I decided to give yesterday's harness tutorial a try this morning. I have learned a couple of things from this experience.
The big one is that the tutorial video suggests cutting 60" lengths of embroidery thread will provide you with more than enough. This might be true for some people, but, if you're like me, the last two inches of thread are a write-off if you want to be able to tie them off. Therefore, after an hour of work, I wound up with a harness the perfect size for a juvenile rat, which doesn't remotely describe Potato or Goma anymore. I would highly recommend cutting at least 65" or more for an adult rat. On the bright side, I now have a pre-made harness if I pick up any younger rats in the near future.
After that small disaster, I decided to make a test harness so I could get a better idea of the right length "rope" to make in the future. As you can see from the video of Potato above, it seems to work fairly well, so I might recommend this method for a quick fix if you need a harness in a hurry. Basically, I just cut some twine (since it's thicker than normal string) a bit longer than I thought I needed and measured it by wrapping it around one of my (very squirmy) rats. I then tied the ends together with a tight square knot and wrapped the knot in electrical tape to keep it from pulling too much. The rest was done the same as in the tutorial.
A fun side note: Apart from running around like a mad rat, Potato also seemed convinced that he could get the harness off by vigorously washing his ears. Needless to say, it was both an adorable and very silly sight to behold.
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