Disaster!

Ugh, I came home to a real mess yesterday afetr work. I went into the bedroom and my rat cage was on the floor, busted! It was a 10 gallon! My cat knocked it over and got the lid off! Two of my baby rats were dead from the cat http://ballpython.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif They are hopper sized so I froze them...waste not, want not.

Everyone else was scattered! Babies crawling around everywhere, followed by my cat! I was so mad I threw him out into the snow....Then I started scooping up rats. I couldn't find the two adult females for a long time. Then I found one (after much searching). The mama rat was still missing and I was so bummed! After a while I went out and found the cat. He was shaken up, had no idea why I was mad and had never seen me mad before. Also, he was REALLY cold....serves him right! After he dethawed I noticed he was really interested in a binder laying on the floor....Sure enough, mama rat was hiding inside. All the rats are accounted for except one baby. I looked and looked but I could not find it; nor did the cat. Unless it's in his belly??? http://ballpython.com/forum/images/smiles/icon_eek.gif They are currently in the container I bought the breeders in, a small plastic tub. I placed this tub inside my bird cage. My parrot was interested in her new room mates but if they don't move out soon, she said she's charging them rent. I had to put the refugees somewhere safe until I go buy them a new cage today.

Sigh, what a mess huh? I feel soooo bad. Who knew the cat could get into that tank? Anyways, I am going to try to get them a sturdier cage this time.

aww, sorry to hear about this - never a dull moment with rodents!


Let me say though, you are ssooo lucky you found *almost* everything. I had a nearly adult rat get loose, and it took me 2 months to catch her, of course only after she chewed up all my installation, wiring, and made a mess of my whole snake room :eek:

Make sure you give that kitty a good stern talking to :colbert:

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Originally Posted by Wolfsnaps

Who knew the cat could get into that tank?

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Well not to be blunt here, but just about anybody is the answer. Your cat may be a pet but it's a cat...with all the instincts to hunt rodents that millions of years of evoluation put in every cat ever born. Your responsibility to your cat and to your rodent colony is to make sure they have NO contact and no access to each other. Tossing your cat out into a freezing cold snowy day isn't very nice nor will "teach" the poor cat a thing. It was acting like a cat, how about you act like a responsible owner?

You were mad at the cat for doing what comes naturally? Then you punished the cat by throwing it out in freezing cold weather.

Let me be direct, concise and to the point: You should not have the right to own a pet. Not now, not ever. I am starting to believe psychological evaluation is needed before owning a pet or having a child. Un-friggin-believable!

Gee Jamie tell us what you really think! LOL I'm with Jamie on this though. To punish an animal for doing what is completely natural, what any reasonable person would expect to occur and plan to avoid....well that's just sad. To punish this cat and expect it to actually understand why it was made to endure being tossed into the snow when it was your fault it happened in the first place...well that's just awful! :mad:

I agree with the others...you punished the cat for YOUR inability to properly secure your enclosures. To me that's TWO counts of improper animal keeping!


...the cat shouldn't have been the one spending time in the snow...

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Gee Jamie tell us what you really think! LOL I'm with Jamie on this though. To punish an animal for doing what is completely natural, what any reasonable person would expect to occur and plan to avoid....well that's just sad. To punish this cat and expect it to actually understand why it was made to endure being tossed into the snow when it was your fault it happened in the first place...well that's just awful! :mad:

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Jeez, was I too harsh? I never do that! :D

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Jeez, was I too harsh? I never do that! :D

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I know...I was shocked! You're such a sweetheart and well I'm Miss Gentle and Light all the freakin time. We must just be having an off day dear. :)

:eek: Whoa guys. Lets think about this for a second.


Maybe throwing the cat outside wasn't the best move, but at least she didn't kick it across the room like i've heard some actually, truely, bad pet owners have done. I know my cats are outside all day in the feezing cold on their own free will - it can't be too bad.

Haven't we all made some mistakes in the past? I know I have... I found this site because I kept a male and female in the same tank, with no thermostats, thermometers, and no way to monitor the humidity for 5 years - a herpers worst nightmare to hear a story like this. On top of it all my male got an RI and I didnt know until he stopped eating and I came here to find out what was going on. I took him to the vet, paid the $500 to get it right, built a rack system, and bought everything I needed to make sure they were taken care of properly for the rest of their lives.

I did all of this because I truely did care about their well-being, just as I suspect Wolf cares too. I don't believe Wolf let the cat in KNOWING it could get into the tank, had this disaster, and then felt as bad as he/she did if she didn't care.

Im sure you will learn from this Wolf, and make the neccassary changes to make sure this type of thing never happens again. When this doesn't happen, maybe then we will have the right to call you a bad pet owner.

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Originally Posted by adizziedoll

:eek: Whoa guys. Lets think about this for a second.


Maybe throwing the cat outside wasn't the best move, but at least she didn't kick it across the room like i've heard some actually, truely, bad pet owners have done. I know my cats are outside all day in the feezing cold on their own free will - it can't be too bad.

Haven't we all made some mistakes in the past? I know I have... I found this site because I kept a male and female in the same tank, with no thermostats, thermometers, and no way to monitor the humidity for 5 years - a herpers worst nightmare to hear a story like this. On top of it all my male got an RI and I didnt know until he stopped eating and I came here to find out what was going on. I took him to the vet, paid the $500 to get it right, built a rack system, and bought everything I needed to make sure they were taken care of properly for the rest of their lives.

I did all of this because I truely did care about their well-being, just as I suspect Wolf cares too. I don't believe Wolf let the cat in KNOWING it could get into the tank, had this disaster, and then felt as bad as he/she did if she didn't care.

Im sure you will learn from this Wolf, and make the neccassary changes to make sure this type of thing never happens again. When this doesn't happen, maybe then we will have the right to call you a bad pet owner.

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Depends whether you find one type of animal abuse less offensive than another. I've never made the mistake of abusing my cats for doing something that comes naturally. Making a mistake with the caging isn't the issue for me. Everyone makes husbandry mistakes at some point whether its not securing a cage (I've had escaped snakes and lizards) or leaving tinsel around and finding it hanging out of their cats ass the next day (was that too graphic?). Its the punishing of the cat I take issue with.