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lizspit In reply to Hyony [2011-07-24 11:50:17 +0000 UTC]

ack! thanks for pointing it out! I'm the worst at spelling.

Yes, people always have convenient little excuses as to why they only have 1 rat. *insert eye roll here*

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starling16 In reply to lizspit [2013-11-21 20:04:19 +0000 UTC]

Is it different if you had two but one died?

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Lightfoot-Hearts In reply to starling16 [2014-08-10 00:33:49 +0000 UTC]

If one had a cage mate that died, then it needs a new cage mate pronto. Getting a new friend for them will help them get over the grieving process. No matter how much time you spend with it, it won't easily recover from the ordeal and can even lose it's will to live. 
My girl died from grief after her sister passed away. 

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starling16 In reply to Lightfoot-Hearts [2014-08-13 19:57:13 +0000 UTC]

Really? I didn't know a new friend could be introduced without fighting or injuring each other :/ 
My Sapphire's (profile picture) sister died and she lived another couple of years (they were both rescues so I don't know how old they were, but I believe they were full grown when I took them in) which she spent alone until illness took her :/ and to think she could have had another companion all that time... Why did I never find this information before?

I'm sorry but I feel I have to say something of the story now-
I don't know how common this is, but I have always thought it pretty special that she actually buried her sister. We had gone on holiday for the weekend and my friend's grandparents were dropping in to feed and make sure they were okay, and when I got home I realised one was missing, so I asked what happened and they said they thought there was only ever one. I found it curious that all of the floor pellets were piled up in one place, and scooping it away, there she was. So strange!

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Lightfoot-Hearts In reply to starling16 [2014-08-13 23:19:45 +0000 UTC]

Wow, that is strange! I've heard a lot of stories about mourning rats, but I have never heard of one rat burying her cage mate, how unusual! 

She must have lived to be pretty old if you got them as adults. 
Most rats to extremely well when be introduced to new cage mates. I have introduced many rats before, and have only had one problem before (: 
Do you have any rats now? :3 

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starling16 In reply to Lightfoot-Hearts [2014-08-15 06:56:38 +0000 UTC]

yeah, she was a special one ^^ and I miss her a lot. They were my first, and so far only rats, since I don't have the time these days and it wouldn't be fair (I have to work all summer this year, a placement for college, plus I have a puppy I bred to train up hehe). Also, it seems to me I'd get upset a lot if I had more, since you build up such a close bond with them, I guess their intelligence helps, but then they don't live very long

Do you know if they've managed to create lab-grown rats that don't carry myco yet? I disagree with testing on animals of course, but as far as I understand all rats carry myco because it is passed to them when being born from their mother (I read that somewhere years ago forgive me if I'm wrong) so scientists were trying to skip the being born part and once they got a few rats that didnt have it, start making that colony bigger and eventually have a lot less rats carrying it in the world. It's what took my first rat, and Sapphy had it too, but it was that and Hind Leg Degeneration that finally took her in the end. I believe she put up a good fight <3

I know right! I will always wonder at their age. I got them when they were already ill, so it wasn't much of a surprise to me that the first died in a month or two, for she was never very well and the medication didn't seem to be doing anything. Of course it didn't help that they were giving us bird meds and other things :/ but she was a lovely affectionate girl. She couldn't walk more than a few steps without needing to rest for a few minutes, but bless her, each time she would turn back around to lie on your lap <3
Hm, speaking of rodents that live longer than the average, I had a dwarf hamster that was only supposed to live to 3, and she went three days before her fifth birthday! Must have really enjoyed life that one XD made sure she kept fit- always upside down on the roof of the cage! Hardly came off 'cept to eat and sleep I hear a lot of hamsters do this? But I'll bet not as often as this one ^^

Alrighty then, when I eventually have some new friends I will remember your advice I know she never got on with the gerbils much though haha, mainly their fault though. She loved to play chase with our persian cat though! They'd take turns racing after the other :3 (no need to worry about anyone being eaten- my cat was scared of the gerbils lol, so it didn't cross her mind to mess with Sapphire )

Sorry for the marathon read!

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Lightfoot-Hearts In reply to starling16 [2014-08-16 21:11:23 +0000 UTC]

Ooohh, Puppies are fun too! 
Yes, that's the downside. They really, just do not live long enough  

I'm not sure. I have heard somewhere (Unsure of how reliable the source was) that some rats bred by very good breeders are actually bred without Myco, Or at least rats that don't really get any flareups of it. 
It could be though. 
I have actually only lost one rat (I have had a total of 8 rats) to Myco/Respiratory infection, and she was a petco feeder rat. 


Bird medication? Well that couldn't have been very good X3 
Aww, bless her! That's so sweet! 

Wow, that's pretty old! Sure had a strong will to live, eh?  
Most rats are supposed to live till three, but the longest mine have ever lived was Two years, which is super unfortunate. Seeing as how 3 years isn't even long enough. 
Two of my current girls are One year old, and still super healthy! (Most of my rats start to have problems at the age of One)
I'm hoping that I will have them for many more years yet. 


It cracks me up that most cats are actually afraid of rats X3 

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starling16 In reply to Lightfoot-Hearts [2014-08-31 13:08:34 +0000 UTC]

Yep

Ah, whether or not a rat actually triggers it's myco depends on whether it's dusty (that's why you can't use sawdust for flooring or bedding) or unclean in the cage, or if it's subjected to shock, as far as I remember. Doesn't depend on how it was bred but they all carry it with the possibility to trigger it.
That's great I assume the others went from age? You must've taken great care of your rats if it wasn't triggered  

Not sure if I said, but although Sapphire (second rat) had myco and it was getting worse, it wasn't what killed her. She had Hind Leg Degeneration something or other, so her back leg muscles wasted away so she couldn't walk, and she stopped eating too. Myco made things more difficult as she had to sneeze a lot to get stuff out of her airways. For a few weeks we gave her meds soaked in bread and similar and after that stopped working we puréed things and fed her via syringe, but in the end she stopped swallowing it :/ horrible few weeks.
That night she wouldn't swallow we took her out of her cage and put her in a comfy shoebox without the lid- she wasn't going anywhere- and kept her by my mum's bed so she could look after her through the night, and it was six am the next morning that she finally lost the battle. I do wonder whether it would have been kinder for the vets to offer to put her down, but they didn't, just gave us more useless medication (that wasn't for hind leg degeneration...). I sometimes wonder if it was my fault, because it turns out one of the ingredients in bread increases the chances of rats getting hind leg degeneration, so all that time, I was probably making things worse... When we had thought it was a good way to get the medicine down. She did love bread :/

I'm not sure what a petco feeder rat is... It sounds like a pet store, and we don't have it in England, also sounds like a rat that's used to feed snakes or something?

Ikr!

Oh yep I wonder what she was planning sometimes, perhaps she had a purpose haha.

Yeah, 2-3 years I thought. It's weird though- I swear I had Sapphire about 2 years! Which means she must have been 3 when she left, or older...! Depends on at what age do rats look full grown? For example if they look full grown at six months then she could've been 2 1/2.
Fingers crossed for your girls! What are their names?

Oh are they? XD must be the difference in size between them and a mouse. Maybe they think they're going to gang up and take revenge on them for all the mice throughout history, muahaha. ^^

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lizspit In reply to Thirteen-Souls [2011-07-24 11:51:03 +0000 UTC]

thank you. ^_^ Check out the website for more! I will be doing more, so many more!

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Thirteen-Souls In reply to lizspit [2011-07-24 20:18:48 +0000 UTC]

Welcome! I can't wait.

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lizspit In reply to sparkling-otter [2011-07-24 11:51:51 +0000 UTC]

thanks! Yes, you should check out the website! there were a string of 3 or 4 of them I did with the basis of "so you don't like rats because..."

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sparkling-otter In reply to lizspit [2011-07-24 23:32:53 +0000 UTC]

I took a look and I'm glad I did. They are funny and I did learn something from it ^^ Rats can eat small portions of chocolate is one of them :3

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lizspit In reply to Choc-Chipie [2011-07-24 11:52:16 +0000 UTC]

just photoshop 7 ^_^ I'm glad you like!

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Choc-Chipie In reply to lizspit [2011-07-25 07:40:55 +0000 UTC]

ok thank you ^^

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