Mouse Infestation

#61

I always thought 3 girl rats would be nice :slight_smile: Iā€™ve read boys are lazyā€¦
But I never took serious steps to get some. Itā€™s just a plan for the future.

I never heard about rat rescues, I know pet shops can be horribleā€¦ There are proper rat breeders somewhereā€¦

But I never even started their house so I have so, so much time to figure things out.

Yes. There is a big one, they call themselves a ā€œzooā€ :smiley: I often visit it just to look at all the colorful animals. There are not very many types (except fish) but there are small rodents, a few lizards, birdsā€¦ Hamsters are quite common, next time I will check if they have dwarf ones. We have a place for small critters and they would get attention from me, I just donā€™t have a big place for bigger ones like my hopefully future rat girls yet :smiley:

(Marianne) #62

I donā€™t know about that, but from what I understand, male animals are very sweet if they have been neutered. They donā€™t have that hormonal thing to deal with like females.

Personally speaking, another reason dwarf hamsters are great is that they have very little odor from their urine, and only require a small cage. I used to only need to clean my hamsterā€™s cage once every three weeks. They are really ideal - and so cute!!! I donā€™t know how smart they are - rats, on the other hand, are very smart.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #63

The stereotype is that girl rats are always on the go, while boys like to lie around and cuddle. There is a lot of truth to this stereotype, but a lot of rats also fail to fit it, lol!

If you get your girls a 12-inch (30.5 cm) plastic wheel (one thatā€™s quiet when in use), the girls are likely to spend a lot of time running on it, which is fun to watch. The boys will use it, tooā€”for naps, lol! :rat:

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #64

Castration does a lot to remove hormonal aggression from male rats, for sure. Canā€™t speak about the other pocket pets. As for female rats, spaying them does a lot to reduce the risk of mammary tumours, which are one of the big problems to which rats are vulnerable. (Bucks donā€™t have nipples, but they do have mammary tissue. However, the risk of a mammary tumour in a male rat is a lot lower than it is for an unspayed female.)

Rats do have a smell, but I find it pleasant. Does tend to smell like grape soda, whereas bucks tend to smell like tortilla chips. Go figure!

#65

And I thought only fanfic writers do this, saying someone smells like vanilla and orange :smiley:

I probably would feel like that, I donā€™t even feel a fragment of the zillion things wine and rum makers write on their labelsā€¦

I actually donā€™t care about the personality stereotypes sooo much (I have cats, they are individuals. I met many very sweet not neutered tomcats too) but girls are prettier too, not having huge balls :smiley: Oh, we will see. Itā€™s possible I wonā€™t have rats even 5-10 years from now. Itā€™s just a nice idea and I probably will take steps to make it happen but we have cats are they are quite funā€¦ And I am lazy to make things. Maybe one day. I plan a long life and I only am 45 :smiley:

(Marianne) #66

Another mouse on December 27th - now weā€™re up to 18, and three in the cage currently. Honestly, people, Iā€™ve never seen a mouse in this house, although from the sounds of it, you may imagine we are living in squalor!

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #67

Au contraire, you are living in comfort, and the mice just want to share the wealth, lol!

(Polly) #68

We live in England. We live in a more modern house with no resident mice now but having lived in older homes for the first 60 years of my life I have never lived mouse-free until now.

My previous homes were constructed in 1908, 1948, 1756 and 1887 respectively and the mice thrived. All these houses were clean, well cared for and certainly not squalid. One of the access routes for mice seem to be old plumbing pipes or gas pipes which breach walls but are no longer connected.

(Marianne) #69

I would love that!!!

This thread has turned into something non-keto anyway, so, why not get even more off-topic? Did you ever have ghosts? Iā€™d shit! Mice, I can live with - ghosts, I could not.