cavesalamander:

monsterkissed:

sometimes I wonder about what domestic animals that are much smaller than us think of us as like, beings

clearly my dogs know I am not a dog and have accepted that I will not try to gently eat their faces in the dog way of affection, but understand that head scritches from hands are a kind of substitute, they seem to Get it like they understand the face won’t lick them but the hands are an extension of the face so it’s Fine

but when I had rats I always wondered if like, they conceived that my hands and face and body were all one giant individual? they seemed to relate to my hands most bc that’s what made food and handling happen i guess and sometimes they’d even try and groom them like big, ugly hairless rats, but then they’d start climbing thru my hair and trying to find out what secrets were hidden in my ears and I’m like, do you even know this is still me or am “i” back down there with the hands and my head and face are just a fun climbing frame? or am I just one huge meat pillar that you assume must be one thing bc it smells the same but fuck if you can understand what any of it is or does so you just kind of deal with what’s in reach at any given moment?

I wonder this about my ratties a lot. Like… Curiosity will crawl up my legs to get at my hands, and both of them love crawling around in my sleeves and I’ve even had one of them run to me and hide behind my hair on my shoulder when someone (the vet) tried to pick them up and they didn’t like that.

And I’m like… always impressed that they’ll so so gently nibble at my fingers, even when I have delicious goopy treats on them, they’ve never ever broken my skin, which is more than I can say for excited doggos or chickens wanting treats in my hand.

I really wish I knew what they think of me :<

just my two cents, but I really think rats know we’re one big weird critter, because our hands smell the same as our head/feet/whatever

partially bc we know rats can distinguish other rats purely by sense of smell (seen in blind rats), and bc of things like my particularly distrusting/nervous rat Jeana running to hide behind/on my feet when someone new came into the house, as opposed to my other family members or friends she was tolerant of.

I think your ratties know the big hairless wigglers they get pet and scritched and fed treats with are a part of you!