Welcome to PRRR - Perth Rat Rescue & Rehab - Forum. Click here to register
Some things have come to my attention lately that I feel I need to explain to the PRRR community as people seem to be confused or do not understand how we work. This is not directed at anyone specifically, but it is something that needs to be cleared up so that we can keep doing what we do.
Some of you have been here for just about as long as the forum has been running so you will all have a greater understanding of what we do, how we do it and what we need for it to continue. I thank everyone for their support so far of us and our rescues.
In the recent months we have had quite a few new people register with the forum and for that I am grateful, however it is now becoming very clear that we are being used as a way for people to rehome their unwanted rats be it from unplanned oops litter, pregnant females when purchased or due to a change in family situations. I understand that when we find ourselves in a situation that we had not planned for we all need assistance but you all need to understand where people only coming to the forum for rehoming their animals can become a very big financial burden on us as well as possibly taking homes from animals that have found their way here, the whole reason that PRRR exists. If I hope to continue doing rescue work then I need to make some things clear for everyone about how we do what we do so that you can all understand that this job is not an easy thing to do financially, emotionally or physically.
As the owner of PRRR I need to have fairly clear boundaries about how many animals I can care for at any given time and not go past that. Unfortunately with this large rescue we did recently I went past those boundaries with the hopes that I would be able to rehome the majority of these babies to good homes within the forum community as well as through places like Pet Rescue. It was during this time that we have had a few oops litters appear on the forum and people are openly advertising babies knowing that PRRR is also looking for homes. As a rescue we accept animals that we have room for and try to rehomes them, if we cannot rehome them then they live the rest of their lives in our care however what people do not seem to realize is that we are now at a point of NOT being able to accept any other rescues until we at least rehome these remaining 12 babies that are here waiting. Should all 12 not be rehomed soon then the chances of them ever finding homes outside of PRRR is slim as people do not want rats older than 8 weeks normally. In the big scheme of things what this means for PRRR is that for the lifetime of these rats we will not be able to help any other rats. As you should all be aware these animals could be with us for another 3 years which means 3 years before we can rescue anyone else.
In the event that we have no rescues to rehome or our numbers are low then we may allow advertising of “homes needed” for rats that are not within our care but we have to make sure that we do everything possible to find permanent homes for those animals that have come here on a temporary basis. Legally, any animal that is not rehabilitated or rehomed within 3 months should be destroyed but what we have done up to this point is adopt those animals ourselves so they can live their full live out but we can no longer do this due to already having 22 rats that we have “saved” from this fate. PRRR forum was set up as a place for people to get together and chat about the care of pet rats and for aiding US (PRRR) in finding good, responsible, loving homes for our rescues not as a free advertising porthole for anyone who has unwanted rats. If we allow this free advertising it becomes detrimental to our cause because of the costs associated with operating the forum, rescue itself and the cost to the rats in our care waiting to be rehomed.
At this point I am very concerned about the fate of the rescues in our care as I have very little help offered to me with handling, cleaning etc so not only do these rescues get limited socialization time but my own fur babies and family also have to go without my attention.
I would also like to mention that ALL of our sponsors pay a fee to be a sponsor be it financial assistance, donations of goods or other things. We charge fees for this because it costs a lot per year to keep this rescue running, it costs us personally as PRRR doesn’t make enough money to cover everything. We also charge a surrender fee and adoption fees to help cover these costs so allowing people to rehome through PRRR actually takes money away from supporting the rescue.
The same things apply for anyone breeding unless they clear advertising with us. If you’re a breeder then I do not have an issue with you being part of forum as someone who is willing to offer help when someone needs some help or you asking for help but any talk of wanting/needing homes will be frowned upon as we do not support breeding unless it has been proven that you are doing it for the right reasons and not just the fun of breeding. In saying this, anyone wanting to find homes for their rats be it bred personally or accidentally, please do NOT offer them free to good home anywhere. Advertising this way is a sure fire way to find every snake feeder on the planet, free is what they seek out for their snakes and some people hide this fact well. We had a case of a whole litter nearly going to someone for food, please do not allow this to happen to your fur babies.
PRRR is not cheap to run, just to give you an idea of what it costs us here are some average costs :
Vet charges can range from $20.00 up to $300.00 depending on what ailment the animals has.
Food for a fortnight is around $60.00 if not more. Most of the dry mix I personally pay for so that PRRR has money to cover vet bills.
Just to run the forum for PRRR costs a lot out of our own pocket (talking hundreds here). Without the forum we would not have rehomed or educated as many people. The forum is a “tool” that we use to help us continue doing what we do.
Basically it all comes down to the fact that this forum is here for PRRR to rehome our animals. If you are a breeder and wish to advertise your available litters then you need to expect a charge to occur for this because the forum is not a FREE forum, we pay for every bit of it.
As well as this please do NOT use the PM to sneak behind our backs to find homes for your animals. The PM system is for users to talk off the main forum about issues they are having etc not for your personal sales. If we find out that business transactions are occurring in this way we WILL ban all PM’s from being allowed.
I am sorry if I have offended anyone with this information. It is very disheartening to know that we are trying to find homes for the rats here (and doing it at a cost to ourselves) and people are taking advantage of our service and using it to their own advantage. I am not willing or financially able to support the world and all their unwanted babies, please PM me if you have any rats that need rehoming before posting “homes wanted” on the forum.
From now on any posts that I feel cross the line will be removed without warning or reason.
There is no room for debate here people. Anyone who wishes to use PRRR for advertising purposes will need to speak to us about sponsor fees.
Thankyou for your support and understanding on this matter
Aimee and Quentin.
And I can help with cleaning, washing and handling if you want. Just pm me when needed 
Am hoping will be able to help out more soon 
