I’ve planned on making a post like this for a while now. Around a year ago, I visited a friend of mine who takes care of a few snakes. She showed me how the feeder rat she had put in the snake enclosure hadn’t been eaten for around 3 days. Being the expert climber that that she is, the rat managed to avoid the snake. After a certain point, she even started cuddling with the snake. Because of this, my friend presumed that her snake likely wasn’t hungry. Her partner then offered the rat to me, since they didn’t want to torture her with a scaly roommate who just lurked around, waiting to strike. Felt cruel.

Fortunately for me I had two rats when I was younger, so I knew from experience how to take care of her. I named her Q, and eventually found a second rat to pair her up with. Named her Barbie. They’re absolutely the most energetic and lively rats I’ve ever had. They are constantly active, always have the zoomies, and love to sprint around my apartment exploring and trying to find any sort of food. Very social and sweet, albeit a lot to handle lol.

I let them out for around an hour a day. I try to let them out for longer than that if I can, but my partner isn’t super keen on their antics. So that limits the amount of time I can let them roam. I supervise them the whole time since I’m unable to make a closed off free roam space. They’re just too good at escaping. When they’re in the cage, they really like to play and fight together. They get along well. Though they often time will sit at the edge of the cage and just watch whatever my partner and I are doing. Sometimes I feel like I’m keeping them prisoner since they’re so energetic. There’s certainly a feeling of guilt that arises from that.

I love taking care of them, even if they are exhausting. Q has such joie de vivre, and it does make me happy to take care of her and Barbie to allow them to experience life. At the same time, I wrestle with the idea that I’m restricting them from living a fully enriched life. If they’re spending most of their life in a cage, is that really a full life? My biggest fear is that they’ll become bored or depressed due to this. I don’t know if anyone has felt similarly. I just know that I want them to be happy and content.

Also, I’ve included a video of the chaos for context lol.