God help me where do I even start....

[Dahlas]

Good luck with your surgery. It is an awful and overwhelming situation.......
As painful as it might seem euthanizing them is probably for the best....especially if they are in bad condition.
Would be nice if they could pick out the healthiest and most adoptable......but seriously there are only so many homes and if the shelter is not equipped to handle rats then euthanizing them is the most humane thing....

 

what a nightmear, I hope you all the best and good luck on the surgery :heart:

 

[SQ]

All the best with your surgery.
Please let us know how everything goes.

 

[mamarat]

Good luck with your surgery.

You've done all you could for those poor ratties.

 

[fenshae]

*yawns* was up late cleaning cages and rearranging to make room for the new guys. Luckily I have the world's most understanding boyfriend who's being very supporting with this whole situation. He knows once I get my heart set on a mission like this that there's no stopping me, so it's best just to smile and go along with it

I'm a bit nervous to be taking so many in at a time, to be honest. I've never had this many at one time that were all so close to the same age. It's gonna be really rough here in a year or so when they all start getting old But, well, we'll deal with that when it comes...*is starting to get cold feet two hours before pick-up time* bleh.

Anyway, thanks for the good vibes for the surgery guys! I'm just excited to get the damn thing OUT so it stops bothering me. Gallbladder attacks have got to be the single worst thing on earth.

 

[ryelle]

my gut told me not to read this post but i decided to tonight and by gum
youve done all you can for these rats which is a lot more than anyone else can say they have done. You are a good person Fenshae

 

[littledevils]

Fenshae, I asked the other LMR rat person in charge if we should take some... We were all set to take about 20 rats in and the person never got back to us and it's been almost a week. We can't just wait until Miss makes up her mind when there's other rats in desperate need.

I also posted on RatsPac... a few years back they all stepped up big time and together we managed to rescue a lot of rats from Petaluma, CA where there was a similar situation.

Is there any way to have females spayed down there? Ie what are the costs, is there somebody who could temp. hold them? Having the females spayed would allow us to take more as we couldn't have to do the math and add babies into the calculations as well

 

[Rachael]

It might be best to buy some cheap hamster cages and bin tubs (never used them personally but would be fine surely) and just get as many as you can out. Split the boys, and the girls, and home them out from there.

 

[RatsForever]

My heart goes out to you... :sad3:

 

[fenshae]

Well, back from the shelter. I ended up with three boys not five; considering how long they'll need to be in QT and socialized before they get intro'd in with the guys, I didn't want to crowd their QT cage and I'm strangely more comfortable with 7 rats than 9 although I don't know why. They're all settling in right now, I'll try and get some pictures up in a little bit. Haven't got any names for them yet. I'll be keeping an eye out for any illness and I'll give them all a more thorough examination later....when I picked them up I checked eyes, nose, and breath sounds to make sure everybody was at least healthy-looking.

The thing that's awesome is that the shelter is now SWARMING with media attention. I didn't contact the press, but I guess they found out somehow or another and the phone calls started rolling in this morning. Come to find out, the story of a lone girl who's got enough passion for rats to fight for their lives is quirky enough news that it's gotten everybody's attention. I was at the shelter for almost two hours because there were so many interviews going on and I personally interviewed for two different stations. I'm kind of hoping my boss and my landlord don't watch the news *wince* what do you think my chances are? Amusingly enough because I'd just gotten back from the hospital doing my intake, I was still wearing my hospital band so it'll be visible in the footage.

Anyway. In the meantime I've got someone coming down tomorrow from Albuquerque to pick up rats for a rat-train....I've got a hamster rescue in Rio Rancho that called and said they could take 3-4, and three other people up north have texted me saying they could take a couple. So she'll be picking up 10-15 tomorrow if everything goes according to plan.

I think I've done my part I'm going to make sure everybody's happy and settled, and then time to focus on myself for awhile. Surgery is BRIGHT AND EARLY tomorrow!

 

[crumbilina]

Amusingly enough because I'd just gotten back from the hospital doing my intake, I was still wearing my hospital band so it'll be visible in the footage.

I have to admit... this made me laugh pretty hard.

Hope your surgery goes well!
I wish I could help with the ratties - your doing great though. Maybe some of your interviews will change some people's minds about ratties and some will get adopted!

 

[littledevils]

Would you be able to post the contact info of the shelter/name of the person... Or PM me.... we can take some... but since you are going in for surgery (good luck!) it might be easier to deal directly with the shelter

 

[fenshae]

Just got done watching myself on the news We were the top story for at least two of the news channels (possibly all four, I only watched the two I was interviewed on -- call me vain). Aside from wincing at how double-chinned and buck-toothed I look on TV, overall I think it was a pretty good program. It was mostly focused on the hoarding situation itself and the sheer quantity at the shelter, but I did get some airtime espousing how clean, intelligent, friendly and funny rats can be and some exceptionally cute rat footage (I was so glad they were zooming in on the cute ones and not the gnarly one-eyed, scabbed-over ones).

In a really amusing twist of fate there's a very faint possibility that this whole thing will be pitched to somebody from Animal Planet. A hamster rescue is taking in 3-4 girls and I guess a film crew from Animal Planet will be there on Monday for something or another, so she's going to pitch the story just to see what happens. I'm going to laugh so hard if sleepy little Las Cruces ends up on Animal Planet.

But anyway. I'm feeling pretty good about everything today. My three boys (I'm toying with names but I think I settled on Lock, Stock, and Barrel) are settling in OK although they're seeming a bit shell-shocked....I almost cried when one figured out how to use a hammock because I know he's never seen one before in his life. I think I've done the best I can, and....well, after seeing the news crews there at the shelter today, I'm starting to feel like maybe miracles can happen.

Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts!

I'm off to get everything in order for my surgery in....8 hours. *wince* night guys! I'll check in to let you know how it's all going, and get up some pictures.

 

[Maple]

Good luck with your surgery AND all the little ratties. It sounds like things may have a happy ending.

 

[fenshae]

Ok, so I should be taking a shower and getting some rest before my surgery, but I can't help it: http://www.ktsm.com/hundreds-of-rats-fo ... ruces-home

This is the best of the stories. I can't find the other one that interviewed me although i saw it on the news, but this one's a bit more sympathetic. One of the other news programs is reporting that the rats are "the size of large kittens" and are reporting some of them are up to a foot long. *just shakes head* I can promise you they aren't exactly beastly. They want to see a big rat, they should meet Basil, he's a proper squish and at least three times the size of these underfed babies.

Took a few pics but they're super blurry. I'll try it again later.

 

[lilangel]

http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/23628269/index.html

:rant: "the rat that was under my hood was this big <---------------> " :wallbang: :wallbang: So now they are starting to run in the town poor things.

 

[ryelle]

I SEEE YOOOUUU
how exciting to be on the news! You have done fabulously with all this

Those rabbit hutches really are cramped :? poor little things


ETA: that guy presenting on the second link is the biggest moron ive ever seen in my life lol. The video doesnt really help the situation at all :?

 

[fenshae]

Yeaaaaaah that Fox report is....well, kind of what I've come to expect from Fox News, really. *just shakes head* They got there before I did and didn't talk to me, which is of course why they're tossing out some not-quite-accurate reproductive numbers. When I told the shelter owner that actually it can be up to *20* rats and more like EACH month, I thought she was going to faint. On the one hand, it's really frustrating to see the same old bad press get repeated and spread about these innocent victims.....but on the other hand, I just can't help but laugh. "It was <----------> THIS big!" .....*looks at rats currently stuffed in a hammie* yeeeeeeah.

Incidentally, happy to report that Lock, Stock, and Barrel have now figured out how to stuff ALL THREE of themselves into one small-size tube hammie.

 

[jorats]

http://www.kfoxtv.com/video/23628269/index.html

:rant: "the rat that was under my hood was this big <---------------> ".

I laughed so hard at this... people exaggerate when trying to make a point. sheesh.

Love the names you've chosen. lol

 

[mamarat]

Those names are SO cute. Good job, Fenshae!