Ask us questions, we'll try to answer! Here are some of the questions people ask about us...Ask us questions, we'll try to answer! Here are some of the questions people ask about us...
What do Melvin and Squeaker eat?
Rats like a variety of food. They are omnivorous, just like people. We get a combination of rat blocks, hamster seed, and dog food every day. Beside that, we
also get fresh fruits or vegetables almost every day, and sometimes special treats. Some of our all-time favorite foods are:
Watermelon, green grass, carrots, mashed potatoes, green beans, cucumbers, parsley, clovers, chicken, pumpkin seeds, grapes, cocoa puffs, zucchini in Italian tomato sauce, turkey stuffing, mushrooms, macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, and tapioca pudding.
Where did you guys come from?
We both came from pet stores. If you know somebody who raises pet rats, it might be better to buy from them. Home-raised rats will already be used to humans before they come to live with you. A pet store rat will probably be shy, and may take a long time to tame.
What do you do when you aren't at the library?
We go to the Boss's house, where we have a bigger cage with a second floor and a hammock. We have cardboard tubes to run through in there! That's fun. Most days the Boss opens the door for us for a while, so we can come out on the table top. We play in our bucket, and climb stuff on the table, jump in and out of our rat carrier, do little rat dances on the table top and drag all the papers we can find into the cage.
Why do you sleep so much?!
Rats are nocturnal.That means we sleep during the day and do our stuff at night, mostly. We can wake up during the day for a snack or if something interesting is happening, but mostly it's our naptime. We wake up and start partying about the same time your parents go to sleep.
Why do rats have tails like that?
Rat tails are really useful! They don't have much hair, so they help us stay cool in hot weather. They are long, so we can use them to help us balance when we are climbing or standing up on our hind feet. And they are prehensile--that means we can move them any way we want, just like a monkey. That helps us when we climb, because we can wrap it around things to help us hold on when we climb.
Are rats vicious?
Wild rats can be very tough when they are protecting themselves! Domestic rats, like us, are usually very gentle, and bite far less than hamsters or gerbils.
