August

A few nights ago Ambaa managed to get underneath the sideboard. It is only a few inches off the ground and have blocked up the gaps to stop the rats hiding under it. She stayed under for ages. I eventually got Ambaa out but she now remembers that she got under it.

Every time she’s come out since then she goes straight to the sideboard and tries to find a way back under it. She will bite, chew, push or pull anything that I put in the way to stop her. She is very single minded about it and she seems to lose a lot of her weariness and becomes increasingly bold.

It is good to see her so animated but I have to find a way to stop her gnawing at the legs of the sideboard.

Training Jaali

Jaali’s habit of sitting on my shoulder is very cute. However he also ‘attacks’ my ears, and now that he’s getting very big and strong, it has become very painful. I’m trying to train him not to bite my ears by saying a sharp ‘no’ and pushing him away. If he ignores this I stop playing with him and put him straight back in his house.

I also want to train him to a harness so that I can take him out to other parts of the house but not let him get away. He loves to explore so it will give him more freedom but stop him coming to any harm or getting lost. I bought him a ferret harness and he has worn it a few times. I can only get it on him when he’s is quite sleepy – usually around tea time. I haven’t made it very tight yet and he can get out of it. As a reward for wearing it I take him into different parts of the house.

I’ve realised that Jaali is a very big rat. He is 14 weeks old an weighs over a Kilo. He is much bigger than any of my other rats at this age. Ambaa was about 600g, Babu was about 700g and even Kali, who was also a big rat, was only just under a Kilo. I have finally updated their weight chart which shows their relative weights at the same age.