Wordless Wednesday - Contains One Serving of Rat

Serving Size - One rat

Servings per Container - About One

Walter, here, is enjoying the current favorite box for lounging.

Pumpkin Festival 2013 - Update 2 - Practice Pumpkin's Carving Completed

 In less than 24 hours, my sweet little rats completely carved their wee pumpkin.  There is no evidence of pumpkin seeds or guts.

 Here's Walternate showing off his hard work.

And, a few hours later, we removed the pumpkin and I tried to get a pretty picture outside.  The pumpkin walls are mostly paper thin in this photo.

Our full size pumpkin is going to be cleaned up, and it looks like we are going to try it without a starter hole as our little ratties seem to know what to do with a pumpkin.  So, don't worry Pumpkin Festival 2013 is not over.

FOUND TOY - Noah's Ark Now Infested with Rats

Here's Walternate modelling his new "hide."  They really like Noah's ark.  There's several large windows which even a fatty rat can squeeze through.  The roof is hinged which is perfect for extracting lazy boys.  Also, it's fairly easy to clean as you can easily unscrew the house portion from the boat portion.

Yesterday, the boys had piled all of their blankies to the roof of the ark, and today, they have removed all except a few blankies from the floor.  Sometimes, they just can't make interior decoration decisions.

Oh, beware of picking the ark up by its handle and putting it on the floor.  I did that yesterday hoping that Walternate would stay inside as I got Smaug out, but no, he decided he would go for a walk.  Sigh.  All of my other rats are scared of the floor, but not Walternate.  He loves going for walks.

How can you find a Noah's Ark for your rats?

Sorry, the bad news is that this is a vintage Noah's Ark.  The new Fisher Price Noah's Arks aren't as convenient for rats.  So, the easiest place to find it is on ebay.  What I did of course was stumble upon it at a garage sale for a dollar.

Peter's Video - Peter Refuses to Stay on the Floor

Tamed pet rats tend to run to you if they get on the floor.

In Peter's case, he really does not want to be on the floor.  Although he's become a bossy rat with his buddies, he can still be nervous and wimpy.  In this video, he's not freaking out rather he wants to be with his human and not on the unknown floor.

By the way, Walter (Walternate) of yesterday's video figured out how to get off the bed or the couch and just loves exploring the floor of the house.  Sigh, now, Walternate requires constant supervision when he's out of the cage.

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.

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.