Almost three days without Internet access! But we survived. Actually, now I come to blog it, nothing much to say. I did get the big cage completely stripped down and scrubbed, but that seems a bit boring really. So nothing to report.
So there I was cleaning out the wheezy brothers' cage this evening, then I put the cage on the floor with them and sat with them for a bit. Morse and Doppler were huffing at my slippers as usual, and wiping themselves on the cage because I'd messed up the smell. Edison and Archie had gone in to bed.
That's when I stroked a rat without thinking and got nailed. Yowch. I'm not even sure if it was Morse or Doppy, as they were both puffed up. Blinkin' rats! I now have two punctures between my thumb and first finger. Can't even threaten them with neutering because their lungs are too bad.
We've had a re-shuffle today. The four boys that I separated out got to the end of their meds, while some of the boys still in the big cage are showing their age and finding it hard to get around. I've got the big Shak cage split into to big cages now, completely stripped down and scrubbed the other day.
So now I have one Shak cage arranged for easy climbing with the two worst wheezy boys in, Archie and Edison, two old boys Louis and William, and Toby who is just beginning to have hind leg problems. The other five boys - all the stroppy ones - are in the other cage together. I was expecting fireworks this evening as the stroppy lads worked out who was boss, but I guess they remember the pecking order from before, and they have been coming out together at playtime.
The Jenny cage has gone. I gave it away today. It's been replaced by a Fop Cleide for the three youngest boys. A nice chrome cage which flat packs, and has more floor space than the Jenny. It's not without its problems, and may corrode like the Jennys do, but I think it will be a reasonable cage.
The girls are still where they were, but I have two new boys coming soon to integrate with the youngest boys, so they may move into the girls' cage eventually and the girls into the Cleide.
A couple of funny photos for you. First of all Darwin trying to sit up in the hammock to drink from the water bottle.
And Toby playing in the new playpen. Bless him.
Just been taking photos.
Mr Babbage
Brunel, Babbage and Otis
Brunel and Otis
Otibix
Brunel posing
New cage
Brunel, about to kill Joe's eyebrow
I've noticed a change in Sophie since I changed the way we do play time. When I used to put the cage on the table and let them come and go, she used to come out for a climb around and a few circuits of the table, then go back in again. She would climb up onto my shoulder sometimes but not enjoy being picked up.
Now we have the big playpen, I need to lift them down from the cage to come and play, then I sit in the playpen with them. Sophie will now let me pick her up and lift her down from the cage. She will let me stroke her and interacts much more happily. She's even asking to come out and ride around on my shoulder when it's not play time.
What a difference!
Not a lot to report really. I took some videos of two of my groups in the new playpen. It got too dark to do the other two groups.
Here're Pyramus, Thisbe and Sophie - you can see why Sophie has wheel tail!
And here are Brunel, Babbage and Otis
I'm hoping to pick up two agouti boys this weekend as the beginning of my breeding plans. I may not use them, as mink or cinnamon would be more useful colour-wise, but as I'm aiming for health and temperament first and foremost we'll wait and see what they turn out like. Apart from that, they're agouti and I love agouti.
I've got an almost permanent job! At least six months, though still with the temp agency. NHS so they don't seem bothered that it's a really expensive way to hire me. Nice office, nice people, just half an hours walk from home, and 4.5 hours a day. Perfick!
There were two rats for rehoming posted on the MRC forum yesterday, just down the road from me. So meet Pickle and Chester, agouti and agouti berkshire. They're brothers of my boy Brunel, so of course they had to come here.
I've changed my mind about trying to get Pickle and Chester in with the other three youngsters. I don't think I could handle four agoutis in one cage! Even with one being rex and one berkshire, I'd never know where I was. So we're going to keep them separate and just expand both groups when we get kittens later on.
I've decided to go ahead and move the door in the big Cavia Hotel cage. I want it in the middle, where it won't foul on the shelves and so I will be able to reach into the back corners of the cage. I need to cut out a door sized hole in the back, paint the cut edges, move the door round then blank off the old door hole with a piece of panel from an old cage. Then all the shelves and everything has to be rearranged so that what was the back of the cage becomes the front. I'm going to move the girls out today, into a spare cage I've kitted out for them.
Because we now have Pickle and Chester in the visitors' cage, I'll need another cage next weekend for actual visitors, so I either have to get the mods done well before next weekend, or wait until they've been and gone. We'll see. Once I start I'll have to get it finished.
There's a petition underway at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/VetbillsVAT/ for tax free vet bills in the UK. I think this is a sterling idea - it's not as if health care for our pets is something we take for pleasure. It's a necessity. Please post the link anywhere you can think of. BTW, the end date is 19th July, but this is 2008, not this year.
There's a lot been going on. I got a nasty bite from one of the new boys and we were seriously thinking of having them neutered. But when I thought about it, it was obviously environmental. They were fine, sweet boys when I collected them. They only got hormonal when they were put in a room smelling of loads of other rats - bucks and does, and let out to play in a playpen which smelt of everyone else.
So I've moved them into the front room, put them in a different cage, they've been coming out to play on my lap instead of in the playpen, and they're back to their old selves again. Really happy for them.
Last modified: Saturday, 10-Nov-2007 23:07:31 GMT
