how do yall just let your rats out of their cage to free-roam? mine are insane and keep trying to go underneath cupboards and stuff and im worried theyre going to get lost. am i doing something wrong or??

theratbastards:

practice, patience and good reflexes basically!

good news is, your rats are totally 100% normal. when rats are young, all they wanna do is Go. they dont care where – they just Gotta Go. girls are particular culprits for this bc they have tiny clockwork mechanisms in their bums which means they can never stop moving or theyll die immediately (says local doe, claims unsourced).

its really just a case of letting them out in a secure area – on the bed is good (altho girls are atheletic and will hurl themselves into the abyss if given half the chance), in a bathtub/shower cubicle or fashion a playpen on the floor – and letting them get it out of their system. all they wanna do is explore, and ultimately you are way less interesting than an old sock or a piece of fluff. treat them a lot (preferably low-fat treats bc otherwise you’ll end up with bowling balls instead of rats), block off the gaps beneath the cupboards, give them hides, sit yourself in one spot and trust them if you can, and do that over and over and over, every single day. Eventually the area they’re in will become familiar and theyll lose a lot of the urge to Go Go Go because they know it already. As they grow older they’ll be way more likely to hang out with you and chill, rather than race off to Do Business with the goblin that lives behind the TV.

one thing to note – there’s little use in grabbing a rat and just taking it away from a certain area you don’t want it to be in (under a cabinet or whatever), because from that moment on, that rats entire life purpose will be Return To The Forbidden Lands and the attempts to get there will develop in ways you could never have anticipated. If there’s a place you want them to avoid, block it off completely at the start so they never get the chance to look, rather than spend the rest of your life foiling their ever-evolving plots to gain access. Locke is not allowed on our bedside table. He knows this. He also knows, in his infinite wisdom, that there must be stores of treasure there which are Bountiful And Plenty and that’s why we’re keeping him away – couldnt possibly be because of all those charger cables and fragile objects. His mission in life is to climb on that table and by god he’s going to do it, and there’s nothing whatsoever we can do to dissuad him because we made the mistake of accidentally letting him reach it once. Now it’s game over. Don’t give them the opportunity and it’ll save a potential massive headache and make the whole experiencing way more relaxing.

its all just practice and trust! Theyll get there – they always do – but it is pretty nerve-wracking in those early days when they’re small and wiggly and about as easy to grab as an eel. Secure an area, give them enough time and try not to worry – they’ll figure themselves out~