frantic rat

[redsox9]

I have talked online about my rats, Lily and Valentine. I'm wondering if anybody has had this problem: Valentine loves to sleep during the day, while Lily is more active. I thought that Val might not be feeling well, but the other night I had insomnia and found out the truth.
She watches Lily from the top floor of the rat condo. She waits for Lily to curl up into a little puffball and start to fall asleep. Then she bounds down from her perch and leaps on Lily, who wakes up with a "squeak". Val puts her paws on Lily's face and kisses her until Lily chases her around the cage. Then Lily gets tired and goes back to her blanket. Val goes back to her perch...and the process is repeated. Val is much more reserved and hard to coax out of the cage to be held and played with. Could she be jealous of Lily, who leaps onto your shoulder and loves to be held and petted? Or is she just loco? Any ideas will be greatly appreciated.

[mzdolittle]

I'd say she's just loco. Just like human kids, sometimes one likes to pester the other just because she can. If Lily gets REALLY annoyed, she will let Valentine know in no uncertain terms. Lily probably just accepts it with a sigh. It's like bringing a new puppy or kitten into a home with an older dog or cat. The youngster is just being a youngun.

[redsox9]

MzD,
It's so funny you said that because that's exactly what Lily's attitude has become. You can almost see her shrug when Val pounces on her. However, she let out a squeak and smacked Val on the nose last night to tell her to back off. Val's feelings were hurt, I think, so she went into their basket and brooded for a little while. But she was fine once again when I broke out the yogurt treats. Later she was washing Lily's face...I wish it was that easy to make my kids happy! How are all your animals?

[mzdolittle]

Momcatt,
My critters are all fine, now. We got about 8 inches of snow Thursday and 3 of my 5 dogs went out on the porch, took one look, and bolted back to the door. My Walker and Peke just loved it. The snow was up to Sandy's (Peke) belly but she managed anyway. My two Yorkies and Chihuahua had to be picked up and carried out into the yard. Then, I had to guard the steps until they did their thing. My two ferrets absolutely love snow. My albino, (Midnight, :D) was camaflouged. I kept losing him when he would tunnel under it. Lucy (black sable) was easy to keep up with. They would stay out for hours at a time if I would let them. But, just like human kids, they don't know when they are too cold. I brought some snow inside in a bowl just to see what the rats would do. George ate it, Weezie dug around in it and the others looked at me like I was crazy! The birds each stuck their beaks in it, but when they found out what it was, they didn't want anything more to do with it.

[redsox9]

Glad to hear everyone's well! I can't believe you got that much snow...we're getting spring (knock on wood) in MA. The ferrets must be a riot to watch out in the snow (that's if you can see midnight). My friend also had five dogs (Willie died shortly before Hunter) and Cody and Sadie love snow, Davey will put his nose in, sneeze and run inside. Toby stays inside. Hunter used to make doggie snow angels. He'd lie on his side and pretend he was running! He also loved to stick his nose in the snow, sneeze, and watch the flakes spray all over...what a nut!

[Florissa]

Montana, one of my rats, loves to bug Dakota, my other rat. He waits until he is sleeping, or eating nicely and then pounces.

Don't know what it is with these guys... mine are just weird I think.