Rattie Update!

Okay, time for an update on how the ratties are doing. First off, they are very sleepy. We've been told that rats should calm down and nap more as they get older. I'm not sure if it's just that these guys have a wider range of sleepiness or if they are actually just more relaxed. In any case, here's one of the better pictures of them sleeping:

Yes, that's Blue in the wheel, completely asleep. Cao Cao and Scotty are underneath the water bottle, also asleep. It's a favorite place to hang out. No, I don't know why. Could be the only place to get a drink in their town. In any case, I was hoping to get a better picture of Blue sleeping in the wheel, so naturally I opened the cage door:

Just fooling! We're not really asleep now that you've come to play with us! This ALWAYS happens, they can be the most adorable sleepy rats and I just want to sit one on my lap while I'm working on the computer, and BAM, full of energy soon as the cage door is opened. Oh well.

So a few days ago I got worried that Cao Cao managed to escape the cage, as he's been known to do so even with the doors closed and the top on. I thought this because I checked the cage and only saw the four rats pictured in this photo (taken around that time):
I ran around the house hunting him, called up L and asked if she'd seen him earlier, and finally went to get the yogurt drops as a last resort hunting method. I pull them off the shelf and shake a few times to make sure there are some left. Look over at the cage, the four rats are paying VERY close attention to me now, and then I see Cao Cao peek out of the hammock shown in the photo (on the right). What? I don't know, I saw the hammock but it looked like it was empty, and even looked in the sides (though not with the cage open). Anyways, he's in the hammock in the picture above, and the other four are shown in the picture. Yes. See that spot of grey-blue fur under Lu Bu's nose? That's Blue. He's being sat upon and was barely visible from any angle.

Another day recently, I got a mad gleam in my eye as I suggested that it was time to let the rats play (talking to L), while we were out in the living room. She immediately thought I had an Evil Plan (tm) to grab all the empty Dr Pepper 12-pack boxes and make a rattie fort. Actually, I'm not sure what I was thinking, but her plan was excellent, so I did that. Here it is:

It's got a total of four openings, the two you can see in the near area, and there are rattie heads poking out of the two in the back. The box on top is connected to the right side arm via a hole which the rats definately can use, which I was a bit worried about. They definitely like the castle, so it will stay around for a bit until it gets too chewed on, etc.

Anyways, that's about it for recent rat stories, so here's one last picture to finish up the post. This is Blue, being super-cute as usual: