TAYLORT5 wrote:Muskrat susie, muskrat sam
Do the jitterbug out in muskrat land
And they shimmy
And sammys so skinny

And they whirled and they twirled and they tangoed
Singin and jingin the jango
Floatin like the heavens above
It looks like muskrat love

Nice. Chinchillas not = muskrats, but that's okay. They were sleeping when I pulled out my phone. The sound it makes when it zooms woke them up. Well, partially.

PS - They're both male. Chinchillas naturally curl up together to sleep so they smell like each other. It's how they can tell alien chins apart. ^_~

superspryte wrote:Nice. Chinchillas not = muskrats, but that's okay. They were sleeping when I pulled out my phone. The sound it makes when it zooms woke them up. Well, partially.

PS - They're both male. Chinchillas naturally curl up together to sleep so they smell like each other. It's how they can tell alien chins apart. ^_~

Do you need two?
Because son has mentioned chinchillas.
I don't want to have to be the other chinchilla, the way I'm the other rat to Splinter.

dontwantaname wrote:Do you need two?
Because son has mentioned chinchillas.
I don't want to have to be the other chinchilla, the way I'm the other rat to Splinter.

You should always have two. They're communal animals. Sure you could get one but it's more than likely it will be miserable. Before you buy check the animals the breeder already has for temperament (you want curious, friendly chins). Taking care of two is no more difficult than taking care of one, except you give them 2 tablespoons of food every night instead of one.

TAYLORT5 wrote:pretend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbh9c0noR4s

I can only handle so much...

superspryte wrote:You should always have two. They're communal animals. Sure you could get one but it's more than likely it will be miserable. Before you buy check the animals the breeder already has for temperament (you want curious, friendly chins). Taking care of two is no more difficult than taking care of one, except you give them 2 tablespoons of food every night instead of one.

Thanks.
I'll make sure he knows that!
Although if I can't talk hubby into a dog, I'll get two baby rats when Splinter goes.
Do they like people? Will they hang out with you? They are soft and really cute.

dontwantaname wrote:Thanks.
I'll make sure he knows that!
Although if I can't talk hubby into a dog, I'll get two baby rats when Splinter goes.
Do they like people? Will they hang out with you? They are soft and really cute.

They take a bit of "training" and patience. You first have to get them used to the new environment. Then you have to go through the long task of getting them used to your hand in the cage, eating from your hand, climbing on your lap, etc. Eventually you can get them to sit on your shoulder while you walk around and do basic chores.

Mine were rescued from a couple of dumb kids who had them in a dorm room so I started behind the starting line. I've had them about 9 months and they're climbing on me but don't much like my shoulders yet. They live around 10 years, often more, so keep that in mind too.

superspryte wrote:They take a bit of "training" and patience. You first have to get them used to the new environment. Then you have to go through the long task of getting them used to your hand in the cage, eating from your hand, climbing on your lap, etc. Eventually you can get them to sit on your shoulder while you walk around and do basic chores.

Mine were rescued from a couple of dumb kids who had them in a dorm room so I started behind the starting line. I've had them about 9 months and they're climbing on me but don't much like my shoulders yet. They live around 10 years, often more, so keep that in mind too.

Dumb kids in the dorm room should have left them home with mom!
I can really see why schools don't allow living things.

Long lived...rats only live 2 maybe 3 years, which is bad bacause they bond with you.
One last question...can they stay home alone on vacation? Maybe a week?

dontwantaname wrote:Dumb kids in the dorm room should have left them home with mom!
I can really see why schools don't allow living things.

Long lived...rats only live 2 maybe 3 years, which is bad bacause they bond with you.
One last question...can they stay home alone on vacation? Maybe a week?

*His* mom was sick of taking care of them because the younger son was terrorizing them. They were in *her* room because she had a single at school and he had a roomie, but they found out she was allergic. Didn't even tell me their names. She said they were about a year old, they'd had them for a month.

Yeah, rats are much shorter lived. Similar ideas but chins are more curious...like monkeys.

NO! Never leave them alone! I have to feed mine every night. Sometimes I can put food in for them in the morning and come back the next evening but if I'm going to be gone longer than that I give a spare set of keys to a friend. I've never left them for more than 3 days and when I do I leave everything set out and pre-measured. They have extremely sensetive GI tracts. They can fall 4 feet and just shake it off but if you change their food suddenly they can get pretty sick. Now, if you meant can you be gone for a week and have someone drop by every evening and give them food/change their water, sure. They're extremely social but they can be alone just fine too. You better bet they're going to want out of the cage for an hour or two as soon as you get back though. They should be given play time every day. I make a playpen out of cardboard boxes. They're too smart to not notice that I can step over them though so I have to keep an eye on them...

Basically, they require a lot of attention (not difficult though and certainly not as much as a dog), but if you're getting one you might as wel get two. They'll be happier. ^_^

Wow. Boyfriend just told me his campus closed at 5 because of the weather. I didn't have any snow days after high school because Michigan State *never* closes because it's not cost-effective (bah!). I never felt right making my own snow days. Now he's driving home in the nasty snow because nobody told him they were closing campus.

JadenKale wrote:I have friends that live fairly close to Milwaukee. The weather forecasters called this the worst storm of the season.

Really? Huh. We've had some nasty stuff so far. The only thing I've seen so far to make this the worst is the ice shell on my car this morning. Then again, that's enough to call it worse. ^_^ Here in the middle of the Great Lakes our views of weather forecasters are a bit different from everywhere else. We don't put stock in them because a 20-degree change in a day is normal (meaning every day) and a clear day can suddenly become a downpour because someone sneezed near Lake Michigan. ^_~ Your friends are probably right though.

JadenKale wrote:*giggles* tee-hees! Well in Madison when I last checked, had gotten over 13 inches of snow in areas today. I'll check with Missy tonight, but I'm sure they've gotten about 8-10. Snow is never the real problem for me. It's the idiots who don't know how to drive in it. Even when we drive we're insanely careful. About 5 years ago on my birthday weekend, we planned to go to the Twin Cities for the whole weekend and goof off, shop and otherwise stay within the limited amount of trouble we knew we could get into safely. After a week of no snow and a vast majority of it melting, it started snowing. And we were late leaving to boot.If we had made it to the highway, we would have been fine, but we came around one turn going 15 mph and that's all it took to cause us to slide down into a ditch and rip out the undercarriage. A tree limb cracked the windshield and almost impaled my hubby's face. He was really lucky actually seeing he was driving.

I can't comprehend how people speed in nasty weather only to get there 5 seconds before me. After that happened, I've been content to drive whatever speed I feel is safe for the conditions (providing it's under the speed limit)... I'll get there when I get there.


BTW, my birthday is the fourth of March XP Late snows suck.

Wow. Just. Wow.

And to distract from the cold-weather scaries...

News reports are coming in that a tragic fire in the Oval Office has destroyed the personal library of President George W. Bush. Both of his books have been lost. White House spokesperson, Dana Perrino, said that the president had taken it very badly and was devastated as he as he had not yet finished coloring the second one.

April 2nd here. My uncles were hoping for April Fool's Day.

PS - PM's

superspryte wrote:*His* mom was sick of taking care of them because the younger son was terrorizing them. They were in *her* room because she had a single at school and he had a roomie, but they found out she was allergic. Didn't even tell me their names. She said they were about a year old, they'd had them for a month.

Yeah, rats are much shorter lived. Similar ideas but chins are more curious...like monkeys.

NO! Never leave them alone! I have to feed mine every night. Sometimes I can put food in for them in the morning and come back the next evening but if I'm going to be gone longer than that I give a spare set of keys to a friend. I've never left them for more than 3 days and when I do I leave everything set out and pre-measured. They have extremely sensetive GI tracts. They can fall 4 feet and just shake it off but if you change their food suddenly they can get pretty sick. Now, if you meant can you be gone for a week and have someone drop by every evening and give them food/change their water, sure. They're extremely social but they can be alone just fine too. You better bet they're going to want out of the cage for an hour or two as soon as you get back though. They should be given play time every day. I make a playpen out of cardboard boxes. They're too smart to not notice that I can step over them though so I have to keep an eye on them...

Basically, they require a lot of attention (not difficult though and certainly not as much as a dog), but if you're getting one you might as wel get two. They'll be happier. ^_^

Thanks for all the information. I'll tell my son, since up to now he tended not to do much research on pets.

dontwantaname wrote:Thanks for all the information. I'll tell my son, since up to now he tended not to do much research on pets.

No problem. If he has any questions I'm here. There's also a plethora of stuff on the web. Breeders' websites are usually good. They'll tell you things like you have to give them filtered water. ^_~

Did anyone look through the photoshop contest this week? There are some pretty good ones. Did anyone else see this one? I found it interesting.

PS - As much as I shouldn't have, I liked the Last Samurai. Not as anything even remotely realistic, but as an amusing movie. Yes, shame on the chica with the degree. I know.

TAYLORT5 wrote:not since I submitted world leaders playing ganip ganop.

Which one was that?

Poor kitty.

no1 wrote:Ms. Spryte,
Ha! Is she dressed up as "Hello Kitty?" That's hilarious!

Someone mentioned Hello Kitty to me recently. It inspired me to find that picture. ^_~

Josephus wrote:It wasn't particularly very real of a holiday, I thought. and we get enough ninjas on the shirt thread. ;^) Even more of a stretch than the equinoxes one that HMed.

PM's. Check 'em.

dekonstruct wrote:Buffalo is apparently covered in ice, what are you Michiganites doing over there and what can we expect? Armageddon? Bring it on! I don't wanna go to work tomorrow.

Michiganites? That's a new one. I'm used to Michiganders or Mchiganians. I like Michiganites better. Anyway, snow snow snow snow and more snow. Oh yeah and the ice is going to be a nice thick sheet which will thaw to slush before freezing over again and being covered in mountains of snow. Like I said, my boyfriend's university closed. I doubt your work will "close" but if the weather heads in earlier in the day you might be able to get away with it. Snow didn't really pick up until 10-ish though. Methinks you'd already be at work then. Maybe you can hope to leave at lunch. ^_^

For all the Bad Girls, I uploaded a new file. Since it's not in my sig I resized it to 100px tall. You can change it if you want using the {img=heightxwidth}http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y143/superspryte/WBG.jpg{/img}

Change all {} to [] if you're not familiar. ^_^