The Veggies

I have spent another weekend in the garden and I STILL haven't planted anything in my vegetable patch - but im almost there and we spent a couple of days knocking the old chicken coop down (our garden is now twice the size!) But since I haven't had the most interesting of weekends, I thought i'd talk about the little veggies today. Pea and carrot are around 7 months old now. I don't think they are from the same litter (not sure if you can get a brown self and a black hooded from the same mummyrat??) , but they have been together since they were very very little. We got them at about 8 weeks old, and they are the best rats I have had yet - they are so different but they go together really well. I don't think I could cope with 2 Peas or 2 Carrots, but one of each has been a good match. They are very inquisitive, and funny to watch - especially when they are doing things they shouldn't be doing. They get free run of our spare room for an hour or so every night, and they spend most of the time trying to get to the windowsill to eat my seedlings, or the top of their cage to eat the peanuts. I'd like to give them more free run around the house, but that isn't possible whilst we have a cat. They do try to escape on the back of the dog sometimes though. All about Pea:

Pea is the little one, she is mostly brown with a big white patch on her belly - she is tiny (the runt of the litter) and her ears are somewhere between standard and dumbo. She is mostly well behaved but doesn't usually come when called.

She is the boss over Carrot, but she was a late developer really - it took about 3 months before she would go on the floor by herself. Her claws are super sharp and she likes to climb up arms and legs, leaving little needle like scratches as she goes. She is the sensible one, although she has a crazy minute every now and then when she can get from one side of the room to the other in about a second - only touching the floor once!

She is obsessively clean to the point where she constantly tries to clean Carrot - which Carrot doesn't like at all, yet although Pea starts 90% of their fights, she is always the one who squeals when Carrot fights back.

The reason I picked Pea?: She jumped on the petshop person when the rest of her family ran and hid.

Mostly likes to eat: Furniture, candles, zips, books, bra straps, mobile phone cord, yarn, baby food, plastic, dried fruit, chocolate.

Celebrity lookalike: Sarah Jessica Parker

Favourite thing: Being scratched behind the ears.

All about Carrot:Carrot is a dumbo hooded ratty. She doesn't have even patterning, but shes cute, she looks like a penguin, or a magpie. She isn't the brightest thing in the world. She does things without thinking and has had many near misses. My yarn basket has saved her several times - she has so far avoided being skewered on a needle!

She gets thrown around by Pea a lot, usually off the hammock, but they sleep together happily most of the time. Carrot doesn't squeal like Pea, although she did scream her little head off once when her tail got caught.

She is a little fatty who will eat anything she can get hold of, and she will go to great lengths to get hold of things she shouldn't be eating. She can jump at least 4 feet in one go, and likes to scale vertical walls.

The reason I picked Carrot?: She was the only hooded rat in the tank at the pet shop,

Mostly likes to eat: chocolate, anything thats touched chocolate, tissue, laptop cable, laptop case, books, book marks. Celebrity lookalike: Dewie from Malcolm in the Middle Favourite thing: Eating Rats are great adult pets if you can spare a couple of hours a night, or if you dont mind them wondering around free eating your house all day. They are quite hardy - my two get thrown around, sat on, all sorts and they are fine. The only problem we have is Myco (respiratory disease) which Pea shows some signs of (sneezing), but they are still young, and Pea gets echinacea drops intermittently (when I remember lol). Those are my ratties anyway