Playing with water!

the ratties got to play with water for the fist time today!
a good way to get a rat used to water is by placing some treats at the bottom of a water filled bowl and letting them either dive for them or just kinda "fish" them up.
I started off by putting things that wouldn't sink in the bowl, like apple jacks.
Garbo only wanted one but I think she might have been uncomfortable with the fact that the bowl was in the bathroom. Nixon came back for the apple jacks multiple times and waved her arms around in the water filled bowl. it was very very cute :)

I dumped out some of the water so it would be a bit more shallow and put something that would sink to the bottom in it. for that I used uncooked pasta. Nixon didn't really want to stick her head so she kinda continued waving her hands under water. she managed to get a piece of pasta that way. Garbo was more comfortable with the water when I moved the bowl into the bedroom where they roam free. she didn't care about getting her face wet. while she didn't exactly dive for the pasta, she did at least get her face wet and wasn't afraid to go in the water bowl. in fact, I saw her dipping her feet in it too :D so today's brave rat is Garbo!
after Garbo set the example, Nixon didn't really care about getting wet either and actually tipped the bowl over a few times, getting her belly and feet wet. she wouldn't let me dry her. actually, she really hated me chasing her around with a dry wash cloth :/ oh well.

I'm pretty positive that the rats will learn this game very quick and that they'll enjoy diving for treats underwater :)



also, daddy Robert and I are going away for a few days again. ratties will be staying at the comfort of their own home, but we'll have our friend Sarah come by to check on them everyday :) Sarah doesn't have rat experience but I'm not too worried because we went over all the details a few times and she doesn't seem too worried either. I'm sure it'll be fine, especially since the rats get to stay in their own home this time.


well, that's it for now.
if you didn't notice, I'm able to use a comma now. we have a new computer here at the rats' nest. Garbo has shown interest in the cord. not by chewing, but she wouldn't stop sniffing it. it probably smells like cats and dog!

picture post!

rat treasures.

our rats - just like many other rats love to steal things.
of course - they don't think they're stealing anything.


here are some items that they've attempted to steal lately that have been on the no-no list:
+ Robert's check book
+ my math homework
+ my sociology notes
+ my tax papers
+ Robert's pay stubs
+ a cd cover I was making for a friend (which later appeared on the floor. I have no idea how it got there because I thought I took it away from Nixon so I'm sure she had something to do with it!)
+ Robert's boxers
+ my underwear
+ Robert's shoe (Garbo was determined she could drag a heavy shoe under the bed)

certain things I let them take. like old papers/notes or empty paper. sometimes I let them take trash because I know that we're just gonna grab it later and throw it away. Nixon has started to export her nesting materials from the cage :o
she'll go in the cage and grab a piece of paper and run around with it in her mouth until she figures out where to put it. often she hides these pieces of paper under my stuffed polar bear (which is her favorite hiding place on the bed) and I'll have to go through the bed before going to bed at night because there might be some Nippy treasures on there.

rats are out right now and being good. Nixon's excited and running around like crazy. she ran into my slipper earlier.

they both have extremely soft fur and tails right now. I think it's the new food. Nixon started bruxing with excitement this morning when I went to feed them :D

I must tend to Garbo now. she looks like she's about to jump up in my robe (it's hanging from the closet door). she loves to grab on to it and climb up. she's crazy.

poor Garbo.

Garbo got some food stuck in her throat last night :/
it hasn't happened before (or if it has - I haven't seen it) and it was actually really scary :/
she started drooling and gagging.
Robert - as the good dad that he is - went immediately online to look for answers and I busted out the rat book to see if there was anything about it (since we didn't know at first what was going on)

turns out that rats are built very differently than us so they can't "truly" choke.
usually getting food stuck in the throat won't interfere with their breathing so there's really nothing you can do when a rat gets food stuck in its throat.
also gagging and drooling are the two things that will tell you that there's food stuck in its throat.

all we could do was pet her and make sure she felt safe. we let her roam around freely without closed doors for a little bit and when she went back in the cage and laid down she seemed to feel better :) Nixon came and took care of her by licking the drool off of her chin :D

a few minutes later Garbo was out and about in the cage and eating food and being her alert self :)

she really scared us for a moment!