Large, Squishy Rats

After reading some of the comments yesterday and laughing about the comments on the size of that one rat...I thought I would share some of my rats past and present pictures. These were and are my big boys. Not all rats get big and squishy but some of them do. Male rats are more likely to get a bit bigger when they get older because they become lap rats that just want to lay in your lap and be petted, while female rats have too much energy and are always on the run thus keeping their slim figures. lol 

Above are Bandit on the left and Marbles on the right. Bandit got quite chunky. 

Bandit was a food hog. Meaning when I put a plate of food for dinner or treats he would push all the other rats out of the way and hide as much of it in the house as possible. But all the other rats knew where his stash was and they would go raid it when they wanted. lol 

Lucky and most rats look a lot bigger when they are laying down or completely relaxed because their skin pools around them if they are a bit on the chunky side. Even small rats with less fat on them seem to look quite chunky when they lay out flat.

But he's still limber enough to bend himself into the craziest positions. Those are his back feet up by his face. Yep, he bent himself in half to clean his feet and fell asleep like that. 

My rats might get chunky because I "share" my food with them. lol 

But when Lucky stand tall you can see he's really not as big as he seems to be when he's laying down. 

Maybe he should lay off the Birthday cake?

Bandit posed for pictures this last Christmas and he was a big boy.

This was Oreo, a rat I had a few years ago. He was a big boy too and like I said, they get reaaaaly lazy in their old age. He fell asleep like this.

Lucky looks fat and happy in his hammock. 

Now the only seriously big rat I've ever had was Jasper. That's him standing next to a paper towel tube that is 11" long. He was 19" from tail to nose and weighed 3lbs. But he ran around, was able to clean himself and lived to be almost 3 years old which is a good old age for a rat. I think his ancestors must have been from the nuclear testing facility here in Las Vegas. lol 

Jasper was a sweet rat and was always giving kisses. My daughter made this picture. He was sitting there cleaning himself and all she did was put her hand near him and he started licking her. 

Lucky looks really big when he rolls himself up in a ball, but he's not as big as Jasper was by any means. 

All your comments yesterday about big rats, just made me smile.

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Review: Wicked Flames by Sharon Kay

Wicked Flames (Solsti Prophecy #3)

by Sharon Kay

Expected publication: July 2014

Gin Bonham lives with a dark secret. Born with an ability she never wanted, she builds her life around science and logic, running from the terror she is capable of causing. When sexy stranger Mathias spots her on a dance floor and cuts in, he leads Gin in a sensual rhythm that continues long after the music stops. But Mathias hides the fact that he knows exactly what she can do: in the deepest recesses of her mind lurks the power to manipulate fire. Destiny is coming for her and it doesn't care if she’s ready or not.

Mathias possesses tracking and espionage skills so extraordinary that his fellow Lash demons call him The Hunter. Pursue and interrogate. He never fails. When he is tasked with coaxing Gin to work with the Lash demons against a common enemy, he relishes the challenge. But meeting her awakens a new, primal drive that pulls him toward her even as his tactics break her heart.

Failing to win Gin’s cooperation is not an option. But she is determined to flee, putting thousands of miles between her and any other supernatural creatures, including Mathias. Can she cool the charred embers of her emotions enough to forgive Mathias and embrace what she was meant to become? Or will her ability explode into something more than she can control?

Does this sound good to you? You can read my review of it here. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Comfortable Sleeping

I don't really have any 'facts' for you today, I just wanted to share Flower's pictures. lol I got a good picture of her sleeping on top of the cube I bought her. She uses the top like a hammock and sleeps in it all the time. It must be comfy. 

She heard me taking pictures and was wide awake and wanting to play in 2 seconds flat. 

And then this picture of Scribbles hiding inside the fleece pouch. All you can really see is his nose and eye. lol Silly rats. 

Freebie Friday

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received:

Popcorn Seeds

Seattle's Best Coffee

I sent the corn seeds to my brother since he has a garden and I don't.

Make Your Own Antibiotics?

It should be no surprise to anyone that I really hate going outside and I really hate having to go to the doctor if I don't have to. I can come up with some really interesting ways of making sure I can stay home and not go outside since I have Agoraphobia and would rather stay indoors. 

But a few weeks ago I started getting headaches and knew I was getting a sinus infection but I held out hope *for 3 weeks* that it would go away on its own, which it didn't. So much for wishful thinking. I could tell it was one of 'those' types of sinus infections that will only go away if I get antibiotics. But how do I get antibiotics without going to the doctor?

I make my own...kinda. 

I already had on hand what I needed because I bought the gel capsules a while back and I had a bottle of powder Doxycycline for birds *that I give to my rats when they have an upper respiratory infection* 

So I looked online and found out that Doxycycline will treat a sinus infection and decided I might as well try this and see if it works. 

So I filled 14 gel capsules with Doxycycline powder and took 2 a day for 7 days. Did it work? Did the headache and sinus pain I had for 3 weeks finally go away? Yes! Yes, it did. 

So if I ever need antibiotics again, I know what I'll do if I don't want to or cannot get to the doctor. It's actually easy to get antibiotics for animals online. Most feed stores and even Amazon carry and sell them. 

* I am not a doctor or medical professional so don't take what I've said here to be a better recourse than going to your own doctor for medical attention*

Update on Marbles

My little man is still hanging in there and I think he's really loving all the extra attention he's been getting from ken and I. He is drinking coconut water from a plastic syringe in the picture above. 

This is how Marbles greeted me this morning when I came to give him water and pudding. He hasn't done this in a while. Usually he will just sit and wait for me to bring the food/water to him. I think he was feeling perky this morning. Yes, that's a cardboard box behind him because he loves this box more than any other house I bought him. Go figure. lol

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Cutting Back..

I've decided to cut back on the blog and some other things online for now. So for the time being I'll only be posting on the blog every other day or so for a while.

Marbles isn't doing too well and is needing more care. It breaks my heart but I may need to start thinking about euthanasia. I wanted to give him as much time and love as I can and as long as he keeps eating and drinking, I'm going to try but he has a tumor on his shoulder and he's too old to make it through a surgery to remove it. He's had breathing problems for a long time and wouldn't make it through a surgery.

But he's still hanging in there and loves his pudding, so as long as it looks like he can get some happiness out of this life, that's all I can hope for. 

My little sleepy guy. 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week  received: 

A sample bag of dog food. 

A sample bandage for a dog or cat leg. *If a dog or cat needs a bandage*

Garnier cleanser

And Smiley360 sent me a Cholula hot sauce to try.

Have you signed up for any free samples from either of the links above? They have new samples to sign up for everyday. 

Patchwork Hairless Mice

*Click on pictures to enlarge.*

So here's something you've probably never seen. This is a Patchwork Hairless Mouse. The hair on this type of mouse will fall off and it never grows back. I got permission from the owner to show the pictures from their FB Page.

The hair falls out and then regrows back again. These are the pictures they took of the progression of the hair falling out and what it looks like.

How cool is that? 

Cover Reveal: Dark Blood by Christine Feehan

At long last you are truly back with us… 

 Zev Hunter was an elite warrior, a dark-blood dealer of death to rogue Lycans who preyed on mankind. He was a loner, never given to personal attachments, and damned fierce at his job. But Zev begins to question his past and his purpose when he awakens in the darkness of the sacred cave of warriors—and is soothed back to consciousness by the sensuously familiar voice of one woman, the woman who has haunted his fantasies for centuries. She was Branislava, member of the Dragonseeker clan… 

Mother Earth called the ancients to witness your rebirth… For this half-mage, half-Carpathian temptress, the ritual of awakening Zev to the council of warriors was the only way to save him. Locked away for his own protection, the time has now come for his rebirth, for his blood to stir with that of the ancient warriors before him. He has been assured by Branislava that their fates are entwined, that their spirits are woven together for eternity and that his new purpose in life is beyond imagining. 

 Now, with a blood-sworn vow of honor, mercy and endurance, and under the influence of a siren as bewitching as Branislava, Zev begins to wonder what his purpose is, what it means for the future of the Carpathians and what it is about his rebirth that he has to fear…

This is book 26 in this series and this is the first series I ever started reading. I've been reading this series for 14 years and it's one of my favorites. It's will be released this September and I've already pre-ordered it. 

Oh and can I just think the person or people responsible for the cover. There's a face! One of my biggest pet peeves are the headless torso book covers where all you see are bare male chests or the heroine's head is lopped off right at her neck. So not romantic, that is more in line for a Horror novel or slasher novel. It brings about visions of Highlander slicing off his victims heads and their bloody faces lying on the floor somewhere at his feet. 

So thank you for this beautiful cover. ;)

My Winnings From An Auction To Support, For The Love Of Rats Rescue

A couple of weeks ago, I bid on a couple of items in a fb auction to help the For The Love Of Rats Rescue. I won three things. The two beds above and a Dime Rat, below. 

I think Lucky likes his new bed.

It's so soft, and he's been laying it in since I put it in his cage.

I put this one in Scribbles cage and at first he sniffed and sniffed the entire thing.

But he eventually got comfortable and took a nap in it. 

This is the Dime Rat I won. It's so cute. 

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Rats Love Corn

I gave corn to all the rats and Lucky is the only one who didn't go hide with it.

I think he likes having his picture taken. lol Rats love corn but it should always be fresh corn on the cob. There's a discussion going on in most rat forums that want dried corn taken out of the bagged food because some dried corn has shown to have small pockets of mold inside it that can make rats sick. So if you give rats a bagged food, it should be something like Oxbow, not a seed mix that has dried corn in it. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Metal or Plastic Bottom Cages

Knowing that rats are chewers, you'd be surprised just how many of the bottoms or sides of rat cages are made out of plastic, a substance that rats can chew through very easily. This is a picture of the holding cage I had Lucky in when he was 4 months old. He was small and so he was the perfect size for this cage while I waited for the bigger cage to arrive in the mail. But before I bought the other cage, Lucky decided to chew his way out. lol He chewed that hole in the plastic bottom of the cage, so I changed the other cage I was going to get, for a metal chew proof bottom cage. 

This was the cage Lucky chewed his way almost out of. He was a tiny little thing when I first adopted him so this was perfect for him until he grew a bit and I didn't have to worry about him slipping through the bars of the cage.

This is the metal bottom cage that I bought for my little chewer. 3 levels and plenty of room for him to run around and best of all, he couldn't chew the bottom. 

Now that Bandit *bottom* has passed away a few month ago and Marbles *top* is older and not getting around very well. Marbles is in a single level cage like the one Lucky chewed his way through and Lucky is in this big cage and my smaller Scribbles is in his older 3 level cage. 

I switch the rats around different cages as their needs get different. The bottom that is covered in a fleece blanket in this larger cage is also plastic but thankfully now that Lucky is older, he doesn't chew as much as he used to. But if I had to I could buy a metal replacement bottom for this cage. I actually like metal bottoms better because I don't have to worry about them breaking, being chewed on and metal is easier to clean than the plastic is. Plastic seems to keep some of the smell where metal doesn't. 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received a Vox Box from Influenster. Now if you haven't signed up for Influenster and you like to get freebies, then you are missing out. Just click this link to get started.

This week I received:

A Vox Box filled with free goodies from Influenster..

Rimmel London Scandaleyes Retro Glam Mascara

Kiss Everlasting French Nails

Peach Pie Car Freshener From The Labor Day Movie

Playtex Sport Fresh Balance Tampons

Nivea Skin Firming Hydration Lotion

Softlips Cube *lip moisturizer*

I tried everything in my box and so far I love it all. The Kiss nails go on really easy and I can even type with them on with no problems because they aren't too long. I really needed a new mascara because the one I was using was over a year old and this one works so well. The Nivea lotion smells really good but I don't really see a difference in my skin as far as firming goes and can I just say I love the Softlips cube. I've tried Softlips before and you all know my obsession with lip moisturizers but this is wonderful and I love the Pomegranate blueberry flavor.

Did you get any freebies this week?

Did You Know...

Copyright: Wikimedia Commons

Credit: H. Zell

That artichokes are actually the tough bottom part of a really pretty flower? 

I have loved artichokes since I was a kid because my mom loved them and used to cook them for us all the time. Recently they have been $3 and $4 a piece in the grocery store but I still get them every once in a while. I boil them and chew on the green leaves and then eat the center dipped in butter.

Have you ever eaten an artichoke?