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  #1  
Old May 20th, 2004, 01:49 PM
kibbles kibbles is offline
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Gerbils

any of u people have gerbils?
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  #2  
Old May 20th, 2004, 02:25 PM
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Princesss04 Princesss04 is offline
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I do not have a geirbal but I have two rats. What are you needing to know?
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  #3  
Old May 21st, 2004, 03:49 AM
KellyNZaq KellyNZaq is offline
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Princess! RATS! I have 11!! Yay! Another ratty lover!
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Old May 21st, 2004, 09:19 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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11 rats! How lovely. Got any pics?
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Old May 21st, 2004, 10:29 AM
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Princesss04 Princesss04 is offline
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They are wonderful pets they are so smart. I have mine trainned where they only go to the bathroom in one corner of there cage. You would be suprised but they make the best pets ever. What are your rates name and are they male or female. Hey, by the way how do you tell if they are male or female. Mine have not had babies so I am taking it they are the same sex but I do not know if you can really tell they both look the same what ever they are. I love my rats!
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  #6  
Old May 21st, 2004, 11:54 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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princess, if you had a male rat you would not need to ask if it IS a male.

Their testicles (sometimes called the "Whoopee Cushion) are HUGE!!!!
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Old May 21st, 2004, 01:07 PM
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Princesss04 Princesss04 is offline
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Well, I am guessing they are both female than I thought they had big winkies and things and I never say one so I figured as much. I just always said that if they have little rats we will know they are the opposite sex LOL! But, I have had them for over 2 years now and no babies so I figured either they were both female or male or just thought it would be weird to do your brother or sister! Thanks do you have rats?
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  #8  
Old May 21st, 2004, 01:50 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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I lost my last rat over a year ago.

IF you had male/female, you would have lots and LOTS of babies. They dont' care if they are brother/sister, mother/son or any other combination.

I would say you have two females. Personally, I prefer males as they are not as frantic and "busy" as females.

My girls always acted as though they had just had 15 cups of black coffee!

Here's one of my boys, Alvis the Great!
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  #9  
Old May 21st, 2004, 03:38 PM
KellyNZaq KellyNZaq is offline
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Hehehe, do I have pics!? *giggles* OFCOURSE! TONS!

Yes, yours are probably girlies, if they don't have ginormous .. er.. boy parts. Girls also have nipples, whereas boys don't. Mind if I ask what you use as bedding? And food? *is a rat-aholic* Pine and cedar beddings are very, very bad for them. Aspen and rabbit pellets are both cheap alternatives. Infact, just go to

http://www.goosemoose.com/rfc/index.php

and http://petratscanada.com/forum/

Both are nifty rat forums, with lots of friendly members. You'll find a lot of info, and helpful people. Just tell them Kelly sent ya!

On to the pics!

Oona *silvered black self dumbo, female*


Maddie *black berkshire rex, female*


Rainy *pink eyed white, male (nuetered)*


Rabbit *fawn hooded, female*


Samira *chocolate vari-berk, female*


Hachi *buff hooded, female* Ursilla *hairless, female*


Libby *russian blue agouti berkshire, female*


Pander *black hooded, female*


Neeva *beige self, female*


Karina *agouti self, female*


Phew! Done!
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  #10  
Old May 21st, 2004, 04:53 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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OMG - your ratties are beautiful! They are causing me to have a relapse of the "GGMR" (Gotta Get More Rats) syndrome.

The two forums you mention are excellent - I was a member of both. Very informative, and I learned how to take the best possible care of my ratties there.

I see you have Martin's cages? Aren't they phenomenal?
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Old May 21st, 2004, 04:59 PM
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Catt31 Catt31 is offline
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Ok, I never ever would have considered rats to be a pet.....but now that I think about it, how cool would they be!!! Tell me the ins and outs of RAT ownership!! Would love to hear more!!! BTW, your rats are totally cute!!!
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Old May 21st, 2004, 05:13 PM
KellyNZaq KellyNZaq is offline
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Ooh, Princess! A rat lover AND smart about it! Wooo! You're my new bestfriend! :P I loooove my Martins. It's... well... amazing. I got the R-695. Which do you have?

Quote:
Ok, I never ever would have considered rats to be a pet.....but now that I think about it, how cool would they be!!! Tell me the ins and outs of RAT ownership!! Would love to hear more!!! BTW, your rats are totally cute!!!
Ins and outs, eh? Well..

Good points: Smart, social, loving, always good for a laugh.. I could go on and on!

Bad points: Short life-span, can be costly (vet wise), need special care (do NOT listen to petstore employees!)
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Old May 21st, 2004, 05:31 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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Quote:
Short life-span, can be costly (vet wise), need special care (do NOT listen to petstore employees!)
Yup, yup! Do not feed hamster food! The alfafa in it is indigestable for rats. Think of a healthy diet for people, and that's what you can feed rats. The goosemoose site gives an excellent homemade diet for rats.

Costly? Yeah, can be! My Daisy cost me $300. Someone told me I could have gotten 60 new rats for that amount, but none of them would have been Daisy!

Rats are affectionate, sweet (I've never had one who would bite) and very intelligent - more so than dogs!

They are fun and cute and I got just as attached to mine as I do to my cats and dogs so their short life-span is very heartbreaking. Rats in pet stores come from mills, and are tumour factories. Spaying of females, who are especially prone to tumours, drastically reduces the incidence of them. Sadly, few people will spend that kind of money on a pet that cost them 5$.

My Alvis, pictured above, was a "breeder" in a pet store and sat in a bare 10 gallon tank on a dark shelf for TWO YEARS. How many people would condone that treatment for a dog or cat? Anyway, he was on sale for .99 and was the best purchase I ever made.

I can't recommend rats highly enough!
You'll get used to being peed on - honest!
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  #14  
Old May 22nd, 2004, 04:03 PM
kibbles kibbles is offline
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i have two adorable geirbals (kibbles and bits) but they chew out of absolutly every cage i provide them with , and its starting to get a bit costly. every metal cage i buy has some sort of plastic on it and terariums are way to expensive for my miniscule pet supplie buget . any ideas?????
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  #15  
Old May 22nd, 2004, 04:48 PM
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cutelittlemako cutelittlemako is offline
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Look in the classified adds for used terrariums. They are usually very cheap and of good quality. You could probably get one for less than you would pay for a new metal cage. Plus some people sell all the supplies that come with it - so you might get extra stuff (for example is someone has a hamster that dies and does't want to get another one).

Good luck, I'm sure you'll find something!
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Old May 25th, 2004, 01:46 PM
kibbles kibbles is offline
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thank you

thanks for your advice. I'll try that as soon as they are almost finished destroying there current cage.
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Old May 25th, 2004, 02:07 PM
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Princesss04 Princesss04 is offline
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They are wonderful pets and they are so fun! You can take them out and play with them just like any other animal. When I got mine they were little and know they are huge. I love them and do not regret having them at all. I have not had to spend a whole lot at the vet for mine. How long do they normally live? Mine eat the rat pellet things they are about 2 inch pellets they are light brown and tan. Than they will also eat veggies and fruit and about anything. To new rat owners, if you have rats make sure you buy them something they can chew on becuase they have to grind their teeth down. If not they will get abssessed teeth (I know I spekt that wrong)! LOL! But, I would reccomend anyone getting one as a pet. Now, they do not like to be alone so get them a freind. Or all of mine has not?
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Old May 25th, 2004, 02:51 PM
Bill & Bob Bill & Bob is offline
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Not to divert attention away from the rats, but somebody mentioned nipples above and it made me laugh about something that happened a while ago.

So, Bob is on his back demanding petting and I noticed something I thought might be a tic or something. Never seen a tic before, so didn't know what to look for. This was before I came on this site and saw pictures. Anyhoo, I'm looking at this thing that sort of looked like a pimple or something. I asked my Kiwi friend to take a look at Bob which he did. He looked up at me like I was a complete idiot, then played it up. "Holy crap Bill, he's got more of them! There's one on the other side too! You should get him to the vet today and have them lanced." Well, he had me going for about a minute before he couldn't hold back any longer and told me they were Bob's nipples. Boy I felt like a dunce. Of course everyone in the neighbourhood heard about that pretty quick.

How was I supposed to know that male dogs had nipples right down by his dangly bits? I figured if they had them, they'd be on their chest like everyone else has 'em!

Anyhoo, very funny.
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Old May 25th, 2004, 02:53 PM
Bill & Bob Bill & Bob is offline
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You might check your phonebook for a consignment store. My friend and I just found out that there are 4 in Vancouver. We went there and exchanged her pooches kennel for a different one last week. Much, much cheaper than having to go out and buy a new one.
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Old May 25th, 2004, 06:50 PM
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melanie melanie is offline
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ha, bill. i did that once too, charlie was desexed at 3mths so she never formed real nipples, booy did i freak when i first saw those little dots on her chest, my mum thinks i am a complete idiot and is wondering if there was a mix up in the hospital, oh she is a smart ass cow sometimes (wonder where i get it from, ha) . i once thought she had a tick, never had seen one, so i had that poor dog coated in tick stuff and toxic chemicals, boy i was panicing. my mum came oever and nearly disowned me for being stupid, it was a freckle, i tell you charlie was so glad to see my mother and be washed off. poor dog nearly followed her home she was so worried about her stupid human, well she did survive to tell another tale so she was right
i had mice once, janice and jimmy, they were just fantastic and beautiful. i miss them alot. rodents make good pets and are so little with the cute little faces, oh just like little dogs to me, boy do i miss them
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Old May 25th, 2004, 10:30 PM
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Billy-Bob,my husband thought our first cat was a transsexual because he had sooo many nipples,so don't feel bad,there are more"dummies"out there
Catt,I think you really should get a couple of rats,seeing you do not have any pets to speak of
I have to agree though,those rats are adorable
Also,what are geirbals???
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Old May 26th, 2004, 08:10 AM
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LMAO chico!!! True true true!!! We rearranged the livingroom now we have more room for one more big tank!!! Wheeeeee!!!

I think they are talking about gerbals......lol....I wasn't sure at first either, thought it was some exotic critter, but I think its gerbals!!! LOL
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GONE TO CRITTER HEAVEN:
1 house gecko - George (RIP)
2 giant african land snailS - Kaimah (RIP) & Kamau (RIP)
2 baby african land snails - Tiny & Pokey (RIP)
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Old May 26th, 2004, 08:18 AM
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kasher+tazz kasher+tazz is offline
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i used to have two huge ratty houses as we called them one of them had two females in and one had two males - for my birthday by mum had the two males neutered - at great cost and then they lived happily with the females - perhps i should have got 4 females in the beginning. This is over 6 years ago now but i still remeber my little ratties - bilbo, frodo, alfalfa and max...
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Old May 26th, 2004, 08:21 AM
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Ah Ah,now I know!!But let this Swedish immigrant correct Catt the teacher,you mean gerbils He,he got you!!!!
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Old May 26th, 2004, 10:39 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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Quote:
for my birthday by mum had the two males neutered
Wow - what a great mom! You must get your love of animals from her.

Neutered male rats are simply precious pets! I had my Ashley Peebody neutered. He was fine with it, but the girls were not and would sometimes bonk him on the head because he was only interested in food and not them.

He would push them down the stairs so he could eat everything!
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Old May 26th, 2004, 01:54 PM
kibbles kibbles is offline
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how did this turn into a rat ''conversation''?
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Old May 26th, 2004, 03:15 PM
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Princesss04 Princesss04 is offline
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When you asked if any one had gerbils no one answered and I said that I had rats just in case you had a question and it just went from there! Sorry Did you have a question?
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Old May 26th, 2004, 05:01 PM
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hellloooo kibbles, havent seen you before (maybe i have but im useless at most things) so welcome to our world. ha, i new you were talking about gerbals but i was cheeky, the spelling, it read geri balls. so no i do not have a set of geri's balls (when did he lose them) but if i find them i will charge a high price for them.
are gerbals gunieapigs?? i thought they were but who knows what im thinking
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Old May 26th, 2004, 05:13 PM
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ahhahahhaha Chico...OMG you are right!! I've been sick - don't have my teacher hat on properly!!! LOL I actually thought there was an i in there somewhere, just wasn't sure where. I STILL to this day get wierd and wiener spelled wrong!! DUHHH!!!! Good catch on your part chico darling!! (((hugs)))
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1 dog - Brick
2 cats - Spunky & Tux
1 very mean tiger barb (who killed all of our other fish)
3 leopard geckos - Dave, Jenn & Jane (gone back to their original owner)

GONE TO CRITTER HEAVEN:
1 house gecko - George (RIP)
2 giant african land snailS - Kaimah (RIP) & Kamau (RIP)
2 baby african land snails - Tiny & Pokey (RIP)
1 Veiled Chameleon - Chip (RIP)
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Old May 26th, 2004, 09:34 PM
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chico2 chico2 is offline
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Well Catt,we can't be perfect all the time,right????
I often forget how to spell the simplest word,have a total blockage,that's when my faithful dictionary comes in handy I blame it on age,like sooo many other things
It was just fun catching a teacher,ha,ha!!
As for gerbils,my kids actually had one when they were small,eons ago....he was a cute little guy,my cats asked me the other day to get one,or maybe a couple of mice,they said they would be soooo good kitties
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