The 5 of us trouped en mass to the Yorkshire Rat Club's bi-monthly show yesterday. It was fantastic! Everyone was so friendly and helpful. We got our first 'go's handling rats (don't little does move fast!) and got advice about toys, food and so on.
Thanks to the advice here we bought a Sputnik and a really cute hammock in dinosaur fabric with green fleece. The Sputnik is red and black and my son thinks it looks like Darth Maul

My 12yo, Mr Not Interested In Mammals, also found several of the rat people who had snakes and lizards, so he happily chatted away with them. My 9yo met the breeders we're getting his girls from (only 7 days!) and had a good cuddle with loads of rats. My 5yo chatted to all and sundry, including singing the song she's doing in the school Xmas play. I was shaking with laughter watching these very sweet and patient people chatting away with her. I expect most of YRC has been regaled with the details of our lives. Oh lordy!
We bought food and substrate and got heaps of ideas. We also met the breeders we'd been on waiting lists for - obviously we'd already told them we were sorted for rats and to come off their lists - and it was lovely to put faces to the chatty emails we'd exchanged.
One lovely young woman came to find me afterwards to congratulate me on having such gorgeous friendly and polite kids, so she can be my new best friend

Inspired by all cool ratty things, I hand sewed a pouch for my son to keep his rats in while he watches telly. I used two stripy cotton napkins to make a double layered sack, with old waterproof bibs stitched in between the layers to make any, erm, mishaps less likely to leak.
What is important about this is that I HATE SEWING. Hate it to bits. But the idea of my lovely lad taming his wee girls inspired me.

Oh I met you all there and your kids are delightful

Hope to see you at the next one - we had great fun!

Sounds Brilliant! I dont think theres any shows around my area, i think the nearest is like 4hours in the car and as fab as my oh is he wouldnt drive that far just for a show

try doing something like this is you cant sew How to make a Covered / Double Hammock for your pet Rat or Ferret - YouTube she has loads this is how i do mine now so much quicker

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Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat

Wow, that's great! I suspect 9yo and I will have fun making those this weekend! We need something to cheer us up after the loss of the guinea pigs

She has other videos on there aswell

I've done a few of them and they always turn out pretty good lol

__________________
Owner to-
lots of rodents
2 monster dogs
1 slinky cat