#wodents

[venndaai]

r/rats is all that’s getting me through the doom and dread today

[savouryduck]

had a stress dream last night that I had bought rats at work without my boss's permission (we do not work with rats)(we do not have space for rats)(I am not trained to handle rats)

the basic idea ("let's see if our genetic model will work in rats as well as mice") was sound but the planning and execution were terrible. I got bitten.

[venndaai]

hi i saw your tags on that throw pillow post and. sorry to just come into your ask box like this but do your rats decorate?? do they have the rat equivalent of throw pillows?? are they part of the bourgeoisie??? (jk on the last one but i would Really like to hear more about rat home decor that sounds beautiful)

they are nesting animals so yes they do! they have a bioactive enclosure (bottom is full of dirt with cleaner bugs in it) and when they were younger they would spend hours sculpting burrows in it. now they're older they mostly stick to their hammocks/hides, or during free roam time I give them cardboard boxes, and they fill them with toilet paper, hay, cardboard, anything they can chew into small pieces and carry off. There's nothing as delightful as spending half an hour handing a rat little pieces of paper for him to take and arrange. It's not just nesting material though, they also love interesting small objects. Multiple times they've stolen DnD dice from my pockets to put in their hides.

I do think they have some kind of "arrange things in my space" instinct, because often they'll gather up all their chew toys and put them in their empty food bowl :P tidier than me!

[savouryduck]

the urge to quit my lab job and get a darling pet mouse I'm allowed to love is strong once more

[savouryduck]

check out this incredibly bald mouse. here pictured drinking water from a metal thingy

[savouryduck]

found out the other day that one of my breeding pairs has been over-grooming their pups, so now I've got all these comically bald teenage mice. I need to get some better pictures because the effect is of a full-body tonsure