Ratas need exercise, too

This is Epi.

More Photos of Cute Pets

Pico is getting older and calmer; he doesn’t get into nearly as much trouble as he used to. He still will find his way to the top of my closet occasionally, but when he was younger, he would survey my room from the top of the doorframe every time I let him out. 

He was a terror when he was young. He got everywhere (behind the dishwasher, inside my printer, between panes of glass in a sliding window, under a bookshelf, and he could even open my sliding closet door sometimes in college). But now, he’s more obedient. Previously, when I couldn’t find him, I knew he had stolen food and was stashing it somewhere bizarre. Now, he’s usually curled up in a pile of blankets. 

Since his rat buddies all died, he’s been all alone, and I this is how I found him when I came home. The black ball is Pico, and the brown thing is a stuffed animal. I think he misses his friends.

The girls are getting bolder, and they love their warm, fuzzy pouch/hammock. Here is a sleepy Rosie.

And here Rosie is exploring. Epi is more hyper and is really difficult to get sharp picture of.

Baby Rats

I got two little baby girls. I wasn't really planning on getting more rats until after New Year's at least, but I was in Petsmart and these girls called me out on being a sucker. They're still a little shy, but curious.

Here are pictures of the night they came home (11/11/10):


This is Epi (Eppie?). She's named for epifluorescence, a microscopy technique. Also, Eppie is an old lady name, so it works two ways. She was at Petsmart for a couple weeks in the back (the story is that she was a little sick, but nothing to be concerned about in the long term), so she played with the employees a little, so she's a little older and a little bolder than Rosie.


This is Rosie, hiding on the left. She was being really shy at this point, so this was the best picture I could get of her. She likes food more than Epi, I think. She was smaller than my palm when she came home. Pico was just MASSIVE in comparison, which is pretty funny since Pico was always one of the smaller boys.

She's named after Rosalind Franklin, who took the X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA, which Watson and Crick used to figure out the structure of DNA. She died of cancer before the DNA Nobel Prize was awarded, but many think she would have gotten the Nobel if she was still alive.

They're getting bolder as they get more used to me. Here they are playing on my bed:

It's hard to take good pictures of fast-moving, small animals.

They also (I have no idea why) love my keyboard. They just loooove prying off keys and running off with them. Perhaps it is an attention-seeking behavior? Fortunately, the keys pop back on easily. Here's Epi, trying to hold on to my tab key.

I am working on training them to not eat my computer.

Now (12/2), they're much bigger, maybe 6 inches from tip of nose to base of tail for Rosie and 7 inches for Epi. They eat about maybe 3 or 4 times as much as Pico does in a given day. They are growing like little weeds.

They came home to my parents' for Thanksgiving, and I think all the noise, chaos, and attention helped bring them out of their shells a little. They run around and play with me now, sit on my shoulders, and beg for attention. Now, they seem to look forward to coming out of their cage to play and run around. They also recognize their names and will come when they're called. Maybe I'll let them play on the floor soon, now that I can call them back. Also, it's time to start learning tricks!