Tiny Paws

I love watching the girls eat. I especially like seeing how they use their paws.

Snacking on some dried fruit.

The problem with taking pictures of them eating (or doing most anything) is that Saké usually drops what she has and comes over to see what I'm doing.

Saké checks me out.

Saké and Marty

I have mentioned before how I enjoy watching the interaction between Saké and Penelope. Since the beginning, they have been curious with each other and Saké doesn't hesitate to grab Penn through the bars, etc. Because Penn's fat paws do not fit between the bars of the cage (and because the rats' room is shut when we're not around), I don't worry about her and Saké too much.

On the other hand, there is Marty. Marty doesn't pay much attention to the rats but he's also a cat and has pretty slender paws. I don't like to see him near the rats and until recently, it seemed like they agreed. If Marty is near their cage, Saké used to act a bit agitated and would stay to the back of their cage. I haven't witnessed Marty doing anything but watching them but still, he's a cat.

Then last night, I noticed this:

Marty checking out the rats.

Before I grabbed the camera, I went to grab Marty, but then I noticed that Saké was not acting upset or agitated by his presence in any way. In fact, she came right to the front to check him out.

Getting a closer look...

Let's come in for a better view.

Nose to nose.

But then:

Just what does he think he's doing?

I still don't trust him.

Sushi's Teeth

It has been three weeks to the day since Sushi last had her teeth trimmed.

Upper incisors nearing a date with the dental saw.

She isn't quite ready yet but will be by Friday.

Sushi looks pensive about her teeth appointment.

I really wish her teeth growth would slow down.

Busy Rats

I am always amazed by how industrious the rats can be at night. We woke up yesterday morning, after a night of tremendous racket, to discover they had renovated their cage. Their litter tray was slid across the cage and jammed under their wheel. The small cardboard box they play in was flipped on top of their food dish and jammed against their water bottle. One small piece of lab block was firmly lodged between two bars of the cage (my guess for that is that they were pushing it out to Parker and it had gotten stuck). The towel from upstairs was downstairs. Their cardboard tube that is usually upstairs was also downstairs. Bedding was everywhere.

Rats are too smart to assume that they do all of this without reason. I just wish I understood what their reason was.

Trouble.

Rats in Hiding

There is at least one rat in this picture:

Whose tail is it anyway?

There also appears to be a wet spot, which suggests I need to take a closer look at that pile of laundry.

Saké decides to come out of hiding.

The Rest of the Crew, Pt. 2

I introduced you to the canine portion of the family last Friday and intended to introduce you to the feline portion today. Then I made the terrible discovery that I do not have any pictures of one of our cats, Ziggy, in a digital format. Granted, Ziggy has virtually no interaction with the rats and thus is probably outside of the scope of this blog, but I still feel terrible leaving her out.

So imagine, if you will, a lovely older white cat who sometimes lays on the bed with one eye open, watching the rats. That is the end of the interaction.

Moving on....

We also have Simon, who surprisingly ignores the rats most of the time. Surprisingly, because Simon is our most social cat. He isn't picky, he'll socialize with just about anyone.

Simon harasses Annie.

In addition to Ziggy and Simon, we have Marty. Marty's relationship with Saké will be the focus of a future post, because her behavior with Marty is drastically different from how she acts with Penelope. Marty is the least cat-like cat I have ever known and most of the time he acts far more like a dog. He is also the cat I like to see least around the rats' cage.

Marty is no stranger to comfort.

Finally, we have Penelope, who, if you've read this blog at all previously, you are familiar with. Penelope spends a lot of quality time with the rats and whenever she's by the cage, Saké comes right up to her. They spend lots of time sniffing each other, as well as Saké grabbing Penn's paws, etc.

Since Penn has already been featured on this blog, here's a crazy picture of her as a kitten.

So yes, in response to what you're thinking, we have a full house. And we haven't even gotten to the horses yet!

Rat Naps

We try to get the rats out to play every night (this is in addition to handling them throughout the day) and usually they are really active during this time. They'll climb, explore, jump on and off of us, etc. Last night, however, they were feeling a bit less playful.

I thought I would let them out in the bedroom and then just lay on the bed and read. Within minutes both rats had climbed into the arm of my sweatshirt and settled in. Other than Sushi occasionally popping her head out of the end of the sleeve by my hand, I didn't see (or hardly feel) anything from either one of them for the next 40 minutes. Those are some lazy rats.

Sushi comes in for her closeup.

One Picture, So Much Ratness

There is so much cuteness in this picture. There is the obvious - who can pass up two rats in a hammock?

There is Saké's adorable face:

And then, hiding in the background, there's Sushi:

It's amazing that I get anything done and don't spend all of my time admiring how cute our rats are.

Cats and Rats, cont.

Common sense tells you that cats and rats shouldn't mix. Yet somehow, Saké and Penelope have developed an understanding, if not a relationship. If Penn climbs up next to the cage, Saké comes right to the front and will grab Penn's furry paws, sniff her, etc. Saké never appears upset or agitated when Penn is around, only interested.

We shot this video last week and while nothing particular happens in it, it is a great example of how Saké behaves whenever Penn is around. She is relaxed, interested, and does not hesitate to interact with a big cat. I realize this is not behavior to encourage for a multitude of reasons, but it works for these two.

Peas and Blueberries

We introduced the girls to two new foods this weekend: blueberries and peas. They get vegetables every day and we thought peas would be a good addition to their usual rotation of broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower. After about five minutes it looked like a pea slaughter in their cage. They took every pea, squeezed out the inside and ate it, and left the husk. By morning though they had cleaned up the husks as well. I guess I can understand it - why deny yourself the best part? Evidently the girls prefer instant gratification.

They get fruit less frequently than vegetables; usually 2-3 times a week. Usually they get bananas or clementines and sometimes tomatoes. Since I can't stand blueberries, we usually don't have them on hand. However, I recently read about the antioxidant qualities of blueberries, and since rats are prone to tumors (not surprisingly), we thought adding a blueberry each day to their diet wouldn't hurt.

Saké grabbed the blueberry I offered immediately and it was gone within minutes. However, Sushi seemed a bit less impressed - she took about two bites and then left her blueberry in their litter pan. Perhaps blueberries are an acquired taste.

Saké and Sushi.

The Rest of the Crew, Pt. 1

Since Saké and Sushi do not live in a vacuum, I thought I'd spend the next couple of Fridays introducing you to the rest of the pets. There is a surprising amount of interaction in our house between dogs, cats, and rats and it's been fun to see everyone make adjustments to having Saké and Sushi in the house.

Today we'll start with our canine companions. First we have Annie, a 7 year old gigantic black lab with severe hip dysplasia. She will put up with just about anything.

Annie wears the Sorting Hat. I'm pretty sure she belongs in Ravenclaw.

Annie checks out the rats on a regular basis and is tall enough to go nose to nose with them (when they are in their cage) when she wants to.

Pac-Man is an 8 year old golden retriever who has shown virtually no interest in the rats since they arrived. I'm sure he appreciates them though, since they occupy a large part of Parker's time that would otherwise be spent licking Pac-Man's ears.

Pac-Man should model for a high-end camping supplies catalog.

Finally, we have Parker. Parker is an 8 year old lab/German shepherd/beagle mix with hip dysplasia and pancreatitis. He is on a strict low-fat diet, which has been complicated now that we've learned the rats are feeding him the items they don't like from their food. Parker is also rat obsessed and checks on them frequently, spending hours sitting a few feet away from their cage staring intently. We often find him standing on his hind legs, nose to nose with Saké. The rats show no concern for him and often come to the front of the cage when they see him.

Parker - part beagle, part lab, all pain.

We didn't intend to have three dogs but they complement each other pretty well. Annie is the brains, Pac-Man has the looks, and Parker, well, he's Parker.

Size comparisons

Next Friday we'll meet the cats who observe and get harassed by the rats on a regular basis.

Rat Tails

If there is anything you don't want to look up on Urban Dictionary, it is the term rat tail. Rat tails are incredibly useful but yet have all sorts of negative connotations. (Note, we're not talking about this kind of rat tail.) Furthermore, if you talk to people about rats, often one of the first things you usually hear is, "I can't stand their tails." My first rat was a rescued feeder rat named Alex and while my parents were okay with him in the house, I had to wrap him in a towel  before my mom would hold him, so she didn't have to see his tail. For whatever reason, a lot of people just are not okay with rat tails.

I think the tips of Sushi and Saké's tails look like worms in this picture.

Rat tails though, are incredibly useful. If you watch rats for any period of time, you will notice how much the ways in which they use their tails change based on what they are doing. Tails help with balance and you will often see a rat wrap their tail around something when climbing. Sometimes it might be a railing or a post, and sometimes, if they are climbing on a person, it might be a face!

I really don't have a double chin - Sushi was climbing up the side of my head and had wrapped her tail around the bottom of my face!

I've done a bit of reading recently about the domestication of certain species and one of the common denominators is the tail. Tails of domesticated animals have less bones and tend to curve more. For instance, if you watch a house cat walk around, and that house cat is happy, it probably has its tail straight in the air, with a crook at the very top. I have yet to find out if this same sort of modification happened in rats. I haven't noticed anything specific that Saké and Sushi do with their tails when they are simply content (other than the tail being relaxed) but their tails change drastically depending on what they are doing (if they are running on their wheel, their tails are carried upward, if they are relaxed and playing outside of their cage, they carry their tails straight back).

Sushi leans in to look at something completely new - her tail is rigid and upright.

I assume that rat tails can be used in the same way as those of dogs, cats, and horses to reveal aspects of how a rat is feeling but I don't know enough about it at this point. I should start keeping a rat field journal.

Sleepless Rats

Our rat cage is in our bedroom, which is both a sensible and terrible idea. Sensible, because it is a room with a lot of traffic and thus we interact with the girls a lot in passing. It is also useful, because it is an easy room to shut off from the rest of the house when we are gone, reducing the likelihood of a cat/rat/dog tragedy.

The downside of keeping the rats in our bedroom is their nocturnal lifestyle. They are at their most active when we are attempting to sleep. We try to counter this by waking them up earlier in the evening, making sure they have plenty of activity outside of their cage, and just generally interrupting their sleep throughout the day.

The funny thing about them is how different they are from each other. Sushi goes to bed very early in the morning - she's usually tucked away sleeping by 7:30 a.m. or so. On the other hand, Saké is up until much later in the morning, but she is very slow to wake up in the evening. Sushi is often active for an hour or more at night before Saké climbs out of bed.

Last night though, they were in sync. Loudly in sync. They moved all of their bedding from the top floor to the bottom of their cage, flipped a house, threw their blocks downstairs, moved their wheel, and in general engaged in nearly any activity they could that was noisy and likely to make sleeping tough for us.

Not surprising, we are exhausted today. The last time I glanced at the bento box, both Sushi and Saké were still happily asleep.

Saké and pillows - items that do not naturally go together.

Closeups

Attempting to play with the camera while also serving as a jungle gym for rats resulted in Dave getting some good shots of the girls.

Proving once again that Saké has the sweetest face...

Rat tails - useful, hilarious, and often reviled.

Domesticating Rats

This month's National Geographic has a fantastic article on animal domestication, "Taming the Wild." The article discusses the genetic changes that occur in domestic animals, and bases much of the story on a decades-old Siberian experiment studying the domestication of foxes. Essentially, scientists learned that it only took a few generations of selective breeding to turn wild foxes into tame, friendly animals. In an effort to duplicate their results, the same experiment began with rats, mink, and (briefly) river otters. The same results were seen in each species.

I live in a household full of animals. According to a Nova special the other night, our dogs are genetically 98% wolf. Our cats are the only species that domesticated themselves. (There are suggestions that this is why cats are so poorly domesticated.) Yet no one flinches at living alongside cats and dogs. Rats, however, are constantly referred to as harbingers of disease and sources of filth, despite their equal domestic status.

The researchers in Siberian are now applying for permits allowing them to sell their tame foxes as pets, which will help fund future research. There are already tame foxes living in private homes in Russia. It will be interesting to see if foxes as pets take off and how it may change public perception of foxes. I imagine that within a short period of time, it will be more acceptable to most people to have a fox for a pet than it is for a rat.

Sushi and Saké may treat their cage like they are wild animals but they are 100% domesticated.

When the Cat's Away...

You won't see this picture in a Lands End catalog!

We went out of town for a couple of days last week, leaving the rats unattended. Because we were leaving Thursday and returning Saturday, we figured that the rats would be completely fine for that period of time. We cleaned their cage before we left, gave them plenty of food and water, and shut the cats out of their room to ensure no unfortunate incidents.

We returned two days later to discover that, when left unattended, the rats are no better than teenagers. Their cage was a disaster and it looked like they had completely stopped using their litter tray in our absence. Our normally messy but not filthy rats had completely trashed their cage.

That afternoon, Dave put their cage back in order while I unpacked. The rats were very interested in unpacking.

Checking out the view.

Looking for souvenirs. 

Shortly after these pictures were taken, the bags were emptied and the rats climbed inside and peed. Next time we'll bring them something back from our trip.

Saké and Penelope

The other night I witnessed something I never expected. I've mentioned before the relationship between Saké and our cat Penelope. Penn spends hours sitting next to the rats' cage and Saké often interacts with her in different ways. They spend a lot of time nose to nose,  sniffing and watching each other, etc.

Last night, Penelope smacked the front of the cage with one of her paws, as she often does. But this time she caught one of her claws on the wire, preventing her from immediately pulling her paw away. Nearly immediately Saké ran up to her and grabbed onto the caught paw, one little ratty hand on each side.

It only lasted a few seconds before Saké released Penn and Penn freed her paw. Penelope just looked confused. I'm going to have to keep a camera handy in the future, so I don't miss documenting this. It was one of the cutest and most unexpected things I've seen.

Saké and Penelope - an unlikely duo.

Rats vs. Water, Round 1

The first attempt at introducing Saké and Sushi to a lifetime of water playtimes went pretty well. Both ended up with wet feet and improved their climbing skills in an effort to get away from the water as quickly as possible.

We started with a new paint pan, with just a couple of inches of water.

New paint tray with a few toys to capture the rats' attention.

We initially set the rats down by the tray and neither showed any interest in their new toy. Saké immediately raced through it, ignored the water, and climbed up Dave's leg. Sushi spent a bit more time investigating.

They are unimpressed.

Sushi's curiosity overcomes her apprehension.

I think Sushi was more interested in her toys than the tray of water.

Two feet in...

Sushi went so far as to put both front feet on the tray. However, one of those feet landed in a tiny bit of water, causing her to race away from the tray and climb up Dave as quickly as possible.

Eventually, both rats were willing to investigate things a bit more. We're a long way from swimming rats, but overall the water introduction seemed to go well.

All feet in...

Malocclusion: the Gift that Keeps on Growing

Sushi's vet appointment yesterday was both good and bad. The good news is that she's gained 21 more grams, for a total of 181. The average weight for an adult female is 350-450 grams, so even though Sushi is only 4.5 months old, she's still pretty tiny. Saké is probably 30% bigger than Sushi at this point.

The bad news is that, however things have shifted in her skull, her bottom incisors are now pretty loose. So not only do they turn drastically and aim into her right cheek, they wiggle freely. This is likely to make eating pretty uncomfortable and difficult for her.

As a result, the vet mentioned doing surgery to pull the top and bottom incisors at six months, and this is something we are seriously considering. Sushi would be able to come home the same day she has surgery and would be on antibiotics and pain medicine for a bit afterward. Evidently rats do pretty well with this and usually are back to eating the night of the surgery.

We have some research to do and more questions to ask of the vet, but I think with both her teeth requiring such frequent trimming plus the looseness of her bottom teeth, surgery is the way we're headed.

In terms of getting her teeth trimmed this time, Sushi was a champ. I think the entire vet visit, from walking in the door to Sushi waking up enough to leave, took about fifteen minutes.

I didn't take the camera to the vet, so instead I'll end with this picture of Dave looking disapproving about the whole teeth situation.

Dave: the ultimate rat perch.

Sushi's Tooth

Sushi goes to the vet this afternoon. It has been just under four weeks since her last visit. She has made it a couple of days longer than in the past, and I think this is due in large part to the way her upper incisors have grown. Instead of pushing into her gums, they are growing outside of her lip.

Sushi's upper incisors are clearly visible.

I am not sure if this is because of how her teeth were trimmed at her last appointment or if it is just a result of how her teeth are growing in general. It does seem to have been a better situation for her though - she hasn't dropped any weight the last couple of days and seems to be eating normally, although slowly.

A closer look makes the incisors' issues more evident.

I am curious to hear the vet's thoughts on this change in growth pattern.

Rat Miscellany

No adorable new pictures today (although we did take some great ones this weekend) but multiple updates on the rat front:

1. Sushi returns to the vet tomorrow to get her teeth trimmed. Their growth rate is astounding.

2. We purchased a paint tray yesterday. Expect reports on Saké and Sushi versus water soon!

3. We have discovered that Saké has a new trick. We woke up a few nights ago to a peculiar sound. Saké was pushing food across the cage, up against the front bars. Interestingly, she was only moving the food they seem to dislike. Even better, there appeared to be a well choreographed routine in progress. Saké pushed a piece of food through the bars and then a yellow dog (who just happens to have pancreatitis and be on a very specific diet) would jump up, grab the offered bit of food, and eat it. This went on for quite some time. I noticed a pile of food in the front of the cage again this morning, so my guess is that this happened again last night while we were asleep.

I'm going to try to get pictures of Saké and Parker, although I feel conflicted about encouraging them so I can document it when it's a terrible habit for both of them to develop. Terrible but also so very funny.

Teeth Update

It has been three weeks since Sushi's last visit to the vet. She'll probably need to return early next week for another round of teeth trimming. Her top incisors are now clearly visible when you look at her from the side. They aren't touching her gums yet but I think that is only a few days away. She is still eating pretty good but is definitely drinking a bit more awkwardly.

Sushi and Saké are 4.5 months old now. I really hope the speed at which Sushi's teeth grow begins to slow as she gets more mature.

Bathing Beauties?

Within the last couple of days Dave and I talked about what our rats would do if we tried to give them a bath. Sushi is exceptionally clean but Saké appears a little less concerned about personal hygiene.

Then I randomly found this video:



The good thing is that now I know it can be done. I'm not sure Saké would handle a bath quite as well as this girl.

Showing Rats?

As some of you may know, I spent the majority of my life showing horses. Ironically, an old riding injury has left me hardly able to ride these days, much less compete. As a result, I have some time on my hands.

Randomly, I typed "rat shows" in a search engine today and lo and behold, people compete with rats! Furthermore, Michigan has an association that holds shows! Even better is the name of the association, Rat Fanciers of the Lakes.

I may have to check this out. Here's the best in show rat from their fall 2010 show:

BVR Small Monster

While Sushi is definitely not "show quality" with her teeth, and I don't know enough about what a show quality rat is like to know if Saké qualifies, there is also a pet class, with categories such as "Sweetest Face, "Most Relaxed," and "Friendliest." Those are categories to strive for!

BVR Peep, winner of "Sweetest Face"

I am not sure what Dave is going to say when I suggest we attend a Rat Fanciers of the Lakes meeting.