You know what they say: once you go rat, you never go back!
I got my first trio of rats just over three years ago -- Tym the mismarked black hooded, Hibernia the chocolate berk, and Saffa the blond self.
http://www.sunraven.us/images/tym.jpghttp://www.sunraven.us/images/hibernia.jpghttp://www.sunraven.us/images/saffa.jpg Hibernia, bless her heart, passed away at just over a year old from an overnight case of pneumonia.
I went to bed one night and she was fine, the next morning she had to be rushed to the vet's office, and then PTS. Tym and Saffa both lived to be grand old dames, and they gently passed away at home, in my arms.
I swore I would never own another rat. Too short lived, easy heart break, etc. I disposed of all my rat products, the cage, everything.
Well, then I started looking at pictures of ratties. And pining for more rats. So I made the decision to get more rats, but FIRST I was going to get the accessories together. Ordered a Martin's R-695 (powdercoated, flip top), and then went to Petsmart to pick up water bottles, food, and yogies.
Well, you know how that went, right? In the small animal cages they had a baby little agouti girl curled up with a black berk girl.
Artemis
Sequel
She was beautiful. I *had* to have her.
But what to do? My cage hadn't arrived yet! And then I saw their next door neighbor, who was another mismarked hooded, but she had a racing stripe!
Masque
Well, nothing for it now, but to hit up the cage aisle and get a temporary cage plus the accessories!
So here I am loading up the shopping cart with a cage that I know is going to be WAAAAAY too small long term
, but that will hold three baby ratties until the Martin's cage comes, food, a box to carry them to the vet in, yogies, food bowls, water bottles, wheel, ferret tubes, time to get the actual rats! The Petsmart employee lets me cuddle the babies for a while, then comes out and looks at the cage.
I get a quick, baleful glare, and she says, "They will NOT live in this!"
Oh no -- no one's going to stop ME from getting my baby rats! Just as quickly I shoot back, "Oh yes they WILL live in this, at least until my Martin's cage arrives next week!"
Oh. She relents and asks which one I ordered, and can you believe I forgot the name? I finally settled for telling her it was the one just above the RUUD on the webpage!
So now I've been waiting for my Martin's cage, these baby girls are going nuts in this tiny little temporary cage, and they're driving ME nuts!!
At least I get to shop for all the accessories before the cage arrives.
Let's see, gotta get hammocks from Dearpie, need some more tubes, want some different food dishes, brick tile to go under the water bottle, some baskets for extra shelving ...
That cage better come soon, or else I'm going to be driven mad by the anticipation!
