![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Gratuitous rat post
I buy my rats all these fancy rat toys (ok, usually ferret or parrot toys), and what do they like the best?
Paper bags and orange peels.
Go figure.
I don't know what it is, but something about paper bags makes Fool-rat go nuts. "Paper bag! Must kill! Must tear into as many little pieces as soon as possible! Yay! Shredding!" Rat subsequently bounces around the cage and mangles the dreaded paper bag.
I take them out to play on the couch every day, after spreading a big blanket over the couch to prevent them from chewing on it, or getting it dirty, etc. Fitz-rat's favorite game ever is "let's crawl under the blanket and drive people crazy!" I think he really does think it's a game... he waits until I'm not looking, then pulls the covers up. If I catch him and yell "Bad rat!" he gives me this sort of innocent look. Truly it does not deceive me. Then he lies low and waits until I'm distracted by the TV or something again.
Someday I will get it through his thick head that "bad rat" does not, in fact, mean "Awww, such a clever little rattie, let's see you try that again."
I've eaten five oranges today. Someone brought a whole box of satsumas to work, and I gorged. They're so small, though -- I'm never satisfied with just one. They weren't as cold as I usually like them, but oh, so good. I never quite realize how much I miss the smell of them or the bite of them during the summer. I can't quite get over the fact that they're very much winter fruit, even though they're associated with summer and beaches in commercials. In my head, they're associated with Chinese New Year.
Paper bags and orange peels.
Go figure.
I don't know what it is, but something about paper bags makes Fool-rat go nuts. "Paper bag! Must kill! Must tear into as many little pieces as soon as possible! Yay! Shredding!" Rat subsequently bounces around the cage and mangles the dreaded paper bag.
I take them out to play on the couch every day, after spreading a big blanket over the couch to prevent them from chewing on it, or getting it dirty, etc. Fitz-rat's favorite game ever is "let's crawl under the blanket and drive people crazy!" I think he really does think it's a game... he waits until I'm not looking, then pulls the covers up. If I catch him and yell "Bad rat!" he gives me this sort of innocent look. Truly it does not deceive me. Then he lies low and waits until I'm distracted by the TV or something again.
Someday I will get it through his thick head that "bad rat" does not, in fact, mean "Awww, such a clever little rattie, let's see you try that again."
I've eaten five oranges today. Someone brought a whole box of satsumas to work, and I gorged. They're so small, though -- I'm never satisfied with just one. They weren't as cold as I usually like them, but oh, so good. I never quite realize how much I miss the smell of them or the bite of them during the summer. I can't quite get over the fact that they're very much winter fruit, even though they're associated with summer and beaches in commercials. In my head, they're associated with Chinese New Year.
no subject
Paper bags and orange peels.
This sounds just like that truth universally acknowledged, that if you buy children expensive toys, they will play much longer with the boxes they came in... (there was an article making this point in the paper recently, probably in the "run-up to Christmas" things already appearing, sigh.)
no subject
We are currently possessed of some early-season not-particularly-good but they're-still-mandarins. :-) I love the smell of the peel!
no subject
I made the boy go out and buy me satsumas/mandarins yesterday after he waited in line forever for Halo 2.
no subject
no subject
With Max, the piratical black cat, "Bad cat! No!" clearly translates to "Stupid human, you cannot see the grandness of my plan! Pfui!"
no subject
It's funny, the rats are a lot more like dogs -- very eager to please, very bouncy.
rats!
Sometimes we think Max is like a little dog dressed up as a cat, cause altho' he has the cat moodiness and poise he's also super high-energy and loves to play and is much much more active than any other cat we've ever had. That is, when we don't think he's a goat, because he eats ANYTHING....paper, plastic, film, rubberbands, carpet fibers, styrofoam, you name it.
I had a pet rat as a kid and it used to ride around on my shoulder. They're great pets.
Re: rats!
The rats don't have much poise at all, hee hee. They're just sort of goofy and bouncy and excitable. Although Fool-rat is a little more shy. I looove rats ^_^. I used to have mice as a kid, but the rats are ten times more interactive and fun.
Re: rats!
Re: rats!
But yeah, I loved Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH! One of my favorite YA books. Must have fostered an early tendency toward keeping rodents ;).
But the boy (and me) really want cats as well, so... we'll have to see how that works. Still time, at least, given that the current apartment is too small for cats (another benefit of rats!).
Re: rats!
I'm the same way in my family wrt rodents and snakes. I think garter snakes are adorable and wanted some forever, but my dad is horrifically phobic of them (he can't watch them on TV even). -- And the movie of Mrs. Frisby is great too, with all that voice talent!
A big benefit re cats and a smaller apartment (ours is 2BR, but a bit cramped) is they sleep a lot. Well, Max sleeps a fair amount in between bouts of running around like a lunatic. My childhood hamster had the proverbial squeaky wheel, and always chose to go running at about three in the morning....
Re: rats!
Re: rats!
Re: rats!
Ewwww, I've grossed myself out now.
Re: rats!
ho-hum
(Anonymous) 2004-11-09 06:30 am (UTC)(link)Re: ho-hum
Silly rats (and chincillas).
no subject
Paper bags and orange peels.
Go figure.
Ha! That's like my baby niece. Her first birthday is coming up and I want to buy her some children's books. But my mom was saying how all the baby plays with is people's keys, cardboard boxes, newspaper, etc. Junk! She doesn't seem to enjoy all her stuffed animals as much :)
no subject
no subject
My own cats ignore cat toys. What makes them really, really happy? Cardboard boxes and articles of freshly laundered clothing which I don't want cat hair on.
no subject
rat pix! rat pix!
Re: rat pix! rat pix!
Re: rat pix! rat pix!