# Trusting others in regards to pet sitting



## Basiltheplant (Jan 2, 2017)

On Thursday, I informed my aunt and uncle that I would be away for one night from friday night until my return home Saturday night, and I needed them to care for my rat's. Literally only needed them to be fed and the one to be weighed. 
If some of you have read any of my other posts, you will know that one of my rat's is a rescue who has some health concerns. And is currently alone due to a quarantine period and needing to be neutered. 
I left very specific instructions for the care of all my rat's. 
Nothing insane. Just the amount each of the two cages get, the time they are to be fed, and to turn on the lights in my room in the morning. 
For Mew the amount of hard food he gets is very exact so that I can better keep track of how much he is eating. So to make it easier on my aunt and uncle, I premeasured his food and sealed it in plastic snack bags right outside his cage. And mentioned this in the instructions I left.
I got a text this morning from my uncle, first referring to Mew by a different name, one that I have adamantly told them not to call him because it's not his name.
And second telling me that he couldn't weigh him. "When I put him on the scale he just jumps off." I had said in the instructions to hold him gently by the scruff to keep him still enough to weigh him. 
So the three things I asked to do. 
1. Feed my rats
This was not done. This morning, yes. He was fed. Last night, definitely not. There was still one of the premeasured bags left in front of the mews cage. Which I assume if he didn't get fed, neither did my girls.
2. Turn the lights in my room on in the morning
I got home and all the lights were off. So this wasn't done either.
3. Weigh mew
As forementioned, this was not done.

This makes me feel very insecure about going out again. I have, what I feel to be, solid evidence that my rat's weren't cared for literally the one night I asked them to.
And for Mew, he has health concerns. To not care for him properly and not feed him could have been disastrous.

I have been out overnight before. However this was my first social event that I was out overnight for. The two other times were both due to house sitting and babysitting for extended family members.

I am now afraid to try and have a social life knowing that when I go out my babies aren't being cared for.


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## Basiltheplant (Jan 2, 2017)

Update.
I just weighed Mew and he currently weighs 327 grams. When I weighed him yesterday morning, he weighed 368 grams.


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## moonkissed (Dec 26, 2011)

I don't think I would be able to trust anyone else with my pets lol I don't even really trust my husband to do stuff right, i might be a control freak though 

If you are going out for just a day/overnight, I wouldn't really ask anyone to do anything other then look and make sure everyone is ok. They should be fine for a day or even two on their own.
Before I moved on holidays and such we would drive down several hours away to stay the night at my in laws and leave the rats. Everyone was always fine 

Just give them extra food to make up for the time gone. All my rats have a full dish 24/7. They won't die if they miss out on fresh food for a meal. 

Always have atleast two water bottles per cage, if you are leaving for the night adding a third may be a good idea depending on how many rats you have/how much water they go through.

The rats don't need the lights on, infact I just learned that keeping the lights off is better for them. 

To weigh them I would suggest using a basket/bowl. Put it on the scale and use the tare function, then put the rat in the bowl. If your scale doesnt have a tare function just write down the weight of the bowl then subtract it 
Scruffing you are unlikely to get an accurate weight.


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## Kelsbels (Aug 12, 2015)

Sorry that they seem to not have done their sitting correctly.  It's hard trusting others with your babies, however there might come another time when you might need another sitter. I'd suggest not using them again, and find someone else.


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## anilec (May 2, 2016)

That sucks  Hope your little guy is alright, with pets it really makes it hard to leave anywhere for longer than a night or two. It's a sacrifice that has to be made, more pets = less vacations, but to not be able to trust anyone to even just feed your pets for a night is terrible. I'm lucky in the way that I went to Thailand last summer for three weeks and my dad offered to watch all my animals. That's one dog, a cat, 5 ferrets and 6 rats ontop of his own pets. But I made him a list and he took wonderful care of everyone, even sent pictures. However I don't think I'd ever be able to trust a stranger to take care of my furbabies.


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## LilysPets (Jul 1, 2016)

Similar to MoonKissed, I don't trust anyone with my pets, not even my boyfriend.  

Personally, I never let anyone take care of my pets unless they have experience or an extremely close friend of mine whom I trust for everything. I also let whoever cares for my pets to strictly know if anything is done to my pets that causes harm due to their actions, I WILL call them out on it. I'm also bit of a control freak (One of my ferrets is special needs so he needs meds, strict diet, and feeding schedule) and I do scare off some people because I can be intimidating. LOL I'm okay with that to be honest, because those who put up with me are confident enough in their knowledge and skills that I shouldn't have a problem with them and meet my expectations.

Probably not a good idea to ask your aunt and uncle to care for your ratties again. What I usually do when selecting a pet sitter is ask for references (Not friends or family, but vet or colleagues) and I ask very specific questions to judge their range of experience. I probably sound a bit overboard but I haven't had a single bad pet sitter yet! XD You did everything I do when I leave my pets with someone (Portion out food, instructions, etc).


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## windslav (Jan 10, 2017)

Several months ago I landed in a hospital and my rats were cared for by my grandmother for two weeks.
She would care for them responsibly, of that I am sure, but I've no clue what she was actually doing with them. Especially since she was raised in a village during WW2 and has more experience killing rats than caring for them.
Anyway, when I got out and brought the sad-looking rats home, their attitude changed a lot. They were friendly towards me before, but now they make sure to act grateful whenever I do something good.
At this point I'm not even sure who's the owner here. They're literally trying to condition me to care for them and to act a certain way. Monkeys are the only other animals I know of that do this.


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## Nieve5552 (May 20, 2014)

I think its a little too much to ask of someone (even family members) to care for your animals, especially if they are not very interested in your animals or their health, and if some animals need extra care. I'd personally ask a friend who has rats of their own or find a reliable pet sitter


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