Rat Art
The ratties seem to have recovered from their Myco infection at last. They have become a lot tamer after feeding them by hand every day. Another thing I have tried is to create a space for them to play on a table top. It is too high for them to to attempt to jump down - they haven’t dared but instead try to use me as a ladder from the table to the floor! I put them on the table first, so I can handle them, and when they start to get restless I let them down on the floor where there’s more space to investigate. They are much happier to be picked up now and often climb onto me and crawl up to my shoulder. Stripe often gives me a ratty kiss too! Even Pip seems a little less nervous of my hands.
It will be my long-suffering boyfriend’s birthday soon (suffering because of his allergy to the rats). So I thought it would be fun to see if the rats could make him paw print pictures:) It all went great, except that Rocky ended up with purple stains on his tail, which could have been difficult to explain!
Rat Print Painting
Ingredients:-
1 Non-toxic poster paints in various colours
2 Plastic washing up bowl with a little water in the bottom (to wash feet)
3 Plastic tray
4 Towel
5 Folded card (one for each rat)
6 Newspaper
7 Rats
Method:-
Place newspaper on the floor or table where the picture is going to be made, and put a folded card in the middle. Put a little paint on the tray (you don’t need much) and let your ratty walk on it, you might have to “help” him a little. Then place your rat on top of the card and let him walk about on it. Give his little feet a quick wash in the bowl of water. It’s best if your rat has been introduced to water before, otherwise he’ll have a bit of a shock :0 Use the towel to dry him off.
Our rats have had a go at pea-fishing and don’t mind getting their feet wet. Stripe seems to be totally at ease in water. We discovered that an old painting tray is good for this, as it has a shallow end and a deep end. Put peas or sweetcorn in the bottom, just add rats and see what they do!
Today my rats have been mostly eating monkey nuts and strawberries.