Play 2048 using Rat photos!

https://blonderoofrat.com/open-research-questions/

https://blonderoofrat.com/bibliography/

I have been breeding Roof Rats (Rattus rattus) for tameness for >8 years. Not much is known about this species compared to closely related Norway rats (so-called "lab rats"), and I'd often observe things about them the directly contradicted published research and "common knowledge" about "rats".

I've accumulated my notes and musings about these and other "squirrels" about health, nutrition etc., really all over the place. It was a big disorganized mess. Some of it was junk and easily debunked, but some of it might actually be interesting. And some of those questions could only easily be answered by studying actual Roof rats, not just lab rats, so it was worth pointing that out.

I was already using Claude to create a website about Roof Rats, and it seemed to be good at reading and organizing information, so I used it extract every unique open research question it could find in all of my writings about Roof Rats, including any citations in case I mentioned any, then research every single one of those questions and see what it could discover about them.

Rattus norvegicus and Mus musculus are both well researched species, and a lot of my questions were already answered for them, so often the question would be "Is it possible that Rattus rattus might be different from those two? If so, why and what would that mean?" If I already knew, or strongly suspected, that Rattus rattus were different, also include that observation unless it was already widely known and there was no research angle. Hypothesis and speculation should be identified as such. Questions needed to be testable and disprovable (and suggest ways to do that.)

Because I knew that my list would be changing and growing, I stored research questions, citations, glossary definitions and FAQ entries in an actual structured database rather than just text. That's already proven it's worth, as I can easily reorganize, cross reference, deep link to and reuse these conceptual "objects" throughout the website. Research questions reference citations, and can give rise to FAQ entries and Glossary terms.

The website was intended to share information, so it is all discoverable and searchable. If you hover over something, a clickable "#" deep link will appear which will copy a shareable, permanent URL directly to that thing: https://blonderoofrat.com/open-research-questions/#hyp-behavioral-social-structure

https://blonderoofrat.com/pet-freedom/

There's a live demo, and my site also used this skill and plugin to create a complete database of the legality of Roof Rat ownership, breeding, selling and transporting.

The skill assumes that you already own a WP website with an email address/inbox. What the skill does is it search the various websites that have the required information about your specific animal (Rattus rattus, in my case.) Figures out what it can, then cues up tasks for you to approve and send emails (if it can find any) or submit webforms (if no emails and it can find a webform.) It then handles the incoming replies, and updates the database with its findings. This is handled in the target language of each country, but the website is in English (you can that, of course.)

If your favorite pet is restricted, it will add an "advocacy kit" (in the target language and English) so people in that local can write their congressmen or whatever and ask that they be allowed to keep/sell or whatever, their pet.

If, after all of the above, it couldn't find clear guidance, or the rules vary by county or something, it can also crowdsource information collection in a lazy fashion when someone requests information at a leaf node: it will attempt to route the question to the most likely experts that are willing to help (similar to Mark Ackerman's AnswerGarden).

Let me know if you have any questions/comments!

I hear a rumor that some people are getting banned from certain subreddits because they have posted on this subreddit, r/rattusrattus.

Just to let you know, r/rat is a very friendly rat centric community, and I highly recommend you check it out. I think you will love it!

MC1R melanistic appears to be incompletely dominant in my rats. This rat was heterozygous, so she started out solid black, but her original agouti coat is showing more with age. Note that her back is still darker than her sides. This is an interesting demonstration of how black works differently in Rattus rattus than Rattus norvegicus.

In case the breeders see this, the names we called those two were B8.1G (mama) and A8.3G (baby)

In captivity, my personal observation is that they do not appear to be as social as Rattus norvegicus and do not appear to form as stable social hierarchies. My hypothesis is that this might be due to their original habitat being arboreal. I also suspect that they would "fail" Peggy Mason's "Good Samaritan" experiment (they would probably generally not release a captive rat.)

However, these are just my personal observations, and it is also possible that they behave differently in the wild. I haven't come across much published research, but perhaps this has already been investigated. Does anyone know?

'cause she's a r/rattusrattus 🥰

Be fruitful and multiply, little ones!

Be fruitful and multiply, little ones!

Feeding a Rat With Special Needs: Diets for Common Conditions

The website is about roof rats, but the nutritional information is actually based on Norway rat research anyway. I provide the science behind the food, including citations of publish, peer reviewed research that you can check yourself. There's a menu builder that will generate printable/sharable recipes for treats, meals and even homemade kibble, with costs. You can choice from different preferred ingredients (with recommendations) with both meat and vegan options for you little buddies! Note: this is totally public, free of charge and I don't offer anything for sale. It's just my gift to our furry friends.

I cover the following conditions:

Food / protein sensitivity (hypoallergenic)

Chronic kidney disease / failing kidneys

Chronic respiratory disease (mycoplasma)

Senior / geriatric rat

Tumour-prone / weight management

Pregnancy, nursing, and growing kits

Underweight, wasting, or a convalescing rat

Other conditions

Diabetes and insulin resistance

Heart disease

Bladder or kidney stones (urolithiasis)

Liver disease

Dental disease (overgrowth, malocclusion, missing teeth)

Megacolon (Norway Rat)

https://blonderoofrat.com/what-to-feed-roof-rats/

I have done a TON of research, and created a resource for roof rat owners that can also be used for Norway rat owners, too (the nutritional requirements are very similar.)

My goal was to add back what you pet is missing if it just eats ultra-processed pellets instead of foraging for whole, natural food foods like they were meant to do. I am not selling anything: it's all public domain, with links to the actual science and research that you can verify yourself! There's even a worksheet where you can select from a list of different ingredients, and it create a personalized menu and shopping list with prices that you can print, bookmark and share with others.

Please feel free to share this page with all of your pet owning friends!