A Rat's Tail

05/04/2024

Just a reminder that today is our last day off for 10% off cage accessories and enrichment items!
www.aratstail.co.nz/shop

04/04/2024

Another thing to add to World Day Rat! Our gorgeous boys got to be featured on an Animates video about how cool rats are. Check out Thor, Jaegar, Freddo and Pepsi in the limelight ❤️

04/04/2024

Happy World Rat Day to everyone!
We've just updated our available products - Some things like our ledges and crochet hammocks are now back in stock!
To celebrate world rat day, we've done 10% off our full range of enrichment items and cage accessories (which include our snuggle scarves as well)
www.aratstail.co.nz/shop

30/03/2024

And here is some baby spam from this morning! This is my absolute favourite stage with them. They are too cute right now - Going to be so hard to choose the ones staying here ❤️

30/03/2024

Here is some pictures before the bubs opened their eyes...

18/03/2024

The beans are doing so well at 4 days old - Their coats are coming in and I'm so happy with these little beans ❤️

16/03/2024

Babies are now three days old and doing so well! Their costs are really starting to come through - Looks like we have some Variberk within this litter! Can't wait to see how it progresses.

14/03/2024

Little Dahlia's bubs are now two days old, and are looking really fantastic with full bellies and their fur starting to show through!

13/03/2024

... And we have some exciting news! Dahlia gave birth this morning (13 March 2024) to seven healthy babies ♥️ It looks like we have four boys and three girls. It looks like we have five babies with black eyes, and the remaining are either ruby or pink! We will keep everyone updated with how they go 😊

25/02/2024

And all of the Auckland based adoptions are done and dusted!

We had 32 rats all go to Auckland based homes in the past week, and we just have a couple more waiting to go on pet transport next month. I can't believe that within 24 hours, they had all secured lovely new homes ❤️

It was a mission sorting out all the adoption packs alongside work and my study that started this week, but I'm glad they could all head over to a new home with something nice.

Even with all the rats that went up for adoption, I know that some of you missed out unfortunately. But don't worry, I have two girls being paired at the moment, and will be back on track with the breeding plans on my website, so there should be plenty more heading your way soon ❤️🐀

17/02/2024

I thought I would post all the pictures of the cute rats that we had up for adoption this week - All of these cuties all had homes pending within 24 hours! If you are still waiting to hear on a response from the expression of interest list, it may be that unfortunately there were not enough rats to go around this time, but I will send an email through if a home falls through!

13/02/2024

A Rat's Tail Has Some Rats For Adoption! -

We are contacting you as you have put your name down on a waitlist for A Rat's Tail Rattery. We currently have the following available:

27/11/2023

Sorry for the short notice, but we are moving!

Our mischief is currently helping us pack to head to our new location. This means that our online store is now closed temporarily, and we will be re-opening online on the 3rd of December 2023 (with hopefully some upgrades and new surprises!) Our boarding slots will also open back up in December, with more information coming on that soon.

The mischief will also be getting a huge upgrade to a new dedicated rat room, which I can't wait to show you all once it's set up! This will allow for more relaxed visits for people to meet the rats before adoptions :)

Hopefully, after the move, I will be expanding the website as well (It's my goal for 2024!) to have an all-inclusive NZ Rat Guide for people to find any and all peer-reviewed (by some lovely exotic vets at my work) information!

10/11/2023

Another bit of an educational post!

Little Edgar got a wound on himself, and overnight between discovering the wound and his vet appointment, the silly boy decided to self mutilate himself.

Dr Taryn at Pet Doctors St Lukes was absolutely amazing - She cleaned up the area and gave him some medication, and he's currently in hospital to assure the skin area is all healed up.

Unfortunately, he was NOT happy to wear a cone, so the next best option was for him to wear a body suit made from vet wrap! Little Edgar is so sweet, but funny to see, and gets his daily outfit change and vet check to see how he is healing.

Check out the last picture for a meme someone made of him 😂

26/10/2023

Halloween packs and items are going quick! We have very limited stock remaining, so now is your chance to get some before it's too late!

https://www.aratstail.co.nz/halloween

25/10/2023

Here is a picture of Ibis's babies on day 2! Their hoods are starting to come through, however we had another baby unfortunately pass away - It looked like they had an internal deformity as their milk band spread across their chest rather than just in their stomach.

24/10/2023

I thought I would share something that happened yesterday - Although it doesn't involve the rattery, I think that it's a really cool achievement to help build the rat community even bigger!

"Today I got to do something so incredibly cool towards my career - I got to put on scrubs for the first time and monitor one of my own rats during a tail amputation surgery! It was so incredibly rewarding, and I'm now 100% sure of my choice in doing vet nursing!

Big shoutout to Ally King and Dr Linda Yang for being such amazing teachers today, as well as fitting in an urgent surgery on a public holiday.

My passion for rats grows each day, and I'm in an absolutely fantastic environment to develop this knowledge.

And a ratty update - Jericho was a tired boy recovering from surgery this afternoon as seen in the last photos, but he's doing well in his hospital cage this evening ❤️"

I will continue to update everyone on his progress, and hopefully start to use this page about more for educating people about rats and their care in New Zealand ❤️

22/10/2023

We have more babies!

Ibis gave birth to 9 beautiful babies in the early hours of this morning (23 October 2023). It looks like it was quite a tough birth, with some scratches and bruising, so fingers crossed they will be okay 🤞

We are expecting some lovely hoods from this litter, in all dark colours 😊

21/10/2023

We have babies!

These 10 beautiful babies were born on the 16th of October 2023 to A Rats Tail Freya and A Rats Tail Blitz ❤️

These lovely ones were both at Dragonfly Rattery , who is a newly formed rattery in Auckland. This is just a foster litter to get a feel of what it is like to breed, so they have offered to foster this litter to start their line. They will be focusing on the NZ Angora coat and bettering the health and temperament.

We are looking at a mixture of hoods and Berks in a variety of colours (the light ones haven't yet got their markings showing through), with outcrossed fluffy and carrier rats.

We will keep you updated from their page!

In other news, we currently have Scruffians Ibis and Interstellar Eclipse being paired to Scruffians Groot (Ibis is looking really round!), as well as A Rats Tail Ivory to White Rose Raphael. Hopefully we will be seeing some more babies soon ❤️

14/10/2023

Our Halloween collection is now available online! Stock is very limited, so get in while you can!

https://www.aratstail.co.nz/halloween

12/10/2023

Sorry we've been away (Dealing with personal and rat health problems!) but we have something 🎃 SPOOKY🎃 on the horizon. Updates on our rattery plans, boarding and store to come soon.

(Featuring Spooky getting into the Halloween spirit 👻)

24/05/2023

These are the cuties we currently have up for adoption! They are from two different litters (Our lovelies Odin and Fang, and then two sweet rats from Misty's Mischief - Dinah and Gemini) who were all born on the 11th of January ☺️

Please express your interest below in this link or message me directly!
https://forms.gle/PK9BGj3jGhufd4vj9

24/05/2023

A Rat's Tail Now Has Some Rats Up For Adoption! -

We are contacting you as you have put your name down on a waitlist for A Rat's Tail Rattery. We currently have one trio and three pairs of females and one pair of boys from two litters that need to head off to new homes soon, and we would like to offer you the opportunity to adopt them. They will...

18/05/2023

And the winners are.....!

First Prize: Em Noonan
Second Prize: Phoenix Moyer
Third Prize: Catherine Goodfellow
Fourth Prize: Emma Duffy

We will be in touch in the next 24 hours to get addresses for prizes :)

Big thanks to Tomango, Hanzo, Raphael and Odie for drawing the prizes (and eating all the banana chips!) It was the only way we could get them to pull names (with bribes) 🐀

Thanks to everyone as well who came to visit our stall and supported us this year - We will see you all next year!

Love from all the NZ Registered Rat Breeders

18/05/2023

Our raffle is being drawn at 5:00pm tonight! Keep an eye out for our winners on Facebook! If you wanted to do a last minute entry, it is $10 for one of these cute cards made by our rats, and can be posted to you ☺️ Message me ASAP if you wanted to get in the draw!

12/05/2023

So very excited to be meeting these girls from Interstellar Rattery tomorrow! Can't wait to introduce Eclipse and Dahlia ❤️

And they’re off 👋🏻

Eloise & Dratini are off to White Rose Rattery and Eclipse & Dahlia are off to A Rat's Tail 🥹

They’re the best girls & are gonna live their best life at their new home!

The ladies are travelling via Swift Small Animal Courier who are absolutely amazing to deal with.

02/05/2023

I'm so sorry on the delay with communicating to people about adoptions and orders - With the prepping and recovery from pet expo, it's just taken a lot of my energy and so I have been struggling a bit. But I'm going to actively try to get back to everyone today and send out all orders ☺️

The last couple of days have been tough as well, we've lost a couple of our rats due to old age (Chowder, Crumpet and Macadamia), and we've had Zuko go in for a surgery on Monday to have his eye removed. He is now in a cone of shame (as seen below 😂) but is recovering well so far!

29/04/2023

Thanks to everyone who visited our stall yesterday at the Auckland Pet Expo! We will be here again today from 10am - 5pm! Don't forget we also have a raffle running! Buy one of our $10 cards made my our rats to be in to win prizes! Send us a message if you would like to enter ☺️

16/04/2023

FOSTER ADOPTIONS:

We have two pairs of older rats who are up for adoption to find their forever homes. These rats have found their way back to us as situations and circumstances have changed, and are therefore looking for a new family to join. Since these rats are older, they will have a lower adoption rate ($60 per pair instead of the usual $90 per pair) which will still include an adoption pack as per normal. Please message us directly if you are interested in adopting any of these boys, or you can respond to our adoption email going out shortly as well.

PAIRS AVAILABLE:

** Merlin (Black berkshire) & Frisbee (Cinnamon berkshire) **
Although not brothers, Merlin and Frisbee are a bonded pair who love to snuggle up together. Frisbee is the more confident of the two, while Merlin is quiter, but still enjoys cuddles. Frisbee was born on the 1st of January 2022 at Winnie's Rattery, while Merlin was born a bit later on the 15th of March 2022 at A Rat's Tail. Due to their slightly older age, these boys are a lot more cuddly and calm rather than playful. They would be perfect for a household with kids, or one that may prefer calmer rats. I would recommend against adopting these rats if you already have other older rats, unless you are willing to spend some time doing intros and / or potentially house them seperately.

** Efreeti (Black Hood) & Ginger (Argente Self) **
While not sisters, this bonded pair are a lot more playful than the boys mentioned above. Efreeti was born on the 7th of May 2022, while Ginger was born on the 12th of July 2022. They are somewhat opposites, with Ginger being a fluffy girl with a cuddlier fluffy line personality. They have stayed with us for a month or so to ensure that they have no health or temperament issues. These girls are currently housed with our younger rats who will be going up for adoption soon, so they will be easily be able to integrate into your current mischief, or can go home with a pair of younger girls if you wanted to start your mischief off a bit bigger!

Please note that none of these rats are currently desexed.

If you are interested in adopting any of these rats, please send us a message directly! We will update this post if rats are pending homes :)

15/04/2023

**AUCKLAND PET EXPO**

We will be at the Auckland Pet Expo this year alongside some of the other NZ Registered Rat Breeders to show the world how amazing rats are! We will be bringing along some of our boys and girls for everyone to meet, and we will also be there to answer any and all questions you might have about owning rats or about us!

While we will not be doing adoptions on the day (We want to make sure everyone is 100% prepared for rats before adopting), we will have a stall with our fan favourites for you to buy, as well as some new release items that haven't been available on our website yet (such as snuggle scarves, enrichment puzzles, ledges and so forth!) We will only be taking cash and bank transfer though!

We hope to see you all on the day! :)