new rats!

[ratcreature]

I have two new little rats, a brown-black one whom I named Ignatz, and a russian blue one whom I named Emil. They and Krümel have met about two hours ago and so far it has been going reasonably well, i.e. they sniffed each other, Krümel turned them on their back, they did the submission squeak thing and had to hold still for a while, but no bloodshed or murderous urges (*knocks on wood*). I'm still a nervous wreck at every squeak, though. But it seems as if Krümel is okay with them for now. Cross your fingers and send good vibes that it stays that way... I'm going to take some photos of them later.

ETA: Now they're all sleeping. Not in an idyllic snuggled together way, but in three separate spots, but still. Also, I just noticed that I forgot some stuff when I did my grocery shopping yesterday, but I don't really dare to leave them alone yet.

On a completely unrelated note, I'd like to know how the wasps are getting into my apartment (that's the third in two days), when the windows I open all have insect screens because my issues with mosquitoes (not to mention that I know the wasps usually have a nest somewhere around here).

Comments

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

Well, I can't say anything more in depth without knowing much about your house, but:

We once had a problem with wasps getting in through the brick of our (poorly built) extension. They just managed to wiggle themselves through little holes between the doorjamb and the brick or from around the laundry duct and give us all heart attacks.

[ratcreature]

Hm, I guess they could get through the bathroom ventilation or, if their nest was somewhere in the attic of this house, there are some spaces where my drywall is open to allow access to water shut-off valves, so if they get above the level of my ceiling in the attic next to me, they could conceivable come through those, or through some of the small holes that have been made for cables from the direction of the stairwell. Also, since my insect screens are just nets attached to the windowframe in a removable way, I suppose a determined one could push it off at the side a bit and crawl through, I'd just find it odd that they bother. I don't mind setting the occasional wasp outside again, but several a day is a bit annoying.

[an-kayoh.livejournal.com]

It is odd. In my experience a normal house with screens will deter just about every bug save for cockroaches in the summer and wasps.