Shades of Mischief

From left to right, Carl, Butters, Sherlock (yes he's shoving Butters), and Dorian....  Enjoying morning oaties.

Stuff on my Rat 4 - Snickerdoodle

That's a Snickerdoodle on Philip, and I actually got the photo.

Wordless Wednesday - Taste Testing the Dog's Homemade Cookies - Phillip

YUM !

This is the first time I've hopped onto a blog hop.  It is so exciting.  We are joining Blog Paws for Wordless Wednesday.  Woohoo!

Look at all those dogs and cats in the blog hop.  Nestled in there stealing their cookies is PHILLIP.  

Walter Eating Chocolate Chips

Here's Walter enjoying a couple of chocolate chips.

First, chocolate chips are safe for rats.  They can even be beneficial for rats with pulmonary issues as chocolate is a bronchodilator.

Second, I must apologize for the obnoxious sound.  Our ceiling fan is too noisy.

By the way, this is our new Walter.  Our other Walter passed away of his old age complicated by obesity.

This is Walter Bishop of "Fringe" fame.  He takes after the original Walter in many ways.  He has similar coloring.  He's also quite stocky with cute little jowls, but his weight hasn't ballooned like the original Walter's did.  He loves his food like original Walter as you can see from the video.  But, he also loves to exercise, and he's currently our only rat that requires constant supervision when out of the cage because he's more than happy to explore the floor.

What's that?

That is Doctor imitating an orange.  He, apparently, made a wrong turn when he was sneaking into his stash of pepitas.  Doc loves his pepitas.

Success.  He found his way to the right bag.  Here, he enjoys nibbling on his pepitas.

He's my only rat with a passion for pepitas, and we've been keeping a little bag of pepitas on the counter over the couch where the rats play.  Doc frequently finagles his way up to the bag, knocks it down, spills it.  He's always making a mess with his pepitas.  But, the other rats leave the pepitas alone.

By the way, orange rinds are another of the rare foods that you don't want to feed to rats, specifically male rats.  Orange rind contains a carcinogen, d-limonene, which is a problem for male rats, but not female.  Here's a post about that at RMCA.

And, if anyone is wondering, no, he did not nibble on the oranges.

Easter 2013 - Peeps S'mores

We had Peeps S'mores for Easter and, of course, the rats had to share.

Disclaimer - S'mores are NOT healthy, but this is a treat.  Also, chocolate is not poison for rats.  Indeed, chocolate can be therapeutic.

 Sam and Carl are investigating the strange yummy.  Doc is lurking in the background.

 Here, Sam goes for the peep.

 I just love this picture of Carl.  He's like, "WHAT???  Where did it go?"

 Doc enjoying the chocolate.

And, here's a Peeps S'more going into the oven.

It's 2 squares of graham cracker, some chocolate, and a yellow peep.  Baked at 350 deg Fahrenheit for about 5 minutes.  For the rats, I made sure it cooled a tad so none of my guys would get burnt tongues.

Patches - Our Foodaholic

Patches loves anything and everything that she can eat.  And, she loves hunting for new yummy morsels.

So, here's an old video of Patches' enjoying the chocolate she found.

Please note:  Chocolate is NOT poisonous for rats.  I will concede that chocolate is NOT good for Patches' waistline, and in excessive quantities they could have problems from the stimulant effect.  But, they sure love chocolate.

More Rat Food

I've recently been taking photos of rat snacks.




I found Baby Bananas on sale, and I know ten rats who love bananas. Initially, I'd carefully peeled their wee bananas, and then, it dawned on my.... What's the fun in that???




Baby Bananas minimally prepared for my bananaholics.




Jimmy snagging herself some Nana.




Doctor perusing what's left.




Funner Food. a little salad with leftover crockpotted pork, not much of the pork is left. But, you can see Patches eyeing some pork.




Lily snagging the olive.





I went a little crazy with all of the pictures, but I do hope you enjoy.

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Cucumber Slices Make Delightful "Watermelon" Slices For Rats

Here's Doctor eating a cucumber as if it's a watermelon slice.





And, another picture because he was just so cute.




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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.
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Anniversary of the Boston Molasses Tsunami

Today, we honor the anniversary of the Boston Molasses Tsunami. The first time I heard about it, I thought it was a joke, but it really happened. 93 years ago on January 15, a molasses storage tank failed, unleashing a couple million gallons of molasses inundating a portion of Boston's North End to a depth of 2 - 3 feet, killing 21 people and injuring 150 people.

Bizarre.

To me, it puts a different aspect on last year's, Japanese tsunami. The immensity of the Japanese tsunami is difficult to grasp, and although youtube videos help, and of course, the Boston tsunami was a dwarf compared to the Japanese tsunami. The photographs from 93 years ago are strikingly similar to the Japanese youtube videos. They both help me to understand the disaster, and the science and nature behind it.




Aftermath of the disaster; photo by Globe Newspaper Co. (Boston Public Library

Wikipedia article on the Boston Molasses Tsunami

So... I baked gingerbread cookies. Why? Because gingerbread cookies are made with molasses. In this case a whopping 2/3 cup of molasses. hmmmm. ok, my molasses is definitely not tsunami worthy. Regardless, I shall be respectful of the energy that large bodies of liquid (I was going to say water, but molasses is not water) can transmit.

Gingerbread cookie being prepared for sharing. By the way, all of the humans loved the cookies, too.



Mabel and Doctor munching on Gingerbread cookies.


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