Critter City

By Sandra Conti- Todd of Allexperts.com

About me and my rats too!

 

 

 
 
 

 
Sandra Conti-Todd
 
Sunny SW Florida!
 

Just a little bit about me so you know who I am and what I am all about. As you probably have already guessed, I am a huge animal lover in general, but have a fondness for rats. I find myself often thinking that I prefer the company of my little vermin over that of some people. I am also very educated on hermit crabs, having them for pets for many years, only having to give away my two 8 year old and two 5 year old crabs when I moved. If you need help with hermit crabs, feel free to write to me about that, too. Aside from being an animal lover and also an animal rights supporter, I am a mother of two grown children ages 25 and 20. Born and raised in Northern Ohio and living there most of my life, as an adult. we moved to the Charlotte North Carolina area where I lived nearly 13 years and finally, after years of having my father and my family waiting for me, I made it to south west Florida where I think I belonged all along. I love everything there is to love about tropical weather, from the hot steamy weather to the beautiful palm trees and the amzing beaches, where I can sit for hours and just waste the day just starting off into the water, watching the waves come crashing onto the beach. There is nothing I dont like about living here. Not only am I busy with being a rat care consultant, but I am also a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary, along with my father, who is a Commander. 

Me in uniform!! :)

My mission is to educate the rat owner and help guide them to help maintain the rats overhaul health and well being. The need to educate rat owners about the importance of quarantine for example and the devastating effects that ignoring quarantine can have on an entire colony of rats is dedicated to an entire page of its own simply called The quarantine page. Also, various rat illnesses are discussed, mostly ones that are more common during the rats life, as well as discussing proper nutrition and care of the geriatric rat. I continue to grow in my knowledge as I dedicate alot of my free time studying about rat ailments and other areas and also refer to my own vet who is a fantastic exotics specialist in my area and is always eager to answer some of my many questions. I also have provided various Vet clinics with information on rat care, much of it taken from this site, and many of the clinics that I supply have come back for more. This makes it worth all the extra effort; to get the word out on proper care of these little animals.

Please take the time to read over my site and I hope you enjoy it. I tried to keep the atmosphere of this site less clinical and more personal to help people better understand.
If you have any questions or would like to contribute to this site with any information regarding rat care, that would be really great. If you have photos to share along with personal stories etc...again, feel free to email me but put in the subject line something to let me know you are a "Critter City" visitor so I dont toss it in the SPAM pile.

My email is: SandraContiTodd@yahoo.com

I am also found on allexperts.com with other rat lovers where we will answer your rat care questions. We can be found in the Exotic pet section under PET RATS. Keep in mind, that although the title to the site says ALL EXPERTS, there really is no such thing as an expert. We learn from other rat keepers every day. There is still alot to learn and I am always learning from others that share my passion for rats. Also know that all experts in no way replaces seeking Veterinary care when needed. Chances are I will suggest seeing a vet regardless of my advice, so please be prepared. If you do not have a vet that is well versed in rat care, I will be more than happy to assist you in finding one as close to your town as possible. Owning a pet of any species means there will always be a chance that you will have to see a vet at one point during their lives. To deny them medical treatment when needed is cruel, so if you cannot afford vet care, please reconsider 
buying a pet until you can provide for it everything it needs to live a happy and healthy life. 
My goal is to provide a  website for rat owners that is accurate and complete so our rats get the best care possible.

Beautiful!

This photo almost looks fake, but I assure you, this is real and this is how it really looks at times. Gorgeous!

                               Sanibel Island

Sanibel Island, Bowmans beach

This photo looks like it belongs on a post card. Its amazingly beautiful!

Sunrise, sunset...it doesnt matter....Florida is noted for putting on the best show when it comes to the horizon! These photos were taken on my favorite beach, Bowmans beach located on the beautiful Sanibel Island. This beach is by far my favorite place in the world. Private, quiet, and it puts the B in beach, thats for sure.  Not for everyone, which is GOOD.  Some people want commericalized beaches where they have miles of souvenier shops and places to eat.  Sanibel is a good old fashioned place.  If you want lunch, bring a cooler and use one of their several picnic tables or better yet, sit on  your beach blanket under your beach umbrella and eat there!  You cant get it any better than Sanibel Island and Bowmans beach!


I adopted these sweet rats in June, 2009.  Please check my page WATCH MY BABIES GROW to see their progress !
Here they are to melt your heart:



Meet "Ben".  He is a black American Berkshire, smooth coat, top eared baby boy!  He is adorable!
Originally named "Carolina Blue Ratterys "Clyde"


Meet Jackson, an American Dove berkshire with head spot. I am in love with this baby boy!
Originally named Carolina Blue Ratterys "Apollo"



 Meet Pepsi, a Russian blue self, smooth coat, top eared baby boy!! Totally sweet!
Originally named Carolina Blue Ratterys "Zeus"


I cant wait to spoil these three baby boys!  It has been a while since I have had babies in the house so not only did I have to make sure the critter room is not only rat proofed as it has been for years, but baby rat proofed as well!

Rats bred with love by Carolina blue rattery located in High Point, NC.









Rats lost, my heart will forever ache for the loss of each and every one of my rats:

Due to many readers asking to see photos of my current rats and also of past rats, I decided to add some photos here to share with everyone.
As of this writing,  the only rats I have are still with my breeder, who is Carolina Blue Rattery.  Sadly, I lost one of the best rats ever, my sweet one eyed boy, Santana.  He had heart disease that took his life the day we were taking our yearly road trip to Florida. Santana had been there twice with us and this was to be his third trip.  He was stricken the morning we were leaving and had to be put to sleep right before we left for our vacation. Fighting back tears while driving for 12 hours was brutal.  Dealing with the loss of Santana was hard but because we were on vacation with exciting things to do, it was not as stressful. However, as soon as I laid my head down at night, my heart would sink when I would realize the reality of it was when I get home, there is no Santana looking for me in the bottom of his huge ferret nation cage.  I mourned his death all over again when I returned home the following week and I am still hurting for him. He was my best rat, always at my side, coming when I called him, jumping up into my arms like a show rat would, showing off his skills. You would never know he was blind in one eye. 
I will never stop missing my boy.



My boy Santana, with his one eye missing!





Santana at Christmas, December 2008 !



Here is the cage Santana used to share with three of his brothers, he has the huge Ferret Nation all to himself now. Its impossible to keep it all pretty with the matching fleece floors since Santana likes to rearragne things alot! 




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Little Smudge,who was born October 13, 2006 and just passed away April 26, 2009
He is deeply missed.






Smudge, 2007, before he lost his vision.







This is Sir Bo, my grand rat taken December 2008.  Bo lived to be 3 weeks past his 4th birthday and to date, is the oldest rat I have had.
Bo was born May 1, 2005 and passed away May 23, 2009. He is sadly missed.


 
Old man Bo, 3 years old here. Always had lots of porphyrin around his nose even though he wasnt sick.


This is my beloved  Templeton who passed away December 2008 at the age of 3 years and 6 months. He was the brother of Santana, my one eyed boy. He loved to take his meds and even helped by holding the syringe and licking the medication out of it! 


I have loved and lost over 42 rats.  Sadly I do not have photos of every single rat I have ever owned, but I do have some to share here with everyone so those of you can see some of my past wonderful rats that have brought me joy over the years and have also taught me so much about rats just from observation alone!



It all began in a little family owned Pet store. I was out planning on buying either gerbils or mice when I saw two big giant critters running around the pet store. They were up on the counter where the cash register sat. They came right over to me and wanted my attention. I remember one of the larger ones reached up and pawed at me almost like he was asking me to pet him. That was Patterson and Ferman, two rats that I came to adopt two years later when the pet store was closing down and they were getting rid of everything, including the two pet store rats!  I had the pleasure of loving Ferman for a few months after I adopted them only to lose him to a cancerous tumor in his abdomen. Patterson continued to live on for another year, passing away a few months after his third birthday!

Here is Patterson.  Sadly I do not have a photo of Ferman, but he was a large black berkshire.



Where it all started:  My first two rats!


My precious Louie!


Louies cagemate, Mr. Jingles!!

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My Sweet tiny Charlotte   March 2002- May 6th, 2005

 Charlotte! She gave me a surprise litter a week after I rescued her and gave birth to 15 pups!

Charlotte earned her wings and halo at 3 years, 3 months of age. She was tiny but mighty and the boss of her cage!


                                                                

 

Hairy, my FUGS boy!   He has his own page here on Critter City.

Please refer to WHAT IS A FUGS?        




Pitter and Patter, Oreo's babies!


Shadow and his cage mate, Patches!!!!!  



My little wild hybrid, Holly. She was much smaller than any domestic I have ever had!


Holly again!

My sweet Peanut! He was a loud bruxer!!


Casper! Charlottes baby and one of the pups that I watched grow from birth till he earned his halo and wings.


Oreo!  Lived to be well over 3 years old. I rescued her and she gave me a surprise litter of 7 babies!










Skittles!  He was always sporting a porphyrin nose from day one! He was from a group of lab rats I rescued from a Vet school. He was pretty aggressive and was a biter, but I still loved him from a distance!
Bingo and Fermie!  Two of Oreos pups all grown up!


Socrates!! Twin brother of Santana, my one eyed boy! 
Socs left us with a broken heart in the spring of 2008!



Several years ago I rescued a group of four lab rats that came from a Vet school. They were to be euthanized if they were not adopted out. There were at least 60 rodents in need of homes or they would face death.  The four big boys I had were Mr.Magoo, Skittles, Twizzler and Clayton.  Clayton was named after Clay Aiken (my daughter loved him, I am NOT a fan....LOL) so that tells you how long ago that was, which if my memory is right, about 2003 I think. I used non toxic colored marker on the base of their tail to identify who was who since they were all jumbo sized PEWS. They were all pretty skittish and did not like me much until they became ill and wanted comforting.  I didnt mind that they were not real keen on being held etc...and even took a few good bites from them, because they had a pretty lousy first  year of life being a lab rat !



Griffin, the white rex, and his beauty of a brother, Dodger, were my first rats that were from a hobby breeder. Sweet and tiny, they were the most wonderful boys ever and they never fought with each other, not even play fight. They would chase each other and tumble around but not once did they ever scrap, which is unusual to say when its regarding rat pups! When Dodger passed away, Griffin died shortly after from a broken heart. Yes, it really can happen, and in fact this was not my first rat to die from a broken herat.  He was my third.  Dying from a broken heart simply means the rat had become depressed to the point the immune system weakens and if the rat falls ill, they usually cannt fight off infection well and they pass away.  Its very sad but very true.