Pea Party

The girls had peas last night and as always, they enjoyed them. Saké sat in front of the dish like a normal rat, whereas Sushi preferred to suspend herself from the pipe above the dish.

Sushi prepares to grab more peas.

A single pea is barely visible in Sushi's mouth.

Eventually she realized that it was more effective to join her sister on the ground.

Sushi darts in from the side for another pea.

Within minutes, all that was left were the empty shells.

Pea carcasses.

By morning, even the shells were gone.

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.

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!

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.