The four rats piled up around each other.
HC: How many pet rats do you have and what are their names?
DW: Kyndra (Dana’s friend) and I have 4 rats that we share – their names are Nu Wa, Artemis, Clover, and Bamboo.
The cage that these rats share.
HC: What is their favorite things to eat?
DW: They love almost everything they eat! Artemis’ favorite food is definitely bananas. They all like cottage cheese, ham, broccoli, and baby puffs!
HC: When you let them out of the cage to roam around, who is the craziest?
DW: CLOVER. She gets into anything and everything. She will find the plants we have on the window sill and dig all of the dirt out of them. She is also so fast that she’s just a blur when she runs past you and is also a professional escape artist.
“Jungle Clover.”
HC: What are some of the wacky things that they do?
DW: Sometimes, when they get annoyed with us when we hold them, they push us away with their little hands. They have never bitten us, just forceful shoves! Artemis hates socks and will bite them when you wear them. Bamboo likes to chew on paper. They all like to find little things from around our apartment and bring them into their cage, like paper, leaves from our plants, and guitar picks.
HC: Do they have any special talents or tricks that you have taught them?
DW: They all know to come to us when we shake a container of treats and when we make kissing sounds. They will walk back and forth on our arms when we hold them out beside us. We taught Clover to jump from somewhere onto our shoulders. If we wear hoodies, we can put them in our hood and walk around with them – they will just take a nap! They are also litter box trained :)
“Arty the hood rat.”
HC: If these rats were any nationality in the world, which would each be and why?
DW: Artemis would be Greek, firstly, because of her name. In Greek Mythology, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and the natural environment. She is also one of the most respected and well-known Greek deities. She fits this description because she is the biggest rat of them all, kind of the leader of the pack… she protects the other ratties!
Clover would be Swiss because she loves to climb things and is very adventurous, and there are lots of mountains and adventurous things to do in Switzerland.
Bamboo would be Chinese because of her name. :) China has the most bamboo acreage in the world!
The rats preparing to devour some delicious food.
These four little ones have their own instagram account: @therattytats. Check them out for more cute pictures of Artemis, Clover, Nu Wa and Bamboo!
[Photo courtesy to Dana Weber]