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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Nov 24, 2008 2:34:44 GMT -5
The rodents are doing much better on the antibiotics. The rats are still very sniffly, but not lethargic or squinty like they were. Last night I let Didjeridu kill 1/2 of the rats, leaving me with 3 males and 3 females. I am hoping to breed the rats (in addition to the mice), but I still need to talk to Tony about that. I plan on keeping at least 1 rat for sure though, I am in love! Here are the ratties: black and white dumbo male *DEFINITE KEEPER* grey self dumbo male black rex or double rex male white and cream dumbo red eyed female white with brown spots dumbo female (spots around her eyes look like Gene Simmon's KISS makeup! Tony named her Gene or Genie) White with brown spots rex female The pictures aren't great because they move a mile a minute! In the next week I need to decide who to keep and who to feed before they get to big for Didjeridu to kill! But how can I, they are too cute!
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Post by luxuriousferret on Nov 24, 2008 9:20:45 GMT -5
Aww!!! they are soooo cute!!!
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 24, 2008 9:27:30 GMT -5
Awwwww why'd you get dumbo eared rats!!! They're to cute to feed to ferrets!!! Other rats are adorable too, but dumbos are so cute!
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Post by bigsis7 on Nov 24, 2008 9:28:29 GMT -5
Oh and one more thing....rats are social creatures by nature and need a companion, so make sure you keep at least two .
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Post by charmantpapillon on Nov 24, 2008 11:56:41 GMT -5
They are adorable! *steals* =)
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Nov 24, 2008 12:17:37 GMT -5
I know, they are too adorable! When we picked them up, I was thinking "oh crap" in my head. I MELT for dumbos. Plus I love their unique markings... I used to work at PETCO so anything other than hooded or albino is unique in my mind! I have had rats before, so I know I need to keep a few to keep them happy. Last time I had rats, we had two girls and a neutered male together. I think I will be keeping at least one male (the first photo, I am in love) and probably two females... But they are all so stinking cute! It would be very hard to choose. As I said, I still need to talk to Tony about breeding, but I already let him know there is no way I will feed my little male to the ferrets, so he is already on board with one... three most won't hurt!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 1, 2008 12:05:46 GMT -5
I went away for the four days and my mice and rats seemed to have doubled in size! They are growing so much!
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Post by fuzzymom on Dec 2, 2008 14:51:59 GMT -5
Oh yes. Rats grow like crazy. They are weeds with fur. And I have to agree, dumbos are absolutely heart melt material.
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 5, 2008 19:08:20 GMT -5
I talked to Tony and he is okay with me breeding rats! The only problem... how many should I keep? I don't want to part with any! I would like to keep 1 male and 2-3 females, but there are two males I don't want to part with, the white and black dumbo (picture1) and the black rex (picture 3). The third male, little gray dumbo, isn't as "special" to me as the other two, but still.... I don't want to decide! What do you recommend? I wish the males could have the babies! I don't care too much for the females and they don't like me! I'm thinking about numbers today..... If I have 6 breeding females,which I do, I should be producing approximately 44 mice per month, if mice are breed, babies are weaned at 4 weeks, then the male is reintroduced after that, NOT back to back breeding. Also, the mice would be eaten by my ferrets at 10 weeks old and 11 pups would be born in each litter... obviously an average guess. 44 mice per month is approximately 10 per week, which should feed my babies for about 1 days per week! If I keep 3 female rats, they could produce 22 rats a month, approximately 5 per week, which should feed my ferrets for one day to 1.5 days a week! Now, my only problem is that Ramona is very picky about whole prey, and Ernie won't TOUCH it unless he is playing with it! Luckily Didjeridu and Pepina are crazy for prey
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Post by bigsis7 on Dec 5, 2008 19:23:30 GMT -5
What are you going to do with the extra rats? Give them to me I hope . Well I think keeping at least two males if they won't be living with the females would be best. Then keep 2-4 females together. Haha if it was up to me you would be giving me the dumbo male and the Genie ! Good luck!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 5, 2008 20:22:22 GMT -5
Okay, I will give you the gray dumbo! You can have him! But you will have to fly to drive out to Portland, Oregon to pick him up. Heck, if you come all that way, I will give you Gene too! I will be feeding the extra rats to the ferrets!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 5, 2008 21:17:29 GMT -5
OOPS sorry BigSis... I didn't have the patience and the gray dumbo just became dinner! He was hard to kill for Didj and Pepina together so I know not to ever feed them larger than that if they still need to kill it! After they killed it, they played tug-of-war over it for at least three minutes before they finally agreed that she would take the head and he would get the tail! What a adorably vicious pair! They chewed off one paw, which I tried to feed to my dogs... They were both interested and grossed out. I tried everything I could to get them to eat it. Finally I covered it in peanut butter and Ajax took it! "Ha Ha you ate the paw, you ate the paw!" I teased her for a while! I'm such a dork
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Post by bigsis7 on Dec 5, 2008 21:39:06 GMT -5
Oh no ! Why couldn't you wait!? Just kidding hehe! They better have enjoyed it though because I wanted him lol!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 6, 2008 11:38:32 GMT -5
Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be driving for a week to get pick up a rat. They did tell me he was delicious though! Last night I had a dream that I had mouse babies! I hope my dream is fulfilled soon!
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Post by animalsgetrevenge on Dec 9, 2008 16:38:01 GMT -5
I just saw two of the mice mating! Bow-chicka-wow-wow! I'm so excited. He keeps trying to mate with her and she keeps squealing. He has done it about 4 times in 5 minutes so I am guessing I should have at least 1 litter in 3 weeks! My dream is going to come true!
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