Tragedy, some good, and a couple 'thank you's.'

Jeeze, I've been putting off writing this up as well as being busy. Quick backstory: Where we are living there is no room for our rat racks inside so we put a lot of effort into insulating a large outdoor shed, running an industrial gauge extension cord out to it, and installing a large window AC unit, until now it's worked perfectly without incident.

This past Thursday I was woken around 10:30pm from a much longer than intended after-work nap by my boyfriend frantically telling me nothing was working in the rat shed. We grabbed flashlights and went to the shed.
Thursday was a hot day. The first thing I noticed when I walked in it was hot and muggy in the shed, hotter than outside since it was starting to cool off for the night. I looked at the power first and the main surge protector had somehow malfunctioned, it was on but not powering, I switched it out and the lights and the air came on. It was bad going through my racks.... out of around 20 breeder and pet rats and over 50 various stages of babies we had 3 breeder females and about a dozen weanlings who survived.
Some of the rats we lost were really loved, none more so than Raat. My bf and I bottle fed him from a tiny closed-eyed baby after a friend gave us his uneaten snake food. He was by far the sweetest rat I've ever met, he would actually come to his name. There were several others who were quite dear to us as well. The three who lived were among the ones with sentimental value so for that I'm thankful. All of my small colony of mice were gone as well. A testament to their hardiness, the tub of ASF's were untouched, they didn't look like anything was wrong- breeders and babes alike. After going through every tub pulling survivors and disposing of the rest my racks looked so empty and depressing.

Adding to the stress, I had already been having trouble producing enough rats to keep all my snakes fed and having even more trouble finding a supply of feeders locally, there's been a bad shortage lately. I also just plain feel a bit guilty. I mean sure it was a freak accident but I can't help but think if I had checked them as soon as I came home rather than going to sleep, if I had done this, if I had done that. Nothing can really make a difference now but the thoughts still bother me.

A bit of a silver lining, I posted a brief account of what had transpired and asking for help with breeders and feeders on a FB group for local breeders and the volume of responses really made me feel good that we do have a strong community and a lot of people are willing to help. Before all of this I did not have as many breeders as I really needed for my collection and was having trouble finding a place to purchase more. Through the assistance of a few people I now have 34 breeders and enough feeders for the next few weeks, so should start to produce plenty to feed collection. I have checked and rechecked the power strip and everything is working fine, I am also checking in the morning before work as well as soon as I get home.

Thanks to C&H Exotics for the group of lovely breeders to help get my breeding going again. Thanks to the many people who offered feeders, a breeder or two, or just their condolences. Thanks to Sean K.- who may soon be joining the site- for most of my new breeders. Thanks to Satomi325 for being willing to help me out with some sweet new breeders if you didn't live reeeeeally far away. Lastly thanks to Mike41793 for just being there to rant at, offering suggestions, and trying to convince me to get cool looking breeders, even if I wasn't down for a 16 hour drive for them lol.

Again, I'm really sorry for your losses. I cannot even imagine what you felt. But I'm glad the problem has been solved. That must have given you a peace of mind.

Good luck with future breeding.
I hope you had a nice trip to Anaheim. :)

This is truly heartbreaking. I'm sorry for your loss. :(

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Again, I'm really sorry for your losses. I cannot even imagine what you felt. But I'm glad the problem has been solved. That must have given you a peace of mind.

Good luck with future breeding.
I hope you had a nice trip to Anaheim. :)

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Yea it pretty much sucked but yea, it didn't make up for it but it does make it better that we now have our rat collection where it should be and seeing people's compassion.

We ended up not going bc we wouldn't have been able to get the rats there that weekend. It would've been cool to catch the NARBC show, but it was smarter to stay and focus on getting breeders. We'll probably still go for feeders sometime soon.

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Originally Posted by Bobbafett

This is truly heartbreaking. I'm sorry for your loss. :(

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Thanks. In Phoenix summer heat it's a bit scary having animals. :/


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Originally Posted by Coleslaw007

Yea it pretty much sucked but yea, it didn't make up for it but it does make it better that we now have our rat collection where it should be and seeing people's compassion.

We ended up not going bc we wouldn't have been able to get the rats there that weekend. It would've been cool to catch the NARBC show, but it was smarter to stay and focus on getting breeders. We'll probably still go for feeders sometime soon.



Thanks. In Phoenix summer heat it's a bit scary having animals. :/


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I know what you mean. My uncle is giving me his old van so I can put my mice racks in there for winter. It gets past -40 >_>

I've been lucky to not have it get too hot to do any damage.

Glad to hear everything is looking up and improving for the 2 of you with your rats!
It was a pleasure meeting you guys and being able to help out.

O, and the Cinnamon group of rats will be ready to go by this weekend so we will have to set something up to get the pair to you!

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Originally Posted by C&H Exotic Morphs

Glad to hear everything is looking up and improving for the 2 of you with your rats!
It was a pleasure meeting you guys and being able to help out.

O, and the Cinnamon group of rats will be ready to go by this weekend so we will have to set something up to get the pair to you!

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Thanks so much again, you really helped us out, man. It was awesome meeting you!! :D

Sounds great! Yay for ninimon rats!

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Wow, that is a bummer deal. Sorry to hear it. That's awesome though, that people have stepped up to help. Kind of amazing to, that those little Asf's don't miss a beat.

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I know this is a sad story but ASF's are like 50times cooler to me now lol...

I'm not surprised by the ASFs. They're are a desert species after all. Tough little buggers.

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