Family time.

being on vacation is fun, and seeing my other pets (mostly my cat, walther) is really nice, but I really miss my little girls :( I can't wait to cuddle with them and laugh at all the funny little things they do and have Nixon hang out inside my sleeve and Garbo wait for me to run after her.
I was just informed that the rats are fine though, and that they are getting used to their ratsitters. that's good news and with that in mind, I'm going to crawl next to rat-daddy Robert and take a nap :)

Let the ratsitting begin.

well..not for me. I mean, I am not the ratsitter.

I called Robert today and it sounds like the rats are going to be in good hands for the next two weeks :)
the ratties are going to have their own room to play in and to explore! :)
hardwood floors so they can't chew on the floors like they do at home sometimes.
this of course means that there are no crumbs for Nixon to find, but I'm sure she can live with that. Nixon loves "vacuuming" our floors at home and scans it very carefully for crumbs.

our rats do use their litter box but it sounds like they don't like having it in their usual corner. lately they've been moving it and knocking it over, so I guess we need to move it to a different corner. I guess I could have asked Robert to do it :o

I feel like a hysterical mother for writing a "manual" for Jamie, but you know how it is: you just want make sure your little ones are well taken care of :)

Rattie blog vacation.

there won't be a lot of rat blogging in these next three weeks since I'm on vacation at my parents' house in sweden.

I can tell you though that Nixon actually came to me the other night when I called her and eventually climbed up in my lap :) it was really cute.
Robert and I let them roam around freely in the living room while we were sitting on the couch. it was okay since they were on the okay side of the living room where we won't have to tell them NO, DON'T GO THERE! :D


when I called Robert today he was playing with the rats. he had hidden treats in their cage and the rats were looking for them. Robert is being a "single parent" this week and next week when he's coming here, the ratties are going to stay with Robert's sister Jamie for the remaining two weeks. I hope they'll be fine. we've noticed that our girls are a little afraid of strangers but since they'll be there for two weeks and Jamie has experience with female rats, they should be fine :)

I kinda miss my two little crazy furballs :( *sad mother*

Rattie christmas!

the girls got their present today and they're still working on opening it.
I wrapped it as a big candy with ribbons at each end and so far they've torn off one of the ribbons (and used it as nesting material. crafty girls!) and dug into some of the paper.
watching them try to open the present is so cute :)

I guess I should mention what I got them.
it's called a nibbling nut knot (or something like that). it's a knot made of wood (for them to chew on) and it has a nut in the middle.
Garbo saw it before I wrapped it and wanted to chew on it so it looks like they are going to like it.

Ratventures.

Garbo's adventures in the blanket shelf of the closet.

school is done for the fall semester which means more time to spend with the ratties!

lately they've been acting up and I've had to put them back in the cage very quickly but today the ratties were being really nice. even Garbo who usually runs away from me and gives me that "see you later" look.

Garbo has discovered that at the end of the hallway there is a closet and that she can actually open the door herself. the bottom shelf of the closet if full of blankets so I don't blame her for wanting to go in there. I would too if I was any smaller :D
whenever she'd go in the hallway she'd try to run away from me but today she was being very sweet and didn't mind me supervising her activities. she'd come sit in my lap every now and then and she insisted on climbing up on top of my head at one point.
she was being such a good girl that she even rode back to the living room on my hand without making a big deal out of it :) good girl Garbo! I didn't have to give her a treat because Nixon had made sure that there was something to "come home to" in the cage.

Nixon's adventures were a little different. I've noticed that she doesn't really explore for the sake of exploring. she is actually looking for food whenever she's running around in the living room and today she found a plate with yesterday's pizza crust. it looked so funny and cute when she grabbed a big piece of crust and ran with it in her mouth. she did actually manage to get it in her igloo.


I noticed that the rats really tell you if they don't want something in their cage. as I was wrapping some christmas presents I put a piece of wrapping paper in there cause I thought they might want to shred it and use it in their nest. Garbo didn't agree and grabbed it and tried to shove it through the bars down on the floor.
speaking of which..Garbo really hated the old blanket they had. she'd always shove it out and Nixon would have to pull it back in. they have a new blanket now and they both seem to like it since the blanket hasn't left the igloo yet :D

it's friday and as you may have noticed from reading this blog that means it's cage cleaning day. I bet Nixon is going to go on a search for more pizza crust and Garbo is going to hang out among the blankets again.

oh and did you know that when a rat is 6 months old in human age it's actually 15 years in rat age? I found a chart on a rat site I go to. aww. luckily female rats will remain playful so I won't have to worry about them aging that much :)

Garbo - the amazing stunt rat.

I may have described Garbo's stunt woman abilities before in this blog.

today I got just another Garbo surprise.

last night I helped Garbo up on the tv stand.
she had never been up there and she was going to walk across my arm there anyways so I gave her a lift up there and let her explore for a little bit.


today as I was trying to get Nixon to come out from underneath the couch I heard some mysterious sounds and as I looked to my left I saw Garbo on the tv stand!
I couldn't figure out how she got up there without any manual assistance.

Robert later suggested that she might have used the thick white cord to climb up there.
it sounds pretty realistic to me and I really wish I could have seen that as I haven't seen rats do that yet!

New approach.

the ratties are finally going to have to learn to listen.
lately whenever they've done something they shouldn't (usually it's just things like going too far in the apartment like the dining room or the hallway) I've picked them up and put them back in the cage.
they go nuts in the cage cause they want to come back out so bad but I can't let them out when I know they're just gonna do it again. in the lack of a better phrase - they are going to make me their bitch if I let them back out now.
so they are just going to have to calm down and then I'll let them out later tonight.
I'm cleaning the cage tonight anyways so no matter what they're still coming out at some point.

I gave them some grapes last night. Garbo went inside of my sleeve and started munching on the grape. they both decided that my sleeve was a fun place to hang out and crawled in there. having a rat in your sleeve on a cold day sure warms a little :D

now I'm gonna go see if they've calmed down a little.

rat revolt.

hi everyone.
haven't had time to update lately and I haven't really had time to hang out with my ratties like I usually do. school can be very stressful sometimes but here I am.

even if I've been really busy I've still tried to let the ratties out at least once a day for a few minutes.

I don't know if the ratties are upset with their mommy not being able to attend to them as much as usual or if they're planning a "prison break" but they were acting weird the other day :O

they both decided to run under the couch. Nixon doesn't usually do that. and when I lifted the couch up she came out only to bite my toe and then she went back under the couch! Garbo squeeked when I tried to pick her up so I got worried I hurt her but it turned out that I didn't - I was just getting in her way and she pushed my hand away real hard. well....as hard as a rat can push one's hand.

last night I let them out before going to bed and Nixon went under the couch again and Garbo didn't. in fact - Garbo did what Nixon usually does: she crawled up in my sleeve and stayed inside my hoodie for a while and then she just went straight back to the cage. she was being very calm and when I went to check what they were up to just 10 minutes ago she was really calm :o weird. Garbo is usually the adventurous one that you have to really keep an eye on and Nixon is mommy's sweet little girl. weird! although I really like the calm Garbo cause that means that maybe now I won't have to chase her around the living room :D

I'm gonna go see what they're up to.

:o

I cleaned the cage yesterday and I was a little worried that Nixon wouldn't want to go in the other cage because that's the one she was in when we took her to the vet.
it was really the opposite: she let me pick her up and put her in the cage and she didn't freak out. I was really surprised. Garbo in the other hand thought she could hide from me by diving into the bedding. she was wrong.

Garbo would really love to get in on the medicine too.
last night I was looking for Nixon cause I had to give her the medicine and Garbo kept trying to grab the syringe from me. sorry Garbs - it's Nixon only.

all is well at the rattie residence.
Nixon's eye keeps getting better.
Garbo is just as wild and crazy as usual and Nixon is building a "secret" tunnel between the igloo and the tree house.
I'm going to pretend I don't know there is a tunnel there.

Nixon's first time to the vet.

as the title says Nixon had to go to the vet for the first time today.
good thing I had prepared for the day this would happen and looked up vets that would see small animals!

last night I noticed the corner of her eye was bleeding and there was a lot of dried blood around it. today she kept squinting and had more dried blood around it so I decided it was time to call the vet in case it was something more serious.

poor Nixon was scared and actually tried biting me a couple of times :(
but once we got to the pet hospital she fell asleep for a little bit.
everyone there - including the people waiting for their pets thought she was so adorable :) one lady actually came up to us and asked what her name was and said she was really cute.
the people at the hospital were very nice and kept us updated on what they were doing while we waited.
I thought it was a little funny that Nixon's papers have her name and my last name printed. as in her name is Nixon -my last name- :D

they tested her for ulcers in the eye but she was fine.
they said everything was fine and it was just a scratch.
her fur and stomach were normal and apparently she had behaved well :)
I was worried she was going to be scared and try to bite everyone but luckily that wasn't the case.
in fact - when they brought her out she was energetic and didn't seem scared at all!

on the way home she was being good too.
she didn't poop or pee herself and she wasn't trying to chew on the cage bars.
we made a quick stop at a store on the way home and she slept while we were in there.

when we got home she ran to the cage immediately and after eating the blueberry I gave her she went right to sleep. she slept a couple of hours and just an hour ago we gave her her medication.
I thought it would be hard to get her to take it but I was wrong: she even tried to grab the syringe from me. she got a big energy kick out of her medicine and came out to hang out a little together with Garbo.
she was very playful and jumped on my hand playfully "attacking" it.

Nixon is supposed to be on medication for a week and the swelling in her eye has gone down a lot. she isn't squinting anymore but I can tell it's still a little swollen.

I'm glad it wasn't anything serious :)


edit: forgot to mention that the discharge(?) they gave us suggested that we cut her nails to prevent scratches like this. I know nothing about cutting rattie nails and actually it sounds a little scary to me. I haven't really found any info on it either so I'm not really sure if I should do it or not :/