Annette Rand's Blog, page 9

I’m a tunnel!

Sometimes the rats come out to play and I hardly see them. Sometimes they’re set on getting into mischief and I have to constantly remove them from trouble. This evening the young boys decided that I was their play tunnel, so I had eight of them running around me and between my legs, tussling and chasing as they went.

Nosy little monkeys

The two visitors have gone home now, having been mated to Xane during the past week. I’ve spent most of my��rats’ playtime over the past week plucking them off the visitors’ cage, as I only had a low level cage free for the visitors. Now, however, the cage is empty and I’ve had a very easy evening as the rats are all busy checking out the smell the visitors have left behind. Strudel Pie is currently trying their wheel to see ��if it’s any better than the one in her own cage.

My little hooligans

We have two very sweet little doe-rats visiting for a week, in the hope of a liaison with one of my bucks. They have taken residence��in their own holiday apartment, complete with hanging toilet roll from which to harvest their bedding. This evening I caught my group of naughty young girls reeling the toilet roll out through the bars of the visitors’ cage while the two little sweethearts watched in bemusement.

The Rat’s Whiskers – a lovely review

I’ve been quite nervous about my��new book, The Rat’s Whiskers, because it doesn’t really fit into any box. It’s not a ‘how to care for your rat’ book, or a ‘how to breed’ book, or even a ‘fun things to make for your rat’ book. It’s really just a photo record of how I raise my litters. So it is fantastic to receive a first review that shows that someone has completely got where I was coming from and has enjoyed the book. Thank you Coypu. x

Famous for a day

http://www.rugbyadvertiser.co.uk/news/local-news/why-rugby-mum-loves-breeding-rats-1-6381523

I made it into the local paper yesterday! It’s not completely the story I thought I was giving them, but��if it publicises the new book then it will do.

Thistle’s spay

Thistle has had a close shave. I was cleaning out the group��of seven girls yesterday when I realised there was blood all over the cage. The first girl I checked��was the culprit – Thistle had a womb infection. She’s been spayed today, and given extra fluids as she was quite dehydrated, and��seems to have come through it fairly��well. She’s now on Meloxidyl for the pain and Clavaseptin to catch any remaining infection. Our��vet remarked on the fact that the horn of the uterus that was infected had a normal ovary, whereas the other horn that showed no sign of infection had a hugely enlarged polycystic ovary. Which just goes to show that��rats will always do things the difficult way.

Pumpkin revisited

The pumpkin has been excavated to the point where the smaller rats will fit inside, as modelled by Bertie.

Pumpkin fun

We started Halloween early yesterday.

Single minded

Umami likes to chew my nails. All the time.

Some of the lads

A couple of pics because I’m behind with the photos. Here’s Mr Pickles grooming Xerxes after a small disagreement, and Teddy on the hammock box.