Hi There, I'm Peter.

This is Peter in his favorite spot, between the pillows of the couch.  He's a tad odd.  Seriously, he's essentially propped there in a biped position.  He's enjoying a banana yogie.  mmmmmmmmmmm

Peter is one of our new rats.  Our other new rat is Walternate.  If you know my rats, yes, sadly, our original Walter passed away from old age.  This past winter has been tough for our rats.  We had a lot of losses.  Many of our rats had a few years on them and died of old age.  It's hard for me to blog about rats going to ratty heaven, so instead you get to hear about our new rats.

Peter and Walternate, continuing our tradition of naming rats after TV shows, are named after Peter and Walternate "Walter" Bishop.  "Fringe" is a SciFi show and occurs in at least 2 different alternate universes.  The primary characters call the Walter character from the alternate universe, "Walternate" which we thought was perfect for our new rat.

My fuzzy version of Finger Puppets

Here's my version of finger puppets.  It was originally done by Kathy Marie Smith.  And, this was my attempt to reenact.  As always getting good pictures from my always moving rats is a challenge.

Christmas 2012

Christmas photos better late than never.

Here's Sam being awfully cute.

Jimmy, "Do you have something I can nibble?"

Walter, "Is that Santa Paws?"

Doc, "I wonder if I can use this to explore the world."

It's a Rat Tribble - More Fat Walter

Walter Butt


And, here's a ball of fur with rat ears.


Seriously, I would love to help Walter lose weight, but he does make a nice rotund ball.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

This Week in the Critter Nation - Four Layers in the Crib

I'm about to make more liners, so the Critter Nation remains fairly similar this week.




I call the upcycled record file the "crib". And, this week it has Doctor hanging in the top layer. A hammock covering the wire floor, and the double hammock hanging from the bottom of the "crib". We also have the big teal ball from their tunnel set in the upper floor this week.



Martha says, "hi" from the top layer of the "crib".




Mabs says "hi". I wish she was perfectly in focus because that would be an awesome photo.





Downstairs in the Critter Nation.




Walter being adorable.




Walter being cleaned by Mabel.

Isn't Mabel cute in her almost full coat of hair? Her fur will probably fall out soon. Sigh. She being a rex and all.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Walter the Lazy Mouse - An Awesome Used Book Find

I found a wonderful little book at a used book fair that benefits our local public library. Sadly, the book's cover shows its age and is held together with library tape, but the story... just too cute.





I included a photo of the first pages of the book to demonstrate the loveliness of the illustrations, and the mouse house illustration reminds me of my Critter Nation.



And, here's Walter. I'm not sure that he appreciates his namesake being lazy. I think he's taking it personally. LOL




Anyways, the book's author is Marjorie Flack, and the illustrator is Cyndy Szekeres. The book appears to be from 1963. It's an easy to read chapter book with lots of darling illustrations. Walter, the main character, has many adventures and learns the value of industriousness. Something that I wish my own Walter would learn. Then, maybe he might lose some of his weight.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Diet and the Fat Rat

I have ten rats, and only one of them is fat, Walter. But, he definitely does fat well.

The 1.99 displayed on the scale means that Walter is almost 2 pounds.

Walter squeaks, "I'm round like a pancake. Gimme more pancakes. I need them for my handsome figure."
From wikipedia,

Zucker rats were bred to be a genetic model for research on obesity and hypertension. They are named after Lois M. Zucker and Theodore F. Zucker, pioneer researchers in the study of the genetics of obesity. There are two types of Zucker rat: a lean Zucker rat, denoted as the dominant trait (Fa/Fa) or (Fa/fa); and the characteristically obese (or fatty) Zucker rat, which is actually a recessive trait (fa/fa) of the leptin receptor, capable of weighing up to 1 kilogram (2.2 lb)—more than twice the average weight.[17][18][19]
Obese Zucker rats have high levels of lipids and cholesterol in their blood, are resistant to insulin without being hyperglycemic, and gain weight from an increase in both the size and number of fat cells.[20] Obesity in Zucker rats is primarily linked to their hyperphagic nature, and excessive hunger; however, food intake does not fully explain the hyperlipidemia or overall body composition.[18][20]

So, I'm thinking that my round rat, Walter, is likely related to the Zucker rats. He eats the same food as my other rats, yet he is rotund.

I, initially, thought we could get him to lose weight by exercising him. We tried arranging the cage to be more conducive for exercise, but um have you ever tried to get a rat to exercise??? I even looked at a research article in which they exercised Zucker rats. They encouraged them, and they did lose weight, but the question is how? The article detailed all sorts of encouragement which were cute and sweet, but if that didn't worked, they resorted to an electrical shock. Hmmm. Nope. Exercising Walter does not sound workable.

And, anyways, from what I've read on human weight loss. Most of weight loss is achieved through diet.

So, DIET

Walter and my rats eat a modified Sue Bee Diet. (Rose is allergic to wheat, so none of them get wheat).

For humans, a low glycemic diet helps with weight loss and simultaneously promotes satiety. I not only have read about this, but I'm on a low glycemic diet and have lost 50 pounds. So.. would this diet work for Walter? Of course, a lot of the research studies were done on rats. And, I've been reading them.... very frustrating to find out how simplistic the rat research diets are. I'm also interested in Paleo diet, but I can't seem to find research involving Zucker rats and the Paleo diet.

I'm trying to decide between two choices.

1. Put the rats on the Harlan Teklad low glycemic lab blocks. I will have to find out how to order them and whether they contain wheat. (Rose is allergic to wheat, the poor thing.)

2. Put the rats on my diet, and just provide them with a portion of every meal that I eat. (They already get snacks from my meals, but this would entail providing all of their food from my food.)

Maybe, some day, I will be able to Walter to lose some weight.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad