Ok, maybe not genius, but... I have two pet rats, about 6 months old or so. Yesterday I let them roll around the house in their exercise ball. Their cage is upstairs on a little table and I always take them downstairs to exercise so they don't go tumbling down the stairway. Well, at some point they got loose and I found the ball with its lid off. Couldn't find them anywhere! We looked and looked for a while and then figured they'd turn up eventually. Well later that night we found them. They had at some point gone UP the stairs (this is a winding stairway) and located the table that their cage sits on, and were hanging out beneath the table where I keep their food supplies. Awwww... so they went home! Maybe that's pretty genius after all. What do you guys think? Anyone else have stories to tell of smart rats?
It doesn't surprise me actually. Rats/mice are much smarter animals that people generally give them credit for. Why do you think they are so widely used in labs? I love rats.
I thought rats were used in labs because it's illegal to use lawyers, as those, somehow, are still considered human?
lol ^ aww thats sweet my rats used to come back to their cage too. except one, she preferred to nest in my clothes. i had a rat named archie who was wild, he was raised from a baby when a bulldozer wrecked his nest, he used to love to be let out. he was really skittish and shy, but i was like his mommy. i would let him out at night, in my room and he would play the whole time. i would often wake up to him running over my face or trying to get under my blanket lol. my first rat, mary, was really awesome. she would sleep or hang out in my hood while i went for walks and when she had to pee, she would come out on my shoulder and i would put her on the ground. she would do her business and then run right back to me and try to climb up my leg. mine didnt like their ball. most of them would just sit there and poo lol
My cat knocked over my two rats' (Pinky and The Brain) water bottle when he was swatting at the cage, and they died of thirst. So I guess they weren't that smart, if they couldn't figure out how to drink from the water bottle sideways.
Hahaha! That's funny. I gotta say that the biggest drawback for me in getting them out of their cage is that they poop everywhere. Once they pooped and peed on me while riding on my shoulders. Ugh! I read about how they mark their territories with little drops of pee, and I guess for the most part it's not noticeable with the little time they get to run around free, but still. Did yours do that too or were you able to train them not to?
Maybe they were waiting to see how long it would take you to figure out that they couldn't drink it sideways?
when i was younger i had a rat i named templeton and i would walk around the neighbor hood and he would just follow me, he was so cool he never ran under bushes or anything like that, today i have two pet rats but now i have more common sense and would be too afraid of losing them to try that.
Rats and mice really are very much undarrated. We have 12 mice at the moment with more on the way. We get so much enjoyment out of watching and being with them, theyre just so clever and quick Your ratties reminded me of when I was little. My brother had this syrian hamster called Terrence. He lived in a cage in my brothers bedroom up windy stairs. We were downstairs watching tele one night when we heard scraping at the door. Terrence had escaped, found his way down 15 or so winding stairs, and knocked on the door at the bottom! hehe
If this was your typical bottle with a little metal ball, drinking sideways would be impossible. Clicking the ball makes the water come out. Sideways, the ball cant be got to as it would probably have slid out of reach down the metal tube If youre serious, the question of why you didnt just fix the bottle springs to mind
Rats are SUPER smart! I have two lovley ladies, and if my ferret is not out I let them free range around the apartment and they always come back. When it's nice out I let them run around outside too- I just keep an eye on them to make sure they don't get eaten by any kitties from the area but other then that they run and dig gfor a while then come back. I was training the one girl a lot to be a non caged rat when I first got her, rats are amazing.
