Bitey Rats

The adorable Charmin, from Rat Balls, showing off his chompers

I'm grateful that I've never really had to deal with a bitey rat (yet). Aside from the occasional nip from an over-excited treat retrieval, I don't think Potato and Goma have ever really bitten anyone; they've always been pretty good about pulling back when necessary.

As you can see from these links, not everyone has been as lucky as me.

If you have had issues with your rats biting, there could be a number of reasons for it. The big one, of course, is due to fear or surprise. If you try to pick up a young rat who isn't used to being picked up - or to you - there's a good chance he'll nip you since he doesn't know what's going on. The same goes for surprising a rat who doesn't realize you're there. I've surprised my boys more than once, so I'm lucky that they're pretty chill most of the time. If one of your rats tends toward biting, there are some good suggestions for why, and suggestions for overcoming these issues, here and here. There are also some useful responses in the above links, too.

Some Rats Demand Change

Shephard the rat in action

I wanted to share this video with you a while ago, but managed to lose the link. Thankfully, today I was able to hunt it down once more. My rats have never been big on stashing things and, cute as it is, I'm somewhat grateful, since I imagine more than a few important items could disappear in the paws of a more enterprising rat. According to the video's thread on Rattit, this little girl managed to collect 54 cents before getting bored. What do your rats like to stash?

A Brief Look at Rats In Popular Culture

Image from Parlour Magazine

Yes, that's a picture of Remy from the 2007 Disney/Pixar film, Ratatouille. Why? Because it's one of the few major motion pictures to portray rats in a positive light. I mean, yes, Remy's ratty kin are not the cleanest of animals, but the fact that there's a lovable rat protagonist is still a step in the right direction.

Mice have been getting positive attention ever since Mickey took to the screen in the late 1920s, but rats have always seemed to be trapped in a negative light. I've made up a short list of the many times rats have had a villainous or negative role.

The Pied Piper of Hamelin features a plague of rats that overtakes a town, destroying food and driving people out of their homes. It's the people's desperation to rid themselves of the rats that attracts the piper.

The main antagonist in the Disney film The Great Mouse Detective is a massive rat, Professor Rattigan, who seeks to seize control of the British monarchy. While he's later revealed to be a mouse, it's his status as a rat throughout the film that establishes him as a villain.

In the film The Tale of Despereaux, rats play the greedy villains who kidnap the small kingdom's princess.

The beloved children's story Charlotte's Web features Templeton, a rat who is portrayed as greedy, gluttonous, and lazy. While he does help Wilbur quite a bit, it would be nice if he didn't have to be bribed into doing all of his good deeds.

The horror films Willard and Ben (Willard's sequel) feature hyper-intelligent rats with a penchant for attacking and occasionally killing people.

I'll leave you with that, but I think you get my point. Apart from Remy, the only rats I can immediately think of that are portrayed positively in pop culture are those in The Secret of NIMH (to a degree; they're still kind of scary) and Rat-In-A-Hat from the Australian children's show Bananas In Pyjamas.

I'll talk more about the reasoning behind these portrayals in a later post, so for now, tell me your favourite (or least favourite) movie, show, game, or book that features rats. I'm sure there are tonnes more than the ones I've mentioned.

Continuing with the Cross-Creature Interaction

I was going to try to come up with something more content-heavy to post this morning, but then I saw this video of a dog interacting with his three rat compadres and, well, what can I say? I'm a sucker for cute animal videos. 

Kitten-On-Rat Action

This video is adorable beyond words. It's clear from their behaviour that both animals are having fun. The kitten seems a bit concerned about its new playmate, but that rat clearly has no qualms with checking out her new buddy.

I only wish my cats and rats could interact as well as these two. As I've mentioned before, Potato and Goma would probably love some cat-related playtime, but one cat is terrified of them and the other would probably ignore them until he got hungry.

Hat Your Rat!

Viking hat from A Hat for my Rat

I recently stumbled upon this awesome online store, A Hat for my Rat. If you've ever wanted to outfit your rats in tiny accessories, whether for a photo shoot, celebration, or just for fun, this is the place for you! They have a huge selection of hats and costumes available and have clearly had fun with naming every one. Considering that these are all hand-made items, the pricing and shipping are also quite reasonable. And, on top of everything else, they do custom orders, so you can get the perfect outfit to match your (or your rat's) vision.

I'll definitely be ordering a few things for my boys to wear on Halloween. Be sure to let me know what your favourite ratty outfits are.

The Calmest Baby In the World

I can't believe how nonchalant this little guy is. I'm sure we've all wished for a rat as calm as him. I know I sure have. On the other hand, though, I imagine he'll turn into one snoozey, cuddly adult. Actually, that sounds pretty good after all.