They don’t actually eat the lino.. just chew it.

Yes, they will probably chew on the lino (particularly if they’re girls), but that’s just par for the ratty course.

(:

There was a pet expo on, and they took our photo to go with a small story about it.

The story was AWFUL, it sounded horribly sarcastic.. but at least the picture was nice. It took up half the front page.. people were recognising me in the street as “rat girl”.

[]

I think it’s disgusting that people take advantage of the system. I have never considered trying to “get away” with using the FHOG for an investment property.. I see that I have two choices, buy a house for myself and get the FHOG, or buy an investment property and dip out, too bad.

There’s one thing that I find particularly disgusting about this…[Read more]

I don’t want to stick my nose in, but I just wanted to let you guys know – wood shavings aren’t a good idea for rats, the chemicals in the wood can cause respiratory problems. I use recycled paper kitty litter (never the clay kind), you can get it from supermarkets. The brand I buy is Breeder’s Choice, it’s great stuff.

It’s also not a good idea…[Read more]

I’m sorry, I don’t have a suggestion Arty, I’ve just finished naming my 6 girls.. I’m fresh out.

But I wanted to say that my heart leapt when I read “Dash”. I had an agouti boy, one of my first ratties, that I named Dash. He was a very special rat, and was even on the front of our local newspaper with me.

Yay for Dashes!

AusRFS QLD: http://www.ausrfs.org.au/qld/
AusRFS NSW: http://www.ausrfsnsw.com/
AusRFS VIC: http://www.ausrfs.org.au/vic/
AusRFS WA: http://www.ausrfs.org.au/wa/

How are the new babies going? []

<, ,)~

I just videotaped three of my boys escaping from their cage.

Rats are SO clever – the boys wedged more and more cloth under the cage door to hold it open enough that they could squeeze their fat little bodies through… naughty!

Usually it’s the girls who do all the naughty things. The boys have escaped 4 times in the last couple of days, and I…[Read more]

Thanks for replying, Del.

While it will be difficult to sit back until July, at least I can keep an eye on what is happening, talk to all the agents beforehand, get everything ready to go, etc.

I think I will really benefit from a few months of sitting back and learning more, too.

It’s all very exciting! []

Hi Marco, I hope this is what you want.

The formula for the largest number in a range is =LARGE(A:A,1) but you would replace the A:A with the appropriate range, eg F2:F14. The “1” denotes 1st largest number in the range.

The formula for lowest is =LARGE(A:A,n) where “n” is the number of numbers in the range; ie if you had 10 numbers in the…[Read more]

I keep this one in front of me at work:

“Obstacles cannot crush me; every obstacle yields to stern resolve.” – Leonardo Da Vinci

If there can’t be an official chatroom on the website, it’s not difficult to set up a room on IRC (eg Austnet).

I would love to talk to people in real time. Forums are great, but sometimes you just want to have a nice chitchat with people.

Would it step on anyone’s toes if we set up a chatroom on IRC?

– Emma

Hi Pinky – I love PEWs, they are very pretty. I don’t even notice the pink eyes these days, but I know it creeps some people out.

Whether a rat bites depends a lot on how it is handled as a baby. When I breed ratties, I make sure I handle them from day one, and as they get older, they are subjected to a lot of rough-and-tumble play which makes…[Read more]

Sounds like the girl knows nothing about rats!

Eye colour has nothing to do with lifespan. In fact, pink eyed white (PEW) rats aren’t actually albino at all. The pink eye gene acts to dilute the coat to white, but they’re not true albino.

You can also get rats with ruby eyes – they look black, but in good light they are a deep red.

Lifespan…[Read more]

Why, in my bedroom, of course! []

*grin*
Thanks for the welcome!

I have 18 because with rats, “you can’t stop at one”. They are all different colours: mink (grey), agouti (brown), silverfawn (orange), cinnamon (another brown!), and champagne (cream). I’ve also had pink-eyed-white and black ones before. Most are mink at the moment because we had a mink litter and kept 9 of the…[Read more]

Hello! I’m new here, I haven’t been brave enough to post in the general section, but I couldn’t resist answering this topic!

I have 18 rats, and they are the most fantastic pets that you could ever EVER own. You can see some of them at http://www.rockabyeratties.com .

Arty: actually you should always have at least two rats (of the same sex, of course),…[Read more]