...Ive wanted too for a while and after today its made me even more determined to do it. I got 2 syrians today, my brothers ex gf msgd me on facebook asking if i wanted them. Ive had a couple people ask me if i would take pets since i posted up some pics of rats that ive taken in. To be brutally honest no the last thing i need right now is more pets, (i even almost ended up with mice this week but that didnt happen). But she said in her msg that they used to live happily together until one day they had a fight - no surprises there. Anyway she said one may die anyway so then id only have one, im seriously really glad shes my brothers ex.

I collected them at 8pm and this is what they looked like

[IMG][/IMG]

This is the one that was injured when they fought and she has mites, she is going vets tommorrow

[IMG][/IMG]


The other girl in the tube, she is nervous so i couldnt pick her up

[IMG][/IMG]

Best i could do for tonight was clean them out, give them megazorb, some tissue for bedding and i found some bits to put in their cages. The second cage i threw out as it was held together with tape. Shes in my cage i put the rats in on cleaning day.


I cant really keep these girls, its not fair to them or my other pets. I will buy them cages and put them up here and hamster central for rehome when im satisfied they are ok. But what i want to do next is start a website for the rescue and rehoming of rats, degu, mice and hams. It would be in my home but im not sure where to start really. Does anyone know? Im guessing i would need public liability insurance, some kind of check on my premises? I dont even know where id get a website made either.

I also just want to point out that i know how tough it is/going to be. I already have a large number of pets ive taken in mostly from poor conditions. I know how expensive it is, i easily spend about £200 a month just on basics like megazorb, food, tissue, toys etc. Medical bills are extra although i have been quite lucky in that ive really only had to buy spot on treatment and a few courses of baytril. The amount of waste is quite high too but again ive been lucky that one of my neighbours is an elderly man that has 1 bin sack a week so i put my 10 bags with his and it looks ok . I do have 2 compost bins but they take too long to break stuff down. Its also extremely time consuming already but working part time from home is a major upside. Even before going to bed it takes me a good hour to make sure eveyone is ok, fed and watered (and ok i do snatch a few cuddles).

I could write alot more but i dont want to bore everyone as i have been posting quite a bit in rodents recently . I just love animals so much and i just want to help but as another member told me just the other day - ' We cant save them all hun ' - you know who you are . I know she is right but im going to do what i can. There is always going to be animals in need but if i can save some and get them into good homes i know ill be able to sleep better at night.

I've been wanting to do this for a while! I'm currently waiting for people to get back to me that are giving their hamsters up with cages etc as I haven't got any spares and I'm starting with these ones. Do you think this is a good idea?

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Bonnie 29.01.97 - 21.09.11
Millie 01.02.01
Seamus 09.07.00
Tyler 08.11.00
Kiki 15.10.10
Chico 01.07.11
Riley & Louie 16.02.11
Holly & Ivy - 11.11.11

First thing i would say to you is dont underestimate how much it will cost you. Do you mean you are getting hamsters in cages or that people are giving their hams up and your just getting the cages? Either way most people dont have decent cages for their pets as it is. There wouldnt be any point if you got given cages that are totally unsuitable. Tommorrow im going to have to order 2 new cages for these hams as i cant find any second hand ones that are big enough, it will cost me about £70. Then i need to take injured hammy to the vet, that will be about £25 i bet. They will both also need things in their cages, an 8inch wheel (the min size for a syrian) will cost about £10 each, wooden chews, houses, rope, maybe a small hammock is all more money. You see where im going with this. Scouring ebay, gumtree, preloved etc can get you some great bargins but theres not always time to wait for them to come up and its more than just cages you will need x

Poor hammies I hope they turn out ok.

In regards to setting up an official rescue, have you decided if you are going to register it and get a bank account for it? I'm asking because the lovely lady who owns my nearest small animal rescue found that her charity is still termed a business and has monthly fees to pay for a bank account which adds more cost to what she is already paying out.

You will need to consider as well what your rehoming criteria will be and decide if you will be doing rehoming paperwork. Have a look through Ceretrea's posts - she runs a small animal rescue and has posted about some of the obstacles and the reasons for having paperwork a while ago (I'll put it the link to the thread here if I find it.) It is worthwhile doing, I feel, but you also need to consider what you will do if you end up with animals that no one wants to rehome (e.g. because of their age or medical problems.) In regards to bedding, I know it won't be of any use for some animals (like gerbils, chins, degus etc) but vet bed is an option - my local rescue uses it for hamsters, mice and rats and it means she can remove it, wash it and reuse again.

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

Found the thread


The thread is this one: New rodent rescue but those posts are the ones that I think might be useful to you If you go ahead with it i wish you the best of luck

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Run free my beautiful rainbow babies. I love you.

if you want help with a website feel free to pm me hun, its easy to set up on a free host site like freewebs, if you have a basic under standing of html
or if you have the money you can go for an own domain, which are better as they tend to be easier to optimise and get on search engines

no idea how you would go about setting the rescue up though

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I wouldnt do it as an official rescue is just take in rodents that are no longer wanted. Yes I'm aware that I may need to buy suitable cages and have vet fees etc. I would try to rehome them but if they didn't find a new home I'd have no problem keeping them for the rest of their lives!

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Bonnie 29.01.97 - 21.09.11
Millie 01.02.01
Seamus 09.07.00
Tyler 08.11.00
Kiki 15.10.10
Chico 01.07.11
Riley & Louie 16.02.11
Holly & Ivy - 11.11.11

I've been waiting for this thread to happen
I think it is a fab idea hun I think your best bet is to get onto CAB to find out where exactly you stand and what legal papers you might need. If you need anyone to foster or help out just give me a shout

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Thank you for your replies,

Zany_toon That has been really really helpful thank you , with regards to any animals unable to find homes they would stay with me. If the 2 syrians i got yesterday dont find homes they will stay with me I know i put i cant keep them yesterday but i meant that as in i know someone else could give them more time than i can, i have to rotate days on free range time for everyone here as it is. I will most likely msg ceretrea for advice There is so much to think about. Also thanks for the vet bed tip.

Lil Miss That would be fantastic thank you!, as i dont even know how to multi quote on here you can see how far my computer knowledge goes I have looked into how much it costs for your own domain and its something i can afford to do so think i will go down that route .

B3rnie I definalty think its about time Thank you for your advice and the great offer to foster that would be a massive massive help

My OH is happy for me to do this too. We had a long chat last night and we were deciding whether or not to build some kind of structure in the garden to move the animals into as the majority are currently in my wardrobe room. We have instead decided to go for a loft conversion which we had already wanted. That would then become our bedroom and our old room can be knocked into the box room to make one big room so they can be moved in there This would be done after christmas and takes about 6 weeks so in the meantime i can get ready all the legal and technical stuff - i feel i have some very stressful times up ahead!

I would love to help out

As for multi quoting hun, if you look at the bottom of the reply you want to quote, next to the "Quote" button is a "+ sign just click that under all the posts that you want to quote and then click "post reply". All the posts that you wanted to quote should be in the reply box then

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