I haven’t said a damn word about the rats lately. I’m actually kinda surprised my cousin David hasn’t said anything about that fact. So I figured I’d update you all.
We are still at 5 rats. Our 4 boys and 1 baby girl. At some point I think we plan to get a second girl so Gabby isn’t alone any longer. We need to get a bigger cage for her first.
Speaking of bigger cages, we, meaning Pat, are in the process of building a bigger one for the boys. By building I mean the one we have the bars are too far apart and they can get out of it, so we are putting a layer of chicken wire around it. It’s a long grueling process because not only is chicken wire hard to work with but it can be sharp on the ends. Pat is being very careful and is taking his time to be sure it’s done right and safely. We don’t want our little guys cutting themselves on their new home. Once they have it though they will be in heaven because it’s nice and big and they will have room to run and play and climb. Their current cage doesn’t allow for that near enough.
They are all getting fat and seem to be happy. They also appear to be healthy. They eat will.
I also have provided them with thick cardboard tubes that the paper at work comes in on. They are big enough that 3 rats can fit in them at a time easy, 4 if they are squished. They enjoy sleeping in them and chewing them up.
I’ll provide pics of the new cage and the boys in it once it’s done. Gabby won’t be getting too many pics of her taken. She’s too skittish and shy. I don’t want to spook her with the camera and flash. It isn’t worth it.
Thomas seems to really enjoy them. When Pat cleans the cages, Thomas is usually in charge of being a jungle gym for the rats. I’ve walked down to the basement to find all 4 boys scaling the 6 year old at once. He’s pretty good with them. He moves kinda fast and is kinda loud, so he spooks them more than we’d prefer. But we’re working on that. What counts is that he’s gentle with them and gives them the attention they deserve. Even Gabby enjoys loving on him and she’s people shy. So if we can just slow him down and shut him up, the boy and the rats would be a match made in heaven.
And that’s the 411 on the rat babies.
Part of me was wondering, but I figured that you'd mention it if things weren't going well.
Kim had to do the chicken-wire thing last Christmas while I was in Iowa because our two new girls kept escaping, so I'm sure she can sympathize with you on that.
Sounds like you're having a ball with them! Check out Kim's Facebook for some of our rat pictures, and her Notes for a picture of the cage when she was done (it's in a note called "Stymied!").
I'm glad things are going well for everybody involved. :)
The entire process is a bitch. It is a pain in the freakin' ass. That's just how I feel and I'm not even the one doing it. We won't ask Pat his opinion. No one wants to sit through that rant.
But it's worth it.