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Post by RogueRowan on Jan 20, 2015 14:40:51 GMT -5
Ratty MischiefThis website is still heavily under construction, but since I know many members of the Petz Community have rats and other small pets, I really wanted y'all's input. My goal with this website is to provide all the information a potential rat owner might need in an easy to navigate website. There are places like the Rat Guide that have lots of in depth information, but that website and others are extremely detailed and complex whereas a lot of people don't want to spend the time and energy to get that in depth. I want for my website to be a good starting point for current and future rat owners as well as provide specialty information such as the gluten free diet I am working on for small pets and training rats to do tricks. I also want to have guides for choosing what pet is right for you and deciding if you could get rats. So far, I have two guides up. One is about choosing a pet store rat to buy (it's an art form, lol) and one is making a gluten free diet for rats and other small pets. I have two guides in progress right now, one for choosing a cage and one for choosing which pet to get (dog, cat, bird, rat, etc). Please suggest any guides you want to see! They don't have to just be about rats. They could be about other small pets. Also, if you have any suggestions on how to improve the guides I already have or the website in general, please let me know! Thanks for reading! ~Fall @ Ratty Mischief
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Post by north on Jan 20, 2015 17:31:32 GMT -5
I think this is a very good idea, lots of sites about rats and other small pets I've seen are so in depth it really puts you off reading the walls of text. They really have a way of making something that could be said in a sentence into a paragraph...
For the guides there, maybe some more information about getting rats from a pet store like the conditions the rats are kept in (seeing if they are kept in clean cages, males separated from females, asking if the bedding in pine or cedar which from what I've heard is not good for them), and looking for health as well as personality. E.g. if the rat is sneezing or wheezing, checking there is no abnormal lumps, if they seem lively or frail. Also that being hunched up and unresponsive or bloated can be signs of illness. Checking genders, to make sure it's a male or female like you want.
There are a couple good websites I used to look at when I had rats, but lots of these sites are kind of forgotten now and kind of out of date.
Possible ideas for other guides: - I'm not sure if it could make it's own guide with enough info, but getting rats from a breeder/rats from pet stores/rescue rats? I never really found great info on this. - Introducing rats (like, current pets to new additions), - Diet, good kind of feed, what's safe for them to eat and what's not safe, treats (very good with training them x3) - Grooming (when they need to be, and how to bathe them safely, clipping nails, maybe dealing with buck grease) - Games you can play with them and things you can use as toys for them. - Health (common health issues/things to look out for etc.), a guide about housing there are different cage types - Maybe a FAQ type page with misc. questions about things like life span, porphyrin (when they get the red secretion from their eyes/nose. It scared me! It took me ages to actually find out what it actually was) and little things like that.
I'm certainly to expert by any means, but I hope this is somewhat helpful!
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Post by RogueRowan on Jan 25, 2015 0:10:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the suggestions. I added a bit o the end of my "Choosing a Pet Store Rat" guide about the health of pet store rats and the whole male/female thing.
-I added a guide about pet store vs. rescue vs. breeder. It's not super in depth, since I don't want t get too in depth, but I feel it's a good starting point for potential rat owners. -I'm not sure I should do a guide to introducing new rats since I've never done it "correctly." I guess I could do a guide for how I do it, plus a note that it's not the typical method nor is it recommended, but I'm afraid rat people would tear me apart for it. =/ I can't do a guide for how it should be done because I've never done it. -I already have a guide up for my own homemade diet and I will be adding a brief mention of Oxbow Adult Rat food, the recommended commercial diet, and list bad things about commercial diets. I don't want to get super in depth about what to and what to not feed them, other than my homemade diet (which was the reason I made the site) because a quick Google search can do that. I can link to a good thread on the Rat Forum about it, though. -I've never bathed my rats aside from an olive oil bath to help get rid of lice a few times, so again... I can't really write about this since I don't know much about it. I certainly didn't bath my rats "correctly" when I did it, lol. I can link to a good thread about bathing in the Rat Forum, though. -I won't be listing "games" people can play with their rats as... I don't play any games with mine. I teach them tricks and considered putting a guide up for that, but decided against it. I'll be putting video up of them doing tricks. As far as toys go... The only toys my rats get are boxes and paper towel/toilet paper rolls (unless you count hammocks), so I wouldn't know what to list... Again, I can link to the Rat Forum where there is a good thread with lots of toy suggestions. -As far as health is concerned, I would REALLY rather not get into that deeply at all. It's just... too much. I'll link to a good place about health, but aside from small mentions in my other guides, I'm not going to touch it. -I began "Common Questions" guide. Still adding questions. Suggestions are welcome.
Again, I don't want to get in depth in most things. This website is supposed to be a good starting point for new and potential rat owners. Throughout the website, I will encourage more research to be done. I cannot cover everything as I do not have experience with everything.
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Post by north on Jan 25, 2015 21:38:19 GMT -5
I'm glad it was of some help, your site is coming along very nicely It would be awesome to have some videos of your rats doing tricks, just to show how much they really can do. Sometimes I find that some people don't believe that rats can learn any tricks at all, when actually they can learn many different tricks!
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Post by RogueRowan on Jan 25, 2015 22:30:12 GMT -5
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