Enrichment toys for rats 🐀
Designed & made by us, in Australia 🦘
100% recycled PETG plastic ♻️
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Our toys are available again! All sales will be through Tiny Tails Creations either online or at the local QRF shows for the foreseeable future 🥰
🚨EXCITING NEWS ALERT!!🚨
Tiny Tails Creations and Hotel Rat have teamed up to continue to provide you with Hotel Rat’s enrichment toy range!
You can now find all current stock over at tinytailscreations.square.site
Just a reminder that Hotel Rat won’t be at any QRF shows for the remainder of the year ☹️
We hope everyone has the best time tomorrow! 🥰
To you, our wonderful ,
We have a big announcement: the rescue is taking a break.
It's been an enormous 6+ years, and we've done so many brilliant things, but as we all know the animal rescue world is rife with burnout, and RRH is not immune to that challenge. The only way to manage burnout is to take genuine space away, but for those in positions that look after a large part of the rescue's functioning it's not so easy to set up alternatives while running the show, or to find people to take things on. We've tried many things over the years to make the rescue the best space it can be for everyone involved, and we've come to the realisation that the most responsible thing to do is to take a break, and come back with fresh eyes and fresh brains to build something sustainable and targeted, instead of overextending to try and help so many people in so many ways. In a practical sense, this is all happening quite quickly due to our lease ending on the 13th of May.
The plan is to get all the animals adopted out of the physical site and foster space, and stagger the closure of all of our services over the next month. We'll be spreading out a lot of our items where they can do the most good, including selling or giving them to other local orgs to help them fill the demand while we're away, or to those adopting our remaining residents. We'll leave all the online spaces and infrastructure in place with messaging about being on a break and alternative places to seek help, and the RRH Community Group will be turned into a community-run hub for mutual aid. After a year of rest, we'll have a meeting to discuss what the community needs and what RRH should be, and if we decide to go forward with something, a further year of planning, where we can all set things up exactly how they should be before launch, taking all the lessons of the prior years to make something even better and more sustainable for all.
It is going to be absolute, all hands on deck go-time now that the plans are solid. Moving was always going to be a huge, time sensitive task, but for the rescue to take a break without getting stuck with costs for storage, and especially to get the animals all safe and well supported, there is a fresh sense of urgency. We still also have many animals in care, here and in foster, which still need vet care, and we will have ongoing costs to maintain our data storage and registrations during the break. We are all so heartbroken to have to step back from helping people and rats, but we know it's the healthy and responsible thing to do, and the only way for many of us to be able to help more people in the future.
To help us help ourselves, we will be seeking adopters, selling gear and furniture, raising funds, cleaning, cleaning and more cleaning. If anyone has any questions or needs support, please reach out, we'll all be doing our best to support each other through this difficult but ultimately good transition.
On behalf of the Coordinators and Exec (past and present) I want to thank each and every one of you for the love, energy, faith, and trust, you have given the rescue over the years. It has been a wild ride, and the community that has formed around the rescue has been an immense blessing in so many of our lives.
- , RRH President and Founder
Thank you SO much to everyone who came along to our first ever Rodent Community Care Fair on Sunday, it was absolutely incredible to see so many of your wonderful faces!
We hope you enjoyed experiencing the event as much as we enjoyed hosting it. If you have a couple of minutes to give us some feedback, we would be so grateful! It’s with your feedback that we can better tailor these community events to the real-time needs and/or wishes of the community and it’s also an opportunity to show some appreciation to our volunteers if you did have a good time ☺️
The survey is completely anonymous unless you choose to identify yourself & you can find it via the QR code above or this link https://airtable.com/app4BQpdNuPvN3KYx/shr8TUaHVINLbQV49
Once again, thank you to our amazing volunteers! Without every single one of them this event would never have been possible. From setting up the hall, to welcoming your rats, to running the BBQ, to creating a low-stim sensory space, to running the rat health and wellness checks, to selling raffle tickets, to cleaning up and everything in between, they are truly amazing and I hope they are all still resting after an absolutely massive effort by everyone.
- , RRH Events Team
Easter sale starts tomorrow 6am!
10% off all Valentines Collection items! Once these items are sold out they won't be coming back.
One more sleep! 🙈
Such an amazing opportunity 🤩
If you or a friend have been thinking about upgrading your rat cage, this is the perfect opportunity!
We’re raffling off a double Ferret Kingdom cage this Sunday at the Rodent Community Care Fair as well as lots of other incredible prizes which have been donated by our amazing Artist Collaborators and other local, small businesses! 🤩
The raffle will run from 10am until 2.30pm when we’ll announce the winners! There will be 3 prizes, with the Ferret Kingdom cage being part of the 1st prize.
Tickets will be $2 each, 3 for $5 or 8 for $10! For anyone who can’t stay until the raffle is drawn, you will have the option to add your phone number to your tickets & we will call you if your ticket is drawn ☺️
The cage is in secondhand condition with no stand, it will have corflute trays included and is, in our opinion, a really excellent cage! You’re welcome to arrange pick-up from the rescue at a later date/time that suits you ☺️
Some of the wonderful local businesses who will be donating goods or services for the raffle and our trivia prize pack include;
Creative Critter Co
, claws and whiskers
tails creations
rat enrichment co
fairy art
(instagram)
(instagram)
And more!
📍Finnish Hall - 62 Newnham Road, Mt Gravatt
🗓️ Sunday, 24th of March
⏰ 10am - 3pm
Check out facebook.com/events/s/rodent-community-care-fair-hos/435810582102626 for all the details.
See you there! 🥰
~ , RRH Events Team
This is truly beyond incredible! 🤩
🌊🐭 Save the Date for the Queensland Rodent Fanciers - Under The Sea Show! 🐭🌊
Join a fin-tastic day of rodent fun at the Finnish Hall Mt Gravatt on Sunday, April 7th, from 10 am to 3 pm! 🎉 Dive into the world of adorable rodents as they take center stage in an Under The Sea-themed show day.
🌟 Highlights:
✨ Rat and mouse exhibits
✨ Fun competitions
✨ Meet fellow rodent enthusiasts
✨ Raffle prizes and more!
📅 Date: Sunday, April 7th
🕙 Time: 10 am - 3 pm
📍 Venue: Finnish Hall, Mt Gravatt
Don't miss out on this shell-acious event! Mark your calendars and bring your friends and family for a day filled with furry friends and aquatic wonders.
See you there! 🐾🌊
P.S. If you want to help RRH have a represented at the local QRF Show, please make your interest known by contacting our Vollie Coordinators via [email protected] 🙏
NEW PRODUCT ALERT!!
Our BonBons are now live onsite!
These are great foraging toys for your mice and rats! They contain shredded paper, Vetafarm Origins, dried pasta & fruit loops. A great treat for your little friends!
This is SUCH incredible news 😭
Who else is coming!? ☺️ Also friendly reminder that this will be the last time for the foreseeable future that Hotel Rat will be available to purchase from 💕
Our rattie residents will be showing off their BBQ skills by cooking up a storm for you at the Rodent Fair next Sunday! 😮
Hang on, it seems there was a miscommunication.. Ahhh okay, they said they will be showing off their *eating skills at the BBQ next Sunday. Sounds more like it 🙄
Don’t stress though! Humans get first serve and we have no doubt all the attending ratties will thoroughly enjoy licking our plates clean at the end 😅
Between offering free rat check-ups and hosting a hilarious game of rodent trivia, we’ll be serving up a delicious assortment of snags, burgers, corn on the cob, skewers, salads and more! Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options will also be available at no extra charge.
All proceeds will go towards the rescue so we can continue saving little lives and supporting this wonderful community.
We’ll also have a swap table full of free goodies for the community to contribute to and take from, activities for you, your kids and your rats! A raffle with lots of gorgeous prizes from local artists, small businesses and the rescue plus all our wonderful market stalls!
Find all the details here - https://facebook.com/events/s/rodent-community-care-fair-hos/435810582102626/
📍Finnish Hall, 62 Newnham Road, Mt Gravatt
🗓️ Sunday, March 24th
⏰ 10am - 3pm, BBQ starts around midday
- , RRH Events Team
Please adopt them before we crumble and go break our rat break 😭
ADOPTED - YAY!!
Meet Cowboy and Lasso, the dynamic duo of young male rats who are on the lookout for an interactive forever home where they can receive all the love & cuddles in the world! These boys are bursting with sweetness, sociability, and a profound love for their human companions.
Cowboy and Lasso are not your average rats; they're exceptionally friendly and thrive on human interaction. Daily cuddles and explorations are top priorities for these adventurous rodents. They enjoy nothing more than bonding with their family and sharing moments of affection.
Cowboy and Lasso's are highly spirited, and they're eager to engage with their environment and the people around them. Their playful antics and affectionate nature make them a joy to have around.
If you're someone who enjoys spending quality time with small furry friends and can provide the nurturing, loving environment Cowboy and Lasso need, then they might be the perfect companions for you. Open your heart and home to this delightful pair, and you'll be rewarded with endless love, cuddles, and companionship.
$100.00 FOR CAGE & RATS
Do you enjoy organising, tidying or repairing? Rachie’s Ratirement Home is in search of someone who would be interested in becoming our Site Coordinator. What this would require is:
-being comfortable and confident in making decisions about our stock storage organisation
-keeping account of our rescue and sellable stock and merchandise
-tending to repairs on various items in the rescue or delegating to someone competent in handywork
-being available to spend time onsite on a regular basis
-being comfortable communicating with our other coordinators and volunteers to ensure the ongoing needs of the rescue site are being managed
Having your own form of transport is not essential but would assist with the work required within the role.
Of course with great responsibility in our onsite space, also comes great opportunities- for cuddling rats!
If you would love to come and put your organisational skills to good use or are interested in learning more about volunteering with Rachie’s Ratirement Home, click on the link to fill in an expression of interest form:
https://rachiesratirementhome.com/volunteering
We hope to hear from you and welcome you aboard.
-
🌊🐭 Save the Date for the Queensland Rodent Fanciers' Under The Sea Show! 🐭🌊
Join us for a fin-tastic day of rodent fun at the Finnish Hall Mt Gravatt on Sunday, April 7th, from 10 am to 3 pm! 🎉 Dive into the world of adorable rodents as they take center stage in our Under The Sea-themed show day.
🌟 Highlights:
✨ Rat and mouse exhibits
✨ Fun competitions
✨ Meet fellow rodent enthusiasts
✨ Raffle prizes and more!
📅 Date: Sunday, April 7th
🕙 Time: 10 am - 3 pm
📍 Venue: Finnish Hall, Mt Gravatt
Don't miss out on this shell-acious event! Mark your calendars and bring your friends and family for a day filled with furry friends and aquatic wonders. See you there! 🐾🌊
Bit of a trivia head?
Do you know a thing or two about rats or mice? Show off your skills at the Rodent Community Care Fair! We’ll be hosting rodent themed trivia for all ages from 1pm, March 24th at the Finnish Hall in Mt Gravatt ☺️
Bring a team or find one on the day 🥰 There’s no fee to play, but plenty of prizes to be won! 🤩
Not into trivia? Browse local business stalls, get your rat’s checked over by experienced volunteers, enjoy a BBQ lunch, and mingle with like-minded locals from 10am-3pm ☺️
If you answered B, you are correct! Rats primarily regulate their body temperature through their tails! 🐀
- , RRH Events Team
IMAGE: A white and brown hooded rat has been edited to appear as though it’s holding a microphone asking a multiple choice trivia question “How do rats regulate their body temperature? Through their A) feet, B) tails or C) ears?”
10% off until March 23rd! 🎉
We’re both devastated yet somewhat relieved to make the announcement that Hotel Rat is temporarily closing.
We thought we could find balance between our personal lives, our primary jobs, building a motorhome, volunteering with a rat rescue & running a business but (probably unsurprisingly to many) turns out that’s *a lot* for our neurodivergent, disabled, perfectionist selves to manage.
We’ve stretched ourselves *so* thin for *so* long trying to make everything work, only to realise that by doing this we’ve not actually been able to make the progress we wanted to on *any* project.
Our online store will close on Saturday the 23rd of March and following the Rodent Community Care Fair (RCCF) on March 24th we won’t be committing to any future events, including the Queensland Rodent Fanciers Show (QRF).
That said, if we have the capacity & the inspiration to host stalls at future RCCF’s or QRF’s we will let you know!
The STL files for our toys will remain available on our website under a Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-SA license.
For now, we need to prioritise looking after our mental health & maintaining healthy boundaries when it comes to taking on (too many) projects.
Hotel Rat means everything to us & remains our long-term dream; we need to make sure that when we do re-open, we’re in a position to do it to the standards that we’re passionate about.
We hope that will be sometime this year but we don’t want to put any pressure on ourselves by pre-empting a date.
Our biggest fear with closing Hotel Rat for a while is losing this beautiful community. The past 6 months have been such turmoil for Hotel Rat (and us, personally) and we have been so blessed & so grateful for all of your support along the way.
Thank you for being here, thank you for always supporting us (in so many ways) and thank you for being so patient as we navigate a really tricky time in our lives.
We’ll still be here (albeit far less frequently) & we’ll still be around the Brisbane/Gold Coast rat community so please stay in touch!
ID/a beige rat rests her chin on a hammock followed by a series of dull green tiles with the above text written across each.
Will we see you there? 🤩 We are so so so excited for this event! Hosted by the community, for the community 🥰
All the event details are here https://facebook.com/events/s/rodent-community-care-fair-hos/435810582102626 ☺️
We have a new blog post that begins a 3-part series all about feeding your rats!
If you want to read about base diet types, methods of feeding and diversifying your food offerings - make sure you tune in over the next three blog posts to find out everything you can about feeding your rats for health and enrichment!
Part 1 is live now, all you could want to know about types of rat diets!
Check it out @ rachiesratirementhome.com/blog/2024-2-rat-feeding-series-part-1
- Written by , edited by
Will we see you there!? We’re beyond excited for this event 🤩
Help us find RRH a new furever home!
Last year, the rental property the rescue runs out of was sold, so RRH needs to find a new home by May 2024!
Only problem is, we are in a rental crisis, with very few properties available and cost of living at an all-time high. We have been exploring many options the past few months, but now it’s time to really knuckle down and start making this project a reality!
Want to help?
Join our planning and coordination space - we will be sharing what we need, what would be ideal, and how you can help us. If anyone loves trawling rental sites, planning moves or knows anyone able to help, please reach out, we can be emailed directly at [email protected].
Join here: facebook.com/groups/1390041281876011/
Hopefully we can find our new furever home because the reality it - we can only continue offering RRH services to the community if we have a home!
- , RRH Founder and President
Are you coming? 🤩
From 16 Feburary 2024 these will be our new shipping rates & volume discounts 📦 Here’s how we landed on them ⬇️
We ship all our orders using Australia Post, through our ‘MyPost Business’ account, from which we receive discounts that scale with the amount we spent on shipping.
There are 5 savings bands, we tend to hover around band 2. From July-September 2023 we were bumped to band 5 as part of a prize package we won from Australia Post. The increase in savings coincided with an increase in rates across the board — essentially negating the extra savings 😑
However, because we benefited in other ways from the prize package, and since we had promised our community cheaper shipping from July (not knowing rates were about to go up) — we decided to absorb some of the shipping costs. Whilst we would love to continue doing this, unfortunately it’s not sustainable.
Recently we have been working on some different pricing/shipping models. In the end we chose to maintain our current model (explained below), with the addition of volume discounts. These volume discounts are the same we offer to businesses and wholesale buyers, ensuring everyone has access to the same savings.
For domestic shipping, Australia Post charges 3 different rates depending if the destination is ‘same city’, ‘other city’, or ‘rural’. Due to limitations with our checkout, we can’t set rates that vary with postcode, nor would we want to. We think one rate country-wide is the most equitable, avoiding penalising people for where they live.
To calculate a flat-rate for each weight band, we looked at our order history data. From this, we found 31% of our orders are for same-city, 60% for other cities, and 9% for rural destinations. Based on these ratios, we calculated a weighted average of the 3 shipping rates, ensuring our flat-rate is reflective of our actual shipping cost distribution.
With this approach, individual customers may pay slightly more or less for shipping than it actually cost us. However, on average the total shipping paid by customers balances our total shipping costs.
Every 3 months we will re-calculate these rates, with the current savings band and our latest order data 🤓
The QRF shows are such a lovely place to mingle & support the rodent community 🥰
RRH would have LOVED to have our usual stall at the Queensland Rodent Fanciers Show Today.
We usually try to run a free pet food and equipment, cheap and pay-what-you want gear, merch and education table for the community at these awesome events.
Sadly things lined up poorly with our regular vollies this show and we didn't have anyone to run the stall and transport gear to and fro!
It's too late for today, but if you'd like to support the rescue by staffing an RRH stall at the remaining 5 QRF shows this year please reach out to [email protected] and tee something up!
You'd be welcome to lead the events, participate, do one, a couple or all of them - we want to hear from you!
It'd also be one less thing on the Vollie Coordinators' plates to have a regular team running the stalls.
Best of all - it's always a fun day and rats!
We look forward to hearing from you if this kind of volunteering piques your interest!
- , RRH President and Founder!
| Monday | 08:00 - 18:00 |
| Tuesday | 08:00 - 18:00 |
| Wednesday | 08:00 - 18:00 |
| Thursday | 08:00 - 18:00 |
| Friday | 08:00 - 18:00 |
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We love watching them navigate new toys 😅
Good thing they’re so cute about it 😅
Dumpster rats 😍 dumpster house on sale until Tuesday! 🥰
We want to celebrate our new range with a cheeky discount for everyone 🥰 enjoy 15% off your order total when buying two or more toys / hides! 🐀We have very limited stock of our gorgeous new Candy Crunch Pink & Pool Party Blue remaining so get in quick to avoid waiting for a re-stock 🍬All houses can comfortable fit 1-3 rats depending on their size. Exact dimensions can be found listed with each one on our website 🏠You’ll be pleased to know that reduced shipping rates start today also! Shipping discount applies locally & internationally, until September 30th, 2023! 📦#rattoysaustralia #ratforagingtoys #rathides #rathouse #petrats #cuterats #rattoys #rattiesofinstagram #rattielove 15% off sale runs until midnight July 10th AEST. This sale is in no way associated with or endorsed by Meta/Instagram.
Honey & Vegemite are enjoying their first QRF show 🥰 they’re especially loving their new chew toys from Pimp My Mice & we can’t wait to get their new Creative Critter Co hammocks in, and give Miss Peanut her new hat from Sweetpaws Creative 🥰 we’ll all be here until 3pm at the Finnish Hall in Mt Gravatt, come say hi! 😁
Both hats by the ever talented Sweetpaws Creative 😍 Peanut loves them 😅
Peanut has tested every toy we’ve ever made! Can you tell by how quick & efficient she is on them? 😅
Hey everyone, This is really important information for current or future customers. Due to an unexpected family emergency, Hotel Rat will not be processing any orders between now and November 7th. We will still be working remotely as much as we can, including busily finishing off our festive range & will be available via social media & email throughout the entire period. Unfortunately though, we won’t have access to any of the 3D printers required to make your toys. We will still be accepting orders placed during this time, however it will be in conjunction with a disclaimer on our website about the temporary cessation of manufacturing. Whilst we do currently have a disclaimer on our website which states that it may take up to two weeks to process your order (prior to shipping), we tend to get everything out before this time frame so we wanted to give you guys a courtesy notice that our usual operations are going to be different over the next fortnight. If you placed an order this week, know that we are doing our absolute best to get it to you before we’re needed elsewhere and will let you know via the email address you provided if your order is going to be delayed. If you do not receive a tracking number or an email from us for your order placed prior to October 27th, please feel free to reach out via email or social media and we will get back to you ASAP. We’re so grateful for this rattie community & we really appreciate your collective patience while we support our family & take a mini break from making rat toys 💕
A sweet good morning boggle from Vegemite to you 🥰
Spooky Season is upon us and we’ve been busy carving pumpkins & catching bats to prepare a haunted foraging experience for your furry friends 🎃 a cheeky mix up to our multi-slider foraging toy, you can get the whole toy or just the sliders (if you already have a multi-slider base) 🕸 We have limited stock of this spooky szn special so drop your spiders, grab your broomsticks and get your rats into the spooky spirit 👻🐀 Check our stories or jump on the website for more colour combos 🧙♀️ Only available until *limited* stock runs out! . . . #ratenrichmentideas #ratcagesetup #ratforagingtoys #spookyseasonpets #halloweenrats
We love sharing our toys with you all ☺️
Enrichment toy for rats designed by rat lovers, just for rats, right here in Australia 🐀 . . . #hotelrat #rattoys #rattoysaustralia #ratenrichmenttoys #ratforagingtoys #petrats #rattiesofinstagram #ratsofinstagram #ratstagram #ratsaustralia #petratsofinstagram #fancyrats #rexrats #babyrats #ratties #rattiesofinsta #instarats #instaratsdaily #petratsaustralia #rattiesofinstagram #rattiesofig #ratforaging #ratenrichment #ratcagesetup #ratcageideas
All our toys can be used flat or hanging, including our ‘hanging forager!’ Designed with a rounded base to reduce the risk of tipping over (though side ways could provide a whole new challenge). All of our toys are best introduced on a flat surface, moving to a hanging position when your rats are ready for more of a challenge. This not only keeps your rats stimulated, it helps keep costs to us (their toy providers) down, as each toy has multiple uses. Each end of this toy is designed slightly differently for the same reasons. Here you can see Peanut learning how to open the lid to reach her favourite snack - green peas! 😁 Available to purchase in a variety of colours from Hotel Rat - link in bio 😌 . . . #hotelrat #petrats #rattiesofinstagram #foragingtoy #enrichmenttoys #ratsofinstagram #ratstagram #ratsaustralia #petratsofinstagram #fancyrats #rexrats #babyrats #ratties #rattiesofinsta #instarats #instaratsdaily #petratsaustralia #rattiesofinstagram #rattiesofig #rattoys #foragingtoy #smallbusinessaustralia Music: A little trip Musician: Xuxiao
Here’s our mini tutorial for disassembling your 4 slider foraging toy for cleaning 😀 ft our chunky girl, Peanut 🐀 To watch with captions, head to our instagram (sorry FB doesn’t auto caption)!
Our classic foraging toy is perfect for rats with some foraging experience, challenging them to spin the slider 360 degrees, using the little holes on top to sniff out their favourite treats ☺️ . . . #ratties #ratsofinsta #ratsofinstagram #rattiesofinstagram #rattie #rattielove #rattiesofig #rattiesforlife #ratstagram #rats #foragingtoy #rattoys
Thank you to everyone who purchased a foraging toy this weekend! We’re working hard to print and package all your orders ☺️ We print each item as it’s ordered so that we never risk wasting plastic by printing unnecessary excess which may not sell. This means shipping times can vary depending on how many orders we have at any given time. Keep an eye on your emails for shipping updates 😇 Here’s a video of late Gucci, who helped us refine our designs by finding and eating lots of peas 😅💕 www.hotelrat.com.au
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