My rats adjust to my schedule, but generally, yes, they wake up very early, 3 or 4am, eat, play and wait for me to get up and give them attention or just a treat, as well as a.m. meds. Then I do spot cleans, bowl refills, water refills, etc. Once I leave they bed down again around 9 or 10am until I get home around 5pm, but sometimes they're already up, sometimes they stay sleeping until 6 or 7pm. But they're always up by 8pm, which is when they get their free range or roaming times. I have lots of rescues and many don't get along with the others, so they have to come out in steps,Cor batches, lol. But they ALL get their own individual times with me when I can love them and let them do their thing. Around 10pm I take out any hospice cases and give them the most intense, but gentle, individual attention. They are usually either dying or something else is very wrong to be in hospice, so I often have to feed them special diets and sometimes by hand, which takes awhile, and is considered part of their free range time. Once they are done I either keep them out as a sort of special treat, or take out a single rat for late night quiet time when they can just snooze with me or watch TV! Many love to watch a movie with us! Occasionally I forget to put them back, especially when they go to sleep in the hospice carrier, which is always on the nightstand on one side of my bed, with an open door policy. Only once did I have a rat who was totally determined to get off the bed. He started to get HLD, likely due to his unique method of "falling" off the bed, he would slowly slip down the bed's edge until he couldn't lower himself any further, then he'd just let go! He had surgery for a tumor, then continued to fall off the bed whenever I turned away for a second, and he would then make his way to the door, open it with his teeth, cross the living room, kitchen, and hallway to the slider, again, open it with his teeth, and cross the back deck to the yard. He was an outdoor rattie if I ever had one! His HLD worsened and he went downhill fast. I had to PTS when he couldn't pull himself along the floor anymore. He was very unhappy by this point and just wasn't the kind of rat that would be ok with the old helping hand to push or lift their butt to walk them around. He just wouldn't ever be able to live with that drop in quality of life. Poor Sway. He was a one of a kind, just could not be kept from making his way outside, lol. Was always hearing someone calling me to say that one of my rats had escaped again, lol. Anyway, he was special. As for my ratties bedtime? Any time AFTER I go to bed, lol!!!