Rats Are a Hoot

My rats make me laugh. They are such delightful pets. The penultimate time I cleaned the girls’ cage, I couldn’t find a box the right size to offer them as their new hidey box. All rats deserve a place they can hide and nest out of view. The best I could do was to empty all the tissues out of a Kleenex box. That would have to do until I could bring something bigger home from work.

This is how Luna and Stella looked crammed into the same tissue box. The cage looks barren, but at the top of the tall chinchilla cage there is a cushy hammock and food dishes hung from the wire. Plus the cage doesn’t need a lot of toys since they get to come out and play in the bedroom every night. Rats are nocturnal, so they sleep all day. The ways I vary their routines and offer them mental stimulation are many. I might give them each a hazelnut, which will occupy their little ratty minds for days as they gnaw their way into the shell for the meaty prize inside.

I finally remembered to bring home a nice strong envelope box from work. I cut a door and filled it with stripped up pages from the phone guide that was delivered to my door that day. I only use the Bell book and so this free directory will make great rat bedding.

I was about to throw away the little tissue box, which had been customized, gnawed away at and peed on. Then it occurred to me that Archie would love to have it since it smells of the girls. He loves the girls. They each love him some of the time. Luna loves him when she is in heat, which is every 5 days. The rest of the time she will try to bite his toes if he climbs on their cage. Stella also thinks Archie is a cool dude–every five days. The rest of the time she tries to attack him through the wire of her cage when he’s out and of his cage when she is out. But he always likes them.

I was right about the box being interesting to him. He sniffed it and sniffed it, crawled through it.

Tonight I was looking for him and couldn’t find him. He wasn’t in his igloo and he wasn’t lounging in his hammock. Then I noticed his big rump sticking out of the bottom of the tissue box. I looked at the other side. His head was protruding from the tissue hole. He looked like a terrapin, his house ready to go with him wherever he might wander. Silly boy.
This is Archie saying, “No, mama, I haven’t been gnawing on your favourite antique table again. Ok, maybe just a wee tiny bit.”