Did You Know...

Copyright: Wikimedia Commons

Credit: Vinayaraj

That Cashews grow on fruit that grow on tree's? See those half moon shaped things under the red and green fruit? Yeah, those are cashews. 

I did not know this until my brother's Guatemalan neighbor told him about them because they originated in Guatemala but are now grown in other places. The fruits are called Cashew Apples and the outer layer of the cashew is actually not edible and will cause a skin irritation much like poison ivy would. Roasting the cashews destroys the toxins on the outside and makes it easier to break open the outer layer to get to the cashew we know and love.

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

Crazy Things That I Want!

So, a while back a friend of mine posted on her blog Herding Cats and Burning Soup, all the crazy things she wanted and so I thought I would copy her idea and do the same here. Thanks, Anna! So here are some of the strange things I've seen on Amazon *links included* that I want.

Indian Chief Skull Figurine

Kurt Adler Witch Hat With Rat and Skull Head

Enesco Charming Tails Why So Grim Halloween Figurine

Damn! Guy Talking Stress Ball

You squeeze it and it yells, "Daaaammnnn! Whew, I needed that"

Novelty Computer Keys

Just peel and stick. 

Creepy Doll Head Salt and Pepper Shakers

Spider Creepy Cup

Plants vs Zombies Slippers

Hinterland Trading Air Plant Terrarium Kit

EcoSphere Closed Aquatic EcoSystem, Pod.

Do any of these things look interesting to you?

Weekly Rat Facts: Eye Color

Did you know that rats with pink, red, or dark ruby red eyes have a harder time seeing than rats with black eyes? You can see in this picture that Flower has really dark red eyes and  so she will sway back and forth when she is looking at something in order to see it better. 

I hardly ever see my black eyed rats swaying back and forth because they can see better than pink or red eyed rats. 

So if you see a rat swaying back and forth, now you know why.

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week  received: 

 A box from Smiley360 with 4 Perk vent wrap car air fresheners and a Perk pop out fan.

$1 off coupon

Did you know that Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark both post links to great free samples? That's where I find most of the ones I sign up for. Did you get anything free this week?

Lucky Likes Pizza

So we ordered pizza the other night and when it came Lucky was sitting on the couch with us, so I shared a slice of my pizza with him. Yes, some of you might not know this but I routinely share my food with the rats, even my drinks. Ken does too. I put a piece of pizza on a paper plate and set it down on the couch where Lucky was lounging and he came running over to get a bite. 

He took little dainty bites, mostly wanting cheese. 

I let him take a few bites and then I took a bite. Yes, that's right, off the same piece. Omg call 911 I might get a disease! Most rat parents do this with their rats and we're all just fine. 

I love this picture because Lucky looks like he's giving thanks for the pizza he's eating. "Thank you for this pizza I'm about to nom." 

Little bite for me, little bite for Lucky.

I'm sure he was saying, "Thank you, Mommy." 

I gave the other three *Marbles, Flower and Scribbles* a share of pizza as well but they decided to hide in their beds with it to eat it. 

How To Get Rid Of Roaches

I recently found out that my neighbor has a roach problem and when you live in an apartment, there's always a risk of getting whatever bug your neighbor happens to get. But luckily I've been pretty lucky so far and aside from the occasional roach or bothersome ant, I haven't had many bugs. I did buy a few things to make sure it stays that way and one of them being Combat gel. You just place small amounts of the gel behind the stove and around pipes. Roaches are attracted to it and when they eat it, it kills them.

I do think me not having bugs has a lot to do with the fact that I use preventative measures to keep the nasty bugs out though. I often use Fresh Step Crystals kitty litter because it's made with silica which is the same stuff found in diatomaceous earth, which is known for killing bugs. But this time I bought a bag of this stuff to try out. You have to make sure you buy the food grade diatomaceous earth though, nothing else will work. If you want to know what else I do to get rid of roaches, I wrote an article and you can find the link below.

How To Get Rid Of Roaches Using Fresh Step Crystals Kitty Litter

So I'm preparing for the coming onslaught of ants, beetles, water bugs, roaches, silverfish and anything else that works its buggie little body in between the cracks that I have yet to seal with caulking. Have you taken any preventative measures?

One of the other things I bought was glue traps to put in my cabinets and under the stove and fridge. I like these because they are really cheap and you can either fold them up to make a little box to sit inside cabinets or leave them flat and slide under the stove and fridge. 

Funny little story

So I was pulling the backing off of some of the glue traps to slide under the stove and it slipped from my hands. If you've never seen one of these things, they are massively sticky. The darn thing landed sticky side down on the floor and I just stood there thinking, "Really? Did I really just do that?" 

I bent over and tried to pry it off the floor. Not an easy thing to do. I'd start to get one side and riiip, it would rip and I'd have to pry another piece off the flood. The glue strips were mocking me and right when I thought I had mastered the art of pulling glue traps off the floor, it came off.....and went right into my hair. *OMG*

How did it get on my hair, you might be asking? Well my hair is so long that I can sit on it and when I bent over, my hair spilled over the front of my shoulder and hung down to the floor. I should have seen this and done something about it. I should have known this would happen. But thankfully I had ripped up so many smaller pieces of the glue trap that the last piece was a small 3x3 inch piece. It was thankfully stuck to the bottom of my hair and I thought, "Well, looks like I'll have to cut it out." 

Then I remembered that I'd seen a youtube video about freeing mice from these glue traps by using vegetable oil. So I put the bottom of my hair in a bowl and poured some vegetable oil on my hair and the piece of trap. Wala, it came right off. No hair cutting necessary, but now I needed a shower. lol 

Happy Raturday!

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*

lol

21 Pointlessly Gendered Products

Now we've all seen the men and women's this and that even thought it's the same exact product but the girls products are in pink packaging while the boys are in blue. Yeah, it's ridiculous and I fall for it every damn time. Read the article below for a good laugh. The comments made on the products make it all the more funny.

21 pointlessly gendered products

I've done this. I was ordering some more foam ear plugs and they had several colors, blue, yellow, pink, tan ect..but as soon as I saw the pink ones I thought, "Hey, they're pink. And pink is for girls and I'm a girl, so I should get pink." Of course I bought the pink ones.

I bought my grandson some pacifiers when he was a newborn as well as some teething rings and while looking I saw yellow, blue, pink ect. I went right for the blue ones because blue is for boys, right? I mean what would the neighbors say if they saw him sucking on a pink pacifier or teething ring?

Weekly Rat Facts: Grooming

Rats will groom themselves much like cats do, they will also groom each other to show that they know who is in their pack. They are social animals and the pack mates will often groom the alpha in the cage to show they know who is the dominant one.

Rats will also groom their humans and when they do, they are letting you know that they consider you to be part of their pack. Scribbles has just recently started grooming my hands when I pet him. He'll lick my fingers and then use his teeth and very quickly use them to scrape against my skin, like he would to other rats. He'll groom *bite off* my finger nails and even scrape off and eat any little scabs or pieces of dry skin he finds. Yes, I know that's kinda gross but that's what they will do. 

Scribbles and Lucky are the only two rats that I have that groom Ken and I right now. Marbles is old and grumpy and he never really was very social. He's more likely to bite me if I pet him when he doesn't want it, then he is to lick or groom me. lol And Flower is still getting used to us and really doesn't sit still long enough to do much grooming of anyone but herself.

Lucky on the other hand has always been very friendly and started licking and grooming our hands within 2 weeks of us getting him. As soon as our hands are within reach, he start licking. He's such a friendly little rat. Ken installed a 40 gallon hot water heater for my dad last week and his arms got beat up pretty good. So Lucky has been trying like crazy to bite off Ken's bandages and get his teeth on his scabs and wants to lick all his little boo boo's. Ken isn't really wanting him to do that though because as he said, "Ouch, that hurt." lol 

Freebie Friday!

Welcome to another edition of Freebie Friday, where I tell you what free samples and full sized products I received in the mail and how you can get them too. Someone asked me why I do a 'Freebie Friday" each week, so I'll tell you.

A while back I listed all the free samples and wins that I had received that previous year and so many people didn't believe that I could have gotten so many free things. So I decided to prove it by taking a picture every week and sharing the sites that I found the links to the freebies at. So now you too can get great free samples coming to your mailbox each week.

  You can find links to samples like these at Hey It's Free and Freebie Shark.

This week I received a box from Sample Source. In order to get occasional sample boxes from them all you have to do is sign up for an account and when they send you an email saying they have samples ready, you just take a couple of small surveys to see what samples might be a right fit for you and then confirm your address. Very simple. 

This week I received: 

Garnier Fructis shampoo and condition

Eight O' Clock Coffee

Tums Freshers

Breathe Right Nasal Strips

Tums Chewables

Air Fresheners

I usually buy the Renizit cones, they last quite a while and are cheap. Only about $1 a piece. So when I saw on Amazon that Renizit has come up with a new product, I had to try it. It's called Renuzit Air Freshers Crystal Elements. And this is what they look like. They come in a bag and inside the bag are two smaller plastic pouches with these rocks in them. You just pour them onto glass dishes or into glass bowls and place them around your home. I put some in a glass dish.

I also keep my glass candle holders after I have burned the candles and the candle has melted. Just clean it out and you can reuse them.

This is how I reused this one. I filled it with some of the Renuzit Air Freshers and have it sitting on my shelf. The colored crystals in the glass are pretty and they come in different colors and scents. So far I've had them sitting out for two weeks and they are still putting off a good scent.

The bag of the Renuzit Air Freshers only cost about $6 and there was enough to fill 4 small glass jars or bowls. I'll be getting these from now on. 

My Published Articles

*Scribbles*

So this month and last month I was a busy writer and wrote a few more articles and now they've been published. I'd love it if you took a look at one or all and let me know what you think. I mostly write about rats and hamsters but I do occasionally write about other things. And yes, I do use pictures of my own rats in my articles. 

What Should Be In A Rat's First Aid Kit

Things To Consider Before Adopting A Pet Rat 

Which Hamster Breed is Right For Me

Rats 101: Water Bottle vs Water Dish

Alternatives To Animal Testing

It's not the first time that I've written an article about what to consider before adopting a pet rat or how much they cost me each month. The reason I keep writing on these topics is because people keep asking me questions that just make me shake my head in disbelief. Here's just a couple of the questions I've been asked on Twitter, FB and by email in the past couple of months. 

1. Can I house my rat in a hamster cage?

Answer: No, you cannot. A hamster cage is not at all big enough for even a small rat. The tubes, wheels, beds and space pods are much too small and you run the risk of them getting stuck and hurting themselves. 

2. Can I leave my rat at home alone for a week if I put a lot of food in his cage and add an extra water bottle?

Answer: No, absolutely not. Rats are social animals and require human interaction everyday or you run the risk of having an unsocial, unfriendly rat who is mad that you left them alone for so long. If you need to leave for a long period of time, you should get a baby sitter for your rat. Someone you trust to take care of your rat. 

3. Can I leave the rat cage door open while I'm at work?

Answer: Not unless you want your rat to chew through all the wires to your tv, lights, cable, phone and refrigerator and probably electrocute himself. 

Good grief, a little common sense. Is that really too much to ask for?

Happy Raturday

Welcome to a new weekly blog post I'm calling, Raturday! I've seen Caturday and while that's really cute, I think the rats needs some photo time so everyone can see how cute these little animals are. I've gotten permission from Rat Logic's fb page to share their pictures on my blog. So get ready to smile because these are cute. 

*click pictures to enlarge*