Thursday, March 31, 2011

Yay!

Nixon's eye healed up on its own.
it looks completely normal and hasn't bled for a few days :)


the ratties got to play in the bedroom for 2 hours yesterday.
I was trying to do some stuff while they were playing but Nixon kept stealing my craft supplies! it's okay though. it's kinda cute when they do that.

also the rats have learned that sometimes when mommy isn't giving them a treat it really helps if they get on their hind legs and spin around. then mommy HAS to give them treats for being such good rats :)

Garbo doesn't really jump up in this computer chair too often but she really wanted to sit in my lap and see what I was doing yesterday so she suddenly climbed up here and sat in my lap and wanted to see what I was writing as I was copying something on a piece of paper from the computer. she thinks it's very fascinating when I'm writing and often jumps up on my notebooks when I'm writing down something :)

Sunday, March 27, 2011

A lighter post.






Eye update.

well...Nixon's eye hasn't gotten any better nor any worse.
I'm not really sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.
I'm really fighting the urge to take her to the vet.
my mom and Robert both think I'm just overreacting and I've really tried to reassure myself that they're right but I'm also really worried since I can't seem to find any kind of information on products that I could use so that the swelling will go down and to prevent infections.
if I was at my parents' house we'd definitely put some bepanthen on it (an ointment that is safe for mucous membranes and works well on pets) but since it's only sold in europe we're out of luck. I can't seem to find anything similar over here despite all my googling.
I've tried two different message boards and one of them was finnish so of course they recommended bepanthen. I had a lot less luck getting any responses on the other message board.
(and unfortunately you can't send creams and things like that overseas. otherwise I'd have my parents ship me several tubes of bepanthen this instant!)

if it was a scratch anywhere else on the body it wouldn't be a big deal.
but it's next to the eye and infections in that area can be really nasty.

I guess it's not infected right now since there is no pus coming out of it.
but it is still swollen and will bleed a little if she rubs it against something.
I saw her scratching it earlier. I don't know if that's good or bad.

I guess I'm just gonna have to keep monitoring her and if it gets worse then probably take her to the vet.
while it's not getting better nor worse I might as well keep searching for products that are rat safe and that will help her heal.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

today's guest blogger: Garbo.

hs13


she just discovered that she can reach the computer desk from the chair.

Poor Nixon.

Nippy has a scratch next to her eye again :(
it's a lot smaller this time and it didn't bleed as much and she hasn't been squinting at all so that's good.
she's a little swollen around the eye like last time though.
we haven't taken her to the vet since it wasn't really that serious last time either and this time I actually know where she got the scratch from.
I'm just kinda worried it might get infected or something :/
we were thinking about buying neosporin or something like that but it makes me a little nervous as the scratch is close to her eye and what if it's bad to put it that close to the eye? :/

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Playtime!

one day it occurred to me that perhaps our bed would be a perfect rat playground and turns out I was right!
the ratties are now allowed to play in our bed and they love it! there's a big blanket that's perfect for tunneling and stuffed animals that provide perfect hiding spaces!
Nixon loves to eat her treats under my stuffed polar bear. the bed gives Garbo access to the window which she likes a lot. Garbo knows how to get down from the bed but when she's on the floor she's being good and she doesn't spend much time under the bed so I'm not too worried about letting roam around on the floor. Nixon hasn't figured that out yet but I'll let her do that in her own time. she's a lot less daring than Garbo and it seems like she's actually worried about getting hurt unlike Garbo who jumps head first into all kinds of trouble and often ends up falling down (luckily Garbo has an alert mommy who does her best to catch her!)

today the ratties were extra playful and we played a fun game together. I have some cereal in the shape of stars that have a little hole in the middle so I put some string through them and the ratties were chasing them around and once they caught the string with the treat they had to figure out how to detach the treat from the string. Garbo even started doing some of the tricks she has learned just so she could have an extra treat! Garbo walked in a circle and stood up on her hind legs for me so I think she deserved the extra treat :)
Nixon liked chasing the string around even when there wasn't a treat on it so we did that for a while too. of course there are some crumbs in the bed now from Nixon eating under the blanket and under my polar bear.

I've taken lots of rattie pictures again since the bed is a great surface for them to play on. this way I can sit in the bed while they play and interact with them while they run around without having them go too far away from me. it's good for socialization and rattie picture taking!

I've also made some clips because my mom requested to see some. I guess that means that I'll have to send her a link to this blog.

now that playtime is over for today I'm off to study some biology and the ratties are preparing for a nap.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Suggestions are welcome!

the ratties were allowed back out already the very next day under stricter supervision.
they didn't touch any cords under my sharp eye BUT of course we hadn't thought of the cord under their favorite couch.
since the rats have made themselves a nest under the couch I should have figured out that the cord that crosses their nest would have suffered a great deal - which it had.
unfortunately the damage is pretty bad - if you touch the wires on the cord it will spark - so the rats are not allowed there anymore.
that means we can't let them out in the living room anymore until we figure out how to section the living room so that they stick to the cordless side of it.
I don't understand why we keep having so much trouble with this. I feel like everyone else who has had rats hasn't. most people give them access to their entire apartment!
the living room has been enough for our rats.
as a temporary solution we're only letting them out in the hallway and the bathroom.
we also bought them a playpen but they don't seem too excited about being transported from one cage to another cage-like area.
we're thinking about buying some kind of "walls" (you know the kind that people use when their babies just start walking and they want to section off places where the kids aren't allowed in?) to put up in the living room when letting them out.
I'm getting so desperate that I'm thinking about rearranging all the furniture in the living room. I really don't want the rats to be enclosed into a tiny space.
that's what their cage is for!

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Grounded.

our ratties are grounded today.
they chewed through a couple of cords that we kinda need in order to be able to enjoy visual entertainment.
they did it gradually though so it wasn't like they just decided one day to be mean and mess with their parents.
oh well. everyone who has had rats would know that this day comes eventually.
we're trying to figure out how to prevent this from happening in the future.
and today the ratties are just gonna have to play inside the cage and that's why I
made them some pinatas to play with.

Friday, March 4, 2011

the ratties are moving...

...under the couch?!

apparently so.
they have even brought some of their pellets over there.
our advertisements keep disappearing and they're all shredded under the couch now.
yesterday I lifted up the couch to see what was going on underneath it and I found the girls huddled up in advertisements. they had neatly folded it into a big bed. it was pretty cute actually :)
they have a supply of baby carrots and yogies there too which we've had to confiscate.
Nixon even brought her favorite toy (a small rubber ball) over there!

despite their little moving project they still hang out with me in the living room a lot.
last night Garbo was actually playing with me. she was chasing ME around the living room :D aww Garbo. my dresses are some of the ratties' favorite hiding places so there was a lot of traffic under my dress.

the rats also like stealing laundry I've noticed.
the other week I was folding laundry in the living room while the rats were out and Nixon tried to steal daddy Robert's boxers. when she wasn't allowed to take them with her she tried to go for my underwear and when she couldn't take those with her she started pulling on my dress. much to her disappointment she had to leave empty pawed.

since today is laundry day I'm expecting thief rats to appear in my living room again!