Someone recently asked me how I get Lucky and some of my other rats to wear hats or sit with props and not eat them. The easy answer is: A lot of time and patience. Above, Lucky is wearing a little black and gold hat and I got him to sit still by giving him small pieces of treats that he likes. Then I just started snapping pictures. For every good picture I get, there are about 20 that I can't use because he has moved, taken the hat off, or they come out blurry. So expect this to take some time and patience.
When I took the pictures on Lucky's birthday I made the hat, the cake and bought the props, ie... the plates and napkins. I put a cream colored fleece blanket on my EZ boy chair for the back ground and set up the piece of cake and napkins on the chair. Then I got lucky and let him see the cake and as soon as he started licking the cake I gently put the hat on his head and started snapping pictures. The hat kept falling off so I would have to put it back on and snap more pictures. I was able to get about 50 pictures in 5 minutes and he only ate a tiny bit of cake and icing because he wanted to tear up the napkins, plate and clean his paws. I got maybe 6 good pictures out of the 50 that I took.
This was Oreo and he was one of a kind. He was so laid back and would fall asleep in my daughter's hand all the time. She had been petting him and when he fell asleep on his side, she put this little rubber duckie next to him and took the picture. Pictures like these that let us remember how sweet our pets who are no longer with us, were while they were here.
When Lucky was younger I started getting him used to being around small props like shells and glass beads and taking pictures of him. If you don't start out slow and young with them they might be afraid of new things you sit them down next to. Lucky loves sniffing out new things and isn't afraid of anything now.
Even my Bandit let me put a hat on him and take a picture this past Christmas as long as he had a treat to eat while I was doing it.
Lucky didn't mind wearing the santa hat either as long as he had a treat to keep him occupied. I have more pictures of that hat falling off then I do with him wearing it. lol
