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Parsnip Pottery

~ Parsnip Pottery, Rattycorner and Doodle Artist all in one happy package.

Parsnip Pottery

Category Archives: rats

Pet rats

I love rats, I do!

16 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in books, digital art, drawing, pet rats, pets, rats

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digital art, pet rats, pets

That’s the title of my new book. The phrase is something of a family joke, because many years ago, whilst running a ratabilia stall at a local rat show, there was a small girl with an enormous pet rat who repeatedly came up to us to say ‘I love rats, I do’. Ever since then, whenever the rats have done something particularly cute, silly or gross, we’ve come out with the phrase.

ilrbook2

I knew that this book should be a children’s book, but it’s taken me a very long time to put it together. First of all, it needed pictures, so I bought some graphics software and a graphics tablet to plug into my pc, and set about learning to draw. Well as I’ve said on here before, it turns out that the best way around my colour-blindness is to draw directly onto the photographs. Smudge painting. Even cheating like that, it’s taken me several months to gather the right photos and turn them into images that work with the book and that feel good enough to inflict on the public. Then there was the text. It took a couple of false starts to begin moulding it into something I felt right about. Somehow I hit upon a look and a style that suited the topic, and off I went. It felt as if the images were taking forever to produce, and then suddenly they were all finished and it was just the text that needed a final polish. The typeface was a particularly happy find. It’s opendyslexic alta, which is very easy to read and suited the style of the book beautifully.

So now I’m watching the first few purchases and waiting to see how the reviews go, if any come along.

Time to start work on the next book, I guess.

Happy 14th Birthday to The Midlands Rat Club

11 Thursday Jun 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rat show, rats

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pet rats, pets

We went to our local rat show last Sunday. It was the club’s 14th birthday, and I’ve been going to the shows almost from the beginning. The Midlands Rat Club is a very pet oriented and family friendly club, but we do enjoy showing our rats as well.

It’s taken me a few days to arrange all the photos for the club website, but I think they’re all in now. I’ve also put together a video of the show.

Baby steps

29 Sunday Mar 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in dogs, pet rats, pets, rats

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baby rats, pet rats, pets

I’ve been a little busy with some new babies for the past couple of weeks. Here’s the latest video.

Xandy’s babies are growing up

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rats

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We split Xandy’s baby boys from Xandy and her baby daughter Crystal Tips earlier this week. It was so sad to see little Crystal Tips left on her own with mum, but she’s such a confident little rat it didn’t seem to worry her much. Yesterday the rest of Xandy’s group joined them both in the small cage, as they seem to accept little Crystal while they’re in her and Xandy’s cage but don’t like the little one being in their cage. I’m hoping that they will bond with her over the next few days so I can move them all back into the larger cage as a group.

The baby boys are featuring on my webcam at the moment, in a cage that is rarely still. They are not quite as fearless as their sister, and I was worried about one little boy that we nicknamed ‘Captain Squeaky’, because he seemed overly nervous. I think it was just that chance had it that he didn’t get handled quite as much to begin with, so he hung back and set up a positive feedback loop where he continued not to be handled. Now we’ve realised and are making an effort to include him he is just as brave as the other boys, albeit still a little squeaky at times.

We have two weeks left before three of the baby boys leave for their new pet home. It’s going to be very difficult to decide who will go and who will stay.

The litter page is here, but needs more photos adding.

A great day out

09 Monday Feb 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rat show, rats

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Saturday was the day of the latest Midlands Rat Club show, so we were up at six to get ready and pick up my friend for the drive up to Long Eaton. There was a film crew there making a natural history programme about the pests that live in our houses, using the rat show as a counterpoint to their filming about wild animals. We’re just hoping they are kind to us! http://www.midlandsratclub.org/shows/2015/02sawley/photos.shtml

I took four girls to enter into the show and six boys for the filming. The boys didn’t get to do that much as they were overwhelmed by the noise of the show, although Bailiwick did star in the spot they filmed about the agility course.

Adeline was my little star as she came fourth in the show. I’m really pleased by that as I am planning to breed from her later in the year and it’s good to have confirmation that I’ve chosen a good rat to breed from. The best bit came at the very end, when Claire from Black Lupin Rats did really well taking Best in Show, Reserve Best in Show and Stud Buck, so she’s now half way to gaining her stud name. Go Claire!

The programme will be out sometime in the Spring, so we’re all looking out for it.

Getting ready

06 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rat show, rats

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digital art, pet rats, pets

trentfullsize

I got around to updating my Deviant Art gallery today, which is probably a good thing but I’m supposed to be doing other stuff really. Like getting ready for the show tomorrow. I’m down to four entries now, so not too much stress on the rat side but I need to get set up to do a ratty photo shoot as well. The Sawley hall is a great venue, there’s always a real buzz there. It’s gonna be good! Bounces away…

It’s going to be a good show!

04 Wednesday Feb 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rat show, rats

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We’re getting ourselves ready for a Midlands Rat Club show on Saturday. Our entries are in, just six sets of nails to clip and six tails to clean. It feels like forever since the December show. I need to remember to pick up some new hammocks and buy some Science Selective nuggets to add to our rat mix. The day always passes so quickly it’s easy to forget things.

The show’s in Sawley, Long Eaton, near Nottingham, so about an hour and twenty minutes from home including a detour to pick up a friend. I’m hoping it doesn’t snow!

Rexy gorgeousness

25 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rats

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pet rats, pets

bootsdrawing

Rex rats are so fantastic to draw, especially Unanimous Boots here, whose whiskers are even wilder than most. I do feel sorry for them sometimes, the way their own whiskers poke them in the eye or tickle their nose. I know their brains can re-map the whisker input to make sense of the chaotic randomness, but it must be more challenging to interpret the signals.

Agouti and black

23 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in digital art, pet rats, pets, rats

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baby rats, pet rats, pets

sparrowdrawing

It’s so good to have a litter of agouti babies. I love the way their coat is made of so many different colours. The drawing above is of Sparrow, an agouti doe, but adult bucks show the colour off fantastically well too. The little black babies are blacker than black, gorgeously shiny and smooth, so I’m hoping they don’t start to silver too soon.

This is a video of the babies yesterday at 15 days old. I’ve got them on my webcam at the moment too.

I love the little yips they make. It makes me wonder if the sound were slowed right down whether it would sound like little puppies yapping.

Wonderful baby rats

18 Sunday Jan 2015

Posted by parsnippottery in pet rats, pets, rats

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These babies are enormous! I’ve weighed each litter at ten days old, and these are the biggest babies we’ve made here at Brandywine Rats. They averaged 31 grams each yesterday at their ten day weigh-in.

They aren’t making life as easy as I had thought though. There are actually six males and one female in the litter. I probably ought to home out some of the males, but I so want to keep them all. I do have an incredible feeling that this litter is something really special. I’m on the lookout for a lone rescue doe kitten to keep the little girly company too, as although she’ll have her mum for company it’s not the same as another kitten to play with.

Little girl is agouti and the boys are four agouti and two black, so I was wrong on the colour too. At least I got the ears right, all top-ears!rats7

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