Rats Main Page

Visit the Ratty Fun Page, on this page you can download Rat Wallpapers and Rat Screen Savers.

Visit the Ratabilia/Rodentabilia page see what ratty collectibles we have and compare your own collections...

News Archive

For old Rattie News see the Rat News Archive Page, it has all the old Rat News and pics

Ratabilia Page

The best ratabilia/rodentabilia page on the Internet! I have noticed that mine is one of very few ratabilia pages I can find on the search engines I use, with the search 'ratabilia' - when I started it, it was the worlds first! - try www.dogpile.com and see!

 

Latest News - January 2003

Smidgeon did not have a litter, she was giving us false alarms!

Barney passed away last year on the 12 March 2002. He passed on naturally of old age. Very much Buster's brother, but more laid back.

Ruth & Buster passed away on 5 July 2002. Ruth had been living with Buster, we removed her back into the girls cage the night before as she was having fits, she passed away the next morning. Buster was going a similar way, so we decided to have him put to sleep.

Poppet passed away on 1 August 2002. Little Pops lived over 3 years, in the end she had several lumps all getting big, so she had to be put to sleep.

Kira passed away last year on 2 October 2002. She had become lethargic with age and had breathing difficulties. She started to have fits, so sadly we had to have her put to sleep.

Beverly, the last of our own clan, passed away on 26 November 2002. She had two operations previously to remove three lumps (two in the first op and one in the second op). Yet, sadly she was developing several more, in the end we let the main lump get as big as we dared without it affecting her to much, then we reluctantly had to have her put to sleep.

A lot of our rats where reaching old age during 2002 and sadly we had a lot of losses. Below, Barney, Ruth, Buster, Poppet, Kira & Beverly

 

Not all is bad news! We acquired on the 21 March 2002 two new boys, both rescue rats. Slim, an intelligent Agouti and Fatso, a shy Rex. Both were very nervous when we got them but now Slim is very easy to handle. Fatso is much better, but still retains some nervousness and is not so keen on being handled. Below is Fatso on the left and Slim on the right.

 

News - February 2002

Smidgeon is due to have her first litter at the end of the week, so keep an eye out for when we post some pictures here.

Sadly at the end of last year on 11 November, Salem passed away whilst we was holding her. She had been getting steadily worse so we were expecting it. It may not have been a long life, but it was a full one, she had lots of little adventures. She was another rat that had a big character. She earned many nick names including split-pea (because of her split ear), hand-bag.com and golf ball (when she had her lump). Salem was definitely the Alpha rat in her prime, she was a big tough girl! I think Salem missed Moose, they were good companions.

I have finally updated the Hall of Fame, so it lists our current rats (but including Midge & Ruggy RIP).

I have also updated the Ratabilia section, Roland Rat now has his own section. It's still the best Ratabilia Pages on the Net!

Next thing due is an update of the Ratty Fun Page! I will have to sort out some more wallpapers and see if I can find any more rodent style material!

 

October 2001

We finally had to have Moose put to sleep on the 20 August. Her quality of life had deteriorated, the lump around her leg was hindering her quite badly. It was a stressful and difficult decision to make. We were very proud of Moose, she was such a character and went through so many different stages in her life from being an un-expectant mother, to getting very depressed when her original cage mate, Ratty, passed on. From starting of being a little quick to be aggressive, to completely mellowing out in her last year, becoming very attentive and friendly. Out living her kids and grand kids, having so many little problems with her life and showing such character to deal with them and still be feisty till the end. She was with us 3 years 1 month and 9 days. We will miss you, you little head butting rodent - hope you have found your old friends, kids and grand children now.

We now have a new addition to the girls - Smidgeon, another little rascal.

I must update The Hall of Fame - I just don't feel up to it at the moment.

 

Latest News - August 2001

Sorry the first two paragraphs are repeated from the main page:-

Bad news to start with; Junior has passed on, I found him on the morning of Thursday 2 August. We have been expecting him to go soon, he was a lot thinner than his old self, his fur had paled, like it had gone grey/white with age - he looked just like a 'little old man'. At least he is reunited with his close brother, whom passed on earlier in April.

Junior our greying little old man, with his loveable big nose.

Moose has well passed her official birthday (the day we got her) of 11 July, she is still great and lively in herself, although the lump in her leg is getting large. It is hindering her a little, but as I type this on Sunday morning, she is the only one up, digging around the food bowl for small seeds, sniffing about and trying to clean her bum! She is an amazing old girl.

Also Kira has had a lump removed from beneath her hind leg, she then had an abscess/reaction to the suture material. She had to have it cleaned out and re-sutured in a different material. She then reacted to that with another abscess, we had to change her antibiotic and clean out the open wound left by the abscess twice a day, this lasted about two weeks, but it has now healed very nicely.

Added new items to the Ratty Fun Page and the Ratabilia Pages.

 

News - End April 2001

Moose's Story

For the last few months, Moose has been a little poorly. First she had a lump appear just above her genitals, this burst, thus it was not a tumour (as we first thought) but an abscess. After taking her to the vets and having the scab removed and cleaned, we had to keep the wound open and clean it until it closed. It didn't close. We then took the decision to have her put under and have the wound cleared and stitched closed (after beefing her up on baby food for 3 days). She came through OK. Then had another tiny abscess soon after the operation, this cleared quickly - the baby food giving her bags of energy to regenerate! (we are still feeding it to her once a day, as with her dodgy teeth, she has so much trouble eating enough dry food). Then she had another larger abscess/lump come up and burst, we had to have her put under again to have it removed/cleared. We then had to clean it with scrub regularly, luckily it started healing very quickly. At about the same time she caught mites and had to be treated for them, which we believe must have come from the vets as none of our other rats had it and Moose had been isolated for several weeks (the other rats had the same bedding, Catolet, food etc.). Finally Moose got over it all, and on the baby food she is looking very well - she still has to have her teeth clipped, though.

Moose recovering in her nest

Salem's Story

Salem has had a tumour growing for quite a few months and we let it get a little larger that we wanted, as we had problems with Moose and Smudge at the time which were more critical. But she did not seem to mind, she got around with it no problem, it did not seem to hinder her at all. When she had it done, it had got the size of a golf ball (she is a big rat already, though). When we got her back we noticed the sutures were very well done - we did not need to bring her back after the op for a check-up. Her fur is growing back nicely and she is full of energy, but then the lump did not seem to slow her down any!

Before

After

Smudge's Obituary

Smudge had been poorly on and off for a few months, he had been treated for a respiratory condition, we tried isolating him and feeding him up - he hated being away from his cage mates - Smudge was the most social male we have had, he got along with everyone, never seemed to get into any scuffles. Smudge liked his photo taken, as you can see from the Rat Fun Page and below. Sadly on Good Friday, Smudge passed on.

Smudge resting his weary bones a few days before he passed on.

Smudge reaching for the sky, in his younger days.

February 2001

Not much to add this time, I have been scanning photos etc. and working on other sections. Looking forward to this years NFRS shows, hopefully Kira may do well again. Added some more items to the Ratabilia section

Sadly Moose has developed a lump right in her genital area, along with her other problems things don't look good for Moose.

 

January 2001

Last year we won the National Fancy Rat Society's photo competition (see the Ratty Fun Page), this year the brothers featured in another photo, coming second! Now added to the Ratty Fun Page wallpapers! Not bad for the Ratware Rats! Sadly Smudge has not been well over Xmas, he has laboured breathing and lost a lot of weight, although his eyes are as bright as ever and he is always in front for coming out to play. We are due to visit the vets to see if they have any more ideas to what it is.

Junior & Smudge in 'You Dirty Rat'

In addition to the above, I have added three new wallpapers to the Ratty Fun Page.

On the Ratabilia Pages I have added several more additions, two from our Xmas trip to Belgium.

 


 

Hall of Fame

Below are pictures and details of our rats. At the bottom you will find links to the Rodentabilia Page which has pictures and details of some of our collection of Rodentabilia, the page will expand quickly as I put more pics and details of our collection online. There is a link also to our Ratty Fun Page which currently has Ratty wallpapers - including a wallpaper of our photo that won the National Fancy Rat Society's 1999 photo competition. Soon it should have other fun stuff such as screen savers.

Now the stories and pictures of our rats... at the end of this page you will find links to the Ratty Fun Page, where you can find wallpapers and screen savers, and the Ratabilia, or really rodentabilia showing the rodenty things we have collected...

 

Ruggy - Ruggy died on the 3 December 1999, just a few weeks before his birthday. Ruggy was my wife's favourite rat, like Midge is mine. Ruggy was a very 'humanised' rat, he seemed to like the company of us to his cage companions (Gilmour, Junior & Smudge). He was a special, laid back soft character whom will always have a place on our current rats list, here. I wish you the best wherever you are now Rugs.  
 

Midge - If I have a favourite, it is Midge. Midge came in a litter that was a surprise, as her mother (Moose) had only been purchased from a petshop two weeks earlier. Things were going OK until 2 weeks after the litter was born. They had just got their markings when we lost 2, we tried to help but it was too late. Midge also kept leaving the litter and we found her cold, not being a good loser, I vowed that I would not lose another, so for the next week I fed little Midge every 2 hours during the night (with puppy/kitten feed), although under sized to start with, she was made it and eventually had a litter of her own of which we kept Junior and Smudge.

Midge died on the 14 July 2000

Smidgeon - our newest member of the Ratware clan. A right little rascal.
 
  Slim - An intelligent Agouti, he was a rescue rat we got at the same time as Fatso (below), he was very shy to start with, but now loves to be scratched and picked up. Although out of the cage, he is a bit of a homing rat - if he is near his cage he will try to get back straight away, even leaping several feet across from the sofa to the cage top!
Fatso - the we got along with Slim (above), another rescur rat. Fatso is still a bit shy and not so keen on being handled, but once you get him out the cage, he enjoys himself sniffing about. He is a big fat fluffy rat!  

 

 

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