DSM Fish Gal

My Beloved Pet

Got some bad news guys...my favorite pet rat, Grizzle, has come down very sick and looks to be in his final days.  He's been such an incredible source of joy these last couple of years and it's been a blessing having him around.  Those goddamn big chain pet stores (Petco, Petsmart, Petland) sell a good many sick animals, and that's what went wrong here: the third rat I brought home (Jimmy Bo), come to find out, had a respiratory problem that's easily spread to any other rats he came into contact with.  Didn't know at the time how common it is for big chain pet stores to get their animals from highly-questionable distributors or how common it is that they medicate the rodents with antibiotics just long enough to get them looking healthy so they can be returned to the show-floor and sold to us consumers.  Found all of this out firsthand while working part-time at one of the local pet stores last year, but by then it was too late: the rats had already been introduced.  Jimmy Bo had to be taken to the vet and put to sleep a few months back due to the progression of his incurable respiratory problems and now my Grizzle, my favorite little boy, is deathly sick with the same illness.  It's a sad shame.  I have to call the vet on Monday.

So I'm a bit heart-broken at the moment.  It's tough watching a beloved pet suffer and feeling helpless to make it better.  Rats have very short lifespans to begin with, usually 3-4 years, and I've had this little boy since he was a baby, brought home in the fall of 2007.  He's truly been a good pet (aside from me turning out to be mildly allergic), but once he's gone and my one remaining rat (Keefer) has lived out his life, that's it me for me...no more rats.  Not for many years anyway and not unless they come from reputable breeders or a rat rescue organization. 

I bitterly detest these big chain pet stores and their profit-driven carelessness and avidly boycott their stores ever since learning the truth and quitting.  To intentionally create the illusion that you're purchasing a healthy animal who instead comes home to infect your others is completely unacceptable and unethical.  What was true for rodents was also true for the freshwater and saltwater fish they sold and also the birds.  If the public only knew how many were rotated out of that backroom where they're medicated just long enough to appear healthy.  It is a crime, against the public and particularly against the pets they acquire and sell.

So...my wish is for others to learn these truths and quit purchasing supplies and pets from these big chain suppliers.  'Course no one ever does.  People only care about saving a few bucks, nevermind the consequences.  Or they prefer willful ignorance, thinking these things don't matter.  But they do matter, especially when you're the one attached to these pets and have to watch them decline prematurely.  It truly is a pitiful shame what we humans are willing to do for that all-mighty dollar.

If these were dogs and cats suffering and improperly medicated (as is the case with Petland stores), people are more likely to get riled up.  But when it's rodents, birds, and fish, people seem to think it doesn't really matter.  But it does matter. 

This household won't be the same without that little guy. 

New Grizzle Clips

A couple new Grizzle video clips are finally trimmed and posted on youtube.com:

Grizzle Playing

Grizzle Being Petted

That's my spirited little dude.   

February Updates

Life is busy and bustling these days, not that I'm complaining.  Just doesn't give me as much time to blog as I'd like.  So here are this week's updates in a nutshell.

After losing Chance, Noby was left without a cagemate, so I brought home a new little guy named Burns.  He's solid black, slightly chubby, and relatively sociable.  From here on out, the mice will be on a more restricted diet, and I did furnish the cage with a new wheel in hopes that they will exercise at least occasionally.  Burns and Noby hit it off immediately and spend a good bit of time grooming one another and cuddling in their igloo.  A photo will be taken and posted once he has an opportunity to settle in a bit.

I also brought home a bamboo shrimp and a couple of tiny molly fry.  The bamboo shrimp found his way to the clump of hornwort floating on the surface in the 28g tank where he can sit directly in the current and feed on whatever comes his way.  The molly fry went into the 10g brackish tank and so far only one is active and comes to the surface to feed, but it's also the largest of the duo and is probably less afraid of the bigger fish. 

The 10g tank is doing amazingly well with all of the fish, shrimp, and plants flourishing!  The bumblebee gobies are even doing well and getting enough to eat.  I ensure this by feeding flakes on the surface to distract the larger fish and then dropping a variety of sinking foods (Aquadine, pieces of algae wafers, and shrimp pellets).  Occasionally the mollies are fed freeze-dried tubifex worms, which they make a mess with, allowing the gobies to chase the floating particles. 

The 28g tank is still not quite up to par and it looks like it may again have ich.  I could just scream...but...  eh.  C'est la vie, I suppose.  It may be time to bring in the malachite green, but that involves removing the filter media, which I'm not keen on doing.  Medications are a last resort in my tanks, but this issue just won't go away!  The corydoras are all gone (and won't be replaced) due to the increased salinity.  The rainbowfish appear quite healthy aside from the few white specks here and there.  I just don't get it.  All I can figure is that this is a result of fluctuating temperatures and another reason why this tank shouldn't have been placed so close to my sliding glass patio door.  But it's been maintaining a temperature between 78-80 degrees F for at least a week now, so...  

The plants weren't doing so well, which I attributed to the raised temperatures (back when it was kept up around 86 degrees F), and algae began to take over.  One of the fluorescent lights is now kept off with the remaining strip light kept on fewer hours (no more than 10) and 3 more black mystery snails were added.  The sunlight coming in from the patio door is likely the culprit causing the algae growth, though it's not excessive yet.  Since reducing the light exposure time, the hornwort is back to growing full-force and the red ludwigia is perking up some.

The rats are all doing better, though Jimmie continues to make odd noises and remains a bit shaky.  Keefer still isn't a fan of being handled though he will come out of the cage to run around the livingroom from time to time.  And Grizzle is just as playful and sweet as always. 

Bob is bored.  He's taken to pestering me constantly to toss his toy mouse, which he fetches better than most dogs I know AND brings it back.  The rats just don't hold his attention like they used to, though he absolutely adores watching his mice through the cage bars.  The night I brought home Burns, Bob purred and begged to be held up to look into the cage, leaning back every couple of minutes to lick my lips.  lol  He can be such a sweetheart when he wants to be.  I'm seriously considering adopting a second cat so that he'll have a playmate that is just as rough-and-tumble as he is.  He gets frustrated with the ratty boys because they squeal when he's too rough, resulting in him getting in trouble.  Poor Bob.  Maybe sometime soon I'll look into bringing home a neutered or spayed kitten so that they can tear through the apartment and keep one another company when I'm at work or school. 

(Can't help but shudder at the idea of another kitten though - that's another set of claws and teeth to destroy the furniture and my skin LOL)

RIP - Chance the mouse

It's such a sad night.  Chance, my wonderful mouse, died.  He was so sweet and curious, even coming up to the cage bars to sniff my cat, Bob.  I discovered him in his cage last night after class, still warm to the touch.  He's a chubby little guy, but now I wonder if that wasn't what led to his untimely end.  Perhaps he was older than any of us realized, considering how short of a life span mice have.  I wish there were some way to know. 

He will be missed very, very much. 

Rats are showing improvement!

A co-worker shared a couple of 100mg Doxycycline capsules (an antimicrobial) with me to give to the ratty boys and they began this leg of their treatment tonight.  According to the dosage recommendations on this site, they are to receive approximately 2.5mg twice per day mixed in with chicken and vegetable baby food. 

So far, they are all showing improvement, especially little Jimmie Bo.  Jimmie is eating well and has put on a bit of weight and the shakes have subsided.  He's still slightly on the frail side, but his energy level is boosted considerably compared to last week.  I've cut back on the Ensure since running out of the last bottle of antibiotics and he seems to be doing fine.  For a while there I worried we might lose him, but now it appears he's going to make a full recovery. 

Keefer is still quite nervous and doesn't care to be handled much.  He's also developed a problem with being a bit nippy, likely due to me feeding him through the cage bars.  He'll walk up and sniff me but doesn't like being held and so far doesn't respond to his name.  He gets along with Grizzle wonderfully though and tolerates Jimmie (who's known for being quite pushy with the bigger rats in his attempts to cuddle). 

I allow them all to play together for a few hours a day but then Jimmie is removed to his own makeshift quarantine, which he can't stand since he loves being with the other two.  So long as he's still chattering and making odd noises, I prefer that he be isolated.

The sneezing has reduced substantially in all three and there's no more porphyrin discharge, though now they're all itching and scratching a lot.  Might need to have that looked at next. 

All in all, they seem to be doing much better, which I'm very thankful for.