RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Mon Feb 06, 2006 7:06 pm

I have had rats for sometime now and I have intimate knowledge of their high level intellect. But I guess it just never fails to surprise me when I see them doing something I don’t expect.

The kids wanted to put the maze back in the girl’s cage this weekend; I have made some big changes to it since they last saw it so for them it’s a new toy. Anyway I think they finally got sick of losing their snacks and started clearing out the snack chamber in “bucket brigade” fashion. One rat was in the snack room pushing out the treats, another was just outside pulling the snacks out (this is where they always lost it; it was VERY funny to watch), and the remaining two would shuttle them down to the igloo. Once the maze was cleaned out they retreated to the house of molded plastic. I did not see them until the next morning.

Like I said, it just shocks me when I see them doing something like this.

JBC

Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:57 pm

Aye - scary smart little monkeys, aren't they? wink

They learn their names, they make their way back to their cages for food and water or a nap, they come when they are called, they learn to do tricks, they figure out mazes faster than undergraduates can, and they even work out how to open their own cage doors and come over for a snuggle. They put their fingers up to the spout of the water bottle to hold the BB out of the way so that they can drink more easily....

One day, they'll take over the world. Blink

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Tue Feb 07, 2006 1:25 am

Yea, so Friday night / Saturday morning as the rats are figuring out maze 1.5 (maze 3.0 will be rolled out soon), the kids and I are upstairs making rat piñatas. We took 2 large balloons, a roll of toilet paper, and a bunch of small snacks. I stretched out and held open the mouth of the balloons and the kids filled them with the snacks (small bits of chicken jerky, small marshmallows, small pieces of smoked pig ear, some frozen peas and cranberries, and a bunch of other stuff I can’t remember). Once the balloons where full we blew them up to about softball size and tied them off. After that was done we rolled them in TP and wetted them down and set them out to dry. Come Saturday when they had dried hard we drew faces on them, popped the balloons and put one in each cage. Well long story short, the treat room in the maze is now stuffed full with ½ of a roll of TP and 4 rats.

As a side note, Maze 3.0 will be bigger and will incorporate what we have learned from maze 1.0 and 1.5.

1.5 currently takes up approx just under one cubic foot and when I put it in the cage it takes them about 1 hour +/- for all of them to get to the snack room the first time (the design is as such that when they roam about, the maze changes and doorways open and close), and approx another hour for most of them to re-find their snack. By design the snacks tend to be larger than the door to the treat room so they have a tendency to “lose” them trying to get them out of the maze and into a hiding spot to eat. Cost vs Function is the best part about the whole thing. 1.5 cost less than $4.00 to build and 3.0 should be about $12.00 (this doesn’t include the new cage I will need to build to house it, but that is for another conversation).

One thing that I am noticing (or maybe it is just “wishful” thinking), it seems that the smarter one of the group tells the others where the food is at. When time permit I would be very interested in looking into how rats communicate cuz there is something going on here. I started to notice how the time for the second rat is drastically shortened after the first rat finds the snacks, and it seems to take less and less time for the each proceeding rat. If the first rat takes 5 min to find the snacks it takes the second 6. If it takes the first rat 60 min it takes the second 61, that kind of thing. After the second rat has found how to get in the third and fourth rat typically are right behind. This I guess is the reason why I want to build 3.0. I am interested in seeing how a larger maze will affect this. Since 1.5 is some what limited in flexibility, with what we have learned 3.0 should be not only a larger version but much more flexible, it should be fun.

JBC

Tue Feb 07, 2006 2:02 am

Check out http://www.ratbehavior.org - there's lots of info there you might find useful. Rats can communicate ultrasonically, above our hearing levels - if you can get hold of a bat detector, you can listen into their conversations. Mr. Green

It's rather infectious when you make them chuckle. wink

Do you have some photos of the maze, and perhaps instructions or a rough guide on how you built it? I'm fascinated, and I'm sure my guys would benefit from some brain stretching exercises.

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:47 am

Your maze sounds fascinating! I too would love to hear more about its design. anything that would keep my furkids occupied for an hour on only one level of the cage (and for $4!) is definitely worth pursuing!

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Scout of Manitou Mischief Rattery

Tue Feb 07, 2006 3:57 am

I do have a few pix but none are online. I will see if i can get some taken (The maze outside of the cage so you can see detail) and posted soon.

JBC

I will post an explanation on how to build shortly

Tue Feb 07, 2006 4:53 am

I was also going to ask for a pic or two. Sound interesting and fun, but my pee brain needs more help...visuals visuals. LOL

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Loving Mum to my rattie boys, Zipper and Ty
Bestest Bud to Milly, the greatest horse ever

Tue Feb 07, 2006 5:43 am

I hope this is what ya'll wanted

JBC

Wed Feb 08, 2006 4:07 pm

They are amazingly clever. I have had 2that drink water out of bowls/my drink from my glass by dipping their hands in and then drinking from a cupped hand!

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~Obedient women are never remembered in history~