"I think I smell a rat"
On Wednesday we headed to Spurn Point for a few hours. Now, before we set off I chucked a few meaty falvoured dog biscuits in the rat cage and then dumped the bag on the floor before heading out.
When we arrived back a few hours later we opened the door and found the clear plastic bag halfway down the hallway and empty. I headed to the frontroom and found nothing stolen while Iffy, after grabbing a knife went into the bedroom. It was clear that no one was there but someone had emptied the bag of treats.
It didn't take long to find the culprit mind you. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the smaller rats was out of the cage and a quick headcount informed us that another one was missing, Oak. It seems I'd closed the cage a little too loosely and Oak had decided to seize upon this uppourtunity to have a little adventure on his own while we were out. Lift up the matress in the bedroom and lo and behold, out pops a little brown head beloning to a rat happily sat on a huge pile of dog biscuits that he will have moved one by one from the hallway to the bedroom!
The New Rat, Or Elder as he is now called, has settled in fine after we took some advice from Ristin. Some of his behaviour makes me think that he hasn't spent his whole life in a pet shop as I first suspected. He's clearly been in water and isn't scared if you turn him over to tickle him. It was obvious he wasn't the age the petshop said he was as there is no way on earth you can mistake an almost year old rat for NINE WEEKS, which is what they tried to pass the poor sod off as. I won't be shopping there for this reason and the fact they seem to have gotten rid of the thirty or so rats they had left a little too quickly for my liking if you know what I mean.
Anyway, he's settled in great and has gone from sleeping on his own to being at the bottom of a huge ratty hammock pile up every night!
When we arrived back a few hours later we opened the door and found the clear plastic bag halfway down the hallway and empty. I headed to the frontroom and found nothing stolen while Iffy, after grabbing a knife went into the bedroom. It was clear that no one was there but someone had emptied the bag of treats.
It didn't take long to find the culprit mind you. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed one of the smaller rats was out of the cage and a quick headcount informed us that another one was missing, Oak. It seems I'd closed the cage a little too loosely and Oak had decided to seize upon this uppourtunity to have a little adventure on his own while we were out. Lift up the matress in the bedroom and lo and behold, out pops a little brown head beloning to a rat happily sat on a huge pile of dog biscuits that he will have moved one by one from the hallway to the bedroom!
The New Rat, Or Elder as he is now called, has settled in fine after we took some advice from Ristin. Some of his behaviour makes me think that he hasn't spent his whole life in a pet shop as I first suspected. He's clearly been in water and isn't scared if you turn him over to tickle him. It was obvious he wasn't the age the petshop said he was as there is no way on earth you can mistake an almost year old rat for NINE WEEKS, which is what they tried to pass the poor sod off as. I won't be shopping there for this reason and the fact they seem to have gotten rid of the thirty or so rats they had left a little too quickly for my liking if you know what I mean.
Anyway, he's settled in great and has gone from sleeping on his own to being at the bottom of a huge ratty hammock pile up every night!