#rodentistry

[thepipsqueakery]

Josie the Groundhog is taking a nap, so I took a nice picture of her teeth for rodent education time! 🦷🦷 "Rodent" is Latin for "chisel tooth" and you can see how they got that name in this photo. Our teeth are covered in hard enamel with a softer dentin core. But rodents only grow enamel on the fronts of their teeth. That way the back always wears away faster leaving them with their sharpened chisel shape! Our rodent friends don't have super special bite strength compared to some champion biters out there such as canines and crocodiles. But the special shape of their incisors lets them pierce, cut, and destroy objects in a way that cone-shaped predator teeth don't. I'd like to see a wolf sit and open 50 walnuts in a row! You of course know those teeth are also famous for growing continuously. And you may have heard that our friends need hard/tough toys and food to keep them worn down. This is actually a partial myth! Rodents maintain the shape of those incisors by rubbing them together. You can sort of see in the picture how Josie might slide her teeth across each other to maintain that sharp point. But chew toys DO seem to serve the purpose of exercising the jaw muscles and maintaining fine muscle control. "So what's the difference?" you might ask. If a rodent has an issue that affects the symmetry of their jaw muscles such as a bad ear infection, chew toys may not be enough to keep things straight. Learn how to check on those incisors, and seek your vet's help to reshape any problems using a diamond burr rotary tool. (Way safer than any kind of clipping!) Most pet rodents will let you simply push their cheeks back with your fingers while holding them to get a good look. Also everything I said applies to rabbits! Sorry for the wall of text! This is why I'm bad at TikTok! #rodents #petrodents #bunny #rabbits #rodentistry #rodentdentistry #rabbitdentistry #animaltrivia https://www.instagram.com/p/ChIbd2_uv1h/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[tinyscratches]

[oniongirlfriend]

@rodentistry @violentbaudelaire i just saw these replies, thanks so much for the kind words and advice, loves💕💕💕🐙

[theoriginal-potato]

Me: *goes to the dentist*

My rats: Are we a joke to you?

[confabconlang]

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when you eat peanut butter toast before playing with your ratties #rodentistry #rats

[rosesandwriting]

Top: Cicely 

Middle: Blaire

Bottom: Albert

I would just like to make this yet another post about my rats. Specifically, I want to talk about these three. 

Cicely acted like a rat in the wild at first, refused to take food from my hands, and was just as hard to capture and put back in the cage as Albert, which is saying something. It took at least a couple of weeks for her to get used to me. In the last month or so she’s opened up to me in a way that surprised me. She seeks my affection and runs to me and likes to play in my hair. She feels safe with me and the other rats, especially Ashley, but that’s a story for another post. Cicely is a beautiful rat, and she’s my smallest, and she isn’t related to any of the rats like the others are, but she’s happy in her home. She happily gives me kisses and licks at my lips. 

I made this post about the birth of Blaire, who is now a year old. I’ve literally been with her since the day she was born, and I love her. She’s clearly inherited her smarts from her mother and father, and even though she only has 1/3 of a tail, she acts like she’s SuperRat. She acts like it’s only right for her to live in my room, and run up to me and acts like I’m the safest place. She loves her family, and they really are her family. She’s literally related to Ashley, Albert, and Brutus. When I go anywhere she’s right there at my heel, and right there to greet anyone who walks through the door. I learned early on that Blaire is like her mother, and is very aggressive about her rodentistry style. She uses her nails. 

Albert is kind of a mess. From day 1 I knew that he was the shyer, more reserved rat, than Brutus. (I already had the names for them picked out, they fit perfectly.) After having him for about two months he and Brutus were neutered. One day I came home and let them out, and realized that there was literally a hole in Albert. It was slightly infected, and so my mother and I had to squirt some saline in it to flush it out. It was slightly traumatic for him, since he didn’t want to be manhandled, or squirted with a liquid. I think that’s one reason he has always run away from me, or squeaked when I go to pick him up. (Honey, I only pet you and kiss you, why do this?) He’s been getting better though! When I’m playing on the floor with the others, eventually he runs up and plays. Sometimes I’ll shake up his fur and he’ll run around and come back to me, and I pat his head and he does it again. Tonight, without any real urging, he jumped up and sat on my shoulder, tried to lick at my mouth. Then, two minutes later, he’s opening my mouth and sticking his mouth inside, and licking my tongue and teeth. (Shh, I know it’s gross.) I almost cried from happiness. 

Rodentistry- noun, when a rat licks/grooms a human’s mouth as a sign of showing acceptance into it’s mischief

(A mischief is a group of rats.)

[mochaluca]

rodentistry said: Yes yes followers are indeed crying-about-dogs-at-1am buddies. I cry about animals/emotional commercials/songs/everything so no worries. Crying about little things make me feel alive. I need sad/cute things in my life

awww well there's always those malaysian life insurance commercials that suck your soul if you need a good crying

[bigtitsandwittybanter]

re: graham crackers. I responded to your post, but I wanted to elaborate - Nabisco Grahams Original (red box) are the only conventional graham crackers that are vegan (no honey, unlike the rest). I couldn't find information about how they derive the added vitamins (apparently a few places still derive them from animal products, but most manufacturers use plant sources). Because using animal products to make the particular added vitamins is so rare, I'd say they're most likely 100% vegan!

(2) Also it's definitely worth ordering marshmallows from Sweet & Sara at least once (when it's cold so they don't melt/you can order with an ice pack&insulation), or looking for them at the nearest Whole Foods... they're expensive but delicious. I want to figure out how to make my own vegan marshmallows at some point

Hey! Thanks so much seriously. I'm gonna publish this so I can keep it because I've been hankering smores. I have been eyeing up the Sweet & Sara ones because they've got those huge bags *_* I think the only ones I can buy semi-locally is dandi's which are good and are what I've had in the past. So I might just end up going that way.

I'm glad to know there are vegan graham crackers that should theoretically be here. I know I can get chocolate too so it is only a matter of time....

<3