#spoiledratupdate!

By Circe -
Helo! -- Durnik
I have new rats! Meet Durnik (above) and Barak (below). In accordance with internationally-recognized Rat Law, these little widgets are now the exact geometric center of my entire universe, and will be treated accordingly.

'Sup. -- Barak
These guys are re-homes, about a year old. A short list of things Barak and Durnik like:

  1. Each other.
  2. Humans.
  3. Food.
Conspicuously absent from that list is 'other rats'. Which was a problem, because they were brought on as companions for an only whose rat-bro had sadly passed away. From what I gather, the singleton is happy and friendly and also ADHD in the form of a rodent. So while Barak and Durnik were settling down into being asshole teenagers (~6 months, for rats), Attention Deficit Rat would basically land on their heads at random going HAY LETS GO RIDE BIKES!!!11!!! or whatever the rat equivalent is. Barak would go JESUS FUCKIN Y U CHOO ON MY HED AGIN?, Durnik would follow, and it would all end in a loud obnoxious 3 am boxing match. The household ended up fostering eight(!) other rats, some of whom liked AD-Rat-D a lot better than Barak and Durnik did, so they asked if I would like the grumpy old men.

I promised them a very chill environment where their main function would be to wake up and be fed whenever I happened to be home. The rats found this acceptable, and here they are.

Barak arrived already mildly fat, which saves me time, because he was going to get there anyway. Durnik appears to be motivated more by a combination of attention and hammocks, so he is slightly slimmer. They are mildly confused by the change in venue, but not so much that they won't wolf down anything I put in their cage. I was warned that they tend to cobra-strike at their treats, although I was also told this might have been because the other rat did that. I've fed them a number of cheese puffs and so far as I can tell I still have all of my fingers, so they might be calming down.

I'll be home on my own playing the traditional rounds of Hey, Will The Rats Eat That? for Thanksgiving this year. Grocery run for my dinner is probably going to be Tuesday or Wednesday; if you have any suggestions for Ratsgiving, toss me a few bucks and a note on PayPal and I'll take some photos of the (fat, lazy, delicious) results.

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