Celebrating Halloween With Rats

Have you noticed that stores have been bringing out holiday items earlier and earlier every year? I’m not kidding when I tell you that I started seeing Halloween decorations for sale in June. June!

I don’t understand the need for stores to get a four-month head start, but I can’t say I hate it either. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I absolutely love the spooky season and everything that comes with it. I’d honestly be happy if it were October all year long. Besides the nostalgia of Halloweens past, it has a way of bringing out people’s creativity. Whether it’s through elaborate decorations, costume ideas, themed recipes, or pumpkin carving, there are just so many ways for a person to show off their talents.

Halloween is also the perfect excuse for spoiling your rats and yourself with some fun treats, food and otherwise. Here are a few ideas to get you into the spirit and your creative juices flowing.

Easy-To-Make Treat Projects

You might feel tempted to give your rats some of the sugary delights entering your home this holiday season, but you shouldn’t. Besides being unhealthy for them, overly sticky or chewy substances, or candies filled with caramel and nougat pose a choking hazard. Instead, a safer option is to give healthy snacks in the form of a Halloween-inspired enrichment activity.

Similar to the Christmas DIY treat piñatas I’ve written about in the past, I also have two “spooky” versions you can make for All Hallow’s Eve.

Both need a mixture of dry food ingredients, especially if you want to provide a variety of flavor. Here’s a list of suggestions to get you started on your own mixture [Consult with your veterinarian before giving any food to your rats that is not specifically made for pet rats to eat. — Eds.]:

• Broken up Rascally Rat Nutri-Berries
• A plain, oat cereal like Cheerios
• Puffed wheat and/or rice cereal
• Puffed millet
• Muesli cereal
• A plain cereal like the basic Chex cereal
• Uncooked pasta
• Unsalted, roasted sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• Baby puffed fruit and vegetable snacks
• Banana chips
• Freeze-dried peas
• Rolled oats
• Yogurt chips

Making Ghost Piñatas

If you’re into the spirit realm, may I suggest making a few ghosts to haunt your rats’ cage? These are very simple and easy to create, and only require a few supplies:

• Healthy treat mixture
• White facial tissue, paper towels, or tissue paper
• Twine or ribbon
• A non-toxic black marker
• Tape
• Scissors

Step 1: Lay out your paper of choice. If you use facial tissue or tissue paper, I suggest using two layers of it so it’s not too thin. For the paper towels, one layer is sufficient.

Step 2: Place a handful of rat treats in the center.

Step 3: Gather the paper around the food to form a ball, which will become the ghost’s head. Add more treats if the head is too small. Once you have it the size you want, twist the paper closed and then secure it with the twine or ribbon. Leave one end long enough to hang from the bars at the top of the cage.

Step 4: If the body of the ghost is longer than you’d like, this is the time to trim it.

Step 5: Tape the twine up the back of the ghost’s head. This helps prevent it from flopping upside down because the snacks make it top-heavy.

Step 6: Use your non-toxic marker to draw large, solid eyes on the front of the ghost.

Step 7: Hang your ghost(s) in the cage, allowing it to hover just above the floor, so your rats can reach it.

Step 8: Record your rats enjoying their paranormal treat.

Making A Cauldron Brew

If you prefer spells over hauntings, how about a witchy concoction? This one is even easier, and it takes fewer supplies and far fewer steps. Here’s what you need:

• Healthy treat mixture
• Scissors
• Facial tissue or tissue paper
• A tiny, plastic cauldron (packs usually found with Halloween items either in craft stores, party supply stores, or online. You might even find single ones on Etsy)

Step 1: Pour the treat mixture into the cauldron.

Step 2: Fold one or two sheets of tissue in half or in fours and then cut them into strips. Stuff them down into the cauldron, allowing a portion of them to stick out. Shape or fluff them to create the appearance of smoke.

Step 3: Place the cauldron into the cage and let your rats at it!

Step 4: Don’t forget to take pictures!

Told you it was easy!

Note: The first time I tried this, I put the snacks in the tissue and closed it up the same way you do with the ghost, sans the twine. When I put that down in the cauldron, I noticed that the rats had trouble pulling it out of the small opening. They gave up quickly after that. They had an easier time and more fun pulling out pieces of tissue instead.

Pumpkin Fun

Halloween is synonymous with pumpkins and, of course, jack-o’-lanterns. If you haven’t experienced this annual tradition with your rats, then it’s about time you did! Don’t allow your rats near any knives, but they can play in all the pumpkin guts while you carve.

Cover your table with something before you start. Paper bags flattened out or garbage bags laid across your table work well. This protects the table from the mess that both the pumpkin and the rats make.

Before bringing your rats out, prep your pumpkin by cutting it open from the bottom or top and removing all the innards. Once you’re through the tedious part, it’s easier to enjoy your rats’ reactions to the orange goop.

I’ve briefly written about this before in my article Enjoy The Holidays With Your Rats, but it seems appropriate to bring it up again. Giving your rats new experiences with textures, tastes, and smells provides a wonderful enrichment activity for them.

I was really surprised by my rats’ responses the first time I did this. I thought they’d dive right in, snatching up chunks of the fruit, but they stood there unsure of what to do. They eventually figured it out though, and I loved watching them parse out what they were touching and sitting in. Some were even willing to inspect the inside of the hollowed-out jack-o’-lantern.

Raw pumpkin is safe for your rats to eat, by the way, so don’t worry if they taste it. You can even remove the seeds and roast them for the DIY projects above.

Rat Decorations

One thing I love/hate about Halloween time, is that it’s the only holiday (aside from the appropriate Lunar New Year) that considers rats to be decorative. Of course, their image is typically used for scary props or they are made to look menacing, but not always. I have actually found many cute and tasteful decorations depicting them. So, I’ve made it a yearly tradition to go hunting for cute rat items once Halloween decorations hit the stores.

For instance, years ago Target had wall decals of black silhouettes of rats standing in different positions. Similar items can now be found on Amazon or Etsy. Target also had candy corn-colored mice cat toys years ago that I just had to buy. At one of my craft stores, I found a shimmery purple rat made of foam with a long, curly tail, along with a sparkly black rat made of wire. I even bought those silly rubber rats sold at party stores or the Spirit Halloween shop that pops up around the country during this time of the year. One of them even squeaks when you squeeze it.

Last October, while visiting Boston, I spotted a sparkly cardboard rat photo holder in a store window display and bought it immediately.

My favorite goofy Halloween find is the plastic rat skeleton I found at Target back in 2016, which humorously still has ears (skulls don’t retain ears). These were wildly popular, and many stores continued carrying them or other types of animal skeletons in various sizes. If you can’t locate one in stores this year, check online. Mine continuously hangs out on a shelf in my art room.

Finding rat décor in general is not an easy task, so I highly encourage you to take advantage of this season. Make sure to peruse Spirit, and the Halloween section of home stores, grocery stores, party supply shops, thrift shops, and craft stores. Don’t overlook the holiday displays in boutique shops either. I’ve found some great cast iron rat figures that way.

Some years may yield nothing good, but eventually you’ll stumble upon something that catches your eye. A few things from my collection are only worth bringing out in October, but most of them I love enough to keep displayed all year long.

Happy Halloween, everyone!