Introduce Yourself In Here

[Australian Rat Forum]

Hey Angie and family welcome to the forum

Amy is a cutie and I agree with what others have said about getting her a little girlfriend.

By the way I think your signature is wonderful.

[gardenangel]

Hi,
Thank you for having us. She is very cute. She's only very young. I might just have to get a little girl for myself, I think. We also have a rabbit named Isabella, a dog named Muggie, he is a Maltese cross and a fish named Nemo. The girls, Amy and Isabella, live together but in their own cages. We keep them in the garage at night and put their cages on the grass during the day, when we are home. They are both young girls. I am teaching my children how to take care of them, but the girls already know, that I am the mum. My dog gets jealous, so I am trying to keep them all happy.
We will see how we go.
Great site too!
Thank you.

[Hales80]

Hi there Angie
Amy is sooo cute, congrats. I agree with the others, getting her a friend is the best idea. I got my first girl and after reading around, went back to the pet store and bought her sister home too. The difference in behaviour was huge, she was so much happier. Enjoy
Hales

[donski]

Hey there, I'm Donna. 38yo paramedic living in Melb. currently although about to move to Darwin.
Pretty new to the world of rats. Love animals but where I live is just too small for a dog and I'm allergic to cats. So, someone suggested rats and I'm really grateful to them.

Figured I'd join the forum as it is a handy source of information. Want to do the right thing by my fella/s. Had 2, now only one (Jack) unfortunately. Love him to bits, he lives totally freerange and only returns to his cage for eating.

[ashana]

Hi People,

My name is Aimee and i am a SAHM to 4 children and 3 little baby rats.
I have owned rats on and off most of my life and recently decided to add 3 girls to our family.
We are actually going to pick up another 2 rats tonight, 1 is mum to 2 of the ones we currently have and she has a little pinky with her. I felt so sorry for her, leaving her in the shop that i have decided with my families support to adopt her and her little one.

I look forward to getting to know you all better very soon.

Aimee

[Gothic Shadows]

Welcome Aimee.

Its always great to have new members to add their thoughts to our growing community.



Cheers Kris

[erynne]

Hi there, I'm Erynne and I am so glad to have finally found an Australian Forum! I have a boyfriend, a puppy called Roxy and I've had my squishy man rats for a month or so now, their names are Billy (Billy Slater, fullback for Melbourne Storm (my hero lol )) and FatRat or Fatty, because I swear he's the size of a small dog! Anywayz as I said it's good to find an Australian Forum and I look forward to pestering you all with silly questions lol.
Luv Erynne

[Hales80]

Welcome Aimee and Erynne
I am pretty new here too and new to rats and everyone on this site has been very helpful. Look forward to reading your posts and helping out, if i can LOL. Love to see some piccies too.
Ta
Hales

[wart]

Hi

I've just joined, so I might as well introduce myself

My name is Zoe and I live in Brisbane. I am mum to 7 rats aka 'my boys'

Their names are:
Brie: Dove hooded
Ink: Black mm bareback
Blot: Dove mm bareback
Yoyo: Argente berkshire
Trouble: Mink hooded
Sooty: Black berkshire
Sweep: Silverfawn hooded.

I got my first rat 10 years ago from the RSPCA. It was one of those spur of the moment things - but the love affair started
In my time, I have been involved with showing rats, breeding rats and rescuing rats

Also, I was small animal manager for a major petstore up here in Qld. During my time there, I learnt ALOT about the whole business of owning/running a petstore. While I tried to maintain high standards for rodents, unfortunately, I was up against alot of hurdles.
Staff that just didn't care, or regarded rodents as snake food (even though the store had a strict policy on not selling the rodents for snake food).
Pet stores are run with one eye on the bottom line. And as much as we love our rodents - unfortunately they don't bring the money in as much as dogs/cats/fish or even birds. I can understand why most pet shops treat their rodents with contempt - but that doesn't mean I condone such behaviour. I have had a few standing arguments with petshop owners over their treatment of rodents

I'm glad to be out of it now.. and strongly believe that animals shouldn't be sold in pet stores

*ahem*
In addition to 7 rats, I also have 3 cats (Fire, Tadpole and Wart) and 1 dog (Jake).
I'm also studying to be a teacher (early childhood). It is one of my dreams when I actually become a teacher that I'll have rats in the classroom.
What else? I am a vegetarian, and I (try) to grow my own vegetables. Unfortunately the later is a bit hard due to the drought, BUT, its been raining a fair bit over the past month, so hopefully it continues and I'll have some crops in the coming months.

I think that I have rambled on enough

Zoe

[Australian Rat Forum]

Welcome to the forum Zoe.

I love the names you have for your rats.

[rach]

Hi
I'm Rach, I'm in the south eastern suburbs of Melbourne and have 2 gorgeous boys of the ratty kind. No plans for real kids yet! I was in desperate need of a pet when I moved to Melbourne a year ago and decided on rats as I've always wanted them! My boys are Piccolo and Albert (or Pic and Albie).
I also have a Pomeranian x chihuahua called Chicken (I didn't name him!!) who is a sweetie

[littleraton]

Bonjour, Hallo, Ahoj, Guten tag, Hello!

My name is Hannah, aka anti-timer and little raton on the web. I adore rats, hence my membership to this forum. I also absolutely love traveling, and actually have one of my three rats located in the UK at the moment (I wasn't allowed to bring him back to Australia with me ). I am half Australian, half Czech. I also enjoy reading, stargazing and looking at trees.

My two rats in Melbourne (actually The Dandenong Ranges), Australia are Pop and Tama (bucks, 7 month-old dove hooded and 3 month-old mink berkshire-cardigan respectively) and Oskar (doe, 11 month-old black hooded), my third rat, lives in Manchester, England. You can read more about Pop and Tama in the 'Your Rats' thread (as I wouldn't want to repeat myself too much!). I call them brothers, but they aren't actually related at all, except that they were bought from the same store.

Other than rats, I have a weakness for ducks. Although I don't own any, I would like to some time in the future, if I ever I can live somewhere with a big enough garden so as to be able to keep them properly. I also have a Golden Retriever named Matt (Matthew Stuart McKenzie actually!), aka Matty, Pumpkin, Shmoosh, Munchkin, etc.

My partners name is Matthew also, and is from Manchester. We met, then bought a rat. ;D Now we live in Australia together with another two gorgeous rats. So really, rats are just part of our relationship. Odd? No! Eventually we hope to find a bigger place to live with a decent garden of our own and start to breed rats (not for sale, so it wouldn't be long-term). In the mean time, we are both trying to learn as much as possible about our rodent friends, as well as spreading information and rat-adoration to others. Also, I am trying to do as much pro-rat work and signing of petitions as possible. I am planning to join a campaign against rats used for scientific procedures as soon as possible. I am also (also also also) hoping to somehow find a loophole in the Australian Immigration system and manage to bring Oskar to Australia so she can meet Pop and Tama.

I am currently studying English Language, Japanese, History and Photomedia (Studio Arts). But you don't want to hear about work or any of that!

If anybody located in Melbourne or around that area would like to have a rat gathering/party/day out I would be very happy to join you! I think it would be wonderful for our little ones to socialise and make a few friends (without getting pregnant of course!!)

I hope we can all get to know each other, and share advice and rat love,

xoxo little raton / Hannah

[Kim]

Hi Rach and Hannah,

Welcome to the forum. Its a really good place to talk about our rats.

I really enjoy coming here. I've had rats for 17 years now and still enjoy talking about them with other people who also enjoy them.

I'm also from Melbourne and there are a number of members who are also from Melbourne.

I think it would be a great idea to organize a weekend BBQ at some point, now that the weather is warming up.

I'll actually go and start a thread for it in the main section to see how many people would be interested.



Kindest Regards,
Kim

(Bozzy Rats Rattery)

[christie]

Hello everyone. Im Christie, 25 years and living in SE Melbourne.
I currently have 4 females, named Sophie, Abby, Zip and Zoom. Sophie and Abby are 14 months old and are pet store rats. When i first got them i had no idea that there were breeders close by. Zip and Zoom are about 8 months old and were from a friends "buy 1 rat get 6 free deal" when she got a girl from the pet store.
I dont really know what else to put, if there is anything anyone wants to know just ask.

[Australian Rat Forum]

Greetings Christie, I'm Nathan and I'll be your guide tonight

Which breeders did you find you had close by?

I've heard many stories where people get the buy 1 get x amount free deal.

Its such a shame, especially when those mothers are normally only babies themselves.

But hey welcome to the forum and if you need anything dont be afraid to ask.