Ella Woodland, 19, decided to see if her eight pet rodents – Rumple, Reid, Gubler Hotch, Morgan, Luke, Rossi and Gideon – had artistic flair and let them play with some paints in February 2025
A student has made £3,000 flogging mini masterpieces painted by her RATS – and it’s helping to fund her university degree. Ella Woodland, 19, decided to see if her eight pet rodents – Rumple, Reid, Gubler Hotch, Morgan, Luke, Rossi and Gideon – had artistic flair and let them play with some paints in February 2025.
She was inspired after seeing Facebook creator, TooGoods Tiny Paws, flogging her rats’ artwork online.
Ella bought watercolour and kids’ paint and encouraged her rats to run through them – using their paws to ‘paint’ on mini canvases.
The student started selling the artwork on Vinted in February 2025 – and now she puts up 16 pieces of art a week with some going for £50.
Now the side hustle is helping with the cost of Ella’s £6-a-day commute to the University of Worcester and to fund her driving lessons.
Ella, who is studying clinical psychology, from Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, said: “It’s good because my journey from home into university is a ten-minute ride on the train which costs about £6 a day.
“I go in three days for my lectures and then the rest of the week to carry on making my paintings. I am also having driving lessons at the moment and they cost £80 a week for a two-hour session.
“I’ve taken out student loans for my tuition fees which is over £9,000 a year and I get £6,600 maintenance loan for the year to cover my living expenses, so having this part-time job does help me out.”
Ella was gifted her first three rats – Gubler, Rumple and Reid – as an early Christmas present in September 2024, by her parents.
In February 2025, she was given newborns – Hotch, Morgan, Rossi, Luke and Gideon – to complete the set of eight and started joining Facebook groups to learn how to care for her furry friends.
In one of the groups, members kept posting content made by creator TooGoods Tiny Paws, in which she let her rats run around tiny canvases with paint on their paws.
Feeling inspired, Ella set up a ‘studio’ for her eight rodents – including a playpen, a set of watercolours and a jar of baby food to tempt them across an easel.
Ella, who spoke to Talk to the Press, said: “I started putting them in a little playpen I’d bought for them. They walk around in the paint, which is laid on the floor.
“Sometimes I have to put my finger in a jar of baby food and let them follow it around, so they can walk around the canvas.
“The paint varies between watercolours and kids’ paint, like poster paint.”
She began selling the mini-easels on Vinted for £10 each in February 2025 but after it took off she sells them for up to £50.
She said: “I’m so happy I’m reaching so many people; it is kind of crazy. Last week, I sold 20 paintings on Vinted which has become a pretty average amount at this point.
“I am still so surprised by how much it blew up and how many people have been positive about it.
“One of my nan’s friends took one of my paintings back to America with her and I’ve convinced one of my friend’s mum to get three rats of her own, she loves them.
“I’m glad people can see how cute they are as they should do because some people find them a bit scary.”
On one of her TikTok videos, Ella has over 150k views and her Vinted account has nearly doubled its following in the last year, reaching 3,747 followers.
The teen had a surprise when she first arrived at university. She said: “It was quite funny because before my university friends met me in person, they saw my videos on Instagram and they told me ‘wow you’re the girl with the rats who paint’.”
Ella has been using the money she has made to pay for her rats’ upkeep, university living expenses and driving lessons. Ella is currently looking to expand her mischief of rats.
She said: “Two of my rats Rumple and Morgan died at the end of last year so I want to get two new baby rats soon.
“You have to buy them in pairs because they are really sociable animals who get sad if they’re on their own.”
The savvy student also says she has inspired her friends to explore the creative potential of their pets.
Ella said: “One of my friends has started getting her pigeon to paint, it’s amazing.”