Monday, August 15, 2011

Rat Tales

After Algernon and Athena were moved to the bird cage, they like running on the wheel all the more. Apparently, Aphrodite has picked up on this. She has a new habit, where she watches their wheel for them to run, then tries to run in her wheel, but faster. We don't have the heart to tell her that she isn't going to catch up.

In speaking of wheels, we had to take Algernon's and Athena's out, because they will not stop running when it's banging against the cage walls. Yesterday, Athena noticed that the door on top of the cage was open a little. She managed to push it open with her nose, climb to the boys' cage, and do what came natural. By natural, I mean natural to Athena. She tried to grab the base of the wheel in her mouth, and drag it with her. Bear and Cream still have no idea what she thought she was trying to do.

The little girls tend to have a system working. Clover is the groomer, Winnie is the "mother," and Aphrodite is the teacher. This is for better... and for worse. So far, Aphrodite has taught them how to alogroom Clover when she's not looking, and chewing on the bars when they want to play. On the other hand, she is teaching them how to be extremely "licky." She spent a good 15 minutes licking my face the other day, and now Cream is licking everyone.

In speaking of licking and grooming, Cream was grooming Dobby's neck last night. Apparently, he liked it, because he sat there, smiling, as Cream groomed away.

The big girls recently got new bedding, made of paper. Unfortunately, Algernon thought it best to take all of the paper to the "box tree house" to nest in. This has led to a few issues with safety. Algernon has tried to jump towards the hammock twice, landing on her head when Athena popped out to say, "Oh hai!" Athena didn't fair much better when she fell while climbing, landing on her head, and looking around for who ever pushed her off.

When I woke up today, Bumblebee was oddly hyper. Him and Cream were both jumping around, excited to see me. On the other hand, Bear was stuck under a piece of fabric, to the point that Dobby had to pull him out. Twice.