# Mr. Fumples wins the Duh award for the month!!



## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

Well as I have said over and over again he is my wild child, but geesh he's going to kill himself! He will jump off of anything at any time. He will literally sit on my shoulder and then jump, nothing is anywhere near me and yet he jumps. I've caught him every time, but now I'm 1/2 scared of holding him anymore because of this. Today he jumped and I almost didn't catch him. To make it worse when I did catch him he scooted backwards and I almost lost him again. Falling from over 5 ft. can't be good for him, any suggestions? I swear he's an idiot! He will jump off the bed from 3ft. He will try to jump from the couch to the chair and when he does we have to catch him mid air before he lands on the floor. It's gotten to the point where we put pillows all around the couch and chair just in case. I've even gotten a nice tube to link the chair and the couch together and instead of using it he will walk on top of it, then jump. Ahhhh he's gonna kill himself. Any suggestions? I'm about 1 jump away from my having a heart attack when he jumps, although my reaction time is impecable these days!


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

Maybe a helmet?


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## S-Harkey (Feb 13, 2008)

Haha... a little walnut helmet! He'd be adorable!
I really don't know- my girls drag their pouches up to the third floor of their cage and then always fight inside of them and topple onto the ground floor- which is a three foot drop. They're always fine and its happened several times, but it still scares me to death everytime I hear a thump.
Rats seem to be able to take a lot of impact and be fine, but I wouldn't condone letting him take the chance of hurting himself either.
If he enjoys being out, maybe the best thing to do is "punish" him with a firm 'no' when he tries to jump and put him back in his cage. You need to figure out some way of letting him know that its bad to jump away from you.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

Just an idea, but what about a harness? Not to keep him still and not running where ever he wants, but to teach him a little restraint? With a harness on, it would make him more conscious of his actions. A gentle tug when he looks like he's brewing up to make a leap, may help teach him to stop? Or at least think about it before he does it?

Until he learns otherwise though, maybe say no to shoulder rides? I have one particular little rat-bird who isn't allowed them for just that reason. I'm petrified that he'll land on his head one day.

Or - you can attach a parachute and give him a few base jumping lessons :lol:


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## begoodtoanimals (Dec 6, 2007)

Can't you set up the situation where he will fall in a water filled bath tub? That'll teach him that he gets wet when he jumps. I would fill it to the rim so he won't injure himself.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

begoodtoanimals said:


> Can't you set up the situation where he will fall in a water filled bath tub? That'll teach him that he gets wet when he jumps. I would fill it to the rim so he won't injure himself.


I would worry about either a) missing the tub or b) the rat breathing in some of the water in the fall. =/


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## TheFuzzWhisperer (Mar 24, 2008)

I would worry about it hurting him when he fell in the water. BELLY FLOP!
well...not really, but you get the idea. 

Have you tried positive/negative reinforcement?
When he's being good, and not jumping off things, give him a treat. If he jumps, yell NO! and put him in his cage.


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

You guys crack me up! I'm dying laughing thinking of my rat wearing a helmet a backpack with a little parachute! As for a leash, yeah he chews them, squirms out of them, and generally hates them! I've tried before. As for falling into a tub full of water, something tells me my little guy would like it. He would fall in, then look up at me like "mom where are my toys and umm yeah while we are talking where are my grapes for a snack". 

It's gonna be weeks before I get the image of Mr. Frumples in a helmet and parachute out of my head! lol


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

http://www.companionschoice.co.uk/product_details_529.htm

What about something like that? I wouldn't keep the actual lead on, but the body part of the harness may be enough to deter him? It's like a wee little jacket, he would be the best dressed helmet wearing parachuting rattie ever!


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

Ration1802 said:


> http://www.companionschoice.co.uk/product_details_529.htm
> 
> What about something like that? I wouldn't keep the actual lead on, but the body part of the harness may be enough to deter him? It's like a wee little jacket, he would be the best dressed helmet wearing parachuting rattie ever!


LMAO! We need pics of your rat so we can imagine him, maybe a photoshopped picture is in order?


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

Here we go!

http://petprojectblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/ratarmor.jpg


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

Well here is Mr. Daredevil himself.


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## ration1802 (Sep 25, 2007)

LOL!! Just what Mr Frumples needs!

And he's very cute  He looks just like my Ritchie before he went all scraggly


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

He is adorable! I love the back marking!


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

Not a great picture was it. Trying this again... 

[img=http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/4292/toyrooms008je9.th.jpg]


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

The first one is him right before he tried to take a leap off my son's train table. No where is safe!!!


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## daisy184 (Oct 29, 2007)

HylaW said:


> Maybe a helmet?


ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!! OH dear. i suffered a little stress incontinence when i read that.lol lol lol


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

Awwwwwwww!


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## JulesMichy (Apr 8, 2007)

If it helps, I'm 6'2" and my rat Gracie jumped off of my shoulder once and landed on a carpeted floor. She was perfectly fine. And she never did it again. Maybe he needs to actually fall once and figure out: "Hey, that sucked."


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## RoRo (Mar 10, 2008)

Wow my rat only feel two feet into his house I was washing KURPLUNK!


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## twitch (Jan 4, 2007)

i had a dare devil rat myself a while ago. she would climb to the top of my bookcase (about 4 feet) and dive off. gave me a mini heartattack every time too. but she LOVED it. i think the first time she did it was an accident because when she landed she froze for a bit as if to say "whoa... how'd i get here...?" unfortunately it was followed by quick bouncing and a scury back up the book case. apparently the next thought was "what a rush! cool! so doing that again!!" she would spend a good chunk of her free range time jumping off my bookcase then doing excited ninja rat kicks and hops before climbing back up. if i put pillows down it only seemed to encourage her to work on her target practice to avoid the pillow (even getting the JUST wee bit of space inbetween the bloody pillows). she never hurt herself and had a lot of fun. she never tried jumping off the living room chair (which was not a free range area) or my shoulder though. i'm not sure why, the chair was lower and my shoulder was only slightly higher (about a foot and some change). 

but i think its harder for rats to hurt themselves from falling and jumping. well serious injury anyway. bribery was pushed off a level onto another level only a few inches below and sprained his foot... go figure eh... but if i remember correctly it has something to do with physics and terminal velocity. of course, there is always the risk of landing wrong (like bribery's fall of only a few inches) but i don't think you need to worry about the fall itself being a problem. as a jumper i would not take him out for walks outside though. i have a rat that won't sit still on the shoulder (she climbs down not jump) and so i can't take her outside either. in case she decides to scoot down and gets away from me. the outside isfar too big a place with far too many dangers for little babes not to be holding on to mom.


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## Smilearegood4you (Mar 25, 2008)

Your little daredevel rat is so cute, i used to have a little girl rat that looked identical.Now i have 3 rats that i just found our are asf rats and they jump all over their three story cage... so far no ones hurt.


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## dreadhead (Mar 1, 2007)

He looks just like our female Mindy... who WAS a jumper... until she made the 5ft. plummet onto the hard floor... didn't even phase her physically, but I can guarantee you she hasn't done it since and ALWAYS does a double take before she jumps anywhere now


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

No way would I ever take any of my rats outside unless they were in a cage! Why? I have a hawk in my neighborhood and he's a pro at swooping squirels and birds off the line in the backyard! No way do I want that close of an encounter with a hawk and definatly not with my rat in his claws!!! 

I worry about him falling because I have nothing but hard wood floors in my house and he's already been hurt once by his jumping. He broke his little foot and I just don't want that to happen again. I know it was a minor injury, but still I'm paranoid. You would think he would have learned from that (I had actually forgotten about that incident until my boyfriend reminded my last night, apparently I'm blocking out bad memories!)


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## HylaW (Mar 14, 2008)

Do you sew? I think that maybe you should try to experiment making him a parachute and find something that works and then let him jump til his heart delights. Maybe he was a bird or flying fish or a parachuting person in a previous life. ::shrugs::


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## RoRo (Mar 10, 2008)

I got ratrat a ferret leash it's ajustable to his size and it don't cost much. And there's NO way that little bugger can wiggle out of it, it's great. I guess I have to get anouther one soon. It's great to take him outside on a walk cause he's KINDA leash trained. It's called I want to go here, but it's cats in my neighbor hood that make outings usually short. -_- 

http://www.petco.com/product/5025/Four-Paws-Safety-Iguana-Leash-and-Harness.aspx


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## JESSU (Aug 8, 2007)

I read somewhere that a rat can survive a 40 foot fall.


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## lovinmyworm (Feb 18, 2008)

I don't think I would survive him falling 40 ft! I'd have a heart attack!


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