Some small pieces of concrete and a brick have been added to Ronnie and Derek’s cage, in places where they walk the most, to help wear down their nails (see images below – click to enlarge). Using something like sandpaper as a floor covering for this is not suitable as the rats could graze their feet and get infections.
This info has been added to the Care page.
Watch Ronnie and Derek having a food fight over a rat treat this afternoon!
Watch Ronnie having a good time swinging in one of the ‘coconut shells’!
Ronnie and Derek enjoyed investigating a ‘rabbit pie’ ornament. They probably think it’d be a tasty pie, but are having second thoughts now they’ve seen the rabbit popping out!
Click thumbnails to enlarge. More photos on the Photos page.
…Derek ran up the clock! See below some photos of Derek exploring a 1920s striking wall clock.
Click thumbnails to enlarge. More photos on the Photos page.
Ronnie recently stockpiled some rat nuggets by carefully placing them in the corner of their house and then covering them with some of their bedding cardboard! See photos below, along with photos of Ronnie enjoying some home-grown, juicy cherry tomatoes.
Click thumbnails to enlarge. More photos on the Photos page.
The video below shows an example of Ronnie and Derek play fighting. Read more about this on the Habits page.
At the start of meteorological summer, here are some recent photos of Ronnie and Derek.
Click thumbnails to enlarge. More photos on the Photos page.
Ronnie and Derek recently enjoyed climbing around in the mint plant and eating bits of it! Watch a clip of this below.
Yesterday evening, Derek had a dried, browny-red substance around his nose. It looked like dried blood at first, but was actually porphyrin which is a mucus-like substance. It can be a sign of excessive stress or a respiratory infection, but Derek had no other symptoms.
I cleaned his nose and, this morning, it was still clean. The internet assures me the porphyrin release was likely just a one-off, due to temporary irritation in Derek’s eye caused by something such as a piece of bedding or an eyelash getting in his eye, or maybe he scratched it while self-grooming.
As always with this sort of thing, I’ll keep an eye on Derek and make sure it was just a one-off.
This info about porphyrin has been added to the Care page.
All content hosted on this website, including text and visual materials, is Copyright © David Watts 2019 - 2026. It cannot be reproduced in any form without the prior permission of the copyright holder. All information provided on this website is based on experience of caring for our pet rats. Whilst the information will hopefully be useful to those interested in caring for rats, it must not be treated as a defintive care guide. If in doubt regarding the health and well-being of your rat(s), be safe by contacting your vet.
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