Isamu Rats

15/08/2024

Some lovely rats in need looking for new homes. Please help if you can

30/01/2024

Last few bits for sale (pick up at the Bradford show this weekend, no postage available)

Me and Lovecraft rats have a few last bits for sale

2x Alaska (1 now reserved), £25 each (great for short stays, introductions, birthing cages etc)

1x Marchorio Igor 62 (60*36*28 cm) huge door so brilliant for scared rescues (or intros, litters, and hospital cage), black powder coated bars £20

1x Furet Plus base only, free - reserved

Plus for anyone who already keeps or is planning to keep gerbils (or wants a good free range toy)

Gerbil/hamster tank (Skyline Kerry terrarium): £80
75x45x37 cm (L x W x H), with a Borneo tank topper (around 35 cm tall from memory) which fits securely with special clips, and has a large door at the front and one on top. Included is also the original flat topper with huge door, and two custom made tank splitter mesh frames for gerbil intros.

24/12/2023

I’ve been quiet lately but I thought you guys might appreciate this I pulled together a couple years ago.

A Visit from St. Nichorat
Based on “ A vist from St. Nicholas” By Clement Clarke Moore

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were round the cages with care,
In hopes that St. Nichorat soon would be there;

The kittens were nestled all snug in their beds;
While visions of yoggies danced in their heads;
And mamma in her hammock, and I in my nest,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter's rest,

When out in the rat room there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the shelf I flew in a jiff,
Hung on the cage bars and gave a great sniff.

The moon on the floor glanced off new-fallen snow,
Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
When what to my wondering eyes arrive with a flap,
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny rein-bats,

With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment he must be St. Nick.
More rapid than hawks his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name:

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now Prancer and V***n!
On, Comet! on, Cupid! on, Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the cage! to the top of the wall!
Now flap away! flap away! flap away all!"

As leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky;
So up to the cagetop the coursers they flew
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nichorat too—

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the bars
The prancing and tapping of each little claw.
As I drew in my whiskers, and was turning around,
Down the tunnel St. Nichorat came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his butt,
And his fur was all tarnished with dust balls and fluff;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a pedler just opening his pack.

His eyes—how they twinkled! his whiskers, how merry!
His cheeks were all fluffy, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the fur on his chin was as white as the snow;

The piece of banana he held tight in his teeth,
And his ears, they encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly
That shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old rat,
And I laughed when I saw him, with his bright red hat;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his ear
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to fear;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his paw aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a squeak,
And away they all flew with a mighty great leap.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight—
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!”

🎄

09/12/2023

As promised here’s the link to buy an awesome rat book. I can totally recommend

📖🐀TODAY IS FINALLY THE DAY!!📖🐀

You can officially buy Pet Rat Care on Amazon!

You guys are amazing- I can’t believe how many of you were there at midnight ordering when it went live! 🥰🥰

Please don't forget to review it on Amazon once you've read it! If you think it's the book that new owners need to read, then we need reviews to make sure owners know that this is the one to go for!

Find it here: https://amzn.eu/d/eBOLv7w

05/12/2023

This is a massively exciting project, having been one of the lucky people to help review this book I can fully recommend it. Zoe has done a brilliant and much needed job I’ll share the link once it’s released this coming weekend!

It’s finally time to share- is here!

I’m so so excited to announce that I have been secretly been working hard on writing a book on rat care! This is something I have wanted to do for a really long time, but it’s taken multiple years to get to where we are now; a comprehensive and real tangible book on all aspects of pet rat care that I can hold in my hands.

I am really proud of this project; its been the biggest article I’ve ever written 😂 and it’s the accumulation of all the knowledge I’ve acquired during my time in the rat world and I can’t believe I am actually at the point of being able to share it with the world! It’s finally real!

Only one week until the book is available to purchase, and over the next couple of weeks I’ll be sharing loads more information, links and sneak peeks, and I’ll be showing you the front cover soon too! Yesterday I was with Ebonie from Bogglesandboops Small Pet Photography who has taken some absolutely beautiful photos of the book including the one you see below - more on that soon too!

03/11/2023

Inspired by Azuline Rattery collecting rat infographics I finally got round to making one on fruit and veg! Both are a really important and valuable part of a rats diet, though need to be fed in moderation with a good balanced diet. Below I’ve listed a rough proportion of different veg to feed, this isn’t a role but a useful guide. The key is feeding a good variety of different types and colours, with dark green leafy veg being the most important. A good starting point is 10-20% of there weekly diet, though increase gradually to avoid an upset stomach with all that extra fibre.

I’ve listed a lot of veg here but in reality there are many more that are safe for them. As a rule if it’s safe for us to eat in that format (eg raw or cooked) it’s safe for them. Avoid stones and pips, and in some cases if the skin is inedible (rather than unpalatable) for us it may be for them.

More detail can be found http://www.isamurats.co.uk/vegetables-and-fruits.html

06/10/2023

Calling all those on the south, or to be fair further afield if you can travel or organise a rat train. Some beautiful rats in need looking for new homes urgently. Please get in touch if you think you can help out!

Looking at them I could swear they were related to ours too, though can’t figure out how.

29/05/2023

Various rat related items for sale ***ALL NOW SOLD***

Items are in used condition including some chew marks and small holes in some hammocks. Fabric stuff has been machine washed, wooden stuff washed with hot water and safe4pet. Further info in comments against each picture

Can bring to the NERS Preston show Saturday 3rd June. Also happy to post at buyer's cost and combine bundles (not including alaskas). Cheapest delivery seems to be about £3.50 for a hammock bundle and £6.70 for up to 10kg.

24/05/2023

If anyone is looking for amazing boys Kabuki have 3 lovely lads looking for the right home. There’s a lot of isamu and Lovecraft in these boys, the mum to the black dumbo is the lovely Fabrat who used to live here and the topaz boys dad is the wonderful Hu who also lived here and fathered me a gorgeous litter before going to live with Holly.

20/05/2023

Happy rescue dog day to all those rescue dogs out there. Let’s make it rescue rat day too and share some photos of your rescued rats!

30/03/2023

Me and Lovecraft will be along at this show with a second hand stall if anyone wants some great value rat stuff (mostly cage accessories, perches, ropes, toys, some good condition hammocks and a million water bottles). They’ll be lots of other stalls too selling great new rat stuff and they are lovely friendly events for ratty folk.

17/01/2023

This is likely to be the last show we have rats at for a good while, though I still plan to come along to a few rats shows in the future. If you’ve never been I’d recommend it as it’s a massive event with many rabbits and guinea pigs a well as rats and hamsters etc. it’s also the highlight of the rat show year with people from all over the country meeting up, I hope to see some of you there

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=647134304079763&id=100063495970966

Entries close tomorrow night for Bradford Champs!⭐️⭐️⭐️ ***Only rats who are entered in the show are allowed at this event***

NFRS Bradford Champs Saturday 21st January 2023

Venue: Doncaster Racecourse, Leger Way, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN2 6BB

Show Secretary: Julie Oliver

Show Manager: Lisa Irvine

Entries to: [email protected] by 10pm on Wednesday 18th January please.

Varieties Judge: Rackie Powell

Pet Judge: Maja Feline

Judging Starts: 10.30am PROMPT PLEASE

Part of a large multi-fancy event. Entry fee on the door. All show tanks must have a small (mouse sized is best) water bottle attached.

05/12/2022

What a difference relationship and calm well adjusted individuals makes to an intro!

This is a scenario most of us dread when introducing rats, introducing adult bucks! Not just that we are talking 4 groups of rats, ranging from 12 weeks to 19m, and several have mated in the past, some multiple times. All this should make for a challenging intro that needs to move slow, yet this is the moment I upgraded them into an Alaska (which if I’m honest had an adult doe and kittens in yesterday but didn’t get cleaned out as the substrate wasn’t smelly) 14h after starting the intro yesterday evening.

All the rats in these groups are broadly related and previously owned by either me or Lovecraft, they are from different lines within our rattery with one being from another related rattery. That and the fact that we do try and select for rats that are amenable with others, plus all the rats merged we’re living in very stable settled groups has made this one of the easiest intros I do (not including kitten to kitten intros, or last time I added an older less related doe to my group which was main cage after an hour).

It definitely shows how the ease of intros (and so the sores you can progress) very much depends on the individuals involved. It’s why I’m always very reluctant to give a definitive answer when anyone asks me “how long should I stay at each stage?

The key thing here is how relaxed and functional the lads are with each other, you can see there’s no tension, just calm curiosity, they are mingling well, going over and under each other without anyone getting at all tense or standoffish. I suspect they’ll be in the main cage (which I also haven’t cleaned out…) by this evening or tomorrow morning at the latest.

02/12/2022

I’m proud and a little sad to announce the birth of the final Isamu litters for the foreseeable future. Just under a week ago I was blessed with 2 litters.

Huggets: Isamu Golden Nugget (Topaz) x Lovecraft Hubert (Topaz dumbo). 14 topaz and topaz dumbo boys, perfect mix of half dues and half bucks.

Hezzies: Isamu Bizzie Lizzie (agouti silken) x Lovecraft Hevel (agouti silken). 7 little ones, 3 does and 4 bucks. A mix of agouti silken, agouti and cinnamon silken most likely (there may be self in there so a bit early to tell).

01/12/2022

Not just rats that love to dig! Here’s our rescue podenco and honorary Isamu Moose demonstrating just how much he wants to be like his rat cousins!

https://fb.watch/h8sYRLH0iD/

23/11/2022

Finally got some decent photos of some of the different variety rats I have in the rat room currently. Including; mink silken, black silken, agouti, topaz dumbo, agouti silken, topaz and another topaz dumbo in kitten form. For those not in the U.K. silken is called Silvermane elsewhere #

11/11/2022

Looking for a list of videos that are needed!

So I think everyone by know notes that I’ll be stopping breeding and keeping rats in the near future. However I have no intention of stopping being active in the fancy and world of rat care. As such I’m hoping to get back into my videos even if just to fill some of the key gaps I still have.

On that basis would anyone like to suggest any videos I’m currently lacking that you think would be particularly useful then we shall see if I can get them done.

Here’s some cute silken baby photos for payment from my most recent round of litters (and second to last)

20/09/2022

Isamu Rats notice

I would like to let everyone know that the Isamu rats (along with its sister rattery Lovecraft rats) will be stopping breeding. This is very much a decision which has been a while in the making. My personal life has changed a lot over the last couple of years and i have found that I don’t have the same passion and enthusiasm as well as physical time to do justice to the rats. Whilst I do still have a few litters planned these are all very likely to be homes to the existing waiting lists and to other breeders to continue on the lines.

I do still aim to remain active in the fancy and online, though it is likely that I will also take a break from keeping rats for a while in the next year, I’ve had breaks in the past and they have done me a lot if good both in enthusiasms and mental space. I can’t say right now if I will start keeping and breeding rats again in the future but it’s not entirely of the cards (though it’ll definitely be a few years away if so). Hopefully the extra time will give me more time to do some of the many plans I’ve had to update my webpage and do further videos around the care and breeding aspects of rat keeping but we will see as I’ve learned that it’s not particularly helpful to put pressure on myself at this time. I will aim to transition this page over to primarily focusing on care and advice over the next few months.

Thank you for all your support over the years

Jemma

04/09/2022

This is something many rat owners are unaware off and it’s something having known several people affected I am very keen to share. Bordetella can and often is fatal in rats and can sweep through your rats very quickly. Understand the risks and how you can minimise them as well as what can help affected rats.

28/08/2022

If anyone is looking for some buck babies this wonderful breeder has some looking for new homes. They are related to our lot both on there Kabuki and Mimble sides and most importantly agouti which are the best!

All have 🏡 now.

I will have 2 pairs of bucks available from these litters. They’re all really lovely rats & are blossoming into their own little personalities🥰

They’d be ready to go to their new 🏘 in a few weeks time. I will be attending the Tempsford show on the 10th September so could possibly arrange collection from there. If you’re interested please send me a message or fill out a form here - https://forms.gle/ss63NAdpYkJ1PAQD6 😁

27/07/2022

Is anyone around the north west looking to add a pair of old men to there group any time soon. I’ve been rat sitting some of these guys family and they are wonderfully affectionate and loving.

30/05/2022

I can definitely recommend coming along to this event. I’lol be going along and have been to several NPI events in the past and get a lot out of them. I’ll likely be doing some talks / Q and A of folk aren’t bored of me yet too.

https://www.facebook.com/159144104279928/posts/1956679314526389/?d=n

After a few quiet years, we're delighted to announce an upcoming event on the 18th June in Norfolk, hosted by Rat Rations.

We'll need lots of volunteers at the event, and help in advance to plan, prepare and publicise it.

If you'd like to help in some way, please send a message or email Mary on [email protected].

19/05/2022

Useful photo reference I’ve been meaning to get for ages. This shows how you can judge at what age your line should be split into bucks and does by. The closed baby cannot get pregnant, the open baby can.

The age at which this happens varies with line. These two are from a recent outcross to a faster maturing line than ours and are both a day under 5 weeks. Our core line typically opens up around the 6 - 6.5 week mark. If you don’t know the line generally 4.5 weeks is a good time to split but keep an eye on your doe babies up to that point.

08/05/2022

I know there’s a fair bit of frustration (from us as well as those of you waiting forever) about our waiting list being closed again after only opening for 2 weeks (sorry but we had 80 applications in that time and realistically that will take us a long time to clear). However in great news Regency Rats has moved into the area, meaning another lovely registered breeder alongside ourselves, Lovecraft Rats, Poplet Rattery, Arecales Rats and Kaiju Stud in north west England. There’s also a bit of the Lovecraft and Isamu rats in the family too!

Rat breeder in Manchester working on chocolate (some dumbo) & cinnamon. Involved in the NFRS & NERS.

07/04/2022

Me and Alison chatting about rat intros if anyone is interested. It’s looking at different techniques with there pros and cons as well as some of the factors and tips that help with a successful intro

04/04/2022

The first rat awareness week, very much worth a follow, lots of great informative content from lots of different experienced people. You do need to put up with a chat between me and Alison Campbell on introductions on behaviour day but thankfully much of the rest is not featuring me lol.

🐭HAPPY WORLD RAT DAY!🐭
and welcome to the very first Rat Awareness Week!

We hope you will join us this week for a deep dive into the world of domestic rats. Whether you’re new to rats, thinking of getting rats, or an experienced rat owner, we hope there will be something for everyone this week.

SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK:
Monday - Basics Day
Tuesday - Housing and Environment Day
Wednesday - Diet and Nutrition Day
Thursday - Enrichment and Behaviour Day
Friday - Health Day
Saturday - Raturday! Fun, competitions and wild rats!
Sunday - Rescue Day

Keep a look out all week for our great giveaways! We have some really wonderful ratty stuff to give away each day, donated by our amazing sponsors!

Most of our contributors are in the UK so there is rather a UK bias to the week at times, but we are trying our best to make the information as international as we can. If we’re missing information from your country, feel free to comment and let us know.

We hope you enjoy the week, and if you have any questions, just ask in the comments and we’ll be happy to help if we can.

04/04/2022

09/03/2022

Introducing my buck keepers from this round of isamu and Lovecraft litters.

Lovecraft Howard (topaz). Named after a particularly special boy a friend had, his name means bold heart and he’s a confident solid lad. Definitely looking like hell be a proper stud buck as he grows.

Lovecraft Hubert (topaz dumbo). I wasn’t meant to be keeping Hu, we rolled him out because his ears and eyes aren’t great but then I made the mistake of picking him up. Instant bond for both of us so he’s staying. His name means bright heart and just sums him up for me

Isamu Hevel (agouti silken). Hevel is my first agouti silken keeper and I really like how he’s turned out, love this variety very much. His name means vapour or mist. It’s used in a biblical sense to explain that everything in this world we treasure won’t go with us to the next so don’t get hung up on money and treasure and such. I just find it very apt right now

Girl keepers will follow but they are currently living at Lovecraft as we’ve taken one sec each.