# Frustration in a world of rats (semi-rant)



## Akiko (Oct 10, 2007)

Okay, I'm really getting annoyed. I'm 17 years old, I should definately have a job or at least a liscence by now, but I don't, and I can't find any babysitting work during the school year, so I rely on my parents to give me money to take care of the ratties.
That isn't really the exact problem. My cage is big enough for two rats, and they have enough toys and stuff BUT there lives are so short, I want to spoil them @[email protected]
Make them super happy, ya know? Like more tunnels and play toys and a bigger cage so I can add in the wheel without its swallowing everything and they can have plenty of space in their home to run around while I'm at school or asleep and can't have them out!
v.v But my parents are all "no! grrrr!"
Very frustrating... okay, I'm done now....


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## AustinXAPMX3 (Oct 23, 2007)

Haha im confused whats your point? No money??


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

we've all been there. we want to get more for them but don't have the means to do it right away. you should check out the finding money sticky-there's a lot of ideas there to getting money. 

but when i was in a situation like this i got an old can and took every penny and loose change that i found or was offered. most people don't even keep their pennies but it doesn't take much to save up with them. in between two cans i have now i probably have close to $100 if not over in change alone. 

you'll also want to shop around. i've found that ferret.com prices can't be beat for toys. cages are about the same price there. and of course yard sales and discount stores are always a blessing. i found great little toys there all under $2 each. and if its that small a price your parents probably won't mind buying it. you just need to keep your eye and mind open to the possibilities.


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## AustinXAPMX3 (Oct 23, 2007)

Dollar stores are great because everything is one dollar $$$ lol
Dollar stores have some things that you can find that will be great as toys for your rats.  Hope we helped

Ive collected change too it really works.

I will check out that sticky too. Even tho im only 13 i need money too you know! lol :lol:


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## madeittothemoon (Nov 1, 2007)

http://fancy-rats.co.uk/information/guides.php?subject=rattoysjunk

That website has lots of ideas for how to make toys for rats... maybe that will help?


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## Nightfallspy (Nov 5, 2007)

Just something simple can be a party, If not change collecting and babysitting neighbors or siblings work for me, about 20$ a week, I'm 13... And thats good at least I think, you can buy things from cheap stores that rats will love!


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## AustinXAPMX3 (Oct 23, 2007)

Ya Nightfallspy im 13 too. I cant believe another person is 13 here too 

13 Pride lol


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## AustinXAPMX3 (Oct 23, 2007)

This is also a great site 
http://www.dapper.com.au/toys.htm


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## Akiko (Oct 10, 2007)

Yeah, it was basically (as the title implies) just me ranting becuase it starts to annoy me lol but im happy to get advice now and I'll check out those sites.


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## AustinXAPMX3 (Oct 23, 2007)

Oh ha ha well ok. Good luck


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## A1APassion (Jul 29, 2007)

just keep this in mind... you can have all the money in the world & it will never buy the one thing your rats most want

Your attention & love

The wheel is great, if it won't fit in the cage then let the run on it when they are out during their free-roam time. 

Rats are most awake & active first thing in the morning & then again at night. They pretty much sleep all day if there is no in/out traffic in the room & they are up & ready for action right after dinner time.

rats are into the whole toy thing unless you are interacting with them & incorporating the toy. If you place it in the cage, they will pretty much ignore it.


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## jellybeanqueen (Sep 6, 2007)

i know how you feel.
i'm 16, and jobless, which basically equals penniless, but of my own choosing. i want to focus on school right now. i can't juggle a job, school, house work, social time, and ratties all at once. -i suck at multitasking-
christmas is coming soon though, so i'll probably be getting a nice sum to last my ratty care fund until summer when i'll be working for the first time ever.
-shudder-
xD
until i'm rich, hurray for cheap toys like toilet paper rolls, tissues, boxes, and little stuffed animals that my ratties enjoy killing! ;D


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## yashu (Sep 14, 2007)

Wheels are over rated... just play with your rats as much as you can. As long as they have food, water, and a halfway decent cage, the time they spend outside with you is always going to be better than anything you can give them with respect to toys. 

Lot of young people on here... are you able to adjust your school schedule for an after school job? When I was 15/16, I was able to take an advanced schedule so I only had to go to classes half the day, and so I was much more able to work part time after school when I could leave school at 11:30am. Many schools also offer a program that will give you credits for working, allowing you to leave early but still get credit, depending on the job. Baby-sitting is not exactly a big money maker...


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## dimlights (Oct 26, 2007)

I've had a job since I was 12 to support my (rather expensive) horse habit. *shrug* Sometimes you gotta make sacrifices for your passion.


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## Akiko (Oct 10, 2007)

I could get a job with my schedule the way it is, but up until recently my mom was working and I couldnt drive so I needed my mom for rides, and I'm very picky about where I want to work. They're putting in a petsmart near by though so when they finished I may try to work there.
I had only babysat during the summer and actually it was a fairly decent source of money, because I worked at least twice most weeks, from 8/9 AM to 5 PM and got 7 dollars an hour.
The down side of that was that I was babysitting the brattiest two kids you will ever meet. I LOVE little kids (just ask Vixie, I hang out with her sister a little bit every time I go over there) but these kids wouldn't listen to me or their mother, no matter what, and they NEVER stopped eating.
PLUS, their mother wanted me to run around and play outside with them (in the heat of a Louisiana summer) every day, for the entire duration of my watching them, and one of the kids would never play.
Add to that the fact that I have asthma (which I never told them about) and can hardly run down a street without passing out, and you can see why I didn't like that particular job, but I stuck with it the entire summer.
So... yeah, Im not unwilling to work. I wouldn't at all mind having SOMETHING to do in the afternoon (other than playing with the ratties) I just haven't entirely had the opportunity that I do now.
So yeah, Im going to start applying to places soon and take driving lessons as soon as I can get into a class.


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## jellybeanqueen (Sep 6, 2007)

i thought about working at a pet store, but i would be worried about the pet store rats having ilnesses that i could transmit to my own furballs at home. =/


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## rat_ratscal (Sep 23, 2007)

i have to pay for EVERYTHING myself, food, water bottles, wheels, bedding, toys, vet etc and i just turned 12! i only get $20 a month to pay for all this! (usually in chunks, so i get some of it when i need it, or after ive spent alot of money) and oh how badly i want a ferret nation.....plus i dont have a job


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## yashu (Sep 14, 2007)

You should be shooting for more than minimum wage jobs here... If you live in the USA, you NEED a skill, and you NEED to work in the business world if you are going to earn enough money to get above the poverty line. I don't want to sound like a parent, but right now you should be spending all your free time learning a skill that you enjoy and trying to figure out how to use it in the business world. Minimum wage is not enough money to live on, even for one person, without making MAJOR sacrifices.

Petsmart is just a minimum wage retail type job... you need to aim higher, unless you already have another source of income (husband/BF, ect)

Also, the better the job, the more skills you have, the more you can save, for when bad stuff happens. When you have a skill that is in demand, you have a really good chance at finding another job if you get laid off (and in fact, sometimes one of the best ways to get a raise, is to get laid off, and then work for another company for a while, and then be begged to come back to the original one at 25% higher pay... ) Having a skill that is in demand is not even something you need to go to college for. There are so many things that can be self taught.

I know you like animals... but shoot higher than petsmart retail employee.

/grumpy old man


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## glindella (Sep 9, 2007)

:whisper: hey yashu, Jellybeanqueen is 16, and rat_ratscal is 12. 

Im 19 and working a wage job through college. Not finding a trade at that young an age does not doom you to poverty. I started of working in a barn cleaning stalls at 14, worked in a drugstore photo lab for my junior and senior year in high school, right now I work in a pet store. I do not have time to have a *real* job and go to school full time


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## Akiko (Oct 10, 2007)

Yeah, I know Petsmart isnt a permanent job, but I'm 17 without a car and have to find something near by. I want, above all else, to be a novelist. And yes, I know that's not something I can do by itself, so I also want to go to school to be a vet or possibly get a teaching degree in American History.
So, I'm not trying to have a job like Petsmart all my life, but I haven't been through college and I'm no where near finished with anything I'm writing, so I don't have much of a choice here.


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