Rat Show with friends

[nancylebov]

This past Saturday, I went to a rat/mouse/ferret show with nellorat and womzilla, with the three of us having dinner with Rebecca Ore the night before. (I had a cheese/sausage/hot pepper thing that might be worth using as a basis for further experimentation.)

It was a major pleasure seeing them--it doesn't happen all that often.

The rat show (also including some guinea pigs and a hedgehog) was fun, though more hours of similar stuff than I quite wanted. It's interesting to see an animal show hobby that's still in the process of development--nellorat said that she didn't know of any rat shows closer to the major city where she lives, and the most expensive rat she'd heard of only cost $35. (Or I could just be wrong about the default state of animal shows--I googled a bit about guppies, and they seem to cost maybe $20 for really nice trios (guppies seem to be usually sold in groups of two females/one male). I couldn't find an easy way to find out what top prize-winners cost. Maybe I've been over-impressed by how much cats, dogs, and koi can cost.)

Isabella looked spectacular in the costume that sarah_ovenall made.

Comments

East is East and West is West

[sturgeonslawyer.livejournal.com]

and never the twain shall meet, so you have to meet the twain yourself, which means getting up early and going to the station.

You observed that "It was a major pleasure seeing [Nellorat and Womzilla]--it doesn't happen all that often." Which immediately made me realize how different we view geography, here in California, from how y'all out in the East do.

From NYC to Philadelphia is, roughly, eighty miles. I have friends who travel farther than that every week to join their regular RPG group.

For those who don't drive (which is feasible in both those cities, as indeed it is in San Francisco) I seem to recall that the Amtrak ride from NY to Philadelphia is about an hour and a half (perhaps Nellorat or Womzilla can chime in on this)? Which I translate as "good reading time" and therefore not wasted...

The point being, geography is just different out here. The drive from here to Los Angeles is about four and a half or five hours. I'm pretty sure I've averaged doing this at least once a year to visit friends down there.

Why is this so different? I'm not sure. I remember when I was a teenager, going from my parents house in the Philadelphia burbs (beautiful downtown Thornbury, to be precise) to my grandparents' in the Bronx was a huge deal - the equivalent of something that I today would, without thinking, do as a day trip.

Nope. I don't get it.......

Re: East is East and West is West

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

Speaking as a Californian who takes public transit: good reading time, yes, but if any one of the buses, trains, etc. you would take to get there and back again doesn't run late, to do anything in the evening you may wind up spending the night, which you may not feel comfortable asking about, or may not have time/inclination for anyway.

[zenlizard]

Hm, rat/mouse/ferret show. Good idea, top feeder animals for the reptiles make top reptiles.

Show guppies

[mouseworks.livejournal.com]

I did a quick google myself and the really serious show guppies go for around $50 a pair or trio. Given that they only live two years and reproduce like...guppies, paying more would be kinda seriously not worth it. Koi manage to live for decades. Show tropical fish prices go seriously up for discus, but none of these guys have the grow-out times of koi, or the longevity.

Pet shows

[celticferret.livejournal.com]

I've been a ferret owner for about 10 yrs. At one point I did the shows. Now I work the club table at the local show and occassionally go to one other show that is about 2 hrs away.

Inspite of having ferrets, I still don't know the crieteria used for judging. never took enough interest. All I really care about is that my ferrets have a good temeperment. Since I take in biters and have 7 polecat hybrids, that's saying something.

Someone said something about feeding one pet to another. Not nice. i use the feeder mice from a local petstore for the mink. I've trid feeder fish, but they only pull them out of the tub and leave them on the floor. I don't see why. The mink will only eat one or two fish.

My ferrets weren't encouraged to hunt as kits. Most of them wouldn't recognize a mouse as food. Maybe a toy, and kill it by accident. Ferrets imprint on food at a young age. It can make them fussy eaters when they are older. It is always best to feed them as much of a variety as you can. Frozen mice and ground up rabbit are both available on the internet.

KG