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Welcome to The Nerdy Rat.

A podcast about pet rats and the nerds who love them. Your hosts Liz and Matt have been fostering rats for Small Angels Rescue since 2013. Small Angels is a rescue for rats, mice, guinea pigs and hamsters serving the DC, Virginia, and Maryland Area.  If you are in the area and looking for a new family member, see their animals available for adoption right now. If you are not in our area but would like to adopt, here is a list of rescues around the country.

New episodes about once a month.  You can email us any questions for the podcast to thenerdyrat@gmail.com

If you enjoy the podcast, please consider donating to one of our favorite charities. We support Small Angels Rescue and Extra Life. And Like us on Facebook!

Check out more of Matt’s rattie artwork on thenerdyrat.deviantart.com

Visit our Etsy shop for rat bonding pouches and hammocks made by Liz.

It’s So Hard to Say Good-bye to Pet Rats and Tony Stark (7-19-19 #35)

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Liz and Matt say a lot of good-byes to members of the rat pack, so get your tissues handy! We also talk about our favorite frog who’s splashing our way this weekend and we review Spider-man: Far From Home.

Ratty Topics – We have lost a lot of rats in the last two months, and Braveheart was the hardest. He died at a super young age of only about 4 months due to a strange neurological disorder. That was one of the hardest losses we have had to face since he was so young and it was so unexpected, plus he was one of our favorites.

We also talk about adopting new rat Tula and her challenges in recovering from surgery for mammary tumors. A few of our babies who we just got spayed also had some complications and we give you some tips on what to watch for after surgeries.

Liz updated the rat cages with some fun wooden ladders and perches – be careful to never buy pine wood toys or non-identified woods as pine is toxic to rats. Here are some links to some safe wood toys (they can be surprisingly hard to find as many manufacturers don’t disclose the type of wood.) Also, be sure to never leave rats unsupervised with new toys or any toys you are worried they could get stuck on or get strangled on.

Local Animal News – Our favorite frog is back! Kermit is singing his way into theaters this weekend in a FathomEvents special showing of the original Muppet Movie. That’s the one made before you were born, children.

And, don’t forget to brake for opossums this summer! They eat ticks by the hundreds and it is tick season, so welcome the possums to your yard and tell your neighbors to be kind to them.

Nerdy News – We review Spider-man: Far From Home and talk about our favorite moments. We also discuss the current seasons of Supergirl and Agents of SHIELD.

Liz shares some news about popular gardening games and you’ll want to be sure to keep your eye out for the release of Peace Island, a game where you play as cats on an island where humans have disappeared. Liz also talks the heart-wrenching horrors of the unfolding story on her iPhone game Love Nikki and she reviews her new PC game House Flipper (which also has a gardening aspect.)

Matt talks the pending re-release of classic vanilla World of Warcraft which has WOW fans pretty excited.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

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The Rat That Saved the Marvel Universe (5-8-19 #34)

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In this episode Liz and Matt talk about saying good-bye to heroes, both pet rats and in the Marvel Universe. They also talk about some heroes in the local Animal Control unit and a hero cat.

Ratty Topics – We had to say good-bye to our beloved rat Squeaks. She unfortunately got cancer just like her sisters did and we had to have her put down. And, Liz’s beloved heart rat and muscular-man Toro also died. There was a lot of crying this week in TheNerdyRat household. But, we soothed ourselves by adopting lonely rat Pettigrew! We also share a story about an adoption that didn’t quite work out as expected.

Local Animal News – A hero cat in Crimea raises baby squirrels. Also, Washington, DC’s animal control division did an awesome job moving baby squirrels nested in a phone box to a safer location and they filmed Momma squirrel carrying them to a new nest. And, Washington, DC has wild turkeys! Who knew?

Nerdy News – We review Avengers Endgame! And, because we are so slow on doing podcasts lately, we also review Shazam! Also, did you catch that the latest Star Wars: Episode XIV trailer has Liz’s favorite character of all time?

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

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Its a bird, its a plane, its Lando! Then we go under the sea with Aquaman stories (4-4-18 #33)

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Happy National Rat day.

This week Matt and Liz talk Aquaman stories and the new Joker trailer. Also will the new rattties integrate with the silly squad only time will tell. Also talk about post surgery complications after our boys neuter, and Silly Squad intro progress with the new boys.

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Jingle Bells, Spidey Bells, Pet Rats, Oh My! (12-23-18 #31)

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In the Christmas Episode, Matt and Liz talk pet rat updates, safety tips for pet rats around the holidays, naked mole rats, PAX Unplugged, and Into the Spider-Verse.

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Pet Rats, Mole Rats, Venom, and Bohemian Rhapsody Establish Dominance (11-6-18 #30)

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Liz and Matt talk new foster rats, naked mole rats, BlizzCon, Venom, Bohemian Rhapsody, Flash, Daredevil, and Doctor Who.

Ratty Topics – We have two sweet new foster pet rats, Willow and Celeste, who are going to their forever home next week. Willow recently had mammary tumor surgery and then had an allergic reaction to her sutures. She developed two seromas in succession that had to be drained but we’re hoping she’s on the mend. (*A seroma is a blood filled pocket of tissue, it looks like a squishy swelling.)

For information on the benefits of spaying to prevent mammary tumors, check out podcast Episode 16 and Episode 29. 

Our silly boy Lando established the pecking order in the newly integrated Spicy Silly Squad (or “Splicey Squad”). After a few weeks of introductions, everyone is getting along!

For tips on how to do rat intros, check out podcast Episode 1, Episode 6, Episode 11, and Episode 22. 

Local Animal News – The National Zoo in Washington, DC has a live-cam of their naked mole rat colony! Squee!! For fans of naked pet rats, they look very similar but have huge fangs. The colony is organised much like bees with a queen… who is close to being decided.

News article about the selection of the queen

In disturbing wildlife news, insects and birds have declined by almost 50% since the 1970’s according to several scientific studies. Insects are the base of the food chain and pollinate most of our food sources –  if they die out, the planet’s ecology will collapse.

Washington Post article – 50% of wildlife gone

Guardian article – massive insect decline

NY Times article – massive bird decline

What can you do?

  • Don’t use pesticides on your lawn OR on insects at home – many pest companies routinely offer to kill any and all insects on your property. No! The environment needs bugs.
  • Plant a wide variety of native plants – not just orange butterfly weed to save the monarchs, but many different plants which host and feed different species. Non-natives don’t provide any food sources for insects and birds. (And don’t mess with nature, btw, by hand-rearing and releasing monarchs.)
  • Get rid of your traditional lawn little by little by adding more and more native plantings. (If you live in an apartment, grow them on your balcony in pots.) Also, plant native trees which are overlooked host sites for insects and birds.
  • Leave the leaves this fall which provide habitat for insects (which provide food for birds).
  • Lobby against pesticides and median mowing which destroys wild-growing native plants.

Nerdy News – Matt talks news from BlizzCon, especially the super annoying and insulting Diablo mobile game villainy – er, news – and the highly anticipated re-release of vanilla World of Warcraft.

Diablo gets booed

Fan gets insulted

We saw Venom back on opening weekend, and mostly loved it but wanted more! More plot, more character development. We LOVED Bohemian Rhapsody and if you like even one Queen song, you’ll like this movie, too. It was an incredibly loving and well-done tribute to the band but especially to Freddie Mercury.

We are enjoying the new season of Flash and Daredevil; DD especially is much better than Season 2 of its own series or any of the other Netflix Marvel shows. And, welcome back Doctor Who!! The series has FINALLY been regenerated from the Moffat sludge of the last three years and is back to its classic roots of what originally made the show great.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

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Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS

New Pet Rats Fill Us With Joy and Dredding, Iron Fist (9-22-18 #29)

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In this episode Liz and Matt talk about new pet rats, compare and contrast 1995’s Judge Dredd with 2012’s Dredd, and shake their fists of rage at Iron Fist: Season 2. 

Ratty Topics – Liz convinces Matt to adopt our two new foster rats, Chip and Basil, who are the sons of our former foster rat Momma. The boys got neutered and Basil reacted with an abscess (an infection resulting in severe swelling) but a trip to the vet to clean it out and antibiotics are helping him heal.

Also, another foster-turned-forever-rat Mama Pinky developed a mammary tumor which we got surgically removed. We had her spayed while she was our foster but she was probably over 6 months by that point – our vet told us that spaying by 4 months is the best way to prevent mammary tumors. But, we are still glad we spayed her – she pees less when she’s out of the cage, gets along with the other rats better, and it gave her a chance at least to not get tumors. We’re hoping for no more!

Fieval is still thriving despite having CRD (Chronic Respiratory Disease). Our vet called him the Energizer Bunny! He gets twice a day meds including antibiotics, a bronchial dilator, and prednisone.

Local Animal News – As we move into fall, considering leaving your leaves on your lawn – it creates much needed habitat for beneficial insects which not only help pollinate plants in the spring but provide over-winter food for birds. Also, many homeowners can’t stand pokeweed, a very sturdy and fibrous native plant with dark berries. Let it grow! Migrating birds depend on those berries for winter food and it will become a natural birdfeeder.

Nerdy News – Liz had never seen either Judge Dredd movie so we watched the 1995 tragi-comedy Judge Dredd starring Sylvestor Stallone since it was on a streaming service and then watched the really good 2012 movie Dredd, which we highly recommend!

Liz never watched Dawson’s Creek on principle of avoiding emo high school drama but she strongly felt that Iron Fist: Season 2 would have been more appropriately named Iron Creek. Can you say boring interpersonal woes? Matt suggested the saucier title Dawson’s Fist. Both work. Hear our thoughts on the few highs and many lows of the latest Netflix Marvel sophomore flop.

The Captain Marvel trailer dropped! Check it out. Liz has always been a huge Carol Danvers fan and started collecting all of the Carol Danvers comics appearances at our last Comic-Con before we swore off buying comics. We’ll have to see if the spring 2019 movie lives up to the goodness of the comics. Fingers crossed.

Matt has finally started watching Gotham and also watched the latest Supergirl season and shares his thoughts on those (Liz was irritated that Mon-El and Kara weren’t a couple anymore since Mon-El made Kara so much less annoying… so Liz didn’t want to watch this season.)

And, Liz talks her newly discovered phone game Love Nikki, an anime fashion battle game.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

 

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Flying High and Failure to Launch: Pet Rat Successes, Baby Eagle Flops, and Marvel Highs and Lows (8-2-18 #28)

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Liz and Matt talk traveling with pet rats, a baby eagle who failed to launch, Luke Cage Season 2 and Ant-Man and The Wasp.

Ratty Topics – We talk about how we managed traveling with a pet rat and with our cat and how we coordinated a pet sitter for a sick rat to administer meds. We share our tips for giving medicine to a rat who just refuses to take it! (Swaddle them like a burrito, mix the meds in with delicious foods, or rub it on their mouth so they will lick it off.)

Our rat Fieval and a rat we are pet sitting both have CRD or Chronic Respiratory Disease. Always take your rats to a vet if they are hooting or if you see their sides going in and out when they breathe – don’t assume it’s a myco flare as it may not be. CRD requires some additional medicine including a bronchial dilator and sometimes prednisone.

Winnie has successfully been introduced to Han and Lando and now the Silly Squad is complete.

Local Animal News – DC baby eagle Valor fell out of his tree before learning to fly and wandered into his local DC neighborhood where kind humans found him on a sidewalk and called Animal Control for assistance. He is in a wildlife rehab center and is doing well. When he’s mastered flying, he’ll be taken back to his nest site in the National Arboretum.

Nerdy News – We review Luke Cage Season 2 (meh) and Ant-Man and The Wasp (great!) Matt is also excited about the latest trailer for the Venom movie which comes out this fall.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

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With A Little Help From Our Neighbors, We Care for Pet Rats, Wildlife, and Each Other. Thanks, Mr. Rogers! (7-5-18 #27)

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Matt and Liz talk about the benefits of human friends to help care for pet rats when you travel, the benefits of our wildlife animal neighbors, and the benefits of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood in our documentary review of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” We also talk about the benefits of talking about mental health and getting treatment for depression and related mental health issues.

Ratty Topics – Plan ahead for how you will care for pet rats when you travel. It’s not safe to travel with a sick rat as the stress will make them worse and could be fatal, so make sure you have a reliable pet sitter who can administer medication if needed in case one of your rats falls ill before a planned vacation.

We have new foster babies! Welcome, Han and Lando!

Local Animal News – Liz is getting into native plant gardening and loved the book The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson which advocates letting your lawn go wild and native wildflower plants abound in order to restore wildlife habitat and save your garden veggies and prized flowers from being munched on by starving wildlife. We can all get along if we provide habitats and extra food for our wildlife friends and for an animal lover or anyone concerned for the environment, this is a great book with simple solutions for living in harmony with all living beings.

Nerdy News – Well, Mr. Rogers isn’t really a nerd, but we review the awesome documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” We also talk about our own mental health issues and the importance of treating depression – and talking about it! If you are in crisis and a danger to yourself (or if someone you know is a threat to themselves), call 911 in the USA. 

Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 / 1-800-SUICIDE

NAMI: National Alliance on Mental Illness. Helpline 800-950-6264 / 800-950-NAMI

The Trevor Project: Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention for LGBTQ+ or questioning youth.  The TrevorLifeline 1-866-488-7386

In other news, we are sad that Total Biscuit passed away from cancer (YouTuber and game reviewer).  

In happier news, Matt finally got an NES Mini (with an assist from Liz!)

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

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Solo Pet Rat – Not Good; Solo Star Wars Movie – Great! (5-31-18 #26)

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Liz and Matt talk about a solo foster pet rat, saying goodbye to a rat, Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story (which should’ve been called Lando is the Greatest Ever), SHIELD and Flash finales.

Ratty Topics – We had to put down our beloved pet rat Pinky due to a fast growing stomach tumor. Our hearts are broken!! Small Angels Rescue also took in a twilight foster rat named Winnie who was being raised alone and apparently neglected. We are hoping to be able to integrate her with one of our two rat packs. She is very lonely… please always get a friend for your pet rats! They need ratty snuggles and grooming on a daily basis.

For tips on how to introduce new rats to each other, check out podcast Episode 1, Episode 6, Episode 11, and Episode 22. 

We also answer listeners’ Megan and Adam’s question about if fleece bedding can cause respiratory issues. Not in our experience, as long as you have a big enough cage with metal bars that allow airflow (don’t ever keep rats in an aquarium tank). Some rats can sneeze from time to time for a number of issues (sometimes a URI, sometimes dust or outdoor allergies making their way indoors) but if there are breathing issues present, it is most likely myco – a bacteria that all rats carry in their lungs which can flare up from time to time, especially in older rats. Don’t forget to check with your vet if you’re concerned about your rats’ health as sometimes tumors or pneumonia also cause breathing issues.

For tips on caring for elderly rats, check out podcast Episode 4, Episode 20, and Episode 21. 

Local Animal News – A big shoutout to MN Pocket Pet Rescue! They are doing great work in the twin cities rescuing and rehoming not only rats but many other small pets. If you live in St. Paul or Minneapolis and are interested in adopting, volunteering, or donating to them, check them out!

Send us an email at thenerdyrat@gmail.com if you’d like a chance for your certified rat rescue charity to be featured on a future podcast episode.

Nerdy Topics – We cover a lot today! Listen to our reviews of Deadpool 2, Solo: A Star Wars Story (featuring Liz’s favorite character of all time, Lando!) and the Agents of SHIELD and Flash season finales.

If you enjoy our podcast, please consider supporting our two favorite charities.

Small Angels Rescue, Inc., is a Frederick County, MD based 501(c)(3) non-profit, no-kill, all-volunteer organization dedicated to rescuing and re-homing gerbils, guinea pigs, hamsters, mice, and rats.

Extra Life unites thousands of players around the world in a 24 hour gaming marathon to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Also, check out our Etsy shop if you would like to buy a rat bonding pouch handmade by Liz and visit us on Instagram (thenerdyratpodcast)

Email us questions and feedback at thenerdyrat@gmail.com !

 

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