A Day in The Life Of A Rat

This is my boy, Marbles. He has continuous respiratory problems as well as mental problems it seems. He does the strangest things like snort at us if we try to pick him up. He does not like to be handled and instead of kisses his likes to nibble our fingers. I think that's his way of saying hi. We put our hands in the cage and he'll run over and nibble/bite all of our fingers.

He also likes to tell us when it's time for a Yogi treat. He comes over to the corner of the cage closest to the couch and stares at whoever is sitting there. He'll snort or sneeze or get you're attention and then hop up and down until you give him a yogi. Once you give him a yogi, he retreats and eats it and goes back to sleep or bothers his brother. 

Marbles also has a weird thing about pudding...he'll stick his paw in the spoon and rub his paws on the fleece. Then come back and 'bap bap bap' the spoon with his paw. I think he's trying to slap the pudding into submission so it will stop getting his paws wet, but it doesn't work. lol 

I'm sure both of these two probably thinks they names are "Where's your brother?" Every time I go to their large cage and see one of them, I seem to say, "Where's your brother" to whomever is the first one I see. They probably go back to their bed and try to figure out what their human is talking about. 

It has become my goal in life to find a food that this little guy Won't eat. He's not picky like the other two at all. He will beg, climb the bars of his cage and stare at you until you give him a bite and then no matter what it is...he'll devour it and come back for more. I can't shovel the food in his cage fast enough for him. He wants to try everything I make so I give him little bits of whatever I make for dinner. He appreciates it. 

He's my kissy rat too. He gives kisses all the time. Okay so maybe to me they are kisses and to him he is grooming me. But I call it kisses..He was giving Ken kisses on his forehead here. 

Bandit and Marbles have a big cage to play around in. It's hard being a rat, it sure is. 

They follow each other around and make sure that one doesn't get more treats, petting or cuddles than the other one does. Bandit will actually shove poor Marbles around and up against the cage with his butt when he wants to act like the alpha rat and show Marbles who is boss.

But they play with their toys together with no problems. 

After a hard day of eating and playing with the rat toys, it's nice to have a soft place to take a nap. 

"Are you stalking me?" Marbles meant business. I was just trying to take a few more pictures but he wasn't having it. He grabbed my fingers with his teeth and pushed me right out of the cage. lol 

Bandit resting after hard day of bullying his brother and making sure he got the best resting spot in the cage. 

When Marbles took over the fleece cube in the background..Bandit decided to photo bomb me while I was trying to take a picture. Yeah, they are jokers like that. 

One of my old guys that has since passed away. He liked sleeping with a rubber ducky. It's so hard being a rat...

Two of the biggest rats I've ever had. Both were 3 lbs but Jasper, the tan and white one was 19" long from nose to the end of his tail. I think he must have had ancestors at the Nuclear testing facility.

And more playing...It's hard being a rat.