During my recent holiday i started construction on the new improved Ranpaging Rodent Residence (here by refered to as the RRR)

Each pay day I will be picking up something for the rattie cage.. I got some thick dowl and cut slits in the ends of them to fit the cage bars.(whew that is a job and a half)... And have worked out more or less the lay out.. The wire rack that came with the cage(i cut out some of the bars so that there is an opening i can put a ladder going from the lower level to that level) ive put this  just at the bottom of the top door.. ( the cage has 2 sliding up and down doors, and the top one finishes a little above half way up the cage.. So ive put the full floor level there, so I can use that for a putting the ratties in and a feeding station.. )  The bottom Door ill use for any reluctant rattie who wont come out for play time if they are down on the lower leveles.

I still have 2 dowl pieces to cut and then that is finished I can then get the shelves. There will be all up I think ive worked out that there should be enough space for 5 levels, Ground, and the top entry level being full sized shelves, then there are 3 half sized shelves around half the width of the cage... (the cage is 65cm square and aprox 165 cm tall..  )

Ill get 5 ladders so they can get access to the different areas... And work out where to put atleast 3 hammocks at 3 different levels.. Plus the odd fuffer bag and dome..   Ill look into getting some lurking boxes too..   and any other little rattie fun toy that may come in handy..  

So the RRR is coming along nicely..   Next pay day ill get the shelving sorted out, and some velcro to attach the shelves to the dowl..    

Im thinking of putting some towels velcroed to each shelf to make it a little softer on their little footsies when i get new furbutts.  Im thinking of getting them around Christmas time so that ill have 2 weeks to spend with them to get them use to me.  Ill see if our Rescue people here have any that are ready for rehoming, or see if the same breeder i got Rufus and Reuben from has any boys... 

in the mean time Fang and Spike have been testing the cage out for me, ive got some photos of the construction and of Fang and Spike in the cage.. so when i get time to have them developed ill put them up.

So far so good, ive got most of the Shelving supports sorted out, now i just need the shelves, and some assessories fitted in and then i can get my new babies..  

5th December 2006

 

Ladies, Gentlemen, boys, girls and ratties of all agees.

 

I am proud to introduce to your Romulus and Remus.   (picture will follow when i can get time to take them and have them developed)

 

Friday night i went to visit Lena and Don, who for over 10 years have done a magnificent job of Rattie Rescues..   They have a large number of cages and ratties, some of who are now in their twigh-light years..  Lena showed me to the cage where the Purseletts were, and it was love at 1st sight.  

 

As soon as i approached the cage and said hello to the boys, they came immediately out onto the open door to say "Hi what took you so long to come get us"

 

They are a little shy, and rather quiet ratties (compared to Rufus and Reuben)..   We think they were born in March/April this year, so they are around 6-7 months old...     They have the most adorable pink eyes, and  both hooded, in a very pale color, the closest i can find  to describe the color would be    probably Silver/Fawn   as seen on the Dapper Rat site..   http://www.dapper.com.au/whatrat.htm#topaz

 

When i first got them home Friday night, i put them strait in the cage with food and turned off the lights so they could settle down from the stress of relocating and meeting me for the first time..  

 

Then saturday I started getting them out for short periods of time so as not to stress them too much..  For the morning session i only had them out for 15 minutes and then put them in with their Breakfast and for their nap..   Later that night i got them out around 8.30 for a cuddle and a play on the lounge..  

 

Romulus is Mr Inquisitive..   did not take long for him to  climb down off my shoulder and go off snooping on the lounge and under the cushions and blankets i had on the lounge..   he only ventured out for a short while then came running back to me for reassurance, from then on he went further affield.  

 

Remus is more Mr Cool, more a couch potato, and was quite content to stay on my shoulder sniffing my ear, and face..   I put him on the lounge and he quickly found the hidden treasures of peas and corn that i put behind the cussions..   he was quite content to curl up ontop of the peas and corn as if to say "Ok these are mine"   

 

 I offered them some salmon cream cheese but they were more interested in the peas.  Im sure that will change a little later.. 

 

Sunday night we went for our first shoulder ride outside once the sun had gone down a bit, and went to visit the next door neighbour, Michelle who thought they were both adorable.  then it was back inside and on the couch for a quick play, then back into the cage for dinner.. 

 

Monday  night while they were out playing on the couch, i had time to make them a play box..   i found some discarded large boxes here at work so took one home to make up,   filled it with some snacks and torn news paper...  also some pieces of pipe they could play in..  they seemed quite happy being in there , and rather reluctant to come out, when i was getting ready to go to bed.

 

Each day ill try and give them more time out with me, and get them a little more use to me.   Remus seems has a bit of an eye problem, his sight is not as good as it should be..   That may be why he is a little more of a couch potato.  

 

Well more about the boys later.

 

7th December 2006

 

Its 1 week tomorrow since i picked up Romulus and Remus.. 

 

so far things are going ok, (will except for this morning at 1am {the clock due to stupid day light saving said 2am}, but it was realy 1am)

Decided to have a bit of a tussle over food, with meeping ..   So I got up to make sure there was no injuries and what the fuss was all about..   (Remus was trying to take Romuluses corn cob..   or visa versa.. )  lets hope they dont get any ideas to continue this little antic....  

 

As soon as they saw the lights go on and my voice asking "Who is being Naughty"..   Both boys were up at the side of the cage Begging Beautifuly to come out and play..   (more fool me for doing it to...)  i gave them a quick cuddle and then put them back, they settled down nicely after this..  

 

Most nights when i get home, i leave it until around 8pm to take them out for a quick play on the couch and a short play in the play box..  

(The boys now know what i mean when i say "who wants to play in the play box"..  earlier  in the week when i went to get them from the lounge

to go into the play box, they skiddaddled off under the blankets..   but last night they looked up at me with great excitement and allowed me to pick them up and put them in the box..   (its another matter   getting them out of the box..   )

 

As it was quite a nice night i took them out side for their 2nd Shoulder ride out in the big wide world, there was much sniffing and foofing.  and I even got a brux or 2.   My upstairs Neighbour "Uncle Pete" was just coming home, so he stopped to see the new boys and find out how they were getting on..   while i was standing there,  Romulus (aka Mr Inquisitive) was running from shoulder to shoulder, and down the front of my shirt..   , then back up to the same shoulder where Remus (aka Mr Cool)..  and sat for a short time,  During this period,  i felt a warm trickle comming down my shoulder and down the front of the shirt i was wearing. 

 

"Oh"  Says Uncle Pete  "Looks like someone peed on you"  

 

Yes there was a river of pee..  (I was so proud)..   not sure if it was from one or both..  

 

Food wise both boys seem to be fond of almost everything ive given them,  Rufs and Reubs were not keen on Apple, Strawberries, they would nibble part of them, but not all of them, where as Rom and Rem are quite keen on their food and wolf it down with Gusto...     

 

So far so good, lets hope they keep getting more and more confidence as the weeks go on.

 

14th December 2006

 

Romulus and Remus had their 1st play on the bed the other night...   Its now nearly 2 weeks since i got them..  

and Romulus continues to be Mr Inquisitive and Remus continues to be Mr Cool..  

 

After we had had our lounge play time, and box play time, I thought i would give them a brief stint on my bed while i was reading

to see how they would react.. 

 

OH THE EXCITEMENT!!!  ..  Remus who is normaly quite content to just sit around..  became very excited about the whole thing..   ( is uppose it was because it was close to 10pm by this time and he was wide awake..  !!

 

I tucked them unter the sheet and layed down.  Those cute little pink noses were sniffing and sniffing, and having a great time, with all the new smells and things to do..   they ran up and down the bed, occasionaly climbing over my arm to get to the pillows and the top of the bed..   then they would scurry back down under the sheets..  

 

I normaly at this time have the radio on, while im reading, and was happily bouncing my foot in time to the music..   i noticed that Romulus had got ontop of the sheet and was staring at at my foot, he would inch a little closer, then come scurrying up to my arm pit for security..  i would talk to him and ask him what he was doing..  then he would venture down to the "GIANT TAPPING FOOT'"  stare at it again inch closer then scurry back up to the top of the bed for some reassurance..   

 

Im not sure what was going through his mind, but it must have  been a bit of confusion at seeing something so strange..   and it was moving to boot.

 

Last night was their 2nd playtime on the bed, and i stuck a tube under the pillows for them to scurry through..   they seemed a little reserved about this, they woudl only put half their body in and then sit there for a while, then back out and bound around the bed..  then they would try the other side of the tube where it came out and repeat the process..  

 

Ive noticed that their eating habbits are much more different to what Rufus and Reuben use to be..    Rom and Rem will eat some things quite happily that Rufs and Reubs didnt..   and visa versa..  

 

 

more tails of Romulus and Remus later down the track..  

Im getting a new digital camera in january  and it hink it has a Video capability so ill be able to put up photos easier and also some video of the boys.

 

19th December

I usualy run short of time in the mornings so the boys get all their play time at night..  

 

Mornings consist of a quick scritch and lecture about being good while im at work..  and having their breakfast.

Most mornings i inclue Avocado in the dinner..   (they have now trained me to hand them their first piece of food before putting the bowl into the cage)..  If ive got Avocado in the bowl, along with other stuff, and i hand them anything other than the Avocado, it quickly gets dropped and they look up at me as if to say  "Ok Mama, we know you got the good stuf fin there..   hand it over, you cant fool us We can smell it..   we know its in there..  "

 

Once they have had their first piece handed out, they are quite content to much on it and let me head off for the day..  

 

Both Romulus and Remus now have atleast a good 2 or more hours out of the cage for play time...   When i first bought them home i let them out for only half an hour at a time, till they got use to me and the new environment.

 

I have an old dooner and some pillows set up on the couch with a sheet folded over into 4 and drapped where they like to sit.. 

Usualy there are some snacks scattered aroudn the area for them to find and nibble on..   they both love tunneling into the dooner, i have it in a way that there are lots of crevises and creases for them to explore..   Remus is now getting a little bolder with his exploring, and Romulus continues to be the investigator of the family.

 

when i first bring them out i sit with them and give them lots of kisses and scritches and cuddles.  then Romulus decides that its time to head off and get to the goodies before Remus does, so he climbs down my front and off under the Cussions that are scattered around..

before Remus use to just sit on my shoulder quite happily, until i put him under one of the cussions or into the dooner,  now, he is quite happy to let me know when he is ready to head off himself..

 

Usualy he is sitting on the shoulder and then starts walking down my arm, i hold out my arm so he can amble on down, and plopps off the end of the hand unto the cussions.. 

 

Every now and then ill scatter some more peas and corn into the area for them to snack on..   ill occasionaly go out of the room to the kitchen or to the bathroom, and when i come back, Romulus is sitting on one of my big pillows, and as soon as he sees or hears me coming, he Darts super fast back under the cussions.. 

 

Occasionaly while im sitting there one of the boys will stick his littel nose out from under the cussions and ill give hima scritch behind the ears.. 

they close their eyes and get a dreamy look on their face as if to say..  "Ah, Yes thats the spot"... then they will dissapear. 

Occasioanly if im sitting on the edge of the couch, ill feel like im being watched.  ill turn around and there they both are sneeking up on me..   as soon as i say  "Theres those ratties"  they both zoom off under the blankets again.. 

 

After an hour or so on the couch i put them in their play box to have a bit of  a time out and rest..  In the box i usualy have some dried foods hidden in amongst the torn up news paper that they can hunt out and nibble if they want..   there are also some PVC pipe jointers for them to hide in.. 

 

After an hour in there, then its usualy another hour on the couch continuing the antics of earlier..  

 

about an hour before i head off to Sleep, i take the boys onto my bed and have some tubes set up for them to play in.   and run through and around the pillows, Up onto mama, attaking the Giant Foot.. and giving me a facial.  

 

then its bed time for me and dinner time for them  Ill ask them if they are ready for the "Din Dins"..   Romulus is usualy quite happy to go back and get his food (After all he has been romping all over the place since getting out of the cage), but Remus (who only gets active around the time i put him on the bed) seems to want to keep playing for another few hours, so its a Hunt the Rattie time when i almost have to dismantle my entire bed just to get Remus off the bed and into the cage..  

 

 

the boys sure have brightened my day..   

.  

 

Its been hot over the long weekend here in perth 3 days of 40+ temperatures .. So ive had a frozen bottle of water in the cage for the

boys.. The other day wen I walked in..

Romulus was perched with his bottom on the floor and the front half of him hugging the bottle sound asleep..

Then an hour later when I check on them again. Remus had kicked romulus off the bottle and he was laying full stretch on it with all legs

spread on either side of the bottle.. Out to the world..

I could almost hear their sighs of "Ahhh that's good.. "

Over the last weekend it had been rather hot  40+ for several days running. (my apartment does not have aircon. so it was rather hot by the 2nd day in a row of these high temps, and it was not cooling down fast enough at night).   i got the boys  their ice bottles which they loved but i also thought i would brave the toppic with them of a splash in the swimming pool (being a saucer of a large plastic flower pot that was knee deep for them.. 

On asking Romulus and Remus if they would like a "Splash SPlash in the Swim poool to make You  nice and coool"   i was answered with a blanck stare..

So gathering them up, proceeded to the bathroom where in the shower compartment i had placed said swimming pool with coolish water, placed said rodents in the water... 

GASP..  SHOCK  ...   HORROR...  the look on their faces at this new experince (but im happy to say, NO MEEPING!!), but they did not budge so i gave it as a sign that ok, things were going to go swimmingly..   (pun intended).

So i scooped a handfull of water and poured it over each of the boys, ensuring that their little faces did not get wet..   0.2345 seconds later  i had scratches on my arm, (and due to wearing only a sarong on my chest as well)  2 very wet little boys crowded on my shoulder...   both boys were rather looking like "Drowned rats"..  as the saying goes..   so i towled them off and made sure that all areas were mostly dry, and then put them back in their cage for their napps..   

The 2nd trip to the Swimming pool the following day..  was met with some trepidation and as soon as they hit the water, they were out...   and making their get - a - way..   Needless to say i needed 2 hands for this operation of cooling the boys down a little,   and as soon as i loosened my grip, they were off and up the front of the sarong or up the arm to the shoulder..  where its nice and safe..  

so much for that idea.

6th february 2007

Romulus and Remus are funny little fellows..   After i have taken them out for their play time, just after i get home from work.  they have an hour or so in their play box, and then up on the lounge for peas, and play with mama.

Usualy around 7.30 - 8-00pm  I have a snack of crackers and Cream cheese..   (the boys get some as well...  )  lately ive noticed that the minute i open the cream cheese container, there are 2 very excited and expectant faces peeking out from under the blankies. they then start creeping up to me as if to say..

"come on mama hurry up we know you got treaties..   hurry hurry hurry....   " 

I give them a glob of the cream cheese and they race off under the blankies and pillows and scoff their treat..   then they are back 2 minutes later, asking if they may pleas have some more..  so i give them a second glob and the look of glee on their little faces is precious..  

If im late giving them their treat,  i get a gentle reminder at  1 second past 8  pm.

22nd February 2007

Those of you who have been on the list for a while may remember last year after losing my much loved Rufus. The lovely Robyn sent Reuben an Ikea Rattie for company..

Now that Romulus and Remus have settled in, i thought it was time to introduce the boys to Fang!!

At first the boys were rather wary of this strange squish of a rattie, and avoided him, but after a few days of having Fang on the bed with the boys, they started asserting their dominance over poor Fang.

Now Reubs had made a bit of a start on Fangs Tail, and there were a few chew marks on it, but now the poor thing has tuffts of stuffing coming out from his face, his tummy, what was left of his feet.

(Reubs only attached on of the feet, now all 4 have major damage to

them)

His poor tail dissapeared from sight.. I searched everywhere for where Romulus and Remus may have put it, i searched the floor incase

it fell off when i was changing the sheets.. then as i was moving

the boys play tube which i have stuck unjder the pillows for them to

run through, and have snacks in for them.. i found

THE TAIL OF FANG!!! Obviously the boys (or one of the boys) had managed to chew the whole tail off and thought that it would make a good trophy to keep in the tube. !!

Ratties, you gatta love'm

March 10th 2007

I just went in to check on Remus and Romulus, and to make sure that
remus was ok..

Rem had climed up to the top hammock to be with Rom, and they were
snuggled up to gether...

remus had his chin resting on Romulus's neck they looked so cute
together

14th March 2007

clues on rat sitting..

Well on the 27th of this month Soda and Whiskey are coming to stay at
the Rampaging rodent Residence for a month, while their family go off
to a Wedding in the UK.

this will be my first attemp at rattie sitting... ( and i promise
not to sit on either of them ) can experienced Rattie Sitters
please give me some advice on careing for the new boys, and my own at
the same time so that they dont get jealous or into any scuffles..

im hopeing to arange their play time in alternate sessions, when
romulus and Remus are in the play box, Whiskey and soda can be on the
lounge, and visa versa.. then when romulus and Remus are having
their Bed time play, Wiskey and Soda can have a little extra lounge
time.

16th March  2007

Romulus last night decided he would try to be a rodentist. I had just cleaned
my teeth and obviously the toothpaste smell appealed to him. while trying to
pry my mouth open his little nails managed to puncture a hole in my lip..

He did manage to get a grip on one of my teeth too.

the cheeky little fellow..

every now and then when i change my sheets I change what side of the bed i
sleep on.. this results in the boys having a change in their play area too.
Its quite funny, the first few days as they are so used to one side of the bed..
then all of a sudden their pillows and Fang and their tube full of stash are not
there. and to make matters worse MAMA has invaded their space. but after a
few nights they reclaim the other side of the bed fro their own, until i change
over again..

there is lots of extra sniffing going on, as there is a nice new soapy smell on
the sheets and they have to re mark everything.

Remus has been a bit more cuddly later. I think i may be due to wanting
protection from a rampaging Romulus.. who just gets more and more of a rampager
every day.

24th March 2007

Well tuesday Wiskey and Soda come to stay with us for a month. I was working
out how to do the play time swap over so that my boys dont miss out on their
normal routine. so i thought that i would get 2 boxes from work and may 2 new
play boxes.

so last night i spent around 2 hours putting the boxes together, cutting them
down to the right size to fit under the lounge.(my place is only realy small, so
ive got to try and save space as much as possible.) the left over cardboard i
used to make dividers in the boxes, to make it more interesting for everyone.

romulus and remus are at this very moment test driving one of the boxes.. when
the guests are here one box will be theirs and the other will be for my boys.
if Wiskey and Soda want to take their play box home later they can, otherwise i
can addapt it to fit in with my boys box to make it larger fo them to romp in.

The boys get dropped off on Tuesday night, and then their family will be off and
away the following day to the UK for a month... so i have a month of 4 cute
little fuzzbutts to play with..

Im sure that month will go very fast.

Now to get the timing right with swapping from play box to lounge for play on
the lounge time and swap from lounge to my bed for my boys, so that there are no
wars on my hands... im a little apprehensive about introducing them, so i may
just do intros through the cage bars..

Well time to get the boys their snack.