Mel (they/them)🐀

@kupgup

Neurospicy, queer. Feral goblin hermit since 2020. I knit (mostly socks), read books, and hang out with my pet rats. Sometimes I remember that I have a sourdough starter and bake some bread.

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Bluesky

¿Es tu perfil?Reclámalo y kupgup.dirty.social es tuyo.Reclamar perfil

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· 19d

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 15

Finally caught the babies not being motion blurs #PetRats

Two young black rats with dumbo ears peeping out of a space pod. A tiny bit of their black and white sister is visible behind them.

Pic from the other side of the space pod. The third baby, a black hooded rat with dumbo ears, peeps out of this side. Several of her whiskers are kinda curly.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 6

These are the other bowls in the set, including my very favorite, The Turnip Bowl. Aren't these designs much better suited to a bowl shape? I like these three, so I tolerate their ugly sibling for their sake.

Another bowl from the set, decorated with blue on white on the inside. This one has a graceful medium-scale all-over pattern based on circles. It looks like if you made a bunch of paper circles and drew concentric diameter lines on them, then stacked them to overlap like fish scales. It's a nice soothing pattern, and I think the steady repetition keeps the bowl's curvature from being visually weird.

A third bowl from the set, also with a blue and white decorated inside. This one has motifs of coiled stems with little leaves, arranged into a wide spiral up toward the rim of the bowl. It's not quite an all-over repeat but close. It is another nice soothing pattern that works in this 3D application.

And lastly, my very favorite, The Turnip Bowl. This bowl also has a blue and white decorated inside. It features striped background pattern that recedes from notice just as it should. In the foreground, there's a single large depiction of two turnip bulbs with plentiful leaves still attached. The leaves extend well up the walls of the bowl. I think it's a very pleasant little painting to uncover as you eat, and it always makes me happy when I have a chance to use it. :)

(I used it earlier, please excuse any oatmeal residue that the rats didn't clean up.)

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 6

This. Goddamn. Bowl. I like the others in the set! They have different, much better designs on them. But I dislike this one SO HARD. If I grab it from the stack, I physically cringe, and hurriedly trade for a different one.

The decorative blue and white interior of a ceramic bowl. The design is divided into eight curved wedges surrounding a central circle. These wedges alternate between two district grid-based patterns of small squares, and four district paintings of bamboo and tall stalks of flowers. The center has YET ANOTHER district plant motif.

IMHO the swirl shaped wedges fight with the visual curves produced by the 3D bowl shape, so they look lumpy and warped and awkward. And it's unbalanced to have four different plant wedges but repeat two square patterns. One small pattern would be better. Or even FOUR. Though I suppose it could be worse if you put three grid patterns.

It's overall just way too many different design elements going on for a humble cereal bowl, with an overall shape that doesn't suit it. I just Cannot Deal with having that mishmash monstrosity lurking beneath my food.

If it was literally the only clean bowl in the house, I would finally do the dishes.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 6

Spike and Carrot say hiiiiiiiii! Babies enjoyed trading cages overnight with their uncles. (And the uncles? Toffee seemed salty about it when I switched them back in the morning. Sharky wishes he'd been invited to their sleepover.) #PetRats

The face of Spike, a black baby rat with dumbo ears, peeking out of a space pod. Her sister Esk, a black and white rat, is behind her, but isn't showing very much.

Carrot, a black baby rat with dumbo ears, sits in a kleenex box with a chewed-up entryway, filled with a nest of paper scraps.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 2

Today Esk is bullying Toffee into snuggling with her and Spike. They got Sharky in there on another occasion later, but let him go much quicker. #PetRats

A Kleenex box full of rats. We can see the face of large brown adult rat Toffee, and the rest of the opening is filled with the black and white flank of small baby rat Esk. Spike is in there somewhere, but not visible.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 1

And Sharky has continued to be a very good boy. He's been hanging out with babies this whole time. Plenty of sniffing still, and I saw him groom two of the three. Nice!

Rats piling into a cube-shaped Kleenex box. We have:

The butt, tail, and rocket shaped balls of adult rat Sharky

The head and forearm of black baby rat Spike, looking smooshed

And the end of baby Esk's pink tail

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 1

Oddly enough Toffee hasn't been puffy at babies in the 45 min or so since that wrestling match. I guess Esk knows what she's doing! Also she let Toffee have the space pod back right away. Hopefully that means they've made up. He's being a lot more relaxed tonight aside from that. Good good.

Big brown rat Toffee still in the space pod. This time he's all alone, and is stretching forward to sniff the camera.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· May 1

Oh. Toffee's disgruntlement makes a little more sense now. Getting pushed around by a baby lol. #PetRats

Two rats are enclosed in a blue space pod. One, a black and white 3-month-old, is pinning down the other, a much larger brown and white adult.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 30

Shoutout to Sharky who did really great at baby intros last night! He stopped sidling at them, and gave them all a really thorough sniff (especially the girls). By the end he had smooshed Spike against a wall for snuggling, while I gave him pets and praise. Heckin good boy! #PetRats

Two adult rats snuggling together in a space pod. We can see their heads and the end of one tail.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 29

Last night I tried getting Toffee and babies to eat yogurt together. He did most of the yogurt eating while they mostly hid. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ #PetRats

My big human hand stretches toward a brown and white adult rat (Toffee), and a Kleenex box next to him. There is a ragged baby-size hole chewed in the box side facing us, and a bit of baby fur shows through. Toffee is licking one of my fingers, and a second finger has a bit of yogurt on it as I offer it to the box full of babies.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 27

Meanwhile in babies.... Adora Belle enjoyed the bowl from my oatmeal. Esk gave it only a drive-by sniffing. Carrot has been in hiding and he missed out. I'd worry about a boy who turned down an oatmeal-tier treat, but I guess girls just have more important things going on sometimes? #PetRats

Photo through the cage bars of a black rat perched between a blue and white people bowl and the doorway of a soft hide. They've been remodeling (aka ripping foam out of the hide's interior) and little bits of foam are scattered around.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 27

Sleepy Toffee says hi! He's been working very hard at rebuilding his nest, since I emptied the old one last week. #RatBreak #PetRats

Toffee, a brown rat, looks sleepily out from a space pod hung from the cage ceiling. There's a lining of paper all around him and a tiny scrap sticking on his forehead.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 27

GUESS WHAT IT'S BABIES The old-man rats know they're there and seem interested, but not hostile. 🤞 We'll try face to face intros soon. (The two girls are spayed, we're safe reproduction-wise!) #RatBreak #PetRats

A black rat with just a tiny patch of white on her chest. She is standing stretched tall against the bars of her cage, getting a good sniff

Photo through the cage bars of a black and white hooded rat. She is creeping with caution out of a cardboard box

Photo through the cage bars of another black rat, this one with a large white belly patch that creeps up his sides. He is perched delicately on the rim of a dark blue plastic litterbox.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 24

Happy birthday from Sharky and Toffee!

Sharky (blond rat) and Toffee (brown and white rat) stand on shelves in their cage. Sharky is on a shelf, emerging from a bright yellow soft hide to see what's going on out there. Toffee is on a slightly lower shelf, looking a little surprised like he's been interrupted while doing secret important rat business things. (He was ripping up paper and carrying it to a nest, don't tell the humans. 🤫)

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 23

I tried for something more inspirational, but the next ones were "sloppy," "potato," and "yeasty." I'm a little hurt that MW has such low expectations for me. :(

Screenshot of the Your 2026 Word gif. It has stopped on "bed rotting" and I think they do not appreciate the effort I put into NOT doing that.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 20

I love that an empty yogurt cup just makes their day. #PetRats

Two rats, Sharky (blond) and Toffee (brown and white) on a tattered gray blanket on the sofa. They are squeezed together so both can lick an empty yogurt cup.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 20

OTOH once I gave my rowdy gang of mostly-teenage boys macaroni WITH cheese sauce AND tuna AND peas, all exciting foods. All the rats were so awestruck they just... scurried away and ate quietly without trying to steal anyone else's. Like there was so much excitement they looped back around to calm.

Fezzik, a large black rat, sits in a green plastic igloo, eating a chunk of tuna mac and peas. Light is pouring in through the translucent plastic of the hide sorta like stained glass at a cathedral. He has a far-off look in his eyes as if he's just seen Cheesus.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 16

In which Toffee practices for orb tryouts, and Sharky further tests the stashability of yogurt cups #RatBreak #PetRats

Two rats in their cage. Sharky is emerging from a soft hide to check out an empty yogurt cup. Toffee already has his head inside the cup to lick out the leftover bits. Toffee's tail end is facing the camera and his butt looks "oh my god, Becky" huge.

Same scene. Sharky has grabbed the yogurt cup and is now attempting to drag it into a soft Christmas-tree shaped hide. Will this work better than it did with the space pod? STAY TUNED!!

Success! The cup is inside the hide now. Toffee has followed. Through the hide's opening we can see only the yogurt cup, and Toffee's body and tail.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 14

Snuggly rattos! #RatBreak #PetRats

Two rats in a space pod. We can see only the back of Toffee (brown and white). Sharky (blond) has his face and tail visible, curled around Toffee.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 14

HECK YEAH IT'S SPAGHETTI NIGHT #RatBreak #PetRats

Rat-sized plate with spaghetti in red sauce, a couple bits of meatball, and green beans.

A big human hand offers the plate of goodies to Sharky, a blond rat. Sharky is going straight for the stray chunk of tomato from the sauce.

The plate sits on the cage floor in front of a soft green rat hide. Toffee, a brown and white rat, leans out of the hide and grabs ALL THE SPAGHETTI at once. Master of efficiency!

Sharky in a box. A strand of spaghetti has been rescued from Toffee's plunder, and left outside the box so Sharky can have some pasta too.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 13

Happy 20th anniversary of Neil Banging Out The Tunes! An absolute legend #RatBreak #PetRats

Photo from the ancient internet. A bald pink rat stands in front of a little toy xylophone-keyboard. He is reaching one hand toward it. Caption says "Neil banging out the tunes April 13, 2006"

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 12

No, you may NOT look at Toffee's piece of french fry. GOOD DAY. #RatBreak #PetRats

Brown and white rat Toffee sits in a blue space pod. He is hunched protectively over a snack, and looks with suspicion at the camera.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 9

Remember to get some probiotic stuff in your diet! #RatBreak #PetRats

Cage scene with rats Sharky (left, blond) and Toffee (brown and white). Sharky has the edge of an empty yogurt cup in his mouth and is valiantly trying to drag it into a space pod that I don't think has big enough openings for that. Meanwhile, Toffee is impeding by sticking his face and arms into the cup to lick the leftover yogurt bits.

Sharky has been won over to Toffee's way. The yogurt cup is outside the space pod, and both rats have their heads inside to get at the yogurt.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 8

My rat Bucket occasionally enjoyed a good book. By which I mean "nibbled."

Bucket, a brown keekee (normal rat), leans out of the cage to sniff an open copy of The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. Both pages include pictograms invented by the rat clan's scribe.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 6

Insurance companies should all GDIAF. I archive dived to find you Sam asleep mid-snack. I hope it helps a little! He would be proud of you for keeping trying! ❤️

Sam, a black rat, is asleep in a space pod, holding a cheerio in his teeth. He only woke up long enough to take the snack, then went right back to sleep.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 5

Happy slightly late #WorldRatDay!

Four blond baby rats lined up in a row eating cheerios. They are framed by the arched doorway of a green plastic hide.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 3

That's so awesome!! Sam here would have been so happy for you! 🥰

Sam, an adult black rat and the sweetest most nurturing uncle ever, is engulfed by a mob of three little blond baby rats. His eyes are closing in bliss, he's clearly looking forward to all the groomings and snuggles with the little guys.

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 3

Just look at these good boys #RatBreak #PetRats

The heads of Toffee (brown) and Sharky (blond) stick out of a blue space pod hide

Mel (they/them)🐀@kupgup· Apr 1

Toffee says happy Trans Day of Visibility! He has no idea why some humans are mean about other people's gender. But he will not be sharing any cheerios with those jerks. So there. 💙🩷🤍🩷💙