Tails’ Blography

Meet Vignette and Iso, my two new rat babies! Their names took forever to choose but eventually these were the two names decided on. Both are photography related as I try go with themes relevant to my life at the current time of aquiring new babies, and I couldnt think of anything Asus related at this time.

So Iso was one of the first names that popped into my head, and I like it because it sounds nothing like a normal name. Iso was taken from ISO which is film speed in relation to photography. She’s a Burmese Self.

Next is Vignette. This is pronounced Vin-yet and relates to the dark (or white, in some gaudy cases) corners that one sees on photos, either done purposefully in post processing or done by a lens adapter or lens hood (usually on a wide angle lens).

Wirenth has not been as horrible to them as Orly was to her and Ramoth, but she’s doing her fair share of nipping and kicking which is difficult to watch, but is natural. Rule of thumb, no blood, no foul. However I do keep the spray bottle well filled and Wormy does get her fair share of spritzes. At the moment, if I have the all on the couch together, they’re fine but if I put the girls in Wormy’s house, she hunts them down and bites them. So now they’re all in the babies’ house together, which is not Wormy’s territory so she’s behaving…for now. At the moment, the worst she’s doing is giving me doe eyes to let her out of this cage thats “not big enough to swing a cat, mom!” Poor thing looks so claustrophobic.

Anyway, without further ado! Tons of pics!

Meet Vignette and Iso!

Iso – this pic rocks in high res!

Fishing for rats! I almost caught one!

Almost caught another!

Wormy showing em who’s Top Rat around here

Peeping over the couch: Vignette, Iso and Wirenth

It’s Iso!

It’s Vignette!

Later, when the girls were all tuckered out, this is where Iso thought was a nice place to sleep…in the food bowl!

And Wormy slept on the couch with me just behind my legs…

And then moved on to my waistline, legs a-danglin’

Behbeh rat feet!!

And finally, I gave em a chicken bone and I thought this was a very cute face to photograph…

Over December my Orly was ill with headtilt but with the grace of God, pulled through before Christmas. I medicated her on Baytril right up until I left for JHB for training.
When I returned, she was ill again and last Saturday she had a seizure, which I think could have been brought on by the Doxy/Baytril combo. I stopped using the Baytril, but expected to have to take her to the vet on Monday to say goodbye.

But by Monday, she was fine! Her head tilt had cleared up, there was no porperhin to be seen, and although she sneezed occasionally, her appetite was good, she was eating healthily and zooming around the couch at the best speed she could muster. My heart soared for her! Every time I looked into the Settitube, hammock or box she was sleeping in, my heart swelled to see her bright eyes looking back at me. She had made it through a second illness. My girl is strong!

Yesterday morning I sat by the cage, thinking how blessed I am to be working from home that I can see them all day and cuddle them when I feel lonely. I played with my two girls yesterday morning and took a few videos of them on my phone. I picked Orly up and cuddled her to my chest and she bruxed. She had started bruxing every time I cuddled her, so I was unsure whether she was happy or annoyed I gave them left over OatsoEasy and Orly ate heartily alongside Wormy.

I left for yoga that evening, at 17:50 and returned at 18:20. I walked through the lounge, put down my yoga things and turned the oven on for dinner. Immediately after that I went straight to the cage and found Orly on the floor of the cage. She had an unnaturally flat look to her and first thing I thought (from V’s descriptions of her boy’s seizure) that she was recovering from a seizure. Then I noticed her back legs stretched out behind her and her little back feet were blue.

I’m ashamed to say I couldnt reach in and check for myself, so I ran to get the bf who reached in and felt she was very cool. I sobbed so hard because this was so unexpected after the week we had had. Eventually I reached in and picked her up. Her belly was still warm but there was no heartbeat and she was blue. I cuddle her lifeless body for a long time and eventually wrapped her in toilet paper, put her in a box, and put her in the deepfreeze. I will send her for cremation today.

I dont know what happened. She seemed fine, there hadnt been any sign of returning headtilt and I hadnt seen another seizure. I didnt notice any breathing problems like gasping or anything to point towards a collapsed lung, so I can only presume she had a heart attack. She looked peaceful, so I pray it wasnt a painful death. I pray it was quick and that she didnt suffer.

My Orlith. You fought through two illnesses, you bullied Wormy and Ramoth in your prime, you melted Daddy’s heart to rats. You were my Ball-y, my Orlywhip, my Fatbelly Girl. I remember in your prime you were the hussy who vibrated every few days like clockwork. You will forever be in my heart, and you will be sorely missed. I love you my Ball. Thank you for fighting so hard for me, especially over Christmas. Finally you can rest in Peace. You deserve it.

Do you like the Snow Fall on my blog?

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LOL it appears I was the only voter this week. Ah well, the next poll is about your Christmas shopping…please take a peek and vote.

Life has been so hectic lately, my new job draws near as the New Year approaches…and my poor Orlith has been so very sick with Head Tilt, but by the grace of God has pulled through! It’s been a very stressful festive season for me as I’ve been nursing her back to health with Baytril for the infection and Prednisone for the swelling of her one eye (from the infection underneath it). She also stopped eating for a while, so it was mashed potatoes, pronutro and rice for dinner and breakfast: all soft things to help keep her nourished.

On top of that, I went away for a much needed weekend (pics later) and V kept my babies for me while I was away. When I went to collect them, on the way home Orly suffered from heat stroke and after a frantic drive at 100km all the way (please dont let me have any speeding fines!) and a frantic phonecall, the bf had a bowl of tepid water at the ready when I got home. After an hour or two of keeping her in water, syringing Energade into her mouth for rehydration, she finally recovered but the head tilt was so pronounced and she couldnt even keep herself upright and kept falling over. It was so scary to watch and I felt so helpless, all I could do was cry and pray that she’d recover.

There are also two litters I’ve put myself down for next year, the mom is a wheaten burmese and the dad is a black eyed cream. They’ll be ready for adoption at the end of Jan. The next litter is due at the end of Dec, and are Husky rats, like my Ramoth was. I’m still indecisive about this litter, as I’m not sure if I’m ready for another Husky just yet, but I’ll see how I feel next year.

Christmas is almost here and I still have much to do. A few gifts left to buy, and then everything needs wrapping! I dont know what happened this year, but normally by now I’m done with gift buying and wrapping. Hell, usually I’m done by Dec 5th! Ah well, hopefully all will be done in time and I will destress soon.

And finally, my car repairs have been approved by the offender’s insurance, and my Bluebetty will be getting repaired soon. Yay! I was in another minor car accident the other day when someone drove into the back of me in bumper-to-bumper traffic. My bumper is dented and I had a bit of whiplash but I honestly have no time or energy to claim on their insurance. The guy was very nice about it though, and his car needs more work than mine, which he said he was happy about since it was his fault.

And that’s about it. Hopefully I’ll make another post before or on Christmas Day, but if I dont, please have a wonderful and safe Christmas!!

Orlith’s birthday was the 9th of March this year, and she turned one. I never got around to shooting a birthday shoot for her, so finally today I managed to break out the hats, bake some bran muffins, and of course, start taking photos.

RATANOOGA has a yearly calendar, so these were my 3 choices for submission. I hope one of them gets in!

Happy (belated) birthday, Orly!

Orlith

Wirenth

Ramoth

Some bloopers while they ran rampant on the set, demanding extra pay, more food, and bottled mineral water!

Next…Ramoth & Wirenth’s 1st birthday on 9th of September…stay tuned! :D

Today I happily got busy in the kitchen with my new set of muffin trays. I mixed up a batch of Snowflake’s Easy Mix Choc-Mint Muffin mix (sorry they didnt have a pic of the choc-mint packet) and eagerly spooned it out into the freshly washed silicone trays. One batch made 12 medium muffins and 12 mini muffins.

I put the individual cups onto a baking tray along with the tray of minis, and popped that into the oven. I set the timer for 10 minutes as I was unsure of how long the minis should bake for. When the timer beeped, I breezed through to the kitchen to have a peek through the glass and they were rising nicely! At this point I squealed the words, “Awwww they’re sooo cute!!!” and promptly called the oh-so-patient bf to come and see the minis rising. He came to look and thoroughly agreed they were cute (and whilst walking back to his PC, laughed and said that only I would be so excited about half-baked muffins, mini or otherwise…and he’s probably right!). I set the timer for another 5 min, then another 5 min, and after those went off I took them out to cool and put in the next batch of six from the big tray. Set the timer for 20 min now that I knew my precious goods would be fine.

While the second batch was baking, of course we had to try a mini while it was still warm – and it was so light and fluffy and cute! It tasted really good (and they even had little mint chips in them!). Of course, the rats got one mini muffin each, and they were so pleased about that, almost melting themselves through the bars of their cage to get to me when I brought them near.

And of course, I took some photos. Let me know what you think!

The large muffins

Large and mini muffins galore!

Isn’t that the CUTEST muffin you’ve ever seen!

And of course I simply had to post pics of the rats enjoying their treats!

“We want! We want! We want!”

Ramoth doing an impression of an alligator (wish this was in focus haha)

Orlith eagerly clinging on

Wirenth looking ominous that I’m taking a photo of her eating