rodentfest 2011- PA

RodentFest is one of the longest lived rodent events on the East Coast, its been going on for 10 years, started out as a mouse swap.

I thought there was a decent turn out last year, a lot more vendors than most east coast mouse shows, thats for sure. And it was done very professionally and the people there were all very nice and helpful. I got some fantastic and very healthy animals at the show, both rats and mice. I haven't had any issues with them in the last 5 months, and considering most of the people who attended RF also attend other events on the east coast, to say that sick animals were there would be to say that those attendees also have sick animals in their colony, which would imply that any future events with those people would have sick animals there also.

If the event has poor attendance, I'm sure some of that could be accredited to people bad mouthing it on public forums to newcomers who have never been. If there was a problem with the health check/people who brought in sick animals, an attendee should have spoken up instead of sitting back and watching it happen so that they could later use it to badmouth the club. Don't you think?

The people who've had sick animals are not people that attend any ECMA mouse shows.

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Since you brought it up, didn't the ECMA have a show in conjunction with RodentFest PRIOR to all the allegations of them having poor health check standards last year? Hmmmmm.... Right. Okay, whatever you say.

As for picking up illnesses at shows, yes, every show poses a risk. You can pick up potentially deadly diseases/parasites at a dog show just as easily as a rodent event. The difference is, most dogs are vaccinated. I can think of, at least, 3 incidents at dog events where we brought home more than just ribbons, the most fun was that doggie stomach bug where all of my dogs were vomiting and had diarrhea for 3 days afterwards. This is why you should always follow proper quarantining procedures BEFORE and AFTER any show. Your mice could just as easily (if not more easily) pick up an airborne disease from a wild mouse in your house, than at a show. It is, unfortunately, one of the risks of keeping mice. Since we can not vaccinate our animals, attending mouse shows poses more of a risk than normal.

I mean, in that scenario, of someone picking up an airborne disease, isn't it entirely possible that anyone who attended that event who maybe didn't QT properly that later attended an ECMA event could have picked up an airborne illness and mice could have been checked into an ECMA show that were not showing symptoms yet? I mean, it IS possible. There were a few people at Fall RF that were also at the Spring ECMA show. You can not 100% guarantee the honesty/intergrity of QT procedures of every single attendee at an ECMA event, let alone at a RodentFest event.

This past Fall RF had very few vendors (compared to the vew previous shows I've been to)...after people who wanted to vend were told that the tables were all reserved MONTHS ahead of the show.

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BTW, at this last Fall RodentFest, I only saw one table that was empty, and that was because the two people who reserved two tables, ended up not bringing anything to sell, only picked up mice. They ended up giving their extra table to another fancier who was going to share and didn't have a lot room. Those two people were there, their one extra table was just empty.

Since you brought it up, didn't the ECMA have a show in conjunction with RodentFest PRIOR to all the allegations of them having poor health check standards last year? Hmmmmm.... Right. Okay, whatever you say.

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Actually no. They started PRIOR to the ECMA having a show at the same time as RF (NOT in conjunction with...animals were not allowed to go from one event to the other and there were few people that went from one to the other. The ECMA show was in a separate building from RF with completely separate airspace. When the plans were made it was hoped that the problems with the previous RF would have been fixed and the health check would be stricter....that proved ot to be the case. It would, of course, have been possible for someone to bring things from one event to the other (though not technically something airborne...as by default that means through the air, not by contact...anything transferred by casual contact, yes.)...luckily that didn't seem to have happened......

BTW, at this last Fall RodentFest, I only saw one table that was empty, and that was because the two people who reserved two tables, ended up not bringing anything to sell, only picked up mice.

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This is partially b/c they rearranged the middle of the room to to a big square of tables.....fewer tables than were used when they were placed in rows at previous shows. Also because a t-shirt vendor (COMPLETELY irrelevant to rodents) had several tables...

And no, you can't 100% guarantee anything....but that doesn't mean no one can try to keep things as low risk as possible. You are perfectly welcome to attend whatever event you choose...as is everyone else. That doesn't mean that I can't share my experiences at, and opinions on, a show that I have been to for the past 4 occurances (that's 2 years worth of shows...and I vended at 2 of them). I have brought animals to only 1 ECMA show (I made also made a quick walk through of the one that was held during spring RF last year)...and the health check was FAAAR more thorough than the checks I'd had at RF. At the ECMA show, EVERY single animal was checked over and inspected thoroughly. When I brought animals to RF only a few animals in each cage were checked for anything....except one cage of young rats where the health checker thought she saw signs of mites on TWO of them (they didn't have them....they had all been treated with Iver-on and never before or after had any...they were being kept on coconut fiber bedding and I think she saw coconut fiber specks) and allowed everyone else in the cage through the check...and allowed those 2 to be kept in a separate cage in the check-in area of the building. If they'd actually had mites that would NOT have been a good idea. Again, if you or anyone else chooses to go and/or bring your own animals, that is your/their choice and I can make whatever decision I choose. I am just sharing my own observations, experiences, and opinions on the matter.

Oh also, so far as I'm aware the June date in the first post of the thread for this Springs RF hasn't even actually been made official by the organizers...that or they just don't want anyone to know it...last I saw, the organizers were saying that the event was too far away to give a set date, but they are taking reservations for tables....

Actually no. They started PRIOR to the ECMA having a show at the same time as RF (NOT in conjunction with...

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No offense, but I seem to remember a post made by you in October of 2009 talking about sick rats at RodentFest, the ECMA show which was held in conjunction (by definition a simultaneous occurrence of events) with Rodent Fest was held in the spring of 2010. So, yes, there were public complaints of these things made prior to the ECMA show.

I respect your opinion of things, but I don't understand why you continue to attend this event if you really dislike it so much. Why would you even pick up animals to take home to your stock if you think the event's organizers do such a poor job at health checking and that there could be an airborne illness at the show? I mean, I saw public complaints from you about sick rats from the Fall 2009 Fest, but you still went back in Spring 2010 AND Fall 2010?

This is partially b/c they rearranged the middle of the room to to a big square of tables.....fewer tables than were used when they were placed in rows at previous shows. Also because a t-shirt vendor (COMPLETELY irrelevant to rodents) had several tables...

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A vendor is a vendor, t-shirts or not. A reservation is a reservation. The point is no tables were empty. They were reserved. That square of tables was rearranged by the people who reserved those tables. I saw them moving them that morning.

I understand your feelings on the club, and I'll respect your decision to attend/not attend them at your discretion, but my experience was not bad. All of my animals were checked at the door. I have never had any bad experiences with any of the club organizers since 2001 when I started breeding mice.

I'll leave you to your opinions, as I have nothing further to say on this subject. These are my opinions on the matter, and I'm just calling it like I see it.