The semester is winding down, I have two more days of classes then finals next week, and I'm only now realizing how well I've done this semester.
1) I've gone to all my classes, reasonably on-time, every day (except once because I was very sick).
2) I should be getting As or Bs in three of my classes, possibly all four (I have no idea how I did in my study class, so ... *shrugs*)
3) I'm finally (albeit lately) figuring out what I want to do through my college experience, and where I'm going to take my degrees and such
All in all, I'm feeling great. :) I wish I could always feel like this ...
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Update - Tumor, New Ratties, and Some Info
I apologize for my silence lately. I do have some sad news to share.
A few months ago I found a bump on Avi. It's near her back leg, and is in the right place for a mammary tumor. It was pretty small then and I only noticed it by accident. Fast forward to now - the tumor is still small, but is growing. It is a mammary tumor (has exactly the same tributes as the tumor Min had), which means that it is likely benign, Avi is in no pain, and it will continue to grow. It appears larger when she is moving around her cage, and seems smaller when she's reaching up against the bars, or when I pick her up to feel it (I do this about once a week to track growth). I don't believe it is getting in her way, but I'm not sure how long that will be the case.
I suspect her to be around until Christmas at least, but I could be very off in this estimation. Like Min, I'm going to wait until it gets to be an inconvenience for her, then put her down. In the mean time, I'm trying to do my best to keep her as happy and as comfortable as possible.
No new ratties, by the way. I'm waiting until January to start my search again. I'll be getting 3 of them, all female, and I'll be getting them spayed. Apparently, spaying is a very good preventative measure against these mammary tumors, and - if done by a vet who understands the smaller critters (an exotics vet, in this case) - is relatively safe. This is one reason why I want rats from a local breeder. I will know the exact birthdate of the rats, and so can get them spayed during the amount of time that spaying-as-prevention turns out the most successful (which I believe is somewhere in the 3-4 month area). My only problem is that spaying is a major operation (the tumor removal surgery is a minor operation, but costs 4 times as much), and I run the risk of losing one, two, or all three of my girls! I'm going to do some research into the current vet I use, but I'm pretty certain that he has experience in this area.
A few months ago I found a bump on Avi. It's near her back leg, and is in the right place for a mammary tumor. It was pretty small then and I only noticed it by accident. Fast forward to now - the tumor is still small, but is growing. It is a mammary tumor (has exactly the same tributes as the tumor Min had), which means that it is likely benign, Avi is in no pain, and it will continue to grow. It appears larger when she is moving around her cage, and seems smaller when she's reaching up against the bars, or when I pick her up to feel it (I do this about once a week to track growth). I don't believe it is getting in her way, but I'm not sure how long that will be the case.
I suspect her to be around until Christmas at least, but I could be very off in this estimation. Like Min, I'm going to wait until it gets to be an inconvenience for her, then put her down. In the mean time, I'm trying to do my best to keep her as happy and as comfortable as possible.
No new ratties, by the way. I'm waiting until January to start my search again. I'll be getting 3 of them, all female, and I'll be getting them spayed. Apparently, spaying is a very good preventative measure against these mammary tumors, and - if done by a vet who understands the smaller critters (an exotics vet, in this case) - is relatively safe. This is one reason why I want rats from a local breeder. I will know the exact birthdate of the rats, and so can get them spayed during the amount of time that spaying-as-prevention turns out the most successful (which I believe is somewhere in the 3-4 month area). My only problem is that spaying is a major operation (the tumor removal surgery is a minor operation, but costs 4 times as much), and I run the risk of losing one, two, or all three of my girls! I'm going to do some research into the current vet I use, but I'm pretty certain that he has experience in this area.
Gearing Up for NaNoWriMo and Other Stuff
That's right. Next month is National Novel Writing Month and once again I am a participant. I'm nervous (obviously), definitely hoping last year's crash and burn doesn't happen again, and also very excited. I'm working on accumulating the things I need for my story, but I have an idea (that came to me during a nap the other day ... ) for at least the start of the story and 3 characters. We'll see where it goes from there.There are a few things that worry me about NaNo this year.
- I haven't had creative juices flowing freely in months. Even going off of my meds hasn't helped much.
- I still haven't figured out the "balance school, work, and homework" thing yet, much to my chagrin.
- I has no laptop. Which, truth be told, isn't that bad of a situation. Just means it'll be harder for me to work when I'm at Tene's.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Some Changes
So, I'm going to be making some changes to RiP soon. One problem I'm having with this blog is that it doesn't really have a dedicated purpose. I thought I had a purpose for it, but I don't like the idea of using Rats in Pants for rants and such. Unfortunately, the name "Rants in Pants" (and the url rantypants) was taken, so I'm going to be trying to think of a new name for my ranty blog.
What Rats in Pants is going to be for is documenting my life - specifically my life involving my rats (although I will mention other things, like school, meds, and the like). I know that's what I use it for now - so there won't be any changes as far as the rest of you are concerned.
A content change that I am going to include is information on rats in general - health care and the like - as I learn it and incorporate it. I may also add some information on other small pets, but don't bet on it.
Some of the other changes I'm going to be doing is changing the color scheme and such, as well as the image at the top of the page (hopefully to a photo of my new girls once I get them :) ). I'll be removing the BlogLog, but will be keeping the friends and family blogs, as well as the sister sites (my new blog will probably not be listed in the sister sites section).
In other news, the new cage is almost complete! For those who don't know, a few weeks ago I bought a cage from Martin's Cages. The cage is HUGE! :) It's 30"x18"x36", and has a decent drop pan (3" high sides - which means my floor will stay clean :) ), a full middle section, and two balconies, with ramps attaching all of them. I had a cage of almost this size (24"x14"x26") before, also from Martin's, but learned the hard way that plain Galvanized steel is very very bad for leveled cages. That cage rusted within a few months. As a result, I spent a few extra dollars to get this cage powder coated, which is supposed to completely eliminate the smell problem.
The cage comes separated, which I don't mind. Less shipping costs for me, and the cage is pretty easy to assemble - especially since Martin's sends you everything you could ever need to put it together. Like, four times over. Now, there was just one thing I wanted to do that I had not done on the original cage.
The flooring of the cage is wire, which is okay, but could be potentially dangerous to the rats small, fragile feet. There are plenty stories online of ratty feet getting trapped in the wire - and of sprained and broken bones. This is especially dangerous for smaller, younger rats (like what I'm getting ... ).
So, I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I should make a tray for the full middle level. First, to give my rats something to rest on without having to go all the way down to the floor level. Second, to make the cage safer for the rats. And third - to make it less messy. Well, the tray is being made out of plexiglass and solvent glue. I was planning on having a full bottom layer, and four sides. This ended up not working. So, what I have now, in pieces, are 3 pieces that make up the bottom of the tray, and the 4 sides. It isn't pretty, but it will do what it's supposed to.
In the course of this project I did learn a few things.
- You can buy large sheets of plexiglass from Lowes. They will not custom cut things for you, however.
- Solvent glue is easy to find ... the hard part is finding a local seller, and then finding their building (I was lost for half an hour trying to locate the dang place)
- You cannot cut smaller squares out of plexiglass. There is no way to make a cut that only goes 5" in, and have it not break the entire piece of material.
- "Scoring" means using a knife to cut the plexiglass, not two or three times, or even four or five, but, like, ten. Anything less and it doesn't snap. Also, they need to be on both sides of the plexiglass. It helps it break straighter.
- Don't expect a straight edge. (I can only hope I can fix the problem this caused)
I hope to finish the cage by this weekend, and have contacted "Skye" (a local rat breeder).
What Rats in Pants is going to be for is documenting my life - specifically my life involving my rats (although I will mention other things, like school, meds, and the like). I know that's what I use it for now - so there won't be any changes as far as the rest of you are concerned.
A content change that I am going to include is information on rats in general - health care and the like - as I learn it and incorporate it. I may also add some information on other small pets, but don't bet on it.
Some of the other changes I'm going to be doing is changing the color scheme and such, as well as the image at the top of the page (hopefully to a photo of my new girls once I get them :) ). I'll be removing the BlogLog, but will be keeping the friends and family blogs, as well as the sister sites (my new blog will probably not be listed in the sister sites section).
In other news, the new cage is almost complete! For those who don't know, a few weeks ago I bought a cage from Martin's Cages. The cage is HUGE! :) It's 30"x18"x36", and has a decent drop pan (3" high sides - which means my floor will stay clean :) ), a full middle section, and two balconies, with ramps attaching all of them. I had a cage of almost this size (24"x14"x26") before, also from Martin's, but learned the hard way that plain Galvanized steel is very very bad for leveled cages. That cage rusted within a few months. As a result, I spent a few extra dollars to get this cage powder coated, which is supposed to completely eliminate the smell problem.
The cage comes separated, which I don't mind. Less shipping costs for me, and the cage is pretty easy to assemble - especially since Martin's sends you everything you could ever need to put it together. Like, four times over. Now, there was just one thing I wanted to do that I had not done on the original cage.
The flooring of the cage is wire, which is okay, but could be potentially dangerous to the rats small, fragile feet. There are plenty stories online of ratty feet getting trapped in the wire - and of sprained and broken bones. This is especially dangerous for smaller, younger rats (like what I'm getting ... ).
So, I decided, in my infinite wisdom, that I should make a tray for the full middle level. First, to give my rats something to rest on without having to go all the way down to the floor level. Second, to make the cage safer for the rats. And third - to make it less messy. Well, the tray is being made out of plexiglass and solvent glue. I was planning on having a full bottom layer, and four sides. This ended up not working. So, what I have now, in pieces, are 3 pieces that make up the bottom of the tray, and the 4 sides. It isn't pretty, but it will do what it's supposed to.
In the course of this project I did learn a few things.
- You can buy large sheets of plexiglass from Lowes. They will not custom cut things for you, however.
- Solvent glue is easy to find ... the hard part is finding a local seller, and then finding their building (I was lost for half an hour trying to locate the dang place)
- You cannot cut smaller squares out of plexiglass. There is no way to make a cut that only goes 5" in, and have it not break the entire piece of material.
- "Scoring" means using a knife to cut the plexiglass, not two or three times, or even four or five, but, like, ten. Anything less and it doesn't snap. Also, they need to be on both sides of the plexiglass. It helps it break straighter.
- Don't expect a straight edge. (I can only hope I can fix the problem this caused)
I hope to finish the cage by this weekend, and have contacted "Skye" (a local rat breeder).
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