Catastropeas

The other night the girls had peas, which they were excited about as always. They quickly tore them apart and ate the insides. However, being exceptionally lazy rats, they then went back upstairs for a nap, leaving a complete mess behind.

A mess of peas.

Later on that night they came back downstairs and cleaned up the empty shells. They need a maid service.

Hammock Rats

I think we need a different hammocks. The girls blend into their's a bit much and often when I can't find them in their cage, they are simply in their hammock.

Hammock rats!

Out of Town

I am in Pennsylvania this week for a meeting. There are three things in this picture I miss desperately.

Sushi's Tooth

Sushi needs to get to the vet this week. It will be four weeks since her last teeth trimming on Friday. Her upper incisors are outside of her upper lip on the left now, and her right cheek is starting to poke out a bit from her lower incisors. She's still eating like a beast though.

Sushi's not purposely holding her mouth open in this shot - her teeth are doing it for her.

Pancakes

We had pancakes for breakfast the other morning, which meant that the girls also got to have pancakes (although a much smaller amount). I'm sure they would have preferred a bit of blueberry pancake, but Dave kept all of those for himself. They had to content themselves with good old fashioned buttermilk.

Saké enjoys her pancake breakfast.

Books

I rarely see my computer's desktop because of the amount of things I always have open. On the rare occasions when I do though, I'm greeted with this:

I've had this picture as my background for so long that I don't remember where it came from, but I love it and it makes me smile every time I see it.

All of this makes me think I need to do a photo shoot with Sushi and Saké on our bookshelves.

Sushi Plays

Lately I have been reading the fourth book in the Song of Fire and Ice series, A Feast for Crows. Because that book is nearly impossilbe to put down, I've spent hours reading instead of doing other things. In order to feel like I'm still accomplishing something, I've been letting the rats out while I read, so they can get their exercise. This means that I lay on the bed and read and they use me as a springboard, jumping off my shoulders onto the bed, climbing back up, jumping again, etc. They've gotten a lot of exercise while I have been reading a nearly 1000 page book.

Sushi contemplates her next move.

Stretching

This was after she climbed on the book and knocked it out of my hands.

Sushi looks cute but she's pure trouble.

Clean Cage, Fancy Rats

The bottom level is freshly cleaned - and Saké is checking it out.

It occurred to me last night that one of the ways in which I can really tell how much Saké and Sushi's personalities have developed is when we clean their cage. We clean their cage every couple of days, and this is usually a ten minute job where we empty everything out, spray it down with diluted bleach, and then put in clean towels, litter, etc.

If both Dave and I are around, one of us will hold the girls while the other cleans. If only one of us is there though, we usually clean the cage with the girls in it. Since they have two levels, this hasn't been an issue until recently.

When they were really young, I didn't like cleaning the cage with the rats in it because they were not only jumpy but also small and fast. I was worried they'd shoot out of the cage and disappear before we had any idea where they went. Eventually they became more comfortable with us, and we could clean each level of their cage without any concern that they would try to escape. Both Sushi and Saké were still a bit nervous when their cage is emptied, so they would stay on whatever floor that we weren't cleaning, making it easy to quickly empty things out, clean, and replace everything.

But recently this has changed.

Neither Sushi nor Saké mind anymore when we empty out their cage and begin cleaning - in fact, they want to come in for a closer look. This would be fine if we weren't spraying diluted bleach in there - and I don't think either one of them needs to walk through that. So now if we clean with them in the cage, we spend part of the time either covering the trap door between levels, keeping them where they belong, or we  have to continually chase them out of the part of the cage we're cleaning.

I like that this means they have become comfortable not only with Dave and I, but with their life in general.

Rats!

This blog has been quiet due to immense busy-ness on my part but the rats are good. We've learned that they don't like squash but that zucchini is okay. They have gotten more skilled with their morning blueberries and are no longer turning themselves or their cage blue. And Saké managed to stare down Penelope the other morning, causing Penelope to actually move backward away from her.

Regular blog behavior and pictures of adorable rats will resume tomorrow.

Saké Stays Up Late

Sushi and Saké have pretty different schedules - they are both active all night long, but Sushi wakes up in the evening long before Saké. Not surprisingly, Sushi is usually asleep by the time we wake up in the morning, while Saké is still pretty active. Normally this works out okay, but this morning Saké had other plans.

I heard a strange noise from the cage and saw that Saké was tearing at the bottom of their nest. I'm not sure what she was trying to do but she seemed very determined.

The problem though, was that poor Sushi was in the nest, wrapped up in bedding, and trying to sleep. That all changed when Saké pushed her body under Sushi, flipping Sushi over backwards and out of the nest!

Sushi headed downstairs to the hammock and Saké continued tearing up the bottom of their nest. I guess that's a benefit of being twice the size of your sister - you get your way!

Saké the terror.

Saké

I know I've said this before, but Saké really has the sweetest face.

Sushi: A Modest Rat

I love this picture of Dave and Sushi:

I think Sushi looks like she's doing her sweetest Princess Diana pose.

Such cuteness.

Peas!

You might not think that the humble pea could become the cutest vegetable in the world when combined with rats, but this video proves otherwise:

Peas!

Whenever we give the girls peas as part of their daily vegetables, they make a complete mess. They grab the peas, squeeze out the inside and eat it, and discard the shells.

Saké returns for more peas.

They both eat them as quickly as they can, although Saké is faster - she eats about three peas for every one that Sushi eats.

Sushi grabs another one.

Eventually, once they've eaten the delicious insides of every single pea, they'll eat the slightly harder casing. They go back and check every discarded shell, making sure it's empty, before they start eating the outsides.

Sushi holds onto a pea.

And a closer look at Sushi's pea holding little paws:

Adorable!

Water Rats

A while ago I posted about our efforts to introduce the girls to water. Since that initial introduction, we've continued working on it once a week or so. Overall, both Saké and Sushi seem unimpressed. They are not averse to walking through the pan of water but haven't paid much attention to the water itself.

Saké and Sushi's first time playing in water.

Last night we had a real breakthrough. The water was deep enough that their toys floated and for the first time the girls actually seemed to notice the water. Sushi pushed the toys around a bit and Saké actually spent some time holding onto them with her paws, pushing them under the water, and in general just starting to play.

They aren't swimming yet, but I'm glad to see they are finally showing some interest in playing in the water. Someday maybe they'll get to this:

Saké and Penelope

We woke up the other morning to a pretty entertaining sight. Not only was Penelope sitting by the rat cage and she and Saké engaging in their usual antics (Penn putting her paws up on the cage front, Saké grabbing hold of them, etc.) but Saké was taking things a bit further. She moved some of her toys into the corner of the cage where Penn was sitting and it sort of looked like a makeshift fort. Then she moved a big chunk of cotton bedding over to where Penn was and began stuffing it through the bars of the cage. She spread it out  enough that it completely obscured the view of her behind it.

Penn went to bat at the bedding, and at that precise moment, Saké pulled it out of the way and jumped at Penn instead. It was as though we were watching Lucy pull the football away from Linus. Needless to say, Penn was a bit startled. After a few moments, Saké pushed the bedding back into place, Penn went to grab it, and again, Saké pulled it away and jumped straight at Penn!

I'm sure there are a lot of theories out there as to which species is smarter, rats or cats. I think I'm pretty sure of the answer.

Saké: smarter than a cat!

Everybody Loves Sushi

There was a fair amount of excitement when we walked into the vet clinic on Friday. We learned that Sushi has become one of their two favorite rat patients - the other being a tiny male named Billy Rubin. That might be one of the best names I've heard!

It doesn't surprise me that Sushi has become a favorite. She's quite the charmer!

Sushi needs a tiny walking stick and cap for when she goes exploring.

Contemplating a jump to the floor...

Sushi's Vet Appointment

Sushi's most recent visit to the vet on Friday was uneventful. She was 180 grams, which is about the same weight she was at last month. She is so tiny - completely healthy and a good weight for her size, but still tiny for a nearly six month old rat. We need to weigh Saké so we have something to compare against. I think Saké is probably at least 30% bigger.

Her teeth are beginning to spread in her mouth, as evidenced by the fact that her upper incisors are now growing outside her mouth. We talked to the doctor more about having her incisors pulled. We need to wait until she's older and they see just how her teeth are changing as she grows, but I still think we're going to end up doing it. Overall it should improve her quality of life and avoid the risk of frequent anesthetizing.

She's such a very sweet rat. We want her to have the best possible life.

Rat on the move!

Sushi uses Dave as a gymnastic apparatus.

Back to the Vet

Sushi is back to the vet this morning to get her teeth trimmed. We're going to try to do it without anesthetic first, which I don't think will be successful. She's so tiny and wiggly that I think it would be hard even if her teeth were only mildly crooked. I can't imagine it being successful with the degree of malocclusion she has. It is worth a try though; less risk to her and much cheaper overall.

I'm also curious to see how much she weighs. Her last visit was three and a half weeks ago and she was 181 grams. She is five and a half months old now and I do not think she has put on much weight in the last few weeks. She seems very healthy and her weight is good for her size, but she's overall very tiny.

She's cute though. You can't debate that.