Fat Rat Weight Managment a la Zmei

My six boys live in the same cage and are fed at the same time. This is problematic for weight management. My two small and svelt nakeds are at the bottom of the social hierarchy and are apt to get their food taken from them. I have to monitor to make sure they get enough.

And then there is Zmei the fatty foodie. He weighs as much as both nakeds together. He is lazy and squshy and built like a flabby tribble. There isn't an ounce of solid anywhere on his person. He also will beat the crap out of his own mother for sole possession of all food. Well, he's a little snobby when it comes to his lab blocks, but anything else I offer he's front and center and swinging his brass knuckles at his cage mates.

How do I get him to exercise? How do I insure the other rats get properly fed?

Rat Pinatas! Genius!

I got some toilet paper rolls and stuffed them full of the veggie/grain/drier fruit portion of their supplemental diet and folded the ends. Then I hung them from the top of the cage just low enough that the rats can get their teeth on the roll if they stood on their hind legs.

I feed them all their lab blocks by hand one by one. While everyone else is nomming their staple diet, Zmei is drawn to the real prize. He will spend 30 minutes tugging, pulling, twisting, cussing, and ratty problem solving to get the pinatas to give up the goods. Then, because he has to climb to awkward locations to get them to let go, by the time he's back down to floor level to retrieve his rewards, the other rats have already made off with their shares first.

Zmei gets exercise, and the others get fed.

:approve: