Weekly Rat Facts: Bad behavior

Even the most docile, playful, well behaved rats will sometimes do something that they shouldn't. Rats need a lot of free time out of their cage to keep them happy. A minimum of 2 hours outside of their cage a day is required for a happy rats, it doesn't have to be all at once. I take my boys out for an hour in the morning and again when they wake up during the day and look like they want to come out to. Then at night when they wake up again, they get to come out again. I usually have my 3 year old boys out for 2 hours a day because they don't want to be out as much, they are old and want to sleep more these days, but Lucky is only 8 months old and has a lot more energy so he comes out a lot more. 

Rats who don't get a lot of time out of their cage will do things like chew the bars of their cage, tear up the cage ie..chew on everything, throw bedding around and push the things in their cage around because they are bored and are looking for something to do. 

Biting

As you can see from the above picture, Fang was a biter. When we got him he was unsocialized and timid and a timid unsocialized rat will sometimes bite because they are scared. I have seen people posts absurd things in rat forums about how they 'discipline' their rats if they bite. You cannot discipline a rat. That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. These people actually said they put their rats in a time out box for a few minutes or sprayed them with water. These asshats should never ever under any circumstances, own a rat. 

Instead of making your rat afraid of you, the right thing to do is trust train them. Which means you keep trying to get them to come to you instead of making them come to you. Putting your hands in their cage and snatching them out is not the right way to treat a timid animal. Instead, bring the entire cage over to the couch or bed and leave the cage door open. Rats are curious creatures and they will come out to investigate what is out there. 

Let them come out on their own. Leave a couple of treats out for them so they see that coming out isn't scary, in fact they get yummy treats if they come out. I did this with my timid boys and after a few weeks they came to me! They started crawling on me, giving me kisses and wanting to be held. You can either discipline a rat for not doing what you want or you can do it the right way and trust train them to trust you enough not to bite you. 

I also heard people who have rats say that if a rat bites them they will either have them neutered or kill them (put to sleep). I see no reason to do either of these things. I've had hamsters and rats that bit me and never once thought about putting them through an unnecessary painful surgery or putting them to sleep. I don't know what these people are thinking. 

While neutering a teenage male rat who is full of hormones making him more aggressive might and I say might help tame his aggressiveness down a little. The better thing to do is to trust train them. If for whatever reason you have a rat that no matter how much you try to work with them on socializing they still don't want to be handled...then don't handle them. Right now I have a rat, Marbles that does not like to be picked up. Once he is out of his cage and on the couch with us he will interact with us, sit on the couch with us, take treats ect. but he doesn't like too much petting or to be picked up. So we open the cage door and let him jump up on the arm of the couch and let him come and go from the cage as he wants. 

I've heard some rat owners say that a rat who acts like this is not a rat they would want and they would put him to sleep so they have room to get a more social rat. To those people I say, You should not have any rats. 

My Marbles is happy and healthy and I see no reason to force myself upon him and make him let me pet him and pick him up or put him to sleep because he isn't as social as some other rats. That's just crazy. 

I had a hamster who bit me every single time I held her so I started wearing thick gloves to take her out. She would crawl into my hands (gloves) and come run around on the couch with us for a while each night. She was a happy little girl, she just didn't like hands. there was no reason to kill this little animal just because she didn't like hands. It was my responsibility after adopting her to find out what worked for her! Not what worked for me. Animals are not disposable, once you adopt or buy one, they are your responsibility to care for them until they die a natural death or you have to put them to sleep because they are too sick to enjoy their life any longer. 

What you don't do is kill an animal because they don't act the way you think they should. 

Freebie Friday!

This week I had to put all the freebies into 2 pictures because it wouldn't all fit into just one...so here's what I got.

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.

I'm still about 2 weeks behind in my weekly Freebie Friday posts because of all the catching up I had to do after the A to Z challenge, so I actually got this stuff a little more than 2 weeks ago.

So here's what I got... (first picture)

A 4 pack of Natural Delights dates.
A Glade Trash Bag.
Mio Fit.
And a bunch of swag that I won in a blog contest (bookmarks, buttons, stickers, refrigerator magnet, ect..) from I Smell sheep Blog.

And here's what I got from the second picture..

From BzzAgent I received a box of MidNite sleep aid and 5 samples to give away as well as coupons.
And from the lady I get my Avon from I got some Avon samples.

My Rats

Bandit and Marbles, my 3 year old boys. 

Marbles wondering where his treat is.

Lucky likes to hide in my hair when he's sitting on my shoulder.

Still in my hair, still on my shoulder. 

Guest Post With Shelley Munro and A Giveaway

I'd like to welcome my friend, author Shelley Munro to my blog today. I'm super excited to have her here and know you'll enjoy her post. Don't forget to enter the rafflecopter for a chance to win one of the Amazon gift certificates!

*If for some reason the rafflecopter doesn't show up just click the "a rafflecopter giveaway' link below*

A Good Night’s Sleep

Without sleep we become tall two year olds.

When I was growing up on a farm in the New Zealand countryside, the day started early. My father always climbed out of bed at an unseemly hour—prior to six a.m. He milked the cow, took care of other farm chores and then went off to shear a few hundred sheep. A hard, physical day meant he also went to bed early. Now at eighty-three, he continues with his early to rise, early to bed ritual.

As children, my brother, sister and I didn’t get to sleep in during the weekends—ever. My father didn’t believe in it. I’m glad times change, and I can please myself now.

But the funny thing is…all those early mornings and plenty of hours to sleep slipped into my mind and became a habit. In order to function well I require plenty of sleep—a good eight hours works best for me, although recently, with my hubby working lots of odd hours, I’ve been staying up a little bit later than my usual in bed by ten p.m.

I enjoy walking early and enjoying the slice of quiet before the rest of the world wakes. When it comes to writing, I tend to get more done during the morning. Yes, I’m officially a morning bird after that worm!

My nieces and nephews, on the other hand, routinely stay in bed until early afternoon, and to my mind, miss the best of the day.

Here are a few facts about sleep:

1. Most of the research done on sleep has occurred during the last twenty-five years.

2. Too little sleep isn’t good for a person and neither is too much. Around seven to eight hours is a good amount of sleep per night.

3. Humans spend around one-third of their lives asleep.

In my recent release, One Night of Misbehavior, Charlotte Dixon works long hours taking care of her grandmother and her household management duties. She’s often exhausted from lack of sleep, but her love for her grandmother and her commitment to looking after her keeps Charlotte at her post.

CONTEST: Answer the following questions and complete the rafflecopter to go into a draw to win a $10 Amazon gift certificate (2 x winners). Are you a morning bird or a night one? How much sleep do you get each night?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

~ * ~

One Night of Misbehavior by Shelley Munro

He wears his scars on the outside. She keeps hers safe inside.

Charlotte Dixon ignores her stepmother’s edict and, in an act of disobedience, attends one of the social events of the year—a masquerade costume ball. Charlotte’s naughtiness escalates when she dances and smooches with a sexy mystery man. The night of anonymous passion that follows makes her yearn for a different life, but the next day she’s back to her dull routine of household management.

Advertising tycoon, Ash Marlborough is about to set a private investigator on the trail of his nameless princess when she waltzes right into his place of work. Charlotte is shocked to meet her masked man in the flesh, and even more perturbed when he asks her out on a date. Despite craving another night of sexy loving, she doesn’t have time for a man, not when she wants to reinvent herself and grasp a new, improved life with both hands. But Ash knows what he wants, and he’s determined to win the heart of his princess. Let the dance of seduction commence.

Warning: Contains a conniving stepmother, selfish stepsisters, a grandmother with fairy godmother tendencies and a sexy masked man who is willing to face them all for the love of a good woman.

Purchase at:

Smashwords - http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305070

Amazon - http://www.amazon.com/One-Night-of-Misbehavior-ebook/dp/B00CB8801A

Barnes & Noble - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-night-of-misbehavior-shelley-munro/1115194222?ean=2940044439542

Kobo - http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/One-Night-of-Misbehavior/book-nXXYkLfOKkaNRV8HlqhJsA/page1.html?s=b1PgKthfF0qj2duDfuvDog&r=7

All Romance ebooks - https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-onenightofmisbehavior-1158228-149.html?referrer=509f18e61b0cf

~ * ~

Shelley Munro is tall and curvaceous with blue eyes and a smile that turns masculine heads everywhere she goes. She’s a university tutor and an explorer/treasure hunter during her vacations. Skilled with weapons and combat, she is currently in talks with a producer about a television series based on her world adventures.

Shelley is also a writer blessed with a VERY vivid imagination and lives with her very own hero in New Zealand. She writes mainly erotic romance in the contemporary, paranormal and historical genres for publishers Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing. You can learn more about Shelley and her books at http://www.shelleymunro.com.

WEBSITE: http://www.shelleymunro.com

BLOG: http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog

AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE: http://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Munro/e/B001JOWGNK

FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ShelleyMunroAuthor

GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/ShelleyMunro 

PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/ShelleyMunro

TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/ShelleyMunro

I Have An Evil Amount Of Page Views!

Today I looked at my Yahoo Contributor Network Profile and saw my total page views *that I circled in the picture* was at 666,496

The fact that I was on 666, 000 page views struck me as funny. Some see 666 as an evil number. I know because I used to have a phone number for many years that ended in...5666 and one year when renting a VHS video the guy asked for my phone number and address *Because that's how we checked movies out back in the dark ages* and when I told him the 5666 and then my address was 113, he started freaking out.

He didn't believe that I had 13 in my address and 666 in my phone number. He asked me about it every single time I went to rent a movie, until I changed my phone number one year. He actually told me that he was glad I changed my phone number because he just knew something bad was going to come of having that phone number. O.o

LOL I have to laugh about it.  

Mount Charleston Fire in Nevada

There's a huge fire burning at Mount Charleston which is not too far from where I live. I looked outside and saw this and so I decided to take a few pictures of it. That's actually the smoke from the fire. 

I was standing right in front of my apartment complex taking these pictures and as you can see the smoke has drifted a long ways. 

I started in front where the smoke can be seen billowing off the mountain and kept taking pictures to the right, where the smoke has drifted.

There's smoke all over the Las Vegas valley from the fire.

This is the alley behind my apartment complex and you can still see the sun setting behind all that smoke.

The sun shining through the smoke  made for some very strange clouds.

Affliction by Laurell K. Hamilton Giveaway!

The winner of this giveaway responded to my email and this giveaway is now closed. Thank you all for participating. 

Ok you guys I have a great surprise for you today. I have two hard cover copies of Affliction and am going to give away one of them to you, my readers!

This happens to be one of my all time favorite series and I know that there are a lot of people out there who also love this series and would love this book. So, you can win a hard cover copy of it right here. 

Giveaway Rules

The rules are very easy. All you have to do is comment here on this post and tell me what your favorite series is and leave your email in the comment so I can contact you if you are picked the winner. 

This giveaway is US only, sorry. 

I will pick a winner on July 20th and email the winner who will have 24 hours to respond to my email or I will pick an alternate winner. 

Weekly Rat Facts: Pet Store Animals

These two boys were the first rats I went out and bought from a petstore and as you can see from the time stamp, it was a few years ago. The first rat I had before these two guys had been given to me by a neighbor and I knew next to nothing about rats. 

I didn't realize that buying rats from the petstore was such a bad idea. But since having rats I've done my research and now know what horrible places petstores get their rats and other animals from and it's well documented, so I do not under any circumstances advocate buying animals ...any animals from petstores.

Most rats and other animals you find in pet stores come from mills which produce rats and other animals by the thousands, or worst yet are bred in the back room, garages or yards from people who don't know and don't care about the animals. All they see are dollar signs.

Rats and other animals from mills are produced by the thousands and are housed in small cramped, tight, over crowded enclosures. The females are usually bred back to back starting as young as they can possibly be done and then killed when she can no longer produce. All this breeding and inbreeding that goes on as well as the conditions produce unhealthy babies and too often animals are housed in same sex groupings so when you buy an animal you might end up with a pregnant one. (This happened to me when I bought a hamster from a petstore)

These rats in mills or from backyard breeders are not fed good foods, not socialized properly and not from good lines. Pet stores usually keep their animals in unhealthy conditions like keeping them in aquariums which is very unhealthy for rats especially, but they don't care. 

When you buy an animal from a pet store even the big chain pet stores you are keeping the bad breeding and selling circle going. The more you buy, the more are bred and the more are sold. It's hard not to buy a rat or hamster whose face you see looking at you to take it home but that animal will be replaced by a dozen more sad little faces all looking sad to other people who will then buy them and the animal mill circle gets repeated. 

The only way to stop this is to never buy an animal from a pet store..any pet store. If you want to adopt go to your local shelter, rescue or find a reputable breeder that will let you see where they keep their animals. If the breeder will not let you see where their animals are housed...run! Run as far and as quickly as you can, because they are probably running a mill type animal farm and are hiding something. 

If you are looking for info on where to find a good rattery you can read this article. 

Stop the demand from these mill animals and make these mill breeders see they can't make money off the backs of animals anymore. 

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.

This week I found the links to all of these great freebies at Freebie Shark. 

I got..

Samples pack of Pampers baby wipes. 

Voots children's vitamins

Oral B Dental floss

U by Kotex pads

Always pad

Happy 4th of July!

To all who are celebrating the 4th of July with fireworks, just be careful with them. Make sure you have a bucket of water near you in case they catch on fire. But have fun!

Make sure to keep your pets inside  because the loud noises from the fireworks can scare them.

Pretty Sky

We were on our way to Mt Charleston a few years ago and this is how the sky looked when we left. I thought it was so pretty I took a picture of it. 

Ken and I took a road trip to BullHead City one day just to get out of the apartment and stopped to take a look around and I snapped this picture. If you get out of Las Vegas you can actually find some green. lol 

Another picture from our trip to BullHead City which was fun. it's nice just to get out and drive with no place in particular in mind. This is where we ended up one day and it was a pretty day. 

There Be Ants!

I've had an ant problem in my bathroom every summer for about 4 years. Last year drove me crazy because the little bastards were killing each other and throwing the losing opponents dead, headless body down through my vent and right into my sink. I must have found 5-6 decapitated ants every day last summer and it drove me beyond my breaking point..seriously. So this summer I got out the caulk and caulked up every single crack, crevice and hole in my bathroom that I could find...but the little biting buggers kept getting in and I had no idea from where.

I saw a couple ants getting in from around the tub enclosure hubby put in the bathtub a couple of years ago so I went to check out if there was enough space at the top for them to get in and there was, so I caulked it. Ha ha can't get in now, can ya?

I saw that a couple of ants were getting in around the metal bar that separates the bathtub enclosure from the bathroom wall...caulked that up. Yes, I did.

Caulked the entire top of the tub enclosure..hubby didn't do it when he installed it and there were a couple of gaps just big enough for an ant to get through. Ha ha ants, foiled again!

I wasn't about to put up with the decapitated bug corpses being throw down my vent this year, so I had hubby use some really sticky tape and tape up the vent. ha ha ants, not getting in that way!

There's a crevice right there...caulk it up. 

Yep, the ants are not getting in my bathroom this year...

All caulked and haven't seen an ant in days...yeah me!

Send A Bag Of Poop To A Bad Neighbor

No, I'm not off my medication and yes, you did read the title right. There is a wwebsite called Poopsenders where you can order *are you ready for this* a quart or gallon of cow poop, Elephant poop or Gorilla poop and they will anonymously send it to anyone you want!

You just can't make this stuff up! Go to the Poopsenders website to see for yourself.

Do you have a hateful neighbor that never picks up his dog shat and you want to send him a message? I think this might be the website for you.

How about a brother who is a big douche? Yeah, I think we all have a family member that fits that bill, now don't we?

So send them a gallon of gorilla crap and let them know *anonymously of course* that someone out there thinks they are full of crap, or that they stink, or that someone thinks all they deserve is a large, smelly bag of poop.

Heck if I could buy an entire dump truck full of this stuff and bury a certain person up to their armpits in it...I would. I like to give things and this is one of those things I would happily give.

so do you think this is a good or bad idea? Would you do it?

Weekly Rat Facts: Cost

Each week I'll being making a "Weekly Rat Fact" where I'll give you advice about what you should know before owning a pet rat. I think rats make great pets but unless you have the time, money, space, patience and know what they need in advance of getting them, I don't advocate adopting a pet rat until you do.

As with any pet, rats do cost money each month in order to keep them happy and in good health, I spend anywhere between $40-$80 a month on my 3 boys and that's just for food, treats, cage accessories and extra fresh foods like fruits and vegetables. 

That cost goes way up if they get sick and you have to take them to the vet. I had to take one of my boys to the vet and have him put to sleep a few years ago and it cost me $80 and most vets won't let you set up a payment plan. It's either you pay at the time or they won't see you. 

I have a credit card that I use specifically for any emergencies for my rats. It doesn't get used for anything else. If your rat gets a tumor and you want to have it surgically removed that can cost anywhere between $200-$300. 

Before adopting a rat most people think they only thing they need to buy is a cage, bedding, food and some toys. While those are necessities you also need to think about what you'll need if your rat gets sick, gets mites or lice or an abscess. 

List of things that should be in your ratty first aid kit: (Instructions on how to use these things will be below)

Neosporin with pain relief  $8.00 (this can be applied to small wounds, cuts and abscesses.)

Revolution for cats $17.95 (One drop of this on the back of your rat will get rid of lice and mites)

Aquatic Amoxicillan $8.99 (Needed for upper respiratory infections)

Hydrogen Peroxide (for cleaning wounds)
Q-Tips and cotton balls  (for swabbing minor wounds)
Eye dropper (for flushing abscesses)
Small diabetic needle (can be given to you by a vet for treatment of dehydration)

Instructions for Diluting and Giving Medications

Most pet stores don't carry medications for rats so we rat owners have found out that medications for other animals work quite well for out furry little friends if used the right way.

Revolution for cats- it has to be the version for cats because the version for dogs is stronger and can harm the rats instead of getting rid of the lice or mites. You put one drop of the revolution liquid on your adult rats back, between their shoulder blades and then you distract them so they don't clean it or lick it off, until it is dry, one treatment should get rid of all the rat mites or lice they have. 

Aquatic Amoxicillin- Mix 5ml of water with a 250mg capsule. That would make 10mg for every .20ml of water. You should give a sick rat 10 milligrams per lb of rat of amoxicillin per day for 14 days. 

You would need small diabetic needles which you can get from your vet if your rat gets sick and needs fluids but they won't drink. You would have to give your rat a subcutaneous injection of saline.

There are other costs as well, like hammocks, food bowls, fleece to line the cages with, toys, beds and wheels. I buy new fleece hammocks and bunkers every couple of months because my boys chew them to shreds. I also have to routinely replace the fleece blankets I use as bedding because they chew holes in them.

So as you can see there's a lot more to having pet rats than just buying a cage, bedding and food. As with any pet, if you're not willing to take them to a veterinarian when they get sick...don't adopt an animal.

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.

This week I found links to all of these freebies at Freebie Shark. I received...

A free Scents trash bag

2 Juice Beauty face care samples

1 Seventh Generation Mandarin facial cleansing cloth

2 Ovaltine samples

Downy unstoppables

Gain Fireworks clothes soap

Marbles Chirping and Bruxing

My 3 year old rat is very happy right now. That's why he's bruxing (chattering his teeth) and chirping.

It's Been Two Years...

It's been two years since my mom passed away. I thought that the pain would subside over time but it doesn't really seem to. Still feels like yesterday. 

Think about you daily and wish you were here with me. 

I Can Finally Spill The Beans!

Back on March 22nd...I won a Kindle Fire 7! I won it from joining in a chat discussion on Discover A New Love and as you can see in the picture or by clicking the link...I won the big prize that day.

It came in the mail just a few days later...Thank you so much Grace Burrowes and Discover A New Love. Now the reason I kept it a secret for so long is because I gave the Kindle to my daughter for her birthday a few days ago and I had to wait until I did that before I said anything about winning it. My daughter has been wanting one for a long time and I couldn't have won this at a better time. 

My daughter got a Kindle fire for her birthday!

She could hardly believe it. lol 

I think this is one of the biggest prizes I've won from a blog contest. Just goes to show that all those hours entering contests and giveaways really does pay off. I win stuff all the time.

Do Rats Get Diabetes?

A friend of mine had been telling us about her rat who has diabetes and she updated our rat group about what she was doing to get him better and keep his diabetes under control. I figured most people probably didn't realize that rats just like humans and other animals could get diabetes so I asked her if she would be willing to be interviewed by me for an article. She agreed and that article is now live. Above is a picture of her rat, Boo who has diabetes.

Interview with a Rat Enthusiast: What Do I Do when My Rat Has Diabetes?

I love this picture of Boo, how sweet is that?

Here's Lucky With His First Fleece Cube