First sad night in the breeding colony

My designated feeders that are bred are just that, food. I know it, and I will gas them without a 2nd thought. My breeders, that are thought of as pets, are just that, parts of the family. My best, most personable female since I started my recent colony, passed tonight. She seemed to be having difficulty over the passed few days, but none of the typical sneezing, weezing etc. typical of the RI's that you would look for. She simply withered and gave up.

I know the common advice would be "vet", but I promised myself I had to be methodical about culling the weak when it comes to building a quality colony, even if it means losing a "pet". I'm almost embarrassed to say how much it hit me to find her tonight, and it will be more difficult to tell my daughters in the morning. I guess that is what it is to care for animals, any animal. We had named her Ratatoille (sp?) after the rat in the movie that I had taken my daughters to a few months back. OK, sap mode off. I promise to grow my man parts back in the morning.

Sorry to hear that. I think I'm on my 6th generation of feeder mice now, and culling the older breeders is still harder than the babies for me. I always apologise to them and tell 'em they did a good job.

sorry

That is really to bad. :awcrap::sobstory:

sorry to hear that. It could have been anything with these little ones. Cancer, liver problems, kidney failure, heart problems. Anything can affect them and you don't know there is a problem till it's too late. The best I think we can do is to put them out of their misery when they suffer, but many times (like yours) they don't seem to be suffering. again, sorry to hear about your loss.

your daughter is precious BTW! How many you got?

Aw! So sorry to hear that, it's never easy losing a beloved pet.

Btw, I love your signature, too cool!

I am sorry for your loss :awcrap: It is tough to lose a pet.

So sorry... I know how you feel. I hate keeping mice and have no qualms about taking their little pinkies away from them, but get attached to the breeders especially the good moms. I had one develop a tumor last year and it sucked to have to cull her

Aw I'm so sorry to hear that. Funny how the little guys worm their way into our hearts!

:-offtopic But uh... Nice abs!
Daughters pretty cute too! How old is she?

Eriathiel said:

:-offtopic But uh... Nice abs!

Click to expand...

Hmmm... was just thinking the same thing heheheeee... all kidding aside, I'm truly sorry for your loss of your pet. I get so attached to all my pets, almost as attached as I am to my children even. And that daughter of yours is adorable. I have 2 little girls as well and my son is the oldest at 13. I hate having to tell them about one of the pets dying especially when I had to come home and tell them that I had to put our 9 year old Rottie to sleep when he got "Bloat". It was devestating to us all ughhhh!!!

Lil.

Feeder, Breeder or Pet... one has to be a pretty cold individual to not feel at least a twinge of something when one passes, even if it's by your own hand. I always say a quick 'thanks' to my feeders and hope that they were at least content and comfortable while there were around me. The longer they were around, the stronger the 'twinge.'

Last night I fed Butter a BAM (as my wife called him. Stood for Big A. Mouse - figure the middle initial out for yourself). This particular male had the cutest habit of immediately jumping on the exercise wheel as soon as he saw that I was looking at them. There were mixed emotions when I fed him to Butter.

Thanks all, for all the "comments" On the daughters, I have 3 Gabriella (15), Giana (8) and Mia Bella (pictured, 2). They all love the rats/mice, but only the two younger enjoy the snakes... my teenager, after being raised with them, somehow developed an aversion for them, kind of weird. Th youngest though, doesn't see a mouse without saying "where's snake daddy??" and vice versa. Too cute.

The 2 eldest are on their way home from school as I type... time to break the news.

FWIW, most of the preferred rat antibiotics such as baytril, doxycycline, tetracycline, amoxicillin, and tylan are available for legal purchase without a prescription from various online vendors. Usually racing bird supply vendors.

Try this link for a good dosage chart
www.rmca.org/Articles/dchart.htm

lil_rab2005 said:

Hmmm... was just thinking the same thing heheheeee... all kidding aside, I'm truly sorry for your loss of your pet. I get so attached to all my pets, almost as attached as I am to my children even. And that daughter of yours is adorable. I have 2 little girls as well and my son is the oldest at 13. I hate having to tell them about one of the pets dying especially when I had to come home and tell them that I had to put our 9 year old Rottie to sleep when he got "Bloat". It was devestating to us all ughhhh!!!

Lil.

Click to expand...

I can't help it. I was thinking the same thing. VERY nice abs.

I am very sorry to hear that about the rat. That is a very cute picture, and your daughter is adorable.

MrsCornSnake said:

I can't help it. I was thinking the same thing. VERY nice abs.

I am very sorry to hear that about the rat. That is a very cute picture, and your daughter is adorable.

Click to expand...

Thanks. HAd to keep an eye on the colony after the passing, in the hope that whatever it was hadn't spread. Luckily, none of the others has shown any signs since, the litter of 14 are THRIVING, actually they act more like mini-monkeys than rats (poor mom), and another one of my big girls looks like she is about to pop. The colony is about to EXPLODE.

Now if I can only get my mice going. Picked 2 silvers and a black and white as my first trio for their looks, but they were a little young. Their offspring should be a lot of fun once they get going.

All is well in the rat world, and Mia Bella ( the 2 year old) will not buy anything but "Littlest Pet Shop Mice" whenever she gets to pick out a toy now a days. Unfortunate they dont make a snake in their toy line.