My Lovely Rats

The latest events in the Rat House:-

1The boys have had yet another bout of Myco with Shy-Shy suffering the worst. I’ve no idea what set it off this time. Shy was making the dreaded “foofing” noise again and all of the rats were sneezing. All the boys were treated with 0.3ml per day of Baytril and all have responded well to the antibiotic.

2The first day I gave the rats their medicine, I sat down on a chair and gave one rat at a time some yoghurt (with Baytril) on a spoon. The following day they had already learnt the equation: chair=food, and as I finished mixing the first spoonful of medicine and yoghurt, I turned around to see Shy-Shy sat on the chair waiting for his treat! I continued with the next batch, and as soon as it was done I went to sit down, and Pip was sitting there on my chair looking expectantly at me! Then guess what? With the following spoonful Stripe was there by himself on the chair as if to say “It’s my turn!” Rocky is not one to come running (he’s far too laid back), but as I sat down and called him, he sauntered up towards me and flopped onto my knee like a blob of custard, and soon lapped up his yoghurt too. The same sequence of events happened every evening almost without exception, if they weren’t in the chair when I reached for it, they were there the instant I sat down, individually, which was all the more astonishing. Why didn’t they all converge onto the chair at once? The usual behaviour when treats are offered is for all four rats to pile up as near to the food as rattily possible (including standing right up on tippy-paws as far as they can stretch; arm-swatting a brother out of the way; grabbing for it or jumping advantageously onto my hand to get to the treat!

All I can conclude from this is that either:
1/ Rats are very fast learners
2/ Rats are habit-forming animals
3/ Rats are able to change behaviour quickly to suit their changing environment
4/ Rats are ruled by their bellies
or another suspicion: 5/ Rats are tiny people in fur coats!

Rocky and brothers: Part Custard, Part Meringue

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating strawberries from our very own garden!

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With the recent warmer weather, it can get pretty hot in the rats’ shed. I’ve had to make curtains for the windows, so that during sunny days (we get them in the Highlands too, you know!) I can keep the shed shaded, and open the windows a little for air circulation. Rats are fairly susceptible to heat because in the wild they are nocturnal and would probably avoid hot periods of the day and find refuge in their underground burrows. This is where a little rat’s scaly tail can be very useful. His tail is hairless and acts as a heat-loss organ. It comprises only 5% of the rat’s body surface area but can loose about 17% of a rat’s body heat. When the rat is hot, the blood vessels in his tail dilate, letting warm blood through and releasing heat, if the rat gets cool the blood vessels in his tail contract, so that his body heat is contained in his torso and head where it is needed most.
A rat’s tail also helps the animal balance and enables him to climb in the most precarious places! If he is waking a tightrope or similar construction he can use his tail as a kind of rudder to maintain his centre of gravity, and will move or curl his tail according to his needs. The tail has a scaly texture which also has a slight gripping quality. You may notice this if you rub a rat’s tail very gently the wrong way (from tip to trunk) as it feels rough and if you stroke the rat’s tail from the trunk to the tip it feels smooth.

Gallery of Tails

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating cheese and onion pasty and rocket salad

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Another excuse to add some cute pictures of My Lovely Rats! Here are some I Can Has Cheeseburger inspired photos and here’s more site links: I Can Has Cheeseburger and LolRats

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Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating mashed banana

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Due to the increasing podginess of my rats, especially Rocky who at times resembles a big dollop of ice cream, I’ve cut down on their “naughty” treats (like yoggies and cheese), and came up with the idea of making them an assault course/climbing frame/pirate ship thingy. Lack of space in the shed means that they don’t have as much opportunity to climb as they used to, therefore I made the climbing structure fairly tall (with levels, so they don’t fall to far). It was a simple construction made of bits of wood I had lying around, old bamboo sticks, heavy duty string I had in, old plant pots, cardboard tubing and the only part I actually bought was the ladder. The total cost was about £3.50! So here it is: THE RAT GALLEON!

The Rat Galleon

Pip exploring the Rat Galleon

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating fresh spinach

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Shy-Shy maturing into his Ginger coat

Shy-Shy my Berkshire Agouti rat is a bit of rascal at times regarding what he deems to be his space. I can’t blame him of course, if a giant stuck it’s hand into your house and started moving stuff about, you’d probably be a bit annoyed too! This morning I was waking up the boys to move them to a tank which they sleep in while I’m cleaning out their cage (I’ve given up trying to do it with the rats free ranging, because they just try and get back in their cage and “help” me! Shy-Shy regards any movement of his bedding as a personal affront, and sets on the perpetrator (my hand) with full-on biting action! Anyway, I’d effortlessly transported the three good beige boys to their tank, without so much of a sniff (in fact Stripe just gave me a nonchalant lick). Shy-Shy was sitting in his box looking agitated and slightly disgruntled for the fact that I’d woken him up. So I spoke to him gently and reassuringly, and slowly moved my hand towards him to let him sniff me and let him know it was only mum. Well.. he shot out at me and gave me a warning bite (I knew it was a warning bite because it only slightly caught the skin - if he’d have wanted to he could have sliced a little chunk out of my finger!). I’ve read lots and lots of rat-owners comments that rats never bite, but I think it simply depends on the rat’s early experiences and it’s genetic predispositions. They are as different in temperament to each other as dogs or even us. My rats were rescues, so unfortunately they weren’t handled much until I got them at six weeks old. Apparently, very tame rats have been handled as early as possible (for short periods) during the first three or four weeks, this period being crucial to their developing trust in human contact. I haven’t had experience with newborn rats, but we used to keep Guinea Pigs, and I handled two sets of litters literally from birth and they became extremely tame (Tufty and Flash would sprawl out like a cats on our laps while we watched TV!). I must point out that it did not unduly stress the mother Guinea (Marmalade) because she was already comfortable with us. I would presume that a nervous mum may not like her babies being “stolen” from her for those few minutes! Rodents have been known to kill their own young if they feel threatened, but I wouldn’t imagine this ever happens in an environment where the rodent mothers are tame and relaxed with human company.
Shy-Shy seems to have a wild streak in him, he’s much more alert and faster than the other boys, and definitely the brightest of the bunch (it’s maybe the agouti line, I don’t know) and he reminds me a lot of Ratty (agouti too) who was also very territorial. If any one has any thoughts on this please feel free to add a comment.

I nearly forgot to add - Shy-Shy said he was “sorry” afterwards by tenderly licking my fingers - awww!

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating chickpeas and wholegrain rice

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Happy birthday ratty blog - one year old today!

Pip and Stripe Chillin’

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating baked beans and chips (tut tut)

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At just over a year old my rats have a strong bond with each other. No one seems to be left out and they are extremely caring towards each other. If one of the boys (who ever it is) has to go to the vets, when he arrives home, his cage mates run fondly to great him and begin to gently groom him. They seem to sense that he has had a bit of an ordeal. There are a few scuffles (to reinforce the hierarchy), on a regular basis, but it looks like play most of the time, and none of the rats have suffered any real injuries from it, except for a minor nick on Shy-Shy’s back, which could equally have been a scratch from his own claw.

Towards us, they are now much more at ease, and will positively race to me or Hannah if we call to them individually (probably expecting a treat or two!). They are all so trusting they will sit on our laps and eat treats, or run up my arm to the haven that is mum’s shoulder. To show us we are “accepted” members of their clan, they will give our hands a quick lick, and now and again Shy-Shy particularly will “groom” our fingers. Rocky likes to give my ear a light chew (not a bite!), and Shy-Shy’s favourite place to nibble is the tip of your nose! Of course they know their own names, and behave like little enthusiastic puppies sometimes, and playful kittens at others!

Stripe is always the first at the top of the cage, waiting to come out and “greet” me in his own ratty way. He grinds his jaws together, making a quick che che che sound, which is his way of showing excitement. It’s called bruxing and is often followed by an odd rapid bulging or boggling in and out of the eyes. It’s the weirdest thing! All the boys brux when it’s time to come out and play, but Stripe and Pip are the only two I’ve seen “boggling”. This morning I was cleaning out their cage while the boys slept in a tank. When it was time to wake them Maya and I stroked them gently, and Pip and Stripe bruxed and boggled. Shy-Shy was a bit disgruntled to be woken and made annoyed squeaks at us! He was soon placated with a few pieces of grape though!

Another sign that the rats are happy and excited is the funny little “hops” and “skips” they make when they’re running about. This sometimes turns into chasing and scuffles, and hyper rats!
All in all, I think we’re very lucky to have such a chilled group of rats that seem to genuinely look out for each other, and they don’t seem to think their human family are that bad either!

Stripe grooming Shy-Shy

Shy-Shy in sheer bliss just before succombing to a deep sleep

“Don’t worry buddy, your yoggies are coming soon”

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating curly kale and grapes.

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I can’t believe it! The boys are one year old today! It doesn’t seem very long ago when they were whizzing wee fuzzies!
Maya and I made the birthday bucks a delicious cake each. Here are the rough ingredients:-

self raising flour
margarine
1 egg
a little milk
crushed walnuts
grated carrot
a few dried cranberries
sweetcorn

We also made little presents of treats wrapped up in paper.
My 3 daughters helped me deliver the ratty gifts, and here are the pictures of Shy-Shy, Pip, Rocky and Stripe’s first birthday:-

Birthday Boy cuddles with Hannah

If I look cute and adorable, will mum give me that cake?

Rocky demonstrates the lunge-grab-bolt-backwards manoeuvre

“He he he ha ha” (Stripe laughing in a Remy-like way)

“Sniff and look pitiful, maybe she’ll give us some more cake”

“This is intriguing and smells frightfully good!”

Rocky has silent food haze moment

“Please mum, can I have some more?”

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating lovely birthday treats.

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My four boys have come through another battle with myco, and I’m doing all I can to build up their immune systems, by adding vitamin drops to their water and garlic powder to their dry food mix. The dry food is replaced every so often so that there is a constant supply in their cage. I use half Burgess Super Rat Excel and half my own mix which is based on the Shumanite diet (see links below). They get fresh food every day, including green leafy veg (not too much as this may cause diarrhoea) and I try to vary their fresh food every day. They can eat nearly everything we do, except that they mustn’t have too much protein (from nuts, eggs and meat) as this can cause skin problems. Too much fat or sugars in a rat’s diet can have the same effect as it does with us, the rat can become overweight and may suffer ailments associated with this including diabetes. The odd sprinkle of sunflower seeds between a few rats always goes down well though!

I’ve found the following sites to be very useful for information on many aspects of rat care:-

Ratz
Shumanite Rats
The Dapper Rat

Beautiful Rocky

Today my lovely rats have been mostly eating rocket salad and cooked beans.

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Here’s some cute photos of my lovely rats. Click on the thumbnail to see the larger picture.

The Bucks

As Babies

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