Rattie Bonding

I've had the boys for over a month now.  Evee has been fully adjusted and living with them for awhile.  Splat really looks up to her and I'm pretty sure he brags that Evee is his cool older girlfriend.  Evee has a "just friends" look on her face though.

Splat is a funny dude. I imagine him as a cross country runner who is very obsessed with nutrition and fitness but still a really twiggy body.  He runs on the wheel a lot.  A lot.  And he will take maybe 1 treat from me, but then refuses and hops on his wheel in regret of the snack he did consume.

Spork pretty much just sleeps.  I swear there are days I never see him as he is naughty about burrowing under my cage liner no matter how hard I've tried to stop him.  I poke him to try and rouse him out sometimes but I can just feel him grumble and try to ignore me.  Spork does run on the wheel sometimes too, likely from Splat's guilt trips.  Mainly Spork just wants to eat and sleep.

I feel like a horrible rat mom often.  The boys are still awfully skittish of me.  I can't bribe Splat with food and Spork I can't even get to wake up to come see me.  They're really not coming out of their cage much at all as they're not brave enough to venture out and they don't want me to grab them.  I'm not sure what to do differently.  Penelope didn't take long at all to come out and explore- she was the naughtiest and bravest rat ever.  And Evee followed her like a good side kick.
Splat wants to follow Evee but will only follow her on top of the cage.

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The Rats

In other news over our long break from blogging I had to say goodbye the the coolest rat that has ever lived.  Penelope developed a tumor that grew very fast.  We had it removed but unfortunately during the surgery they discovered it wasn't the tumor they thought it was.  Female rats are sadly very prone to tumors and Penelope's regrew in a much shorter time frame than we expected.  And it grew fast.  We finally said goodbye to her just a month over her initial surgery.

Since Penelope was a stray rat (a fact that still makes me smile and laugh!) we don't know how old she was. We had her for 15 months and she was fully grown when we got her but that doesn't mean much.  The reason why she was a stray was super obvious.  Once Penelope became comfortable, her greatest joy was figuring out how to escape from anything.  She was such a trouble maker!

And insanely smart.  I kinda lost motivation to train Penelope as the months went on, but she learned quite a bit when we were working!  Weave poles!  Rolling over!  Picking up a ball!  And some other little things.  

Evee has been a bit lost without her.  She looked depressed actually.  Evee was never the bravest rat despite my initial feeling that she would be.  Evee never once dreamed about escaping the expen setup.  And while she had no problem interacting with me, she startled super easily.

So I went looking for friends.  Since I spayed Evee when Penelope had her tumor removal surgery (to try and prevent Evee from getting tumors) I wanted boys this time.  Boys are known to be dumber and more cuddly.  I thought that sounded nice.

Rats in rescue were again not really there.  So this time I found a breeder.  I got 2 young boys.
Meet Spork and Splatter.

Splat.

 Spork.

Evee is not thrilled.  She's a bit of a bully actually.  Needless to say they are not moved in together.  But since it took 3 weeks for Evee and Penelope to move in together despite all the rat forums saying baby introductions are easy, I'm at least more prepared this time.

Evee got kicked out of the mansion to live in the temp cage with bars too big for the boys to stay contained in.  She's not happy.

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The Video- 2015 In Review

My favorite video of the year.  No sad things exist, just fun times.

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The Other Pets

The non dogs of the house have been giving me more grief lately.

First Kitty has discovered how the doggy door works.  Only took 8 months!  It only goes out into a small potty area for the dogs.  But it apparently needed to be a little more cat proofed.  Hopefully it's fixed now, unless he decides he can climb the fence.  He did make his first kill, a little vole, which I find impressive considering how small the yard is.  And a little stumped since he was extremely unhelpful with the mice problem we had this last fall.

And then there's our ratties.  Penelope can not be stopped from climbing the xpen.  Main method I've been using to discourage her is to try and shake the pen as soon as I see her attempting the climb.  She is fast.  And now she likes to hang on like it's just a wild ride and refuses to let go.

Then I tried the squirt bottle.  This definitely annoys her but Penelope is determined.  Now I have a very wet rat who suddenly climbs faster and more determinedly.
The only good side to the water bottel strategy is that it makes her next climbing attempts a bit harder as her paws are wet.

Evee's a good girl.

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Rat 2x2s

In happier news, the rats continue to learn weave poles!  Or at least Penelope.  I think Evee is actually at the point where we could be making progress if I were to be a good trainer and do separate sessions. Evee comes pretty eagerly now for the treats for at least a few.  And then she runs off to eat Penelope's stash.  I only tried her once separate from Penelope and she was more nervous but did do a little.  So mainly I'm just luring her and doing crappy training while I focus on Penelope.

Poles are starting to be straight!  And then Penelope actually did it for one completely straight set of 4 poles the next day!  The 2 sets of 2 poles were straight, but still with a bit too big of distance between the 2 sets.  And sadly the very next rep couldn't do it and then the poles actually snapped :(  I need to make new weave poles apparently.  This time I'll do bigger spacing as the current spacing was actually really tight for Penelope to squeeze through!

Have a new setup for the rat playtime.  Penelope continues to climb the xpen regularly but is content for a little while.  Her biggest motivator to climb is to try and get on Adam's desk so by moving back the xpen this has cut down on the amount of climbing.  She still tries though as she has started to become brave enough to climb to the top and then scale down the other side.

Zumi is supposed to baby sit...

Evee climbs too but not as often and easily gets scared off.

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Rat Agility Progress

Penelope is starting to get angled poles in her weave pole training!  I realized after making this video earlier this week that I should move the 2nd set further away from the 1st set.  That helped a ton and now we have even more angle than shown below.

And look, Evee is playing more!  Really I should train her separately since she is further behind than  Penelope, but eh.

Interspecies interaction is always interesting.  Kitty is mostly behaving himself.

And somehow Zumi was lucky enough to actually get to play with Penelope!  Only happened once but super cute!

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World's tiniest set of 2x2s

Why yes that is a new weave pole set!  

Of course it has a velcro base which allows the configuration of 2x2s.  And it might be safe to say that this is the only set of tiny 2x2s in the world?

Let the training beginning!  Method will be a highly butchered version of 2x2's, channel, and luring.  My plan was to start with the 3 sets of poles squished together to form a tiny channel for the first lesson, gradually pulling them farther apart but not angling them in any way.  I thought this would be the easiest as it would kinda be like a tunnel for Penelope.

I quickly learned that Penelope is bigger than I thought!  But thankfully the spacing will still work, just not as ample room as I was picturing as I cut the wood.  I also learned that it's way easier to reset a rat than a dog!  And discovered that weave poles taste delicious to the ratties!

But Penelope did learn the "reward line" :)  And for the most part she's  rockstar at 3 sets set up in a channel even if there's room in between to cut out.  So recently I started angling the sets.  Lots more errors!

Oh and Evee occasionally pokes her head out and wants a free cookie.  I try and lure her a little bit, she's certainly not ready to offer any behavior!  But Evee is getting a bit more pushy about the treats each session so I have hope!

Video of a session earlier this week, I think it was her first time with anything angled and you can see I'm super indecisive of how I want to progress.

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Rat training

Ratties are doing well.  I joke that Penelope is my pet and Evee is Penelope's pet.  The little girl is still very easily startled and when out of her cage she doesn't venture too far from under the cage or behind the tv where it's safer.  But yesterday for the first time she did start "grooming" my fingers!  Lots of little rat kisses and a few tiny nibbles.

Let us out!

Penelope continues to be a little rock star and I finally started a little bit of trick training with her.  We're working on offering interaction with props :)  Going in the little tunnel, 4 feet on a little box, and standing on the teeter.  PP is starting to get the concept of it but gets stuck a lot with trying to just mob me directly for the food.  She's so cute as she runs off to eat the treat and then runs right back.  And after a few treats she just quickly runs to stash it away but is so food motivated she will keep coming back forever!  Sometimes she just stores a little piece in her mouth and then tries to tell me I didn't give her one.

Evee is still working on coming to the recall noise.  And sometimes I can get her to lure onto a prop.
Super boring video of a training session a few days ago:

New xpen setup is working alright.  But I was a fool to think they couldn't climb it without the horizontal bars!  I've removed Penelope about 30 times the first night.  Thankfully she seems to be climbing it less and less each day. I don't doubt that it will need to constantly be watched, but I am hoping that she will mostly give up.

Kitty is behaving himself.  He has not been allowed to interact with them, but I'm not too nervous that he would injure them if chaos happened and they ended up meeting.  With the (wild) mice we had in our house last fall (eek!) Kitty sadly only toyed with them and was of zero assistance to our problem.  Still, based on how he played with the ferrets I think he would be too rough with the girls.

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Rat life

7 weeks of rat ownership!  So far I'm loving the ease of care compared to owning ferrets.  Both were fairly well litterbox trained but the ferrets were lazier and if they missed, well more cleanup required than just a little pellet!

Of course rats aren't nearly as entertaining as ferrets. They don't run into walls and then become overcome with glee because they did so.  Much more serious souls.  

But unlike ferrets, rats are chewers and need much closer supervision when out.  Current solution is a wall made of plywood.  But it still gives them too much access to cords so I'm awaiting the arrival of  an xpen with tiny bar spacing, and hoping they won't be motivated enough to climb the vertical bars.

Such amazing little climbers.

Little Evee is still adjusting to life with us.  She comes out of her cage easily and doesn't seem too nervous of me.  But unlike Penelope who explores every inch she has access to, Evee limits herself to underneath her cage and behind the nearby tv.  Evee is much more jumpy than Penelope and just under confident right now despite daily interaction and lots of patience.

It also doesn't help that Evee is not as food motivated as Penelope is.  Penelope knows her recall sound extremely well and can't wait to get her reward.  I've started the tiniest bit of training with her to go through a tunnel and jump onto a little box.  She scampers away to eat the first 2-3 pieces and then after that just sprints to hide her catch and sprints back just as fast to earn more!

Zumi is still in love with her little friends and saddened that Penelope doesn't seem to want anything to do with her anymore.  Penelope doesn't really need Zumi as a safety spot to run to when out exploring like she did for the first few weeks.  

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Move in Day

The rat plan has been way more difficult than thought!  So much for girl to girl being easy and baby to adult not even an event!  It took a couple days for Penelope to stop squeaking just being around Evee in a neutral location.  And then they were finally OK together in the bathroom and I had hoped for move in day to be quick.

But as soon as they were locked in the cage together more squeaking ensued and Penelope would start bullying Evee who would quickly try and hide in a corner.  Most I didn't need to physically interfere more than a quick bang on the cage near them to startle her off.  A few times worried me and I quickly removed a puffed up Penelope from a hiding Evee.

Yesterday the ratties were together in the cage for over 2 hours with only 1 incident I felt needed interference.  So today I put them in the cage first thing this morning and after a few hours of light squeaking and awkwardness, they finally fell asleep together under a fleecy.  Just shy of 3 weeks, I declare today official move in day!

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Rat Introductions

Rattie girls are doing well but not yet living together.  

Penelope is a little nervous about Evie still and I've been careful about letting them interact.  They have done several cage swaps for brief times (Evie is too little to live in the secondary cage with the 1in bars) and have done several short interactions on neutral territory.
The first several times Penelope started squeaking whenever Evie got close to her.  Evie seems oblivious and just wants to see her best friend!  I used a gloved hand to protect Penelope and ward off Evie often.  Twice I tried the two girls in the main cage where I thought it might be easier since Penelope would be a bit braver on her former turf, but nervous Penelope's confidence only went high enough up to be a bit more aggressive towards Evie so I went back to neutral ground.

On day #5 Penelope started to become much more relaxed!  Less squeaking and less kicking Evie away.  Still mainly pretending that her little sister does not exists, but improvement!  And Evie is being slightly more respectful.  Evie continues to do lots of stalking, but is less intense about and easier to redirect than before.

I have hope that by this weekend they will finally be living in the same cage.

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Meet Evee!

Rattie friend found! 

Evee is just a baby rattie at 7wks old.  So tiny!

Ended up turning to craigslist in my search to find Penelope a friend.  Surprisingly there's not a lot out there in rescue right now, at least if you only want 1 rat.

She's a brave little girl.  No issues with Zumi shoving her face in her cage and very quick to explore her surroundings.  Already has ventured further than Penelope has!

Introductions to Penelope is not going as smoothly as I hoped.  Initially Penelope was afraid when I put the 2 together in a large neutral cage.  Evee had no problems and tried following her around.  After their 3rd short meeting together Penelope started to get braver, but still nervous enough that she started to go after Evee.  I don't know too much about rat body language so I can't really judge how serious.  But it seems mostly bullying type behavior rather than outright aggression.  Evee is a little nervous now.  So I've settled in to having the girls in their separate cages for awhile now.

I needed to get Evee out of the tiny carrier she had been living in, but my large 2nd cage has 1in spaced bars that Evee can easily slip out of.  Actually Evee spent her first night in that cage with duct taped screen all over the side that I foolishly thought would hold.  I woke up the next morning and panicked when I saw some of the screen down and couldn't find Evee!  After quite a bit of searching Evee was eventually found huddled in the corner of the cage next to the litter box.  Thankfully she was still a little nervous as we had her less than 12 hours!  But thus Penelope is now moved to cage #2 and Evee gets the main cage with the 1/2in bars.

I am hoping that with a little more time Penelope will relax and accept her new little sister.  I have done many slow ferret introductions over the years, but never rat introductions.  With the ferrets it usually took 3-7 days before I felt comfortable housing the newbie with the existing clan.  Fingers crossed it won't take too long for these two!

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Settling in with Penelope

Penelope is fitting in nicely!  Brave rattie comes easily out of her cage and is starting to explore the ground a bit more.

Zumi is being so good.  She quickly learned that offering a down gets Penelope to come up to her more and somehow Zumi even started offering her head down behavior whenever Penelope bolts back up to her cage!  Penelope likes to actually use Zumi as a safe zone as she starts to explore the room and then bolts back to Zumi or me.

Mouthing of my fingers is almost completely gone now.  But while she loves crawling around on me she still doesn't want to be held.

I knew she loved stashing her food on the upper level but when I went to change out the fleeces today I found 2 whole cups worth of kibble in one of her hideouts!  Decided to just move her food bowl to the upper level and see if that pleases her.
Still working on finding her a little friend.  It's hard to find one that isn't part of a "bonded pair" in rescue.

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Meet Penelope

Hello!

Yes with all of the ferrets now passed on I am finally able to get rats!  Love ratties :)  This is Penelope.

Loved my ferrets too, but rats are a lot less work!

Apparently actually getting a rat though is another story.  I didn't want to purchase a rat at a petstore so instead I have been eyeing rescue sites.  When a friend posted a picture of the rat she was fostering though an organization that mainly does small dogs I was intrigued.  Applied!  And then promptly rejected.  Apparently the fact that my puppy isn't spayed makes me a bad person and thus not responsible enough to own a rat.  Yes, the fact that I had an entirely different species intact than the one I was applying for matters.
I wrote back and they relented due to Zumi's age since I am not willing to spay a puppy so young.
And then the process continued.  Another full week since our "meet and greet" and contracts were finally finished being signed from coordinator, foster, and me.  Whew!  Quite the process!  I can't say that I'm eager to go through that again although I do plan on getting a friend as soon as I find another confident little girl!  Through a different rescue.  I can so easily see how trying to do the responsible thing is almost punishing, and all I wanted was a rat!

I had so much fun setting up her cage though!  My ferret cage was twice the size, but due to their size and different behaviors, their cage was way boring by comparison!

Penelope is still settling into her new life.  Apparently she was a stray.  Yes, a stray! Ran right up to her rescuers!  The last bit of her tail fell off shortly after rescue but it isn't easily noticeable unless you're looking for it.  

Super sweet girl and fairly brave.  Overall not bothered by her calm observers!

Zumi was a bit nervous at first, mixed with some conflicted play bows.  But now she seems mainly curious and polite.  Lance doesn't care at all and can't even be bothered to sniff the cage.  Vito looks in every now and then but also doesn't care too much.  Even Kitty is getting more bored with it!

So far I'm working on building Penelope's trust.  No grabbing her, just letting her explore my hands and get used to me.  She will jump on my hands and arms but only for a few seconds before she needs to run back to the safety of her cage.  I'm thinking it won't be too long though before she's able to come of her cage and start exploring!  

She is doing quite a bit of mouthing of my fingers but overall very gentle.  From what I can read online it appears as though this is common in rats getting to know people and learning about our bodies.  It is decreasing from the first day and I hope that overall time it will go away other than times she tries to pull my finger further in her cage for more yogurt licking!

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