The Cage

When I decided I wanted a pair of rats (I’d heard rats were sociable and didn’t like being kept alone), I talked to the shop assistant. She indicated that the smaller cages and the Habitrail type cages were no good.

“They’ll get stuck in the tubes” she said. There was a slightly dented, but very large gage on sale – the wires were bent in one corner but not broken. It had huge tubes in – big enough for me to it my arm through – and three levels to play with, so I decided it would do.

“What sort of toys should I get?” I asked.

“Something they can push around or chew on or hide under” the shop assistant, who was appearing increasingly knowledgeable told me. She showed me the rack of rat friendly toys, and I picked a T shaped cardboard tube play house thingy, that was wrapped in braided straw. I was assured that the rats would love it, as they could chew on it.

From there, a bag of rat food, and all in one pellet type was added, and a big bag of recycled paper kitty litter for the cage floor.

“You also get this Rat Starter Kit” she said and handed me a box which turned out to contain: A bag of food, a bottle of vitamins, a small book on caring for rats, a packet of rat treats and a bag of what would turn out to be paper based bedding.

She also suggested some ropes and rolling toys but I decided to wait and see what the new rats would be like.

The rats

I had a master plan. When it came to picking rats I’d let them pick me. So the cage was opened and Trudy scampered up to see what was happening, thus picking herself to be stuffed into a cardboard box. Oreo was picked because she’d been picked up earlier when I’d asked about rats and so I assumed she was at least used to being handled.

And then it was just a matter of traumatising the girls in a cruel and unusual way…