The Nest Box 
  
  
   
my rats victor & edgar! - born: 08/18/03 - (very dark with a white belly and a 'V' shape on his chest/lighter black with a little white shape like a thor's hammer or a pendulum on his chest) - 10/07/03 - i purchased two new rats. both are male, very dark, almost black with white on their paws and tummies. they are brothers purchased from The Pet Store. i have not yet named them and they are now nervous in their new cage, hiding out in the temporary shoebox i put together for them with a nice cloth inside it. they are still fairly young, about six weeks old and very sweet. at the store, the darker one was licking me and both had already climbed on me. they aren't used to the environment in my home of course and so are naturally nervous. i am hoping this changes soon. :) alexander & hayes! - born: 07/21/03 - (both albino) - 10/11/03 - matt picked up two beautiful ratties we adopted from a local shelter. they are much larger than the others being four weeks older, but very sweet. they all got along instantly, i don't even think they noticed the vanilla extract smeared on them at all. (grin)sugar & spice - born: unsure - 10/30/03 - adopted two champagne females from The Pet Store. believed they were ill at the time, but happily they weren't! :) very sweet!delight & delerium! - born: 10/25/03 - 11/22/03 - picked up these two russian blue berkshire girls from Amy Epperly of Phoenix Gate Rattery! they are super sweet, super cuddly, and simply gorgeous! i am thrilled to death with these beauties and they both have full pedigrees!
journal10/10/03! - today i named my ratties! it was really the first time since i got them that i was able to fully see their soft, lovely tummies. :) victor is so named because most of his tummy is white but at the chest the white starts in a 'V' shape. edgar has a shape of white that looks SO much like a thor's hammer or a pendulum. thusly, not being very thor-like in his mildness, he got named edgar after edgar allen poe who wrote 'the pit & the pendulum'. aren't i terribly creative? :P they now eagerly climb up the side of the cage to crawl into my arms and cuddle, using my hands sometimes as platforms to get up or down. they are such sweeties! yesterday was the first time i was able to truly play with them. my hand attacked them and they'd tear off, run back and grab my hand and then i'd attack them, and the cycle began again. it was great.it had been a really long time since i'd had rats and it was a tough decision for me to make. i really think i made the right one though. these little guys have touched my heart and reminded me of all the wonderful times i had with my beloved babies of my past. all of them are in my heart and mind and i will love them forever. this way, i can give these guys an even better life than my other ratties had. i look forward to it. now if edgar will only let me kiss that spot on his tummy!!! argh! 10/11/03 - we got the two new guys today and put them altogther on the bed for introductions. the new guys stayed in the cat carrier and the old guys (grin) were in their little box. between them i put a bowl full of wonderful goodies, halved yogurt treats (matt & i want to eat these), red grapes, bits of green & red bell pepper, and some scallion bits. this seemed to make things less tense, but it went basically flawlessly. they all seemed delighted to see other rats and instantly accepted one another. a little grooming here and there (no power grooming, no fighting at all!) and everyone was happy. i don't think they noticed the vanilla extract that was supposed to distract them at all. :) anyway, i finished the new cage today...whew! it looks awesome though! we bought these vinyl-coated wire cube grids, 14x14 each. these are made by Fellowes and called Neat Idea Cubes. however, the ones we got were from Walmart, cost like $13 and were made by Rubbermade. very high quality so we used these. i made a 2x2x2 cube out of them, which basically made a 28x28x28 rattie palace! (grin) i call it...the cage of heaven! in anycase, i held these grids together with nylon cable ties, then snipped off the excess. i attached them on both ends and in the middle for each side. where four cubes came together, i attached the middle part (where they actually connect) with two ties diagonally going both directions. this helped give the cage a lot more stability. facing the cage, the top left panel acts as the door and opens downward to lie flush against the cage. i cannot SAY how pleased i am with this, i'm truly delighted!!! okay, anyway, to continue. i made three levels in the cage. i put two levels of shelves, each one six squares down, so this evenly divides the cage into three equal layers. along the back for the top level, there's a full shelf. then, at the second level, i put one shelf in each corner, so they are only touching in the middle of the cage. (basically, one in the back left corner and one in the front right corner) atop each of these i was going to put pieces of tile we'd gotten. i used these atop the wire in my chinchilla cage. however, this wasn't going to work because they were a bit heavy for the second level shelves. so, instead, i got that shelf cover stuff. kinda rubbery, soft and squishy and cut down pieces of it to fix exactly over the shelving. there are one inch cubes that make up the grids, so of course this makes them far too large to walk on...since the rats are NOT that heavy and this stuff is kinda sticky against vinyl coating, it makes a perfect surface! atop this, i placed handtowels. the first shelf is the perfect size to be covered with just a tiny bit over the edges. the second level shelves, i merely folded the handtowels in half. whew! so now the cage is built and ready for ratties...and furniture! on the top shelf i put the food bowls to the left, and a hanging parrot toy to the right. this is a nice, large play area. (they had a bed up here but decided they liked the second level better...bah) on the second level which is made up of the two corner shelves, on the back left i have a shoebox with a handtowel for a napping area. on the front right shelf i have the waterbowl and also, a ramp that reaches down from the top level, right side. it is purple and quite attractive. it came from a Superpet cage for my ferrets. they disdain to use ramps. (rolls eyes) there is also a ramp going down from this level (in back of it) to the bottom level of the cage. it's the same type of ramp. on the bottom of the cage in the back left is a PVC 'T' shaped play tunnel and in the front right is a little tupperware litterbox filled with litter that hopefully they will utilize. :) thus is the extent of the cage! i hope this was helpful, feel free to email me with any questions! 10/11/03 (v2) - well, this is my second entry of the day. the guys are totally in love with each other. peace has never reigned as supremely as it does with these guys. :) the cage of heaven definitely has lived up to its name so far. my only complaint is that so far, they are still night ratties. bah! they need to come out and play during the DAY...oh yes, and they don't seem to be using the carefully made litterbox i have for them. :( alas. i'm thinking of moving their bed to the bottom level, very close to the litterbox, but still in the back corner. in fact, i think i'll try that. ah, see the havoc that shall most likely erupt. (sigh) okay, that done, havoc has not yet erupted. i simply moved the rattie nest box (including ratties) down to the first level. they are fascinated. none of them really paid much attention to this level you see...(grin) so, now we see if they actually stay there and make use of the conveniently nearby litterbox or what. 10/11/03 (v3) - wow. see me. see me be hideously impressed. okay, within moments of my last post, one of the albino boys went into and used the litterbox. i am pleased. (smug smile) he appears to be the more adventurous of the two. it is still difficult to tell them apart...but then, it IS day one with them. i have an odd tickling notion to name the one chester. but then...how will i know him!? :/ see my quandry. he does appear to be slightly darker and less pure white. however, this could be because he sorely needs to groom himself more. we shall see. ...okay, to mention something amazing, my nanday conure, nobe just distinctly uttered a cavy wheek-wheek. crazy. okay, without posting another version, the other albino rat has used the litterbox. sweet. life is good. :) oh yes...i've found that chester means 'lives at the camp' or just 'camp', so uh...no. 10/12/03 - well, as ratties will do, they have moved to the pipe to sleep. (rolls eyes) can i not win? :P bah, silly rats. so, i don't know where i'll move it to now. perhaps i'll just leave it there. i'm sure moving it around would only cause them to also move around...so...eh. we'll try life on their terms and see how that works out. ;) they're all great little guys and are making me very happy with their friendly, happy ways. they're still nightowls though and i hope to change that. rats will generally switch to your schedule but my two little lazy guys victor & edgar only seem to perk up at night. right now they're making little terrors of themselves because they've learned to move in and out of the cage. (smirk) that's okay though because they aren't hurting anything and it's just a kind of game with them. outside the cage i can reach over and pinch them or tickle them, but when they run inside the cage, they are shielded. hehehe. :) total cuties. 10/13/03 - so i wake up this morning, and three of my four rats are gone. the other is calmly sitting on the top level grooming himself looking completely non-concerned. i am about to freak out and go searching all over my room when i notice a lump under a blanket nearby. my rats can climb on this little bookshelf i have on a side of their cage. i covered the books with a little ferret blanket temporarily the other day while they were out and running around. well, apparently, they all thought this was great and comfy and i found all three under there, curled up top the books, asleep. it was ultra cute. the blanket is back in their cage. (grin) 10/14/03 - the pan for the rat cage came in today!!! joy and rapture, it fits PERFECTLY. awesome. i can't say exactly how pleased i am, but it's a lot. 10/15/03 - well, this morning i awoke to find the rat cage looking like they'd had a huge party where everyone got trashed. lol. the towel and food bowl were on the bottom shelf (from the top!) and the nest box and towel from the second level were also down! craziness! perhaps it's the fall weather that's got them all perky and active. lol. when i went to sleep they were still being frisky. i got them all riled up before i slept. hehehe, naughty me. >:) it's so cute though watching them tumble and roll around. lol! as soon as i put everything back in order, they seemed totally grateful and immediately rushed to all their favorite spots to resume being zonked out. rats are great. :) 10/22/03 - things have been going well with the ratties. :) found out that they basically love to have wild parties at night (i'm sure it's matt's two older boys...hooligans!) and basically rip everything down from the top two shelves onto the floor and then sleep in the mess. (rolls eyes) (sighs) boys. what can you do? :P anyway, tonight we had a bit of a fright. a loud noise frightened one of matt's rats and he tried to dash through a hole and got stuck halfway and was crying and freaking out. i went over immediately and held him and spoke softly. he calmed down immediately. i stroked him and talked to him and tried to help ease him up. he squeaked uncomfortably so instead i helped him ease out backwards. he was shaken up a bit, but fine. he was VERY grateful and spent lots of time first on me and then on matt, snuggling for security. he is a very, very sweet boy. (smile) poor thing. i was surprised at his reaction, but not his being frightened when he got stuck. the important thing is that he's okay now. matt was pretty shaken up about it but i turned into 'the calm one' which i basically do in any emergancy animal situation. my panicking will totally not help my animal and will only make them even more frightened. i'm glad it worked out. he and his brother were playing a little while ago, which of course relieved me greatly. i'm glad to be able to say he's fine. at the moment i'm quite tired since it's quite early in the morning but i wanted to keep watch just in case. guess i'll go to bed now. oh yeah, i filled the entire bottom tray with Cell Sorb Plus bedding and put different bedding in the litter box. we'll see what they think of that. :) also, vaccuums with long hose attachments are blessings for cleaning out cages! thank you vaccuum manufacturers. 10/30/03 - brought home the two girls today and they have a cage of their own (obviously). have watched them carefully and they are perfectly fine. the head-weaving is just something that pink-eyed rats do because their sight is usually even more poor than a normal rat's seeing. it helps bring things into perspective...the swaying rather. (grin) in anycase, they're total sweeties and very cuddly as well as explorative and fiesty. in other words, typical females. :) 11/02/03 - well, the two unnamed PEW boys had a fight last night. :/ i woke up to find a pool of blood (quarter-sized) near the water bottle, which was barely empty. i assume they were fighting over the water, but i'd never seen that in any of the females i'd had. sooOoo...just in case, i've been watching them closely. however, i haven't noticed anything of the sort since then. i rechecked the water bottle and changed it out, thinking it must have leaked out to become empty so soon. (sigh) just what they need huh? :( anyway, this one doesn't appear to leak and the other i replaced hasn't seemingly since that occasion. so, perhaps it wasn't sealed properly and there wasn't enough pressure to keep the water inside. obviously i will check more carefully from now on...but i'm glad to say that they were just fine. :) they'd cleaned up pretty well so finding the little bites was QUITE a challenge. nevermind how ratties wiggle anyway. :P 11/05/03 - all the ratties are doing well. :) the boys are all happy and getting larger. the girls are even more friendly and social and have already become daytime ratties. the boys STILL insist on sleeping the day away, only to arise at night. i'll be checking them for fangs soon. today i bought ingrediants for a new rattie diet to supplement the blocks they get. it has total, puffed rice, toasted grain cheerios, rolled oats, and uncooked pasta. they all LOVE IT! :) so far they're eating everything in it, i'm so pleased! today they also got a special treat of kale, cranberries, parsley, okra, and cilantro. the vegetarian reptiles got some as well as the birds and the bunnies. everyone was quite pleased and full. :) 11/07/03 - well, i knew it might happen again. (sigh) one of matt's PEW (pink eyed whites) attacked one of my rattie boys. now, before he had attacked his brother seemingly over water. this time, i noticed edgar playing with the (still unnamed) alpha male and all seemed well. later i heard a squeak of pain...not good. so, edgar has a facial wound now. :( the PEW boys are removed to a separate cage. if the alpha gets aggressive with his brother again, i plan to have him neutered as i consider the safety of his brother and the others to be a priority. i feel so badly for edgar. he hid during playtime and i knew something was very wrong. when i heard the squeak i'd thought it was the chins being pushy. in anycase, when i removed the PEWs he came out and drank, groomed and sought out victor (his brother) for comfort. he's active and eating and everything else so i surmise it was just fear and not active pain keeping him in hiding. he also isn't grinding his teeth in discomfort or anything like that, which is good. he's cleaned his wound and i think he'll be fine. i feel badly about what happened, but it won't happen again. (sigh) i've never had girls do this but i suppose i had just maybe gotten really lucky in the past. :( 11/08/03 - today edgar & victor seem much happier by themselves. matt's PEWs are also doing fine, getting along together and doubtlessly enjoying the huge cage on their own. :) my two little boys are still a bit nervous but doing much better. i'm very glad. edgar's wound on his face is doing much better already, rats are such fast healers. i'm hoping the dab of aloe vera gel i put on it last night made him feel a bit better. i hate to think of my poor little boy in pain. :( (sigh) well, he seems okay though. i'm looking forward to him being completely healed. 11/10/03 - well, i noticed victor & edgar had weird fur changes going on but since they don't like to be in the light much, i thought it was just ruffled or getting more rough with age. lo and behold, it's changing color!!! lol. they're getting little white hairs all over their bodies! it's very unusual, are they silver black berkshires? i'll be watching this closely as i'm truly fascinated. by their other pictures it's obvious that up until recently they were jet black with the white. i think this is kinda cool. :) i'll be updating as color changes become more clear! whee! 11/12/03 - victor is lost. he got out and was wandering around and i don't know where he is now. i'm very worried. 11/14/03 - victor still hasn't appeared at all. i don't know where he could be, i've looked all over. he's been missing a night and a day now. i am so worried i'm sick with fear. i've put treats out in different places hoping he just slept away the day and he'll venture out now that it's dark. i really hope so. i miss him desperately and edgar is lonely. we've been spending extra time together to cheer him up and he's gotten more than his fair share of treats. i'm so worried. i'm praying very, very hard. i love my little boy, where could he be? 11/14/03 (v2) - one thing heh...spice got out of the girls' new cage (boys' old cage) and i found her in the new boys' cage with edgar!!! :/ so, uh, she might be pregnant. (sigh) i hope not. i never intended to breed. anyway, she's secure now, i had no idea she could escape either. why do they always leave it until you're sure they can't escape and then make a mad dash for it when your back is turned? WHY IS THIS!? (sigh) 11/14/03 (v3) - at 2:30am, victor came back. i am SO relieved i don't even have words. i am so grateful and happy. it was like a dream seeing him run up and then hesitantly run away then back, then away. i'm delirious with happiness. 11/22/03 - well, we headed to atlanta the day before the reptile & exotic show to meet Amy Epperly of Phoenix Gate Rattery! it wasn't too bad of a trip, but luckily we had exchanged cell phone numbers. she said to meet in a PetCo parking lot. not only was there no PetCo, but the pet store she'd giving the address to was INSIDE a mall. :/ i was glad she called because we never would've found her otherwise. the rats, however, were a total delight! they are two GORGEOUS little girls and i am absolutely thrilled with them. got the pedigree, signed the adoption agreement, etc. it was awesome. they are both shy and curious, playful and fiesty. i love them to death. they are the most gorgeous blue, both russian. (happy sigh) lovely. they still have their silky, ultra soft baby fur and i take every opportunity to kiss them frantically. (grin) 11/28/03 - well, yesterday i decided on names for the two new girls. blame it on The Sandman comics. however, i think it fits them both very well. the one with the tiny white tip on her tail is Delight, the other with the longer tip, Delerium. delight also has a bit more whitish on her lovely, adorable little nose. :) they are both incredible. extremely affectionate, they chitter constantly and are super cuddly. both are sleeve, shirt, & neck rats while still being very curious about their surroundings. still a bit shy and nervous about noises, they are sheer delight. they are curious about everything. delerium is NOT shy about trying to pry open my mouth if my breath smells interesting. lol. both of them will lick my lips to get a taste of what i drank recently. heheehe, so cute. delerium also enjoys sticking her little furry nose into my ear canal. lol. an interesting feeling to be sure. (grin) anyway, they are awesome and super cuddly. sugar & spice have also grown much more cuddly and they are hardly shy of anything anymore. :) heheeh, VERY adventurous rattie girls! all the ratties get out time of about an hour or so at night and then sometime during the day, randomly. they're awesome and i love them. i'm very glad i got them again as pets, they're SO sweet and cuddly, it's very gratifying. (happy smile)
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