drain and put beans in the fridge to cool.  The rice and quinoa are put in the fridge to cool and then in the freezer to freeze.

I then mix all of the frozen foods together and add the beans as well.

After mixing it all together, I part it out in amounts that I will use each night.  Currently I use freezer zip bags (and I reuse them).  Eventually I will get the appropriate sized freezer containers to do this with I still have to find one that I like.

Each night I pull a packet out and  put it in a microwave safe container and cook it for 3 to 5 minutes.  Then I dish it out to the kiddos.

I do include fresh vegetables when I have them.  I don't cook those. 


Because of their dry mix, I don't put in any pasta in the mix.

I purchased the 1 pound paper boats at Costco, 250 for $5 to feed the wet mix in.  I would rather spend the money on paper plates than spend the time washing them. :D

Reference:  The Dapper Rat Rat Diet http://www.dapper.com.au/articles.htm#diet