monkau

When I was in primary school a rat opened one of the sliding doors for the food dish on our budgie FunnyFace's cage and mauled him. Dad found the kitchen walls splashed with blood the next morning and the rat still in the cage, he took the cage outside and doused it in petrol and burned the rat, cage and all.

I uploaded a little video of Umi playing around http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDgyT2U6b-4

Hi all, Ive had Umi (oo-mii) for nearly a week now, I got him from Libby and he's absolutely adorable At first he just wanted to sit in the box he came home in, but soon was happy to come out and sit on my finger as long as I didnt take him too far away from his beloved box. He didnt care too much about his cage then but now he LOVES his cage - if he can see it, he wants to go to it, though im sure the more he gets used to us the less he will try to jump to it. Hes quite happy to play on top of the cage, or to just sit with the door open and watch us (Ive put it on top of my fridge since my daughter is obsessed with him and I want him to have some space when he needs it, and not have Tara able to get her hands in the cage when Im not watching.) straight away Umi was happy to take greens from our hands, a few seeds, and will drink when offered some water in the cap of a bottle - I still havent seen him drink from his actual water container so Ive kept the bottle cap topped up and give him plenty of greens with water on them etc. Hes happy to eat seed from his seed dish, but he still likes to hop on the floor and find some so I spread them around there for him. on the weekend I had Umi on a chair next to me with a little plastic ball, I had kept it in his cage so he would be used to it when its play time, and he was still a little hesitant about it at first but hes happy now to nudge at it and roll it if I poke it or roll it a little first. at the moment hes sitting in my hair (his fave spot is on my hair lacky like its a little perch) - whenever he sees a hand he wants he gets on it, and climbs up your arm and onto your shoulder and into your hair... which gets a bit messy at times and I have to ask someone if theres dookie in my hair when its time for him to go back to his cage. today and yesterday hes been trying to fly alot more, but he's clipped. he even jumps off the top of your head and you have to be quick to catch him or he crashes to the ground quite hard, I was worried this morning that hed hurt himself when jumping off a desk, he made a scared little squeek when he hit the ground and was acting a bit stunned but he was okay a few minutes later. hes been expressing himself more today as well. hes never bitten me or tara (he nipped at taras dad once on the weekend but ill forgive him hehe) but he has been letting me know when hes not impressed with me. when hes on the desk when im on the computer he has a birdy gym to sit on, but he has some kind of fascination with behind my monitors (and my front door when hes in the lounge), so I have to keep having to get up and get him out, and he does that 'not happy jan' squawk, I put him on the gym again, and he runs back behind there typical kid. Ive been saying things like 'hello baby' 'hello Umi' 'num-nums' and 'pretty baby' to him alot, Id really love for him to learn 'birdy num-nums' one day heheh - though I bet the first thing he says if he learns anything will be imitating me telling my daughter off anyway! now for some pictures! my digital camera cable broke so I have to use my phone for now mr green cheeks hanging out on the birdy gym, plotting to sneak behind the monitors. Thanks again to Libby for the lovely little birdy <3

Im not a fan of rats, but I bred fancy mice for a few years, and used the ausrfs nsw site alot. I imported a fair few mice from the eastern states from the members of ausrfs and theyre all lovely people to deal with and will help you with any questions you have. http://www.ausrfsnsw.com/ theres a link to the forums from the main page good luck with your ratties!