progress!

For the first time some of my rats (now almost properly rat sized, if not quite fully grown) just voluntarily ran down the ramp out of the cage. Granted, I first had to put them outside and they ran back (as I've done about once an evening in addition to leaving the cage open for a few hours), but then Rusty and Silas at least have come out again, and are right now have a good time exploring. So I hope that is a breakthrough, and they'll finally decide that the outside is not scary after all.