still a bad blogger :(

Well as usual it's been a long time since I've updated. If anyone reads this blog can you leave me some comments! I think sometimes I just feel like I'm talking to myself here..lol. Comments would be much loved and appreciated so I know someone out there is reading! :D

Not a whole lot going on in my camp. One of my older girls (I hate to call her old cause it's hard to believe she's over a year and a half old now!) has what I think is an abcess next to her vagina. She's had one in the same spot like 3 times now. The first 2 times I was able to clear it up pretty quickly but this time it's REALLY taking a long time to heal. I found an amazing new product that is working really well though! Once I get this thing all cleared up I'm gonna do a review (here and on my channel) because I really believe this stuff is worth it! It's a bit pricey but I believe it's worth the investment! I've seen impressive healing in just the last 4 days.

I've also recently got a couple birds. One is my moms, and one is mine. They aren't a lot of work, but they can be incredibly noisy sometimes! My mom's is really laid back, mine on the other hand...let's just say..he doesn't like me much yet. LOL. Hopefully I can win him over soon though!

Other then that, not much else going on around here. I'm going to a street festival this weekend (if it doesn't rain) and I'm excited for the food! (I LOVE FUNNEL CAKES!) Might be making a trip to Pittsburgh this weekend to meet my boyfriends aunt from out of town- so that should be fun.

That's all for tonight my little rat loving friends! Hope you enjoy tomorrows video and have a great weekend! Love you all! <3

~Nikki~

Dee is making some progress!

Well I can say that Dee has had quite a turn around here in the last couple of days. She's been pretty darn feisty!! Last night I seen her in the cage eating a lab block and went over to watch. One of the babies (I think it was Olivia) was trying to take her lab black and she would NOT let her take it. Now this is common in rats- however to see such an old and sick rat behave this way makes me quite happy. She has also been much more active lately. Tonight I was up playing with all the girls and she actually wanted out for me to hold her and she wanted on my shoulder- something she hasn't done in MONTHS. I obviously I had to carefully help her onto my shoulder, then she crawled down in my arms and let me hold her for a little bit. She also gave me kisses today! Something she hasn't done for several weeks. She also seems to have put on some weight which is fantastic. The damn tumor on her face however is still growing :( Here's a pic I just took tonight:

I

I really, really, really, hate tumors! But for an old lady with HED, chronic URI,  and 2 tumors..she's doing exceptionally well! I'm about to head off of here- but I just wanted to give a quick update!

Daily Boggles

• I'm watching the x-files tonight!
• I watched madagascar 3 last night- it was HILARIOUS! *AFRO CIRCUS!*
• my moms going camping this weekend and my boyfriend is coming this weekend to stay so I'm excited to just relax and watch some movies
• I really need to go to bed earlier..lol 

MORE TUMORS!! :(

UGH...so early last week I discovered that my old girl Dee has yet ANOTHER tumor! This is a new one for me because it is on her face! I have never seen nor heard of a tumor in this location on a rat before. So I headed over to my rat forum that I belong to. They told me that while this is rare, it can happen unfortunately. They said it could also be an abcess on her face rather then a tumor, but I really do believe it is a tumor. It is very hard and is right between her eyes. I will add a pic:

this was taken last week, it is definitely bigger now :(

I will try and get an updated pic very soon so that you all can follow the progression. Her breathing has also worsened unfortunately. Although the last couple of days she seems to have perked up a bit and a little bit of her personality is definitely back. She is such a sweet old lady, and for sure a fighter! I'm going to continue fighting with her until she is no longer comfortable. She doesn't seem to be in any pain from either tumor. She was losing quite a bit of weight, but she seems to have put on a few grams in the last couple days- so that's good. I did a video this past Friday on HED and will be doing a blogpost about it tomorrow possibly.

I really want to get on a regular posting schedule here. I have trouble keeping up with videos sometimes too- but this place is REALLY hard for me to keep up with most of the time. I'm not sure why, I love writing. I think it's mostly because I work during the day, and have a lot to do when I get home- and by nighttime I just want to relax and veg out in front of the tv..lol. I'm not sure how many days I want to try and post, but I definitely should be doing it at least once a week. So I'm going to shoot for once a week general updates, and a corresponding blog post for each video that I make! Hopefully that will get me on the right track! I still need to film a video for this weeks Friday Facts- not sure what I want to do it on yet, but I'm thinking either respiratory infections or aggression - those seem to be the topics I get the most questions on. So I will be thinking about it and deciding what I want to do very soon.

I'm not sure exactly how many people read my blog--but if anyone does--please leave comments!! I feel like I'm talking to myself!! LOL.

Well it's pretty late here so I'm gonna get off here for the night and try and get a good night's sleep for a change! I'll be working on more stuff soon! Love you guys!

XO

Nikki

Daily Boggles

• I totally rented some awesome movies last week. My new favorite movie is Warm Bodies! It's AWESOME! It's a great combination of a horror, love story, and comedy! I highly recommend if you like any of those types of movies! I also rented Madagascar 3--it was pretty awesome too actually (I'm such a kid at heart!)
• Work has been slowing down the last few weeks (which is weird cause this is normally our busy season). It's HARD on the paycheck--I'm really trying to learn how to budget!
• My dog was sick last week too--he had explosive diarrhea--but seems to be doing fine now. That's the second time that's happened (it happened once last year). Dunno if he's eating something he's not supposed to, or had some kind of stomach bug going on.
• I've been watching episodes of Murder She Wrote on netflix...I'm showing my age here..lol. I was a child of the 80's- what can I say!
• I really want to start painting again- I miss it. 

Wow, its been almost 2 months since my last post!! I really need to up my game here! I never think about my blog. I'm finally getting back on a normal filming schedule, now I need to get on a regular schedule for blogging! I do enjoy writing- you'd think I'd keep up with this!

Anyway, enough of that. Nothing too exciting is going on. My poor old lady, Dee is getting so much worse :( Her breathing is really going down hill..poor old lungs are just giving out. Her HED is definitely really advanced now. She an barely get into the litter box because she can't get over the sides, I might see if I can kind of carve a lower section in the front so she has a lower place to get in there. Not that it matters they don't really poop in there, they just go in there and hide food and eat >.< lol.

I got 3 new babies last month and they are SO FREAKING CUTE! I now have 6 ratties and now I remember why it was so much work! 3 times more poop! They're a lot of fun though--constant craziness going on in that cage! Only 1 of the 3 use the wheel, but the others are constantly running up and down through the cage! I originally was only going to get 2, but my boyfriend surprised me with a 3rd (he picked them up for me and brought them to my house). I originally just wanted 2 that I picked out, but the lady at the rescue (who I know) had a little girl who need A LOT of TLC. This poor little girl was very jumpy- didn't want to be held and would rarely come to people (they came from a neglectful situation). She wanted me to take her (she wasn't one of my original choices) because she knew I had the patience and time to really work with her. So I agreed to take her, and gave up one of my original choices. So when my boyfriend got to my house and I opened the carrier I seen not 2, but THREE new furries! I was so excited! I got my original 2 plus the little girl I agreed to take in. They're all wonderful with very different personalities. Little shy girl's name is Claire, she is much more relaxed now she will come over to me, take treats from me and will play with me. She still doesn't care to be picked up, but we're working on that. Cassie is SUPER friendly (she's the one I thought I would have to give up)..she was the first to warm up to me and trust me. She now thinks she owns me and constantly climbs all over me. Olivia is a cute little dumbo girl, she doesn't like to play with me as much as Cassie but she's very friendly. She also enjoys crawling on me and eating my hair!
In short, I love my new girlies, and my other girls (except Dee) are doing well and everyone get's along beautifully!

Other then that, not much going on- I have been working a good bit (until this week, they cut our hours! boo!) So I did get a lot of videos filmed this last weekend so that I can finally get ahead. I filmed 4 Friday Facts, and 2 Quick Tip Tuesdays.. One is already up, and another is going up early in a few hours.

Anyway it is now 3:14 a.m. and I should probably get to bed..lol. I'm going to try and shoot for updating this blog at least once a week. I want to do more, but I want to try and do at least once a week!

Time for sleep!

*Daily Boggles*

• I'm going to see Matchbox Twenty again this weekend!! I'm SO SO SO excited, they are and always will be my favorite band!! <3
• I have an addiction to Sourdough Pretzels..I should probably talk to someone about this..lol
• I got a cute new bathing suit coming in the mail this week! I can't wait to get it so I can go swimming with the boyfriend!
• I've also been obsessed with all things *outer space* related..I've watched almost every documentary/series on netflix..lol

More Tumors!! :,(

Well I've been suspecting for a few weeks now that my old lady Dee has a tumor. I found the lump a while ago and I've been monitoring it. We'll I went to check on her today and she now has 2 lumps next too each other :(. She's got a chronic URI that I don't think would make her a candidate for surgery. She was Sandy's sister so that gives you an estimate on age (around 2.5 now). Also she has HED, so I don't think it would be good for her to have surgery and be dragging around the incision site on the ground :/. Breaks my heart that I've seen so many tumors lately. I went through several rats (both boys and girls) and NEVER had a single tumor, now I'm getting hit with them left and right! *sigh*

To me, this is the hardest part about owning rats, their lifespan is just too short. You spend 2ish amazing years with them and they start to age. Once they start showing signs of aging, I notice it happens fast- almost overnight it seems. After that it just becomes almost like hospice care, just keeping them comfortable and as happy as possible until its their time. Sometimes they will decide, and sometimes you have to make the choice for them--both options suck.

They've also been upping my hours at work (hell on the body, good on the bank account!) and I have to be up at 6 am so I should probably head to bed. Just wanted to give you all a quick update!

Same old..and Prayers to Boston and Texas folks!

As always, I seem to get caught up with life and forget about this blog. I also haven't made any videos for a while- mostly because I've been caught up with everything going on in Boston! I've never been so glued to my t.v. as I have been lately. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone involved in this horrible tragedy, as well as with everyone down in Texas! So much sadness and pointless deaths happening in our country lately :( .

As for the rats- everyone is doing ok. I think Dee has a tumor starting though- go figure! I have had several rats in the past...but this particular group seems to be FULL of tumors :( Makes me sad. Dee's hind end weakness is getting worse- her back feet have started to club a bit- especially when she's just laying around or resting. Breaks my heart to see a rat like that. They're generally such lively creatures (especially girlies) that when you see them struggling to walk--it really saddens my heart.

Tomorrow I'm filming some videos so I have them done-that way I'm not so behind the times! I also was having a lot of issues with my internet- our cable company was out here 3 times in a week- all seems to be better there though- thank god! I was getting so frustrated with how crappy our internet was. It took HOURS and HOURS to upload a video!

But anyway, thats all for now folks- its late and I need to get to bed.

Daily Boggles:

• This crap in Boston makes me so sad- even though I'm not from there and have never been there just seeing everything on t.v. makes my heart ache for those people. Same with the people in Texas--just makes me so sad. My prayers are with those involved.
• I've decided to start reading more again. I miss reading..takes you somewhere new when you need to mentally take a vacation.
• I may be joining a paranormal investigation team in my area- will be really cool to have that kind of experience- especially since it's something that has interested me for a long time!

Im a terrible blogger

Man I'm such a horrible blogger. I never think to update this blog at all, but I'm going to continue to try and remember to work on it though! Life just gets in the way sometimes! Been working, spending time with loved ones, and also been having a lot of issues with my internet. The people came and worked on our internet though and it seems to be working a bit better now- so hopefully that'll continue. On with the rest of the blog though
 
I still miss my girl Sandy a lot, I had such a bond with her while I was taking care of her..that's the thing with sick rats- you form a stronger bond with them because you're constantly caring for them. Dee seems to still be ok..her hind end degeneration seems to be progressing some though. I hate hind end weakness/degeneration it makes them so weak. It isn't painful for her but it just makes them look so old and feeble-more then they actually are I'm sure.

My newest video on youtube is about rats hoarding food and I got some cute video of Pixie stuff food in her face and hiding it..lol...the video will go live tomorrow and I'll post it here then.

I'm gonna head off here for now, but I'm gonna do my best to keep updating!! Thanks for my few readers that I have and please leave me some comments, or even video requests here too! :)