• Posted 12/19/2024.
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    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
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    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Mom rat biting male genitalia?

bokuza

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Mom rat has been biting/chewing on the male pups genitalia and anus. Like shes leveling it off. The female pups are FINE. Its just the boys. Overall this litter seems...wrong. I cant quite pin point it but they feel bony and small. Not terribly. Ive seen litters like this before and they were fine but Ive got this gut feeling...something is not right at all. The Mom is normally great too. Shes my foster Mom when something goes wrong. She's never done this before and I can't think of why besides something is wrong with the pups...

Im thinking I should c02 tank them and save em for a rainy day...Or dont save em? :/

Your opinion? And have you seen this before?
 
are they inbred? if you feel at all that the pups are sick, i would CO2 them, but i wouldn't risk feeding them to any reptiles. just a little risky i would think. are they all thin or only the males? i've had this happen twice, the mom just doesn't let the boys live, and only feeds the females. especially in large litters. how many pups are there? and what are their ages? has she been doing it their whole life?
 
are they inbred? if you feel at all that the pups are sick, i would CO2 them, but i wouldn't risk feeding them to any reptiles. just a little risky i would think. are they all thin or only the males? i've had this happen twice, the mom just doesn't let the boys live, and only feeds the females. especially in large litters. how many pups are there? and what are their ages? has she been doing it their whole life?

The pups are not inbred but the litter was 14 pups. They all are a little thin but again, not terribly.
Right now they are 1 week and 5 days old. Mum has had 2 litters. 4 week breaks after pups are weaned.
The first went very well, she gave birth to 8 and during that litter she foster 5 more pups. From all different litters.
I thought it was much for her but she did fantastic and all were healthy.
I still have some of the first as breeders. All of the females are great Mums too.
 
do you just have the one female? i have 4 females to 1 male and they'll take turns feeding all the pups, sometimes up to 20 under one female. also, what are you feeding her? if it's not blocks, i suggest using them. normal rat food doesn't have as much in it. it's more for pets. try and get some more females. at least a 3:1 ratio.
 
do you just have the one female? i have 4 females to 1 male and they'll take turns feeding all the pups, sometimes up to 20 under one female. also, what are you feeding her? if it's not blocks, i suggest using them. normal rat food doesn't have as much in it. it's more for pets. try and get some more females. at least a 3:1 ratio.

I have the females 1.3's but when they start to show signs of pregnancy I switch them into their own tubs.
I find that some females become far too dominant when raising litters together and I prefer to be able to track the litters and the rats themselves.
So I avoid the mess all together.

Im feeding Harlan (sp?) Teklad rat blocks.
 
hm, then there's most likely something wrong with them, maybe a bad inherent trait, or deformity. i wouldn't risk saving them myself. i don't worry much about the pups getting mixed up cuz i'm not raising any for breeders, i only keep track of the litters for raising for breeders, i feed the pups off pretty quickly, but you're doing everything correctly as far as i read. let her finish nursing and see how the rats do after being weaned. if they continue to act lethargic, or unhealthy in any way, i'd suggest pitching them.
 
hm, then there's most likely something wrong with them, maybe a bad inherent trait, or deformity. i wouldn't risk saving them myself. i don't worry much about the pups getting mixed up cuz i'm not raising any for breeders, i only keep track of the litters for raising for breeders, i feed the pups off pretty quickly, but you're doing everything correctly as far as i read. let her finish nursing and see how the rats do after being weaned. if they continue to act lethargic, or unhealthy in any way, i'd suggest pitching them.

This litter isnt really a planned breeding litter. I had the Sire breed with several extra females for the sake of hit and miss but I already have some great breeders from him. I agree with you, if they do show sings of negative changes I wont be saving them. My immediate reaction to dead pups in a litter after 1 week old is to evaluate every pup thoroughly. I think in this case if that does happen they'll be gone immediately. :/

What a waste...
 
yeah, bad litter's aren't fun. good luck though, if anything changes update.
 
Welll...Found one dead today. So like I said I would do, I c02 them and tossed them. Mom rat flipped out of course. I didn't take them out in front of her but I came back from brunch and there was no aspen in her tub. She went digging for them. After about 3 hours of her panicking about and making herself sick I bunked her with some pups about 3 weeks old. She is now pleasantly fostering them against their will. (their very confused & too old for this crap will)

I don't think parasites had anything to with her litter. I haven't allowed any new animals into the house in over 4 months or so and do keep a close watch.
Plus all the rats are dewormed, quarantined and so on....:c. Im puttin this gal on a lloonngggg break before breeding her again. (if i even do)
 
Yeh, I'd give her a break. I worked in a breeding lab for a few years and have never seen this. Rats (and mice) do cannibalise as a stress or overcrowding reaction, but I presume she isn't in an overcrowded cage.

I'm guessing, but she may have had too many litters / fostering too close together, and a break may fix her.

In either case, whether it's stress, or a genetically faulty litter, I'd think you'd still be OK to use the babies as feeders - there's nothing there that can transmit to the snakes (of course it's always 100% safer to discard if you don't need them).
 
lol well i'm glad it most likely isn't parasites. but even so, why risk the chance. i thought deworming was deadly to snakes? or do you just deworm the breeders?
 
Well it's too late, their disposed of. I wouldn't risk it myself.

De-worming is moderately dangerous to the snakes DEPENDING the method. If you de-worm months in advance, it doesn't make a difference. My policy is to avoid bringing new rats in. If i do they are quarantined and de-wormed ahead of time. They wont be fed to the snakes though. I only feed the litters of of my 'safe' rats to the snakes. Im pretty judgmental and which pups I feed too.
 
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