Re: Cool stuff you've found on the web
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2011 12:31 pm
Wow, five years old? That's pretty bloody good for a rat! 
My two lived to be two-and-a-half and three. There's a user on YouTube called "oPuPo", I think it is, who has vids of her rats though hasn't updated for aaaages - they can do "walk" as well, and also "spin", which is cute. I think the last time anything new was updated to that account was over a year ago now, though - the two boys featuring in most of the vids might not be around any more 
.
Rats are bloody intelligent...I see them as sort of a cross between cats and dogs but with a bit extra - they can look after themselves like cats and spend loads of time grooming, but they're also social and trainable like dogs and enjoy company and attention and stuff. Only they're smaller and cuter and need less space and don't need to be taken all the way to the local park for walkies or whatever
. One day I'll have rats again, but I'll need my own house or something as my bedroom doesn't exactly have the space for them atm .
I've had other rodent pets besides rats - I've had mice and gerbils. Something I used to do with all of these would be to make different toys and stuff out of the various rodent-friendly bits of crap around the house (bog roll tubes, etc), including egg boxes, into which I'd put some treats, cloes the lid, and bury in the tank somewhere. With the gerbils, they'd nom through the box as much as possible and use it for bedding, and grab a bit of the food that came out if they happened to spot it on the ground in between mincing up cardboard. But one of my rats, Comet (the other was called Nimbus), was observed by me once to be doing something else entirely - same deal with an eggbox with food/treats inside it, but it had had only a tiny hole chewed in one corner, and Comet had picked up the box in both hands and his teeth (the latter acting as a third hand - he wasn't using them to actually bite through the cardboard) and was lifting the box up and banging it around until a bit of food dropped out of the hole, which he'd then pick up and eat. Smart arse.
My two lived to be two-and-a-half and three. There's a user on YouTube called "oPuPo", I think it is, who has vids of her rats though hasn't updated for aaaages - they can do "walk" as well, and also "spin", which is cute. I think the last time anything new was updated to that account was over a year ago now, though - the two boys featuring in most of the vids might not be around any more .Rats are bloody intelligent...I see them as sort of a cross between cats and dogs but with a bit extra - they can look after themselves like cats and spend loads of time grooming, but they're also social and trainable like dogs and enjoy company and attention and stuff. Only they're smaller and cuter and need less space and don't need to be taken all the way to the local park for walkies or whatever
. One day I'll have rats again, but I'll need my own house or something as my bedroom doesn't exactly have the space for them atm .I've had other rodent pets besides rats - I've had mice and gerbils. Something I used to do with all of these would be to make different toys and stuff out of the various rodent-friendly bits of crap around the house (bog roll tubes, etc), including egg boxes, into which I'd put some treats, cloes the lid, and bury in the tank somewhere. With the gerbils, they'd nom through the box as much as possible and use it for bedding, and grab a bit of the food that came out if they happened to spot it on the ground in between mincing up cardboard. But one of my rats, Comet (the other was called Nimbus), was observed by me once to be doing something else entirely - same deal with an eggbox with food/treats inside it, but it had had only a tiny hole chewed in one corner, and Comet had picked up the box in both hands and his teeth (the latter acting as a third hand - he wasn't using them to actually bite through the cardboard) and was lifting the box up and banging it around until a bit of food dropped out of the hole, which he'd then pick up and eat. Smart arse
.
However most of it is so obvious you don't need them anyway 
