A Day in the Life: A ZooLab Rat in Training

Hello, my name is Beatrice

But everyone calls me Bea or Beanut. I am 4 months old and training to become a ZooLab rat.

I stay with my human mum and trainer Lauren in Kent, where I live a spoiled life with 4 other rats.

Daisy

Daisy is boss rat and she is 2 years old.

When I'm being naughty she tells me off!

She loves all of the attention she gets from children and is very cheeky.

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Honey

Honey is the same age as me and we grew up together.

Honey is very snuggly but is a bit jumpy so she comes along to ZooLab workshops as a companion mostly.

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Tauriel

Tauriel is 13 weeks old. She's next in line to be trained as a ZooLab rat!

She's very cheeky and always wants to play!

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Arwen

Arwen is Tauriel's sister who will start training once she's less shy, but it's okay if she doesn't want to meet people.

She's a good girl who never gets into trouble with Daisy!

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I asked Daisy what it means to be a ZooLab rat. She told me that holding, stroking and seeing us makes lots of people happy! ZooLab rats go to nurseries, schools, care homes and more; where we can be fabulous rat ambassadors! You see, lots of people think that we're dirty, but we're actually really clean and very friendly!

My human Lauren told me that people might want to know how we're trained, so let me take you through my day!

6:00 am - Lauren comes to say good morning and we all come running to say hello! If we're lucky, we get to climb out and bury ourselves into Lauren's warm dressing gown. We get our morning food, which Lauren sprinkles around or hides. She knows we're smart, but I grab the banana chips from her hand and Daisy stuffs as much food as she can into her mouth!

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7:30 am - Arwen pokes her head out of her hammock and says that funny sounds have started playing. Lauren says that it's the sound of a classroom and we get treats while it plays. After a while it gets a bit louder, but Arwen doesn't mind because she's too focused on the treats!

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8:30 am - It's time for us to go! Daisy is a pro but she needs someone to keep her company, so I get to go to work today!

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9:30 am - It's a little bit noisy at this nursery; there are children crying and stomping about. Lauren puts some tasty mealworms into the carrier so I know it's okay. The noises were a bit scary at first but they're starting to not bother me.

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11:00 am- We're at a school now! We're seeing reception children and telling them all about ourselves! Lauren tells them all about Daisy and that her favourite food is carrot.

Once Daisy comes back into the carrier, Lauren tells everyone to be quiet and picks me up!

Finally, my time to shine! I look around at everyone and my whiskers twitch as I sniff everything. They all think I'm cute, and rightly so! Lauren says that I'm a good girl and gives me some malt paste before putting me back in my carrier with Daisy.

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12:30 pm - Lunchtime! Lauren gives us half a grape each. Daisy steals mine, but she can only eat one piece at a time so I sneak it back. Lauren plays with us for a bit and then strokes us to sleep once we're tired. Rosie, Daisy's sister, used to demand all of the cuddles!

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3:30 pm - We're at a care home now! It's nice and quiet here as there aren't many people and all of the residents are gentle, so Lauren takes me out to meet them. She gives me lots of malt paste and I get lots of cuddles. This is actually quite fun!

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6:00 pm - Thank goodness we're home and don't have to listen to Lauren's singing anymore... Lauren puts us in our big play pen where we can go pea fishing and running around. Lauren joins us so we can have lots of cuddles, and sometimes we do trick training!

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9:00 pm - Bedtime! It's time to snuggle up with all of my friends after a busy day. Good night, everyone!

Meet the rest of the Animal Team