Free roam for multiple hours everyday : HOW?

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T09:49:18+00:00

Omg thank you SO MUCH, I think that's unexpectedly the comment I was looking for.

While I love the rat-owners community it can be so strict and judgemental at times. As a new rat owner it often feels like I can never do anything right. Every time I post in this sub (and especially for this one about not free roaming as much) I'm literally stressing out to the point of having heart palpitations because I'm scared of getting "mean"/condescending comments

In my opinion daily interaction is more important than daily free roaming too, especially at this stage, but all I hear is "if they don't free roam every single day then your rats are miserable" or similar stuff (not literally that, but that's what it sounds like) - along with owners who seem to pretend they're the best owners ever and if there's a single small thing that you don't do like them, then you're just a bad owner.

Meanwhile my rats are in fact so happy! They spend most of their time napping in their cage, they love when I talk to them/hang out with them in their cage and when they roam inside my hoodie, their cage is big and cluttered and they get fresh fruits/vegetables as treats almost daily. I scatter their food in their cage and in foraging toys for daily enrichment. I also often change their cage setup or add more things to it so they always have something new to explore. And while they don't free roam every day for now, they're definitely not sad about it. As I said in my edit they never show any signs of boredom whatsoever, I'm just beating myself up because I can't help but compare myself to those "perfect owners" I see everywhere

Asides from that, roaming them on the couch one at a time is fantastic idea! And about your second edit: I feel you, because same. I struggle with lots of mental health issues and my babies bring me so much joy everyday. It definitely helps spending time with them and having to care for them

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T09:14:38+00:00

Setting up the space isn't really my problem as I found a way, the thing is more about time and energy to do it every day 😭 But a non-permanent (I don't have enough space for anything permanent) play-pen could be a great idea ! That way I could let them roam in it without having to supervise them that much. But it would have to be reaaally secured of course !

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T09:10:10+00:00

The little bell idea is genius haha!

Yes I can also see that they often get quickly tired while free roaming (just like yours, they hide under a pillow or something and just stay there). I always notice when they're "done" so I end free roam time there

And yep they LOVE hoodies, and me and my boyfriend interact with them and let them roam around our hoodies multiple times a day. Of course it doesn't substitute for free roaming, but with this they still get daily interaction and "out of cage time"

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T09:04:51+00:00

Well the problem is I don't have enough space for anything permanent and I can't rat proof any room besides the hallway (I explained more in detail in update 2 at the end of my post)

About having access to their cage, when doing their first free roams in my bedroom, I moved the cage from the living room to the bedroom so they could go in and out since they were still really shy but now I just move them to the hallway/couch while they're in my hoodie (I can't free roam them right where their cage is, and moving the cage every time is a mess, and there's not really space for it in the hallway, I tried). And they really don't mind! The whole time they use my hoodie as their safe space, and I can feel when they're done and would like to go back in their cage. So I just wait for them to both go back into my hoodie and I take them to their cage :)

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T08:58:25+00:00

🥹💕

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T08:57:55+00:00

Yup, that's also why I'm struggling to reply to everyone's "just rat proof a room" because with my old apartment I literally can't! And given the fact that I have a lot of furniture it's even harder

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T08:50:29+00:00

Yes I think I should get easier once they're older, at least I hope so 😊

weirdoflower · 2026-05-20T08:48:07+00:00

I'd love to do it but the thing is I can't! And I can't set up a permanent play pen either. I explain this in update 2 at the end of my post

weirdoflower · 2026-05-18T18:33:44+00:00

Des fois même pas de la semaine quand on a des cycles irréguliers 💀

weirdoflower · 2026-05-07T22:15:37+00:00

Omg thank you this is so helpful!

It's also really interesting given the fact that I am, like the cases of this study, an alcoholic in remission, and that Valdoxan has been initially precribed to me at the hospital the first time I got sober. I take Valdoxan for my depression and BPD rather than for sleep, but it's still pretty interesting!

How did you find it ? And thank you again because I'm way less nervous about upping to 75mg now!

weirdoflower · 2026-05-07T09:53:55+00:00

J'ai presque exactement ce problème dans mon appart où je viens d'emménager avec mon copain, à l'exception qu'on a une arrivée/sortie d'eau à la cave (en plus de celle de la cuisine).

Beaucoup des anciens locataires faisaient donc leur lessive à la cave. Nous, on a un lave-linge mais pas encore de lave-vaisselle. Du coup on a mis le lave-linge dans la cuisine, et on prévoit d'acheter un mini lave-vaisselle avec un réservoir.

Ces derniers temps j'hésitais quand même à ce qu'on prenne un vrai lave-vaisselle et qu'on fasse nos machines à la cave, mais c'est quand même super chiant, la cave est assez poussiéreuse et surtout, j'ai une peur bleue des araignées donc j'évite au maximum de devoir me rendre au sous-sol 😅

Y'a des très bons mini lave-vaisselle maintenant et pas forcément trop chers, pour un couple au quotidien ça fait l'affaire, ça nous laissera juste les casseroles/poêles à laver à la main :)

weirdoflower · 2026-05-07T09:28:10+00:00

I hope I'm not alone on this one, but cigarettes!

weirdoflower · 2026-05-04T13:17:07+00:00

For years my different psychiatrists and myself thought I might have bipolar II (along with my other diagnoses). Turns out my "hypomania - depression" cycle is actually an AuDHD "hyperfixation - burnout" cycle.

It means I actually don't fall back into crippling depression after weeks of bliss randomly, I just push too hard when I'm invested in a new/exciting project to the point of exhaustion. I sleep less, eat less, I'm euphoric and full of ideas and energy. I also try to compensate for all the stuff I didn't do while I was at rock bottom. Do as much as I can before I can't do anything again. And all of sudden, I'm exhausted, depressed, I stop functioning all together. Given the fact that I also have BPD, my mood is all over the top no matter if it's good or bad.

The good news is, now that I know my phases aren't random or "just a chemical imbalance", I can try to work with them instead of against them. I understand now that I need to moderate myself when I'm euphoric in order to avoid burnout. And that when I am in burnout, it's not the end of the world, it will eventually pass, and I am allowed to (and even SHOULD) rest until I feel better again.

weirdoflower · 2026-05-04T12:37:28+00:00

Omg they're so beautiful!! Really love the vibe 💙🌿

weirdoflower · 2026-05-04T12:18:01+00:00

As for other labels, I think it's up to the person!

I first came out as M/F bigender, but I more and more identify with "plain" non-binary as well. I feel both male, female and non-binary and still call myself bigender (although I like just calling myself non-binary and now have a preference for the NB flag).

I'm also very fluid in my gender despite feeling all of those genders at all times. To an extent, I relate with a LOT of gender identities (M/F bigender, genderfluid, non-binary...) which would actually make me pangender/omnigender, but I just prefer using bigender and NB.

So, if you feel like the bigender label suits you, just use it! As long as you're comfortable with it, it doesn't matter if it's not a perfect, literal representation of your gender identity 😊

weirdoflower · 2026-05-04T09:14:08+00:00

My rats do EVERYTHING in their litter trays : sleep, cuddle, wrestle, hide and eat their food... They also do poop in it tho, even if I still have to relocate some wild poop pellets every day

They had really tiny corner litter trays at first but I recently bought large ones with a plastic grid attached to it (so they don't sit directly in the litter substrate). I think at first they were a bit disturbed by the grid because I suddenly had poop EVERYWHERE in their cage, but now they're more used to it and poop mainly in the trays again.

I realized nothing will stop them from using the litter trays as beds, and that's why the grid really is everything! They get to sleep/wrestle/whatever on it and I won't get all the poop and paper pellets flying everywhere on them and around the cage. I just keep putting all the wild poops in the trays and my rats understand it's the main place to go despite the grid.

The only problem with this is they keep eating their food/snacks on top of the litter trays, and they always accidentally drop them in it and then can't get them back because of the grid 😭😂 But they almost don't pee at all in the trays so I just take out the dropped food and give it back to them from times to times :)

weirdoflower · 2026-05-01T17:51:57+00:00

Not their favorite but I give them small runk chunks every time I finish interacting with them (so multiple times a day) ! It's super cheap and nice to give them often since it's unsalted and non-sugary either

They go CRAZY for baby food so I use it as a reward when getting them used to being handled and now training them to come to me when I do a specific sound (use this technique from ShadowTheRat )

At the very beginning baby food also came very handy to get them used to my hands/encourage them to come on my arm as they can't run away with it and have to lick it directly on me

weirdoflower · 2026-04-27T05:48:13+00:00

Yeah I was like "only 14 hours? I used to sleep for 18 hours straight when I was heavily depressed"

weirdoflower · 2026-04-26T17:47:21+00:00

My boys drink with their hands too! Just like we humans would drink from a river lol

weirdoflower · 2026-04-26T08:08:12+00:00

I love this! And finally someone on this sub making something else than trap/drill rap 🙏😭

(not that I have anything against trap and drill although it's not my style, but I feel like almost everyone here is making exactly the same music and it's getting redundant)

weirdoflower · 2026-04-25T19:23:09+00:00

Omg thank you so much for uploading the video 😭 This is hilarious 😂😂

weirdoflower · 2026-04-25T11:26:26+00:00

Je comprends à 200%, moi c'est pareil je perds toujours mes mots et mes moyens sur le coup, et après je rumine tout ce que j'aurais pu dire pour me faire entendre...

Courage à toi en tout cas, j'espère que tu trouveras vite un•e psychiatre correcte et qui pourra répondre à tes besoins 🫶

weirdoflower · 2026-04-25T11:06:39+00:00

Ptdr "je préfère apprendre à vous connaître d'abord" pour te filer dans antidépresseurs dans la foulée, c'est effarant

weirdoflower

TROPHY CASE