The Rat Room

10/01/2024

05/01/2024

Five days into the new year! Let's plant flowers wherever we go this year to make 2024 a good one! 🌸🌺🌻🍄🪻🌞

09/04/2023

07/04/2023

Happy World Rat Day!

A New York City rat peeks out from a stormwater catch basin in this image from our archives.

22/03/2023

Brothers make the best pillows... 🤣

05/02/2023

My ratties love blueberries, but only if I cut them in half first. 🤣 All jokes aside, this is one of the reasons why I am big on feeding fresh meals with a wide variety of fruit, vegetables and herbs. There are so many health benefits!

  A study published in Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity has shown how blueberry extract moderately improves several age-related biomarkers in the livers of aging male […]

02/02/2023

Peekaboo, I see you! 🤣

01/02/2023

🥹🥹🥹 Our last holiday guests left yesterday evening. I'm going to miss all these ratties so much! I mean, how is anything allowed to be this cute? 🥰

26/01/2023

These are some great tips to keep ratties cool in summer. I recently discovered that my rats like fishing ice cubes out of water. 😍

KEEPING RATS COOL IN SUMMER

Rats in general suffer in the African heat. This summer is particularly HOT and load shedding doesn't help at the moment.
Keep your rats’ cage out of direct sunlight and if possible, install a thermometer in the room where your rats are kept. The ideal temperature range is 18-27 degrees Celsius.

IDEAS TO KEEP COOL
• Fill ice trays with frozen peas and corn and add enough water, just to cover it. Place it in the freezer and serve veggie ice cubes as needed. You may also experiment using rooibos tea instead of water.
• Supply a shallow bowl with water for the rats to cool down. You may add peas for “pea fishing”.
• Fill empty plastic bottles with water and freeze. Place it in the cage for rats to lie against.
• Place ceramic tiles or off cuts of granite countertops in the cage. It can also be placed in the fridge prior to adding it to the cage.
• Fill a small bowl with ice and cover it with a larger inverted bowl. Place it on top of the cage with a hammock or level directly below it. The air below the bowl, will be cooler. This only provides temporary relief.
• Invest in a portable aircon in severe weather...that is if there is electricity...(sigh)

09/01/2023

Rats are incredible pets! 🥰🥰🥰

Yesterday, we said goodbye to a pair of special girls who went home to their young owners. During their stay, it was clear that they love children and that their owners spend a lot of time with them. 🐀🌸🍄

*All interactions with children are strictly supervised at The Rat Room.

04/01/2023

Almost every single time. 😂

01/01/2023

Chia seeds, baby tomatoes, home-grown fresh basil, self-sprouted mung beans, Jacobiez cooking mix for rats, mixed vegetable puree and a sq**rt of Mirracote. 🌿🍅🍚 This was dinner last night for all the ratties in our care. 🥰

Happy New Year to all the ratties! 🐀🍄🌸

19/12/2022

We mix our own dried food for our rats based on the Shunamite diet. This mix was formulated with the help of Alison Campbell, author of the Scuttling Gourmet, and contains 14% protein and 5% fat. We provide additional animal protein to our rats as well as fresh meals to make sure they enjoy a balanced diet and stay healthy. 🥦🥕🥑

18/12/2022

It's boiled egg time! Eggs are great sources of protein for rats and can be fed in most ways except raw. My ratties LOVE boiled eggs in the shell. I LOVE seeing them try to pick it up and run with it. 😂

17/12/2022

Cutest little Nori snoozing 😊😇

16/12/2022

Fresh meals tonight! This one contains egg, leftover cooked rice, baby tomatoes, cucumber, strawberries, sesame seeds, a little bit of Protexin, and home sprouted seeds. 🥒🍓🌾

They don't know it yet, but this weekend they are getting watermelon.🍉🥰

15/12/2022

🥰🥰🥰

05/12/2022

😂😂😂

29/11/2022

This is incredible! The closest my rats have come to swimming is pea fishing, and some of them don't even enjoy that. They are all unique.😊

🐀✨FUN RAT FACT✨🐀
Did you know? Not only can rats swim, but they are excellent swimmers! Some species can even wade in the water for up to three days. Such amazing little creatures!

-Sophie

28/11/2022

I did a mini photoshoot with my boys and I'm really pleased with how cute they came out! 🐀🐀🐀

27/11/2022

I love slow weekends where you can spend time prepping food for the weeks and months ahead. 🥰This batch of dehydrated fruit, vegetables and herbs was made over 2 days with my new drying net and it's going to go into our newest batch of dry mix. I honestly can't wait to start feeding it to my own and my foster rats. 🥕🍏🥥🫑🥬

This drying net is the bomb, it's very affordable and works during load shedding: https://hydroponic.co.za/hydroponics/garden-highpro-prodry-basic/