MERRY XMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR RAT LOVERS!
See previous post on how we took the photos...
Saturday, 24 December 2016
Monday, 19 December 2016
Ratty Xmas photoshoot
Me and my family decided to do a Christmas photoshoot with our rats.
We did it because we were making a Christmas card and needed some photos with a Xmas theme!
I will show in my next post the personalised Xmas card we made just for all you rat lovers out there!
Here is how I did the photo-shoot:
Finally, we carried the Ratty models to their 'stage'!
We did it because we were making a Christmas card and needed some photos with a Xmas theme!
I will show in my next post the personalised Xmas card we made just for all you rat lovers out there!
Here is how I did the photo-shoot:
Setting up...
First we put a bed sheet over a large table and held it up to make a background for our shoot. We also used two spotlight lamps to light up our set.
Then we created a set with different Christmas decorations (like bells, plastic holly, baubles etc) and scattered some vegetables for Galileo and Darwin to munch and crunch on.
Finally, we carried the Ratty models to their 'stage'!
Snapping photos...
This was the tricky bit...
To take the photos, we had two camera men/women and one person (me) making sure the 'Stars' wouldn't skydive off the table without their parachutes!
To take the photos, we had two camera men/women and one person (me) making sure the 'Stars' wouldn't skydive off the table without their parachutes!
It was also important to have at least one camera on a tripod to keep the camera still.
Galileo and Darwin where nervous at first, but then started wondering around, exploring the set, and eating some of the food.
Our Rats where so fast, 94% of the pictures were blurry or you could just see their tail in the corner of the picture!
After a while (a couple of minutes), Galibooboos and Darwinini had got bored, so like real stars, they demanded their limo (my shoulder) to take them home.
Hope you enjoyed reading this post!
Galileo and Darwin where nervous at first, but then started wondering around, exploring the set, and eating some of the food.
Our Rats where so fast, 94% of the pictures were blurry or you could just see their tail in the corner of the picture!
After a while (a couple of minutes), Galibooboos and Darwinini had got bored, so like real stars, they demanded their limo (my shoulder) to take them home.
Here are some of the successful photos:
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| Galileo before he starts eating the sweetcorn in front of his nose. |
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| Darwin had a slight accident on set! |
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| Galileo exploring the Xmas decorations! |
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| One of the two stars acting cute! |
Hope you enjoyed reading this post!
Sunday, 18 December 2016
Even more about my Rats
This post is going to tell you more about Galileo & Darwin and their personalities.
Darwin has a black back line that does not reach his tail and he also has a black mark next to his right leg.
Darwin is adventurous, wanting to explore and travel into the unknown (places around my house) and he's the best at finding hidden treats.
When I have their treat bowl in my hand, Darwin is the first to climb up my leg and take some treats! Darwin usually eats the treat on my leg, but sometimes he hides it in the corner of the room and comes back for more (he is trying to make me think he has already eaten it, so he can take another piece from me)!
As soon as I open my Rat's cage, Darwin is always the first to jump out onto my shoulder!
If Darwin gets scared, he usually recovers quite quickly.
He is very picky with his food but always takes the bigger piece, even though he's the smaller of the two!
He does snatch food and can sometime be nippy when taking food from my hands.
Darwin likes taking risks, like jumping great distances.
What I like the best about them is that they are both cute, cuddly and so loving!
My Rats are unique!
Hope you enjoyed reading this post and hope you learned a thing or two about my Rats!
Darwin...
Darwin (nickname Darwinini) is a medium sized black-and-white hooded fancy rat and is brother to Galileo.Darwin has a black back line that does not reach his tail and he also has a black mark next to his right leg.
Darwin is adventurous, wanting to explore and travel into the unknown (places around my house) and he's the best at finding hidden treats.
When I have their treat bowl in my hand, Darwin is the first to climb up my leg and take some treats! Darwin usually eats the treat on my leg, but sometimes he hides it in the corner of the room and comes back for more (he is trying to make me think he has already eaten it, so he can take another piece from me)!
As soon as I open my Rat's cage, Darwin is always the first to jump out onto my shoulder!
If Darwin gets scared, he usually recovers quite quickly.
He is very picky with his food but always takes the bigger piece, even though he's the smaller of the two!
He does snatch food and can sometime be nippy when taking food from my hands.
Darwin likes taking risks, like jumping great distances.
Galileo...
Galileo (nickname Galibooboos) is a large sized black-and-white hooded fancy rat and is brother to Darwin.
Galileo's black back line reaches the beginning of his tail and he has a white mark on his nose.
Galileo loves his sleep! He'll be the one to sleep all day.
Galileo will also do ANYTHING for food! For example: spend ages breaking open a cardboard box to find treats hidden inside.
Galileo is very gentle when taking food from me. He is a real 'GENTLE GIANT'
He takes a while to climb on me for playtime and is less adventurous than Darwin. However where Darwin goes, Galileo follows!
Galileo also likes crawling up peoples sleeves and hiding there!
Galileo can get scared pretty easily so you need to try to avoid sudden movements and loud noises.
What he likes best is lying in his hammock, staring at the sky (the ceiling).
Galileo's black back line reaches the beginning of his tail and he has a white mark on his nose.
Galileo loves his sleep! He'll be the one to sleep all day.
Galileo will also do ANYTHING for food! For example: spend ages breaking open a cardboard box to find treats hidden inside.
Galileo is very gentle when taking food from me. He is a real 'GENTLE GIANT'
He takes a while to climb on me for playtime and is less adventurous than Darwin. However where Darwin goes, Galileo follows!
Galileo also likes crawling up peoples sleeves and hiding there!
Galileo can get scared pretty easily so you need to try to avoid sudden movements and loud noises.
What he likes best is lying in his hammock, staring at the sky (the ceiling).
What I like the best about them is that they are both cute, cuddly and so loving!
My Rats are unique!
Hope you enjoyed reading this post and hope you learned a thing or two about my Rats!
Sunday, 4 December 2016
Play time equipment
Rats need a minimum of 1 hour playtime 5 times a week (or even once a day, like I do). And in that time, it's important that you keep them entertained and their minds stimulated for the entire play session (unless they fall asleep). You can buy rat play toys online, make your own toys out of whatever you can find (cardboard, string etc) or you can just use baby toys like I sometimes do! See the images below:
Baby toys will also work good inside the actual cage, as long as you check them every day to make sure that there are no possibilities of your Rats choking on parts that can be removed.
Some chinchilla/parrot/hamster/degu toys are good for Rats also.
It is also a good idea to make a little cardboard/wood playbox for them! Let them run in and out of it!
Even hide treats in it! See my post below on how to make that and Galileo & Darwin in their 'RATTY TOWER'!
It is also good to stimulate them with your own body! Let them run along you and climb on your shoulder. Cuddle them up close, but not too tight!
Don't' pick them up too often, because they also need time to run around and play with each other or by themselves. Their play-fighting may look real but, it isn't aggressive! They do it as friendly play or to show dominance over the other rat/s.
Play time is a good time to teach your rats tricks!
I shall be talking more about tricks in my future posts.
Hope you've had fun reading this post!
Baby toys will also work good inside the actual cage, as long as you check them every day to make sure that there are no possibilities of your Rats choking on parts that can be removed.
Some chinchilla/parrot/hamster/degu toys are good for Rats also.
It is also a good idea to make a little cardboard/wood playbox for them! Let them run in and out of it!
Even hide treats in it! See my post below on how to make that and Galileo & Darwin in their 'RATTY TOWER'!
It is also good to stimulate them with your own body! Let them run along you and climb on your shoulder. Cuddle them up close, but not too tight!
Don't' pick them up too often, because they also need time to run around and play with each other or by themselves. Their play-fighting may look real but, it isn't aggressive! They do it as friendly play or to show dominance over the other rat/s.
Play time is a good time to teach your rats tricks!
I shall be talking more about tricks in my future posts.
Hope you've had fun reading this post!
Saturday, 26 November 2016
RATTY TOWER: how to make and what it's useful for.
This post shall be about how to make a RATTY TOWER!
This is a picture of our final design:
To make this, all you need is:
- boxing tape,
- 3 cardboard boxes,
- pieces of random cardboard in various sizes,
- kitchen towel*,
- pen*,
- scissors,
- fingers.
*optional
Step 1:
Obtain 3 cardboard boxes.
Hope you enjoyed making RATTY TOWER yourself!
Step 2:
Use a piece of the random cardboard to make 3 ramps 10cm wide and long enough to fit into the box diagonally.
Step 3:
Get one of the boxes and cut one of the sides off. This shall be your bottom box!Step 4:*
Get a piece of kitchen towel and cut some fringes on it. Use boxing tape to stick one side to the top of your bottom box.
Step 5:
Stick your ramp inside the bottom box and cut a hole where the ramp and the ceiling of the box meet. Make sure the hole is big enough for your rat!
Step 6:
Do the same for all the other boxes.
Step 7:
Make windows on each floor by cutting squares in the side of the boxes.
Step 8:
Put your boxes one on top of each other and use boxing tape to tape the sides all together.
Step 9:*
Use a long strip of cardboard to make a barrier around the top box so your rats have a little balcony!
If you want, you can shape the barrier like a real tower!
Step 10:*
Now use a pen to write your rats names and the name of the tower. I called mine "Darwin & Galileo's RATTY TOWER"!
Now all you need to do is give it to your ratty friends!
This tower is a great play time home for your rats. If you hide treats in it, it encourages foraging!
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| Rats may decide to change things around a little bit! |
Hope you enjoyed making RATTY TOWER yourself!
Saturday, 12 November 2016
Hooded rats
There are many different types of fancy rats such as the dumbo, the pink-eyed white and the platinum. In this post, I shall be talking about the Hooded Fancy Rat.
After the event, the popularity of pet rats grew stronger and stronger...
I hope you've enjoyed reading this post!
About Hooded Rats
Hooded rats are the most common of all the fancy rats and they are called hooded because their body is one colour, and the head another. They also have a stripe - which is the same colour as their head - running down their back as shown in the photo of Darwin: | |
| You can see Darwin's black head and stripe, which runs from head to tail. |
Did you know...
In the first rat show ever (like a dog show, a rat show is where rats are inspected by judges and are awarded different rosettes for their appearance, but also sometimes their agility), which took place in England in 1901, it was a black and white hooded rat that won the "Best in Show" prize.After the event, the popularity of pet rats grew stronger and stronger...
I hope you've enjoyed reading this post!
Sunday, 6 November 2016
My first post
Hello all you rat lovers out there!
This post is just to say what I am actually DOING in this blog.What this blog is really about:
In this blog I am going to be writing about the adventures of my pet rats (Galileo & Darwin, both males) and I. I shall also be giving advice to anyone who has rats or is planning to get rats. | ||
| Darwin (right) and Galileo (left) in there home-made hammock. |
More about my rats:
My rats are called Darwin and Galileo. They are hooded fancy rat brothers (I shall explain more later) both at the age of 12 weeks (on Sunday 6th of November). You can tell the difference between them because Galileo has a bit of white on his snout.Darwin is the more adventurous one and Galileo is the bigger and calmer of the two. Both are loveable and adorable.
We got them at 9 weeks old, on my 10th birthday. I love them soooo much!
Hope you have fun while reading my blog!
Happy Reading!
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