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Post by ladyjosephine on Oct 10, 2008 18:36:32 GMT -4
So I haven't been around for a little while, but I was verrrryy busy I was/am taking care of a whole Maternity ward At least..that's how it feels. One of our new dogs(Sonja, the not-so-pretty one) was pregnant, had a difficult birth and had to under go a C-section. She gave birth to 4 puppy's, unfortunatly 2 died, but we have 2 healthy puppies 1 girl & 1 boy...They are 4 weeks and 2 days old today We named them Jesse(Not jessie, but just Jesse) and Neeka. Neeka is named after one of my rat-girls, and a little bit after Nikita, our old dog that we had to put down this year. She's my new dog..so now we have 4, Jesse will move to my step-sister when he's 8 or 9 weeks old. Photo's: This is the father, A long haired Chihuahua, He was just licking his nose I'm also taking care of a litter of rats, this also didn't go smoothly.. Mom gave birth to 6 kittens, but 1 was death already, and the next morning 2 more kittens died..So now we have 3, 1 girl and 2 boys, They're 4 weeks old today. Photo's: This one will be staying here, the only Top-eared boy His sister, will move to the owner of his father. His brother, will move in with a lonely boy. And I also have 2 new girls... Ai's Imaginary Superstar. She will be used for breeding in the future. She's Blue beige self Dumbo Ai's Honey Bee. We planned to use her for breeding to, but unfortunatly we had to let that plan go. We just found out her brother probably has CHF, A heart condition, And one of her uncles died and it's feared he also had a heart condition. Honey is a granddaughter of Namari, Her mom came out of namari's First litter, This means that She also is related to Dai kin, who's a son out of namari's second litter. Honey is a Dove self top-eared My other/older girls are still doing fine, The black one will be 2 yrs and 3 mo next week ;D So now my rat-population is 5 girls and 5 boys..at the end of this month there will be another boy moving in and in about 2,5/3 months another girl.. And, I almost forgot about her! My Step-sister bought me a new rabbit....at the petstore. I Wasn't really happy at first because I wanted to pick 1 up at a shelter, but I couldn't give this 1 back..So now Bram has a girlfriend. Her name is Eva, and she's also A Dutch dwarf lop I'll post a picture of her later...
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Post by Hamsters82 on Oct 10, 2008 19:01:22 GMT -4
First off I'm sorry for your losses of your animals. Secondly I like the names of your animals and they're all very cute. So Jesse and Neeka are Chihuahua and Chinese Crested mix? That's different, but cool. And over here the spelling of Jesse is a boy's name, if it's Jessie (with an I) it's a girl's name. I never knew baby rats were called kittens, very interesting. Thanks for teaching me something new! And it's great to have you back here Angela!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Oct 10, 2008 20:20:13 GMT -4
Yea, great to have you back! We are busy too. Oy. Verrrrrrry busy. So tired! I plunk myself down after a long day and relax here. >> I never knew baby rats were called kittens << I think I heard that somewhere, once. I think. I ought to do a thread on what groups of animals are called. A group of crows is called a WHAT, people?? Jesse may be the Dutch version of Jess? When Moet and Chandon had their litters 23 months ago none died; all were healthy - all, well, I think it was 14 total. You can check in the Rat forum in November of 2006. It was a lot. The fifth photo down reminds me of Don Zimmer. ;D You will not get that joke if you do not know who he is (think baseball). Ever wish you could lick your nose like that?? Such as when you have an itch and both hands are holding something?! The puppies are cute, and the rats lovely. Honey Bee is my fave. - - - - Odd question. It saddens me so when rats get tumors, and in my case the females get them more often than the guys. Why do rats get them more often than other rodents, and is there any way to BREED to minimize this problem?
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Post by pinky on Oct 11, 2008 14:13:26 GMT -4
Welcome again, Angela! It's always fun to read your updates and see the great photos of your animals. Ratties really are your thing!! I love the last several photos because of the interesting backgrounds. The hot pink/purple furniture/bedding makes a cool backdrop, and the one of Honey Bee is just wonderful--she is framed so nicely by the surroundings. Sorry that you did lose some animals, but the ones you show look well. Bram has a girlfriend. Bet she's pretty!
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Post by ladyjosephine on Oct 14, 2008 14:03:16 GMT -4
Thanks Jesse & Neeka are 75% Chihuahua & 25% CC, Sonja's dad was a Chihuahua too. Honey isn't my favourite although she's really sweet and cool..I'm still very much in love with Dai kin so he's my *secret* favourite A pedigree/Rattery-rat isn't always healthier then a Rescue, but with a rattery rat you know where it came from, what it's family is, How old the rats were when they died etc. A friend has one 'line' completly without tumors, she stopped breeding 2 months ago but we promised to keep this line intact. This is Eva, Bram's GF:
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Oct 14, 2008 17:56:36 GMT -4
>> A friend has one 'line' completly without tumors, she stopped breeding 2 months ago but we promised to keep this line intact. << Oh my! So maybe the frequency of tumors is related to breeding and genetics. Wonder if inbreeding makes them more likely. . . Eva has some ears!
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Post by ladyjosephine on Oct 14, 2008 18:33:24 GMT -4
Inbreeding isn't always bad The line she has/had is partly inbreed, But if you do this to frequently it will cause problems. Ratteries are just better because they care for the rats, so the rats are in good cages, are getting the proper foods, a lot of attention and they keep an eye on the lines they breed so they can stop the line if there are health-issues. A petstore-breeder can't do all of that, Because he/she doesn't know where the rats will end up. So they don't know at what age the rat dies, how he died, if he was in good health etc. Things a good rattery should know.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Oct 14, 2008 19:18:07 GMT -4
I also assume a pet store will not handle and socialize the babies, as I did 23 months ago - a story up in the rat forum. I also know if those babies had been born in the store (if I got the two males instead of the moms) they would have ended up, well, you know. . .
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Post by ladyjosephine on Oct 14, 2008 19:51:40 GMT -4
That's why over here, in 'ratty-land', it's really not done to buy rats in pet stores..Every rat you buy there will be replaced by rats from the same bad breeder. A rattery only breeds a few litters per year, so every kitten will get a lot of attention. The parents are selected with care, not just throwing a male and female together and wait for kittens. They look at Health,temperament and only after that the color/markings etc. Rat should match together on this part..Agressive rats are banned from breeding, as are scared ones.
In the netherlands it's also not done to breed with Fuzz/Naked rats or Manx because most of these rats have health-issues...But fuzz isn't always 'planned' in a litter because the Fuzz-genes can pop up up untill at least 8 generations later.
A few years ago a lady started breeding wild rats(Rattus norvegicus) with fancy ones, a few generations later they would match a great-great-granddaughter with a ""-grandson and they found out they can get a setback and would act like wild rats, so now they are trying to avoid this.
But my Forever Texas also comes from an inbreed litter, his grand-parents at dad's side are brother and sister, and their grandfather is a Rattus Norvegicus, but all the rats in this litter are sweet rats without any wild behaviour
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Post by Hamsters82 on Oct 14, 2008 20:36:36 GMT -4
Eva is soo cute!!
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Oct 14, 2008 21:44:07 GMT -4
Oddly, finding good (or any) rodent breeders in NYC has been hard. Even some gerbil breeders listed on the AGS site did not even bother to answer me.
In some pet stores they get animals dumped there, at random. Regular breeder supplies of rats are not the rule, no constant supply. These critters are unlikely to get bought (the rats) as they are the least popular of rodents for pets, at least here. So Moet and Chandon, the two females I got, were almost rescues.
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Post by pinky on Oct 14, 2008 23:06:41 GMT -4
Bram has good taste in ladies!
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Post by ladyjosephine on Oct 15, 2008 17:51:26 GMT -4
Yeah, Bram likes her...But he hates it if she touches HIS food..When I introduced them to each other I forgott to get the foodbowl away and he got really mad when Eva tried to eat out of the same bowl :S
@df: I don't mind rat being the least popular, that means a petstore can't sell them and at some point will stop offering them...Not every petstore is bad, but most of the petstore shouldn't be selling animals, because they don't know anything about the animals they have. I "know" 2 or 3 Ratteries in NYC, but I can't remember if they are all still breeding..Should look that up.
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Post by Die Fledermaus on Oct 15, 2008 18:55:37 GMT -4
@df: I don't mind rat being the least popular, that means a petstore can't sell them and at some point will stop offering them...Not every petstore is bad, but most of the petstore shouldn't be selling animals, because they don't know anything about the animals they have. I "know" 2 or 3 Ratteries in NYC, but I can't remember if they are all still breeding..Should look that up. When the times comes, I will check to see if such a store has an abandoned/dumped rats that they cannot sell. They would likely give them to be free, or cheap. They know me. It is that or the damn snakes. I would always discourage stores from selling these critters especially on a regular basis. if you do find out some reliable ratteries in NYC it would be useful to know - - - - BTW, last night I was exploring this Dutch site! www.mata-hari.org/
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Post by adoptaratcanada on Oct 20, 2008 19:23:55 GMT -4
Odd question. It saddens me so when rats get tumors, and in my case the females get them more often than the guys. Why do rats get them more often than other rodents, and is there any way to BREED to minimize this problem? I've heard....it's because so many rats have "lab roots", where they were bred TO HAVE tumours...so that they could then be tested for how to get rid of them. *sigh* Then, take long line of rats who've had these roots, and how many -outside labs- are overly bred and inbred by bad breeders producing feeders. Sorry lot, are humans. Rats is the only area I support breeding. I think if there are enough responsible breeders, it can do some part to tip the balance.
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