The Rat Room

Didn’t take out the oldies today, which suited them quite fine. I checked them out thoroughly though. You can’t be too sure when they get this age. But the young ones came out. They all had fun except for Darcy. He’s been so sick with myco/pneumonia… I think it’s nearing the end of the road for him. What can you expect when you are bred in a science centre to be hawk food. He was having a gasping fit, I picked him up, I tapped firmly on his lungs which helped quite a bit. He recovered but just barely. A few more of these gasping attacks and I’ll bring him in to the vet so he can finally rest his sick tired body and set his soul free.

One of the most common behaviour questions I get is how to make my rat love me more.
It’s simple, stick the little guy down your shirt. How to prepare for this… you’ll need to put on a t-shirt, then a sweatshirt, you’ll need a couple of hours of free time so settle down with a good book, movie or even reading the Rat Room.
Put your little guy or guys in between the two shirts and let them sit there and squirm for some time. They will eventually enjoy being in there. Rats love dark cozy spots and they will soon relate your natural body scent as well as your energy to a good place. Do this several times a day for over a week. You’ll see the rats will soon come running to you when they sense you come near the cage. This trick works on babies as well as older rats. Be warned though… it usually creates shirt divers. What’s a shirt diver? A rat that upon seeing shirt immediately dives in.

You might at some point or another find your rat in a peculiar position, frozen on the spot. Some rats will do this when gripped with fear or even extreme stress. Snapping them out of it is not easy and not necessary either. I will leave my rat alone when he does this, it take a few minutes, usually no more than 5 for them to regain their composure. It may seem like it’s taking a long time but it really hasn’t. In order to avoid your rat becoming so fearful would be to interact with him more, take him out of his cage, lots more out time, expose him to new things often all the while holding on to him to reassure that everything will be fine. And don’t forget to do the down the shirt trick. Works like a charm.

I asked the old crew to come out and play. They just looked at me like I was from Mars. So I picked up a few and brought them out. Rodeo never likes to be touched by humans but once I set him down in the open he was a happy boy again. All excited to be out and about. I pulled out old man Davis. He’s 35 months old. And he was happy to take a stroll outside the cage. Jet, Anna and Julia came out on their own. Minou ran back in and Prue…well, I think she’s not doing too well. Prue will soon be 32 months old. She’s an old girl, suffered through a lot of respiratory issues for over a year. I gave her some red leaf lettuce and didn’t show much interest. I’m getting worried for that girl.
The young crew…well, didn’t have to ask them twice. They were climbing the walls, they needed to come out, even though they do every single day. Bronco has been feeling a bit frisky lately. He’s not neutered and I’m thinking if he keeps this up, I may have too. I’m careful with him and not too rough so he doesn’t get the wrong idea. He refused to let me dominate so I won’t even try. Otherwise he’s a sweet happy boy. Saw Echo have a ball today. He was running like crazy all happy, especially if I call out his name. Funny guy. Had my daily cuddles with Desmond, Benjamin and Sawyer… those are my best cuddlebugs.