Ratses!
So a couple weeks ago, we had Extreme Home Makeover: Rat Edition. With the new additions to the fuzzy family, the old cage just wasn't cutting it. We got a Super Pet ferret cage, with three shelves in it, a twisty ramp, normal ramp and tube. It's HUGE, compared to the other cages and we put the three older girls in it. Yesterday, while cleaning the small girls' cage, I tossed them in with the big girls and said 'Have fun'.
They love it. All of them.
There's been a bit of bickering back and forth, but nothing major. At one point, all 6 of the little buggers were in the hammock, dozing all over each other. Max doesn't know what to make of the cage next door now. (First it was girls next door... then the hairless ones moved in and it was NAKED girls next door).
Max himself is in a rabbit cage, and loves it. He has plenty of room to bound around in, and he's within a nose-touch of the girls, so he's not completely isolated. We're hoping to have some cagemates for him come May.
Current rat count: 7
Rosemary - Beige hooded, no stripe. Black eyes. Dumbo ears.
Thyme - Beige hooded, with stripe, white blaze separating the hood. Bi-coloured eyes, one red and one black. Dumbo ears.
Those two are collectively known as 'the twins' and are the first ones we got, along with their sister. RIP, Sage.
Then we have the Bleach girls...
Inoue - White hairless. Actually, she looks more 'peach'. She's not albino, her eyes are black. Dumbo ears.
Rukia - Black hairless. She's got fuzz on her face and legs. Standard ears.
Isane - Grey mottled. She's blue/grey splotched over most of her back, with white going down over her belly and legs. Standard ears.
Retsu - Black hooded, semi-stripe. Small blaze on forehead. Dumbo ears.
Then there's Max. Max is an albino with standard ears. We got him while we were on the Bleach naming kick, and Envy was like "He's white, we should name him Hitsugaya." I replied with "Okay, his name is Hitsugaya Toshiro. Max, for short."
She almost spit soda.
I HAVE pictures... I just can't find my damned card reader at the moment. *Sigh* I'll be posting when I'm able to.
If you don't mind HUGE pics (completely not resized), go here: http://darkhuntress.com/saishi/pics/animals/
There are no pics there of Retsu, Isane or Max, as we didn't have them yet.
Today, however, was the funniest time I've ever had watching my rats. Their cages got cleaned, and the rats got to spend some time outside in the holding cage (they loved it!) and when I put the girls back in, I fed them. Now, to describe the cage, in addition to the description above... the food dish and water bottles are on the ground floor of the cage. There is a tube leading to the first shelf, then a spiral ramp leading to the second, with a normal ramp leading to the third. On the third shelf is a small wooden house for them to hide in, and access to the hammock hanging from the ceiling.
I feed the rats. I watch Rukia start moving food. She grabs a piece, takes it to the back of the ground floor of the cage and hides it in the bedding behind the tube. Then goes back to get another piece. She cleans out the food dish, doing this.
Retsu discovers the hidden food pile. You can almost see the expression of "AWESOME!!!" on her face as she grabs a piece, hauls ass up to the top shelf, and hides it in the house. Then comes back down, grabs another piece, and races back up.
Rosemary sees this, and the game of 'Oh no you didn't...' starts. Rosemary takes food from the house, runs it back down and puts it in the food dish.
Rukia sees her nice clean, empty food dish with *GASP* food in it, and must fix this issue. Back the food goes to the tube-hidey-hole.
Where Retsu takes it from and hides it on the top shelf...
Where Rosemary grabs it from. Only she's not QUITE as fast as the younger rats, so she recruits her twin. Now you have Rosemary and Thyme moving food from the top shelf, down to the food dish where Rukia grabs it and takes it for Retsu to steal.
This grand relay race continued for nearly an hour before all four parties involved passed out in the hammock.
Isane and Inoue were on the second shelf, watching the chaos and placing bets.
We're pretty sure Max was just enjoying the view.
They love it. All of them.
There's been a bit of bickering back and forth, but nothing major. At one point, all 6 of the little buggers were in the hammock, dozing all over each other. Max doesn't know what to make of the cage next door now. (First it was girls next door... then the hairless ones moved in and it was NAKED girls next door).
Max himself is in a rabbit cage, and loves it. He has plenty of room to bound around in, and he's within a nose-touch of the girls, so he's not completely isolated. We're hoping to have some cagemates for him come May.
Current rat count: 7
Rosemary - Beige hooded, no stripe. Black eyes. Dumbo ears.
Thyme - Beige hooded, with stripe, white blaze separating the hood. Bi-coloured eyes, one red and one black. Dumbo ears.
Those two are collectively known as 'the twins' and are the first ones we got, along with their sister. RIP, Sage.
Then we have the Bleach girls...
Inoue - White hairless. Actually, she looks more 'peach'. She's not albino, her eyes are black. Dumbo ears.
Rukia - Black hairless. She's got fuzz on her face and legs. Standard ears.
Isane - Grey mottled. She's blue/grey splotched over most of her back, with white going down over her belly and legs. Standard ears.
Retsu - Black hooded, semi-stripe. Small blaze on forehead. Dumbo ears.
Then there's Max. Max is an albino with standard ears. We got him while we were on the Bleach naming kick, and Envy was like "He's white, we should name him Hitsugaya." I replied with "Okay, his name is Hitsugaya Toshiro. Max, for short."
She almost spit soda.
I HAVE pictures... I just can't find my damned card reader at the moment. *Sigh* I'll be posting when I'm able to.
If you don't mind HUGE pics (completely not resized), go here: http://darkhuntress.com/saishi/pics/animals/
There are no pics there of Retsu, Isane or Max, as we didn't have them yet.
Today, however, was the funniest time I've ever had watching my rats. Their cages got cleaned, and the rats got to spend some time outside in the holding cage (they loved it!) and when I put the girls back in, I fed them. Now, to describe the cage, in addition to the description above... the food dish and water bottles are on the ground floor of the cage. There is a tube leading to the first shelf, then a spiral ramp leading to the second, with a normal ramp leading to the third. On the third shelf is a small wooden house for them to hide in, and access to the hammock hanging from the ceiling.
I feed the rats. I watch Rukia start moving food. She grabs a piece, takes it to the back of the ground floor of the cage and hides it in the bedding behind the tube. Then goes back to get another piece. She cleans out the food dish, doing this.
Retsu discovers the hidden food pile. You can almost see the expression of "AWESOME!!!" on her face as she grabs a piece, hauls ass up to the top shelf, and hides it in the house. Then comes back down, grabs another piece, and races back up.
Rosemary sees this, and the game of 'Oh no you didn't...' starts. Rosemary takes food from the house, runs it back down and puts it in the food dish.
Rukia sees her nice clean, empty food dish with *GASP* food in it, and must fix this issue. Back the food goes to the tube-hidey-hole.
Where Retsu takes it from and hides it on the top shelf...
Where Rosemary grabs it from. Only she's not QUITE as fast as the younger rats, so she recruits her twin. Now you have Rosemary and Thyme moving food from the top shelf, down to the food dish where Rukia grabs it and takes it for Retsu to steal.
This grand relay race continued for nearly an hour before all four parties involved passed out in the hammock.
Isane and Inoue were on the second shelf, watching the chaos and placing bets.
We're pretty sure Max was just enjoying the view.