Dangerous Plants.

8:35 PM Posted In Edit This
Below is information on dangerous plants and a list of plants that are dangerous to rats and animals

* Please disregard the "Printable Version" and "E mail to a friend (only for website this info came from)


The following plants are all dangerous to some degree. Some, like oleander and Dieffenbachia (dumb cane) can cause death almost instantly. Others may cause only a mild reaction, but it is still best to remove them from any areas where they would be in contact with your pet.

This is not a complete list, so if you are in any doubt about the safety of plants that you have, please contact your veterinarian or the poison control center. The ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center hotline numbers are as follows:

  • 1-900-443-0000 ($55.00 per case). The charge is billed directly to the caller's phone.

  • 1-888-4ANI-HELP or 1-888-426-4435 ($55.00 per case). The charge is billed to caller's credit card only.

Plants dangerous for small animals:

Air plant
Amanita
Amaryllis
American yew
Andromeda
Arum lily
Autumn crocus
Australian flame tree
Avocado
Azalea
Balsam pear
Baneberry
Bird of paradise
Bishop's weed
Black laurel
Black locust
Bloodroot
Bluebonnet
Blue-green algae
Boxwood
Bracken fern
Broad beans
Broomcorn grass
Buckeye
Buckthorn
Bulb flowers
Burdock
Buttercup
Cacao
Caladium
Calla lily
Camel bush
Candelabra tree
Cardinal
Castor Bean
Chalice vine
Cherry tree
Chinaberry tree
Christmas candle
Clematis
Cocklebur
Coffee
Coffee bean
Coral plant
Coriander
Corncockle
Cotton bush
Cowslip
Coyotillo
Crown of thorns
Cutleaf
Daffodil
Daphne
Datura
Deadly amanita
Death camus
Delphinium
Devil's ivy
Dieffenbachia
Dutchman's breeches
Eggplant
Elderberry
Elephant's ear
English ivy
English yew
Ergot
Eucalyptus
Euonymus
False hellebore
False henbane
Flame tree
Felt plant
Firethorn
Four o'clock
Foxglove
Ghostweed
Glottidium
Golden chain
Ground cherry
Johnson grass
Heliotrope
Hemlock
Henbane
Holly
Honeysuckle
Horse bean
Horse chestnut
Horsetail
Hyacinth
Hydrangea
Indian licorice
Indian turnip
Inkberry
Iris
Jack-in-the-pulpit
Java bean
Lima bean
Jasmine
Jerusalem cherry
Jimsonweed
Juniper
Kentucky coffee tree
Lantana
Larkspur
Laurel
Leucotho
Lily-of-the-valley
Lima bean
Lobelia
Locoweed
Lords and ladies
Lupine
Malanga
Mandrake
Marijuana
Maternity plant
Mayapple
Meadow saffron
Mescal bean
Mexican breadfruit
Mexican poppy
Milk vetch
Milkweed
Mistletoe
Mock orange
Monkshood
Moonseed
Morning glory
Mountain laurel
Mushrooms
Narcissus
Navy bean
Nettles
Nightshades
Oak
Oleander
Panda plant
Parsley
Peires
Pencil tree
Periwinkle
Philodendrons
Pigweed
Pikeweed
Poinciana
Poinsettia
Poison ivy
Poison oak
Pokeweed
Potato
Precatory
Privet
Pyracantha
Rain tree
Ranunculus
Rape
Rattlebox
Rattlebush
Red maple
Rhubarb
Rhododendrons
Rosary peas
Sandbox tree
Scarlet runner
Skunk cabbage
Snowdrop
Snow on the mountain
Sorghum grass
Sorrel
Spindle tree
Spurges
Sudan grass
Sweet pea
Tansy ragwort
Tobacco
Thornapple
Vetch
Virginia bower
Virginia creeper
Wattle
White cedar
Wisteria
Yam bean
Yews
Yellow jasmine
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Physiological Facts.

8:11 PM Posted In Edit This
I got this from the AFRMA (afrma.org)


Average life span 1000 days (2-3 years)
Body Length 9-11
Tail length in inches 7-9
Weight in ounces 10-19
Temperature 99.5-100.8
Respiratory rate Average 100/minute
Heart Rate Average 375/Minute
Amount food eaten 15-20 grams
Water consumption 1 Oz (although I've heard it is 2 Oz)
Fecal output 10-13 grams
urine output 11-15 mil
Adult males weight 450-650 grams
Adult female weight 350-450 grams
Ideal room temp 65-70 F
Ideal room humidity 45-65%
Cage cleaning Twice weekly (although this varies depending
on how many rats are in a cage
Keep males together Yes (however... occasionally you'll get a few males who
don't get along
Males musky odor no (But some males can have a musky odor but it is rare
Good and Water
requirments Always availabe

2 more great rat photo's.

5:56 PM Posted In Edit This


This rat in this set of photo's look so much like one of my first rats Olivia. Olivia is long gone. I rescued her and her sister Ripley from a nasty pet store.

Are you looking at me?

5:49 PM Posted In Edit This

Another great rat photo:

Hiding.

5:39 PM Edit This

Great Photo

Rat Facts of the Day

10:36 AM Posted In Edit This
Rat Facts 12-17

12. The average body length of a rat is 9-11 inches, the tail is 7-9 inches. If you include
the tail, the average length is 16-20 inches.

13. Teddy Roosevelt had pet rats in the White House

14. Rats teeth are strong enough to gnaw through wood, bone, lead piping,
brick, concrete and metal.

15. Rats have been sent into space, aboard, American, Chinese and Russian spacecrafts

16. Most rats are right handed.

Rat species of the day- Kangaroo Rat

10:33 AM Posted In Edit This

Kangaroo rats


Genus Dipodomys, are small rodents native to North America. The name derives from their bipedal form: they hop like tiny kangaroos.

Twenty-two species are currently recognized. Their size varies from 100 to 200 mm, with a tail of equal or slightly greater length; weight can be anywhere between 35 and 180 grams. The most distinctive feature of the kangaroo rats is their very long hind legs.

Like the jerboas of African and Asian deserts and the hopping mice of outback Australia, kangaroo rats have highly developed hind legs, live in deep burrows that shelter them from the worst of the desert heat, and rarely drink water. Instead, they have a highly water-efficient metabolism (their kidneys are at least four times more efficient at retaining water and excreting salt than those of humans) and manufacture water through a metabolic process called oxidative phosphorylation. Despite sharing so many characteristics with jerboas and hopping mice, the three groups are not closely related to one another: the similarities are the result of convergent evolution.

Kangaroo rats are found in arid and semi-arid areas of Canada, the United StatesMexico that retain some grass or other vegetation. Their diet includes seeds, leaves, stems, buds, some fruit, and insects. Most kangaroo rat species use their burrows and buried caches nearby to store food against the possibility of bad seasons. The Banner-tailed Kangaroo Rat has been recorded making burrows with several storage chambers up to 25 cm in diameter each, and containing almost six kilograms of stored food. and

Unlike the jerboas and hopping mice, but like their close relatives the pocket mice, kangaroo rats have large cheek pouches that open on either side of the mouth and extend back to the shoulders. They fill the pouches with food or nesting material ready for transport back to the burrow, then empty them by turning them inside out, like pockets, with their forepaws. There is a special muscle that, once the pouch is empty and clean, pulls it back in again.

The overall color of the kangaroo rats can be anywhere between pale, sandy yellow, and dark brown, with a white underside and often with white banding across the thighs. Tails tend to be dark with white sides and a tuft of longer hairs. Facial markings vary from one species to another, but all have an oil gland between the shoulders.

One special feature of the kangaroo rat is the animal's efficient kidneys. The kangaroo rat has a longer loop of Henle in the nephrons which permit a greater magnitude of countercurrent multiplication and thus a larger medullary vertical osmotic gradient. As a result, these rodents can produce urine that is concentrated up to an osmolarity of almost 6,000 mosm/liter, which is five times more concentrated than maximally concentrated human urine at 1,200 mosm/liter. Because of this tremendous concentration ability, kangaroo rats never have to drink; the H2O produced metabolically within their cells during oxidation of foodstuff (food plus O2 yields CO2 + H2O + energy) is sufficient for their body. Kangaroo rats lose so little water that they can recover 90% of the loss by using metabolic water gaining the remaining 10% from the small amount of water in their diet. Kangaroo rats lose water mainly by evaporation during gas exchange and gain water mainly from cellular metabolism.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Subclass: Eutheria
Order: Rodentia
Family: Heteromyidae
Genus: Dipodomys