The girls are part of our large rescue of over 100 rats. Their wonderful foster mom Cora sent us an update of how they are doing and what they are up to. We thought it's a great example of what our wonderful fosters do:

1. Grapes aren’t a hit
It’s always fun getting a new batch of fosters and then finding out what they will eat. Some come in never having experienced fruit, cereals, nuts, yogurt and vegetables. I have five new fosters, a momma named Dawn and 4 girls, Trixi, Rasa, Svetlana & Sketch. They all came from the same place so had the same experience with food. I tried some fresh garden lettuce and that was a big hit! They absolutely love it. Then I tried some nice green grapes… well you can see from the picture what they thought of that! They had the same thoughts on carrots but do like peas and yogurt so we are broadening the palate somewhat. This is also to first batch of ratties in a long time that actually seem to like the rat blocks. Almost every other rat would only eat it as a last resort. I also make a mixture of nuts and cereal for them. Pru, my boxer’s dog food which is a high quality holistic food is also mixed in. I think they would rather starve than eat that, lol!

2. Hard to tell who is who
So I would love to be able to give a bio on each one of the girls but it’s a little difficult! I have 2 pairs of twins, Sketch and Svetlana look very much alike and so do Trixi and Rasa. As they race around the cage like lightning it’s really hard to see the marking on their backs to see exactly who is who. I can tell you that Trixi was the first to try the wheel and she enjoyed it so much the others had to try it too (at 3am of course!). I can also tell you that the four small girls enjoy each other’s company equally so they don’t have to go to their new homes as set pairs which makes life easier. They are very inquisitive, like to be petted, are too squirmy to hold for very long and are generally very nice little girls. Since I like to get to their hearts through their stomachs, they have decided that I too must be something to eat so try to nibble my fingers and hands but never bite hard. They are going to be awesome additions to someone’s rattie home.

3. So what kind of house do they like?
When the ratties some in to quarantine foster, most have never been spoiled so all the fun things are new to them. The last pair of older males obviously never had soft hammocks or cubes to sleep in. Both Victor and Splinter slept on the shelf or in the rattie dome for a few days until they where brave enough to try a hammock or cube. Once Splinter tried the cube he wouldn’t come out! I had to gently dump him out if I needed to get him out of the cage. It was only a small cube and he filled the whole thing side to side and top to bottom. Very cute! Victor preferred the sleeping hammock (after a few modifications of course). So what do the little girls like? They love the tunnel!! They all pile in there and sleep most of the day away and then in the evening roar around the cage using it as an upper highway.

Please get in touch with us if you are interested in adopting Dawn (spayed girl), Sketch, Svetlana, Trixi or Rasa!

We are VERY excited to soon celebrate our 350th adoption. To celebrate the occasion and to thank our wonderful volunteers, supporters and adopters we are throwing a little party - Without YOU we would not be as successful as we are! THANK YOU! We are also inviting everybody else to come out and meet the LMR team!

Where - 4050 W 4th Ave in Vancouver. It is on the 39 Brigade property at Jericho Beach. There will be signs at the entrance directing you to the picnic area. It is a pet friendly area, on a bus route and the beach is just across the road.

When - Sunday 26 July 2009 at 1 pm

Who - All volunteers and adopters, friends/family (2 and 4 footed), supporters and anyone who is interested in finding out more about LMR.

What - a fun filled picnic style pot-luck with games and prizes. We will be having a pet costume contest, ferret bingo, ferret races and much more! Well mannered pets are welcome to attend. We will have a huge XPen set up for a ferret play date. For those who have wanted to meet a ferret, this will be your chance. Plus you can cheer on you fav in the ferret races. Dogs with strong prey drives will need to remain leashed, please.

Food is pot luck, so please bring something to share. There will not be any cooking facilities available. LMR will supply plates,napkins, cutlery and drinks.

The Store - LMR will have items from their store set up for purchase. This is an excellent opportunity pick up something for your rattie or ferret and not to have to pay for shipping. We will also have our new T-shirts and magnets available. There may also be special deals available for those attending....

350 adoptions is a huge milestone for LMR and we would love to see as many people as possible attend to help us celebrate!

Hope to see you there!

So far we took in 55, anywhere from newborn babies to newly weaned babies to young adult females. We had several of the adult females spayed right away.

Most of the rats are either black barebacks or (mismarked) black hooded ratties. Out of the 55 rats we took in there are two little beige bareback girls and there is one girl that genetically is probably black but for some odd reason she looks like a rich dark chocolate brown. There is also one special little girl who could poss. pass as a dalmatian.

We will have two of the males (Mellow Johnny & Lance Armstrong) neutered once they are around 4 months old as they are monorchid. They are able to go to a forever home now, as long as it's local (either Victoria or Vancouver area).

Anyway, if you are looking to adopt, look no further! We have LOTS of mostly black/white ratties!

Some of the cutie pies:

Litter of 6 born May 30, 2009

Weaned girlies

Petra

Mellow Johnny

Itty bitty little baby boy born June 3, 2009

Again a plea to everybody out there: Please don't breed your rats! Yes, rats are cute but there are way too many unwanted rats in this world! There are not enough homes for all of them. If you absolutely must keep male and female rats, make sure that either one sex is fixed or make sure that they absolutely can't meet. It literally takes 2 seconds for them to mate. This year alone we already took in well over 100 baby rats plus many more adults and unfortunately we had to turn many others away which is generally a death sentence. Please don't breed or buy while homeless pets die!

A local shelter asked us to please take in a special needs rattie boy. He was found as a stray and it really is a miracle that he is still alive today! Not only is he a domestic rat, a PEW rex that stands out of course.... He is also missing a foot! It just blows our mind how somebody would dump such a sweet little guy! He has lice and is a bit thin but considering what he's been through he is doing ok!

He is now safe and sound in one of our foster homes where gets the TLC he so deserves.

While at the shelter to pick up Albus, the shelter staff showed us a gorgeous & very sweet rabbit and pleaded with us to please take her too. She too was found as a stray and wasn't claimed... and now her time ran out. She was scheduled for euthanasia an hour later. We don't usually take in rabbits but we could not let her die... Yes, clearly we all have the word "SUCKER" stamped on our foreheads.

So please meet Eeyore - She is just a stunning little girl! She is a young adult Mini Lop with very good litterbox manners! She is very sweet with just a hint of bunnytude. She will get spayed next week. Spaying not only makes sure that she won't reproduce, it also prevents various types of cancer (e.g. ovarian tumors) and overall makes rabbits better pets (better litterbox manners, less aggression etc). She is looking for a forever home! Please get in touch with us if you are interested in adopting her!

Rabbits are very misunderstood creatures, so please make sure you do a lot of research to make sure a rabbit is the right pet for you! They are a 8-12 year commitment! Our favorite website is http://www.rabbit.org

Gables came to us after she lost her partner in crime and her former owner could no longer care for her. Caprica and Natasi are two of Candy's babies from the large rescue in January of this year.

They are all doing really well and couldn't have found a better forever home!

Mike managed to catch this priceless shot of Gables and the two Cylon sisters all standing on their hind legs in formation while having a romp in their playpen that Mike built them.