newsworthy rats

As you may know, I have a pet rat. No, no, stop with the jokes right there. The weirded-out look is fine, ‘cause I get that in person a lot. There are only two real reactions: the ‘oh my gosh, this person seemed normal but just turned really crazy’ one, or the ‘oh yeah! we had a rat when I was a kid. aren’t they great?’ option. I leave you to figure out the majority side.

But in all seriousness, Melli is curious and cute, and I love her. This despite aspersions cast by friends about her cleanliness and ability to spread The Plague. With a cross-country move looming, I started thinking about how to bring her with me. My mother at first told me I should give her up (I fervently disagreed), and then later acquiesced while saying, “Well, she may not live through the journey.” It’s true. WE may not live through the journey, either. But so far the plan is to make Melli a traveling rat. Maybe I should write my road experiences from her perspective…hmm…

These same friends who look askance at my pet often forward articles on rat experiments (weird peace offerings?). The latest of these comes from Wired.com, and tells how blue dye can heal spine injuries. Check out the hilarious photo!

T/F: I should attempt to dye Melli blue.

And to round out the rat news, I’ve just heard that they’re making a new film version of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. The first version, animated classic The Secret of NIMH, scared the heck out of me. Here’s hoping the new one isn’t a horror flick…

bookrat

What is curious and cute and gray all over? Mellicent. My furry companion never tires of going over the same territory and finding a new way to climb over, through or under. To accompany the photo, a few things that we have in common:

- Ability to happily live on a diet of blueberries, cheerios and dark chocolate.

- Nesting and hibernating are acceptable activities.

- Book love (although to be honest, Melli only uses the bookshelves as a jungle gym).

- Appreciation of the air conditioner. I just like not dying of heat. She loves the breeze and always looks rapturous when nearby.

- We make mistakes and fall down a lot. Me in life and grad school and crashing my scooter, she in falling off the coffee table (it’s a little like falling off the edge of the world…the floor is a dangerous place).

rats can train humans to do simple tricks

While my brother was visiting he met Mellicent. He wasn’t quite sure about her to begin with, but he admitted that he was going to miss her by the time he left. I pointed out to him that it was funny that he of all people should have reservations about a pet rat, seeing as he owned one when we were younger, but then he responded by saying that Melli was definitely more curious and adventurous than pet rat Whiskers of our childhood. I put that down to fond remembrances and didn’t think anything of it until I ran into a fact sheet on a website the other day. Turns out that female rats ARE more prone to scramble around and investigate, while male rats are often content to have their ears scratched and enjoy your company.

Part of Melli’s charm is that she climbs up the side of the cage and stares pointedly at you whenever you so much as move. She anticipates you. She waits with bright, dewy eyes for you to come over and play and let her out of the cage. And she will scrabble along the side of the cage like a little monkey if you walk by, keeping pace with your movements and gnawing the cage bars. Once she’s free though, she’s not about to snuggle up. She wants to investigate! Adventure! Explore! It’s cute, frantic, and a little dizzying for the observer. So to end with, a couple of facts culled from the online FAQ:

Rats can eat chocolate. They can also eat smaller pets. They are omnivores and have been known to eat birds, fish and even smaller rodents.

While it’s great to have both male and female rats, they should not be allowed to play together. Rats can complete the courting ritual and the whole romantic relationship in about 2 seconds.

Rats usually bathe themselves six times a day or more.

Rats have bellybuttons, but no tonsils or gallbladders.

Rats can be trained to do simple tricks.

Rats can train humans to do simple tricks.

smelly melli

A little vignette about Melli that I put together last night...

I cleaned Mellicent's cage today.  It smelled a bit, and although I hadn't planned washing everything up for another couple of days, I thought she must have soiled the lining.  Then later as I sat on my bed reading, it started REEKING again!  And so I went over to the cage, did a sniff test, checked everything to make sure she didn't have diarrhea (or something), and it smelled completely normal: like aspen shavings.  I was mystified.  Then later, I smelled something pungent AGAIN.  And I finally figured it out.  Melli (and all rats) can fart!  And apparently dried corn makes them toot.  Guess what's in her food mix?  Lots of dried corn.  Thank goodness for the internet, or I'd think I have the dirtiest rat on the planet.  She was so cute when I took her out to examine her, too...just woken up, barely opened eyes, yawning and with the softest fur ever...

Apparently rats can't vomit/regurgitate, so the way that they get rid of indigestion is out the other end.  Now I just have to eliminate any and all foods that might have something to do with the phenomena, and I'm set.