My Rats
< Violet-Amelia Cornelia (updated 8-16-07)
Violet-Amelia Cornelia was named in memory of Violet-Olivia (I have a thing for hyphens), who was named in memory of the original Violet. She is from Pixie's litter. She loves stashing food and pulling fabric in through her cage bars. She used to be a big bully, but after leaving the big cage for a while (living with her sickly mother, Pixie, in the hospital cage) she came back and was beaten up a lot by Deb, a little PEW girl, and Deb's sidekick Barb, a hooded lady with a very small head. V-AC is still one of the main alphas, but she continues to have trouble with Deb. V-AC was very protective of her mother when she was ill. If another rat tried to go in the hospital cage, V-AC would chase her around and pounce her like crazy.
< Beverly (updated 8-16-07)
Beverly was very shy when she came to us. She also nipped me quite a bit. She has become much more tame recently. She never nips, loves a good pet now and then, and always has lovely sleepy eyes. She seems to like Ratna quite a bit, which makes sense because she spent a lot of time with her after Ratna had a spay and tumor removal. Beverly loves to sleep in her "little house," an old hamster toy. She has grown to be a very nice rat.
< Deborah
We got Deb (and her sister, Barb) from Petco on March 3, 2007. Deb came to us as a very nervous and jumpy rat. She had a little habit of nipping fingers, but we took about a day teaching her not to do that by making a quick, shrill squeak sound whenever she nipped. She's never done it since. It's amazing how intelligent and trainable rats are. It took a few months, but Deb did come out of her shyness quite a bit. She enjoys being talked to, pet, and playing tag with my hand. She's still not a fan of being held, but at least I'm able to get her out for cage cleanings now. She's a PEW.
My Past Rats
Cuddley: He was our first rat ever. He was part of the Washington team (the rats we owned when we lived in Washington). I don't remember some of the other rats faces from the Washington team, but I see his clearly. Some of my memories are cloudy, but I remember being the first to pick him up (my mom and brother were afraid). He had a certain run. He would run across the bathroom floor, and look like a true sewer rat (I know what your probably thinking, but he was cute!). Sadly, his death was long and miserable.
Fluffy: She was our second rat and first girl. Her breed was "Agouti". She was a sandy color. She came when Cudley was alive. When she got a little older, she would walk in circles for hours, and her face would still be happy and sweet as ever. One day we walked over to her cage, and she had died peacefully in her sleep.
Violet: Our third rat. She was an early Christmas present from my mom, to the family. She was small, black and feisty. We were going to name Fluffy, Violet but that would have been a terrible mistake. Once, we let Cudley walk across the top of her cage (I don't know why), and she nipped his toes! Her and Fluffy were the escaping rats. We came in the dining room, and saw Fluffy looking cute. We looked over, and there was Violet chewing out of their plastic cage!!! I believe they planned it. Violet would chew, and Fluffy would look cute. Easy as pie. Violet lived older then any rat from the Washington team. She lived from some time in 1999, to I think 2002. We left the Washington team and moved to Texas. Violet was the only one I saw again. What I saw scared me. She had tumors the size of lemons on each side, practically no hair, and was breathing weird. But I was happy to see her. I think that she stayed alive to tell a message for the others. I have proof, she died about four hours after she saw us.
Furling: Him and his brother were the forth and fifth rats. He had black fur. Later in life, he developed something called "bumblefoot". It's like a large scab. I have blocked his death out of my mind.
Furball: He was Furling's brother. He was a sandy color, like Fluffy. Furling, Furball, and Cudley were the bachelor rodents. It means they were male and lived together.
Doodles: He was Furling and Furball's adopted son. A recruit for the bachelors. By this time I'm pretty sure Cudley was gone. He had a doodle going across his eye, hence the name. When we took him to the vet I told him Doodles' name and he said, "hmph, I would have named him Stripes". I thought that was extremely rude. It was a doodle, not a stripe. Doodles are uneven, stripes are straight, like on a candy cane. I found Doodles dead on a paper plate we had used to feed them earlier. One of his adopted father's, Furball, was hovering over him, mourning the loss.
Patches: He was Doodles' brother. He was the scaredy cat of the group. Once we went to Texas to visit my sister, he stopped being a scaredy cat! He was suddenly the brave one, and everyone else (Furling, Furball, and Doodles) was terrified. The cats that my sister had didn't even notice the rats were there for about two months!
White Mama (AKA Snakebait): She was white with red eyes, and looked like a labrat. She wasn't evil, she was just a little bit mean. You couldn't really hold her, but you didn't have to stay away from her. The reason you couldn't hold her is that she would nip. Not bite, nip. She was a troubled rat. She was bought by someone as food for a snake, and then brought back. Why? The snake wouldn't eat her. God knows what trauma she went through with that snake.
Fluffy Mama: She was White Mama's sister. I do not have a story for every rat because we got a little bit crazy with the Washington team. I think we got up to eleven rats at once. We didn't have time for all of them, but we didn't neglect them. She always kind of reminded me of the character Betty from Rugrats. I don't know why. She died when we were in Texas.
Pinky: She was White Mama's baby (really, not adopted). She was cream colored and had pink eyes. My dad doesn't like rats much, but he loved Pinky. He named her Pinky. Pinky died when we were in Texas.
Violet Baby: She was Fluffy Mama's baby. But she looked more like Violet, so we named her Violet Baby. She died while we were in Texas.
Midge: A small cream colored rat. One of my friends told me she was going to sell her rat at a garage sale (*gasp*), we couldn't allow that. So we went to her house and bought her. She became White Mama's follower, along with Feivel and Violet baby.
Feivel: Feivel was female. We saved her. Her family was giving her away because they were moving somewhere and could not take her. They named her Feivel because they thought she was a boy. She died in Washington.
Squeak: He was a Texan rat. My sister and her boyfriend/husband gave him and Dink to my mom who was feeling sad. Squeak died on my mom's birthday (it's not the only time that's happened), it was late at night and when I was crying and trying to sleep, I pictured Squeak in a little bucket going up to a better place.
Alberta: She was one of the sweetest rats we have ever had. She was a little cream colored rat with pink eyes. She was the one who gathered the food and hid it, and tore the paper towels apart to make nests. She died slowly, and from what I saw painfully. In one of her last hours, she had a convulsion and bit the crap out of my hand. The rat that bit me was not Alberta, it was the brain tumor, or whatever killed her.
< Uncle Cecil (AKA Uncle Cecil Van Horn)
Uncle Cecil Van Horn was his full name. He was Dink and Squeak's son.
Witty (AKA Whitmann Van Horn): He was big. He didn't start out big, he was small, but he got to be 2 pounds! That's a lot for a rat. His full name was Whitmann Van Horn.
Mr. Sadrat: He was a biter. You couldn't touch him, but I still loved him. You could hold him in the begining, but for some reason he started biting. He almost bit the tip of my finger off once. The scar is still there. Even if he did bite, there was a way he looked at you. I don't know what it was, maybe it was that he was so pretty.
< Dink (AKA Mr. Dink)
He died Sunday, June 29, 2003, at 9 PM. He will be missed. About an hour after he died, my brother-in-law stepped out to visit my sister at work. He came back a few seconds later. He had been pooped on by a bird at 10 PM. We believe Dink pushed that bird to poop on Tim as a show of his sense of humor. As if he were saying "Look guys, no tumor! I'm flying with the birds now".
< Violet-Olivia
The beautiful little baby died on October 9th 2003. As Violet-Olivia lay dying, we turned on this little music box for her, and when she died I brought it along for the burial ceremony. Before I could turn it on, it started playing. I hadn't even started or touched it, and the whole song played! I believe it was Violet-Olivia telling me she was okay and in a better place, being shown around by all our past rats and any other rats that have been hurt, maimed or eaten by snakes. She truly was a special rat, and I'll never have another like her, because all rats are different.
< Pamela-Ann (AKA Pam-Ann, Pammy, and Pamela Ann Anderson)
Pammy died on November 15, 2003. It was probably heart failure caused by lugging that tumor around so much. Not only will we remember Pammy in our hearts, but also by the Pamela-Ann Anderson and Crumpet Toad Memorial.
< Ramona (AKA Mona)
My Mona passed away on November 21st, 2003 at 9:04 PM. She was the talking rat. She actually spoke to us. She would move her lips and mouth insinuating that she was superior to us and could in fact speak. She was my favorite rat, and I am clueless as to what I am going to do without her. She was left with only The Little Fluffy One, her baby, when she died. I love you Mona!
< The Little Fluffy One (AKA TLFO)
The Little Fluffy One died on March 12th, 2004. She was the last female of a certain group of rats whom I loved dearly. TLFO was neurotic from the start, proving this when she leaped from my mother's arms when she first came to us. She'll be remembered always as the bald crotched, almost mother, neurotic, barrel-shaped beauty. May she rest in peace with 9 tiny Agoutards, and 1 Lil' Mona.
< 
Mr. Pickles was mentally retarded because of an injury as a baby. In early 2003 we had lost a lot of rats in a short amount of time. We longed for something to cuddle. So my mom researched, and after a while we picked up Jeckyl and Mr. Pickles from a nice girl named Alexa. As we were standing in the Toys "R" Us parking lot, about to take them home, Alexa says "Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. This one's slightly retarded". That was it. I loved him even more the second I heard that. Pickles was more then a pet to me, he was a friend. He was famous for his amazing cleaning habits, and for the "Jellyroll". He passed away on April 22nd, 2004, at 11:32 PM. Pickles was one-of-a-kind, and I miss him already.
< Whiley
Whiley was a rat owned by Tiffany (http://rats.rollover.at), a friend of mine. She bought him on July 30th, 2003, and she loved him very much. We would instant message about him for hours. He was her first rat, the rat that introduced her to rats. You always have an extra special place for that rat, and I know Tiffany will never forget Whiley. He passed away on July 11th, 2004, of natural causes. Rest in peace, Whiley.
< Master Splinter
We adopted Master Splinter on July 18th, 2004. Him and his brothers and sisters were wild rats, found in a mulch pile as pink babies (Mother had died), and hand raised by a woman and her family. He ran on his wheel a lot, something my other rats would never do. I was never able to hold him or play with him, but I loved him. He died on February 11th, 2005 at 6:25 PM. It was a massive stroke. He will be missed greatly. I just can't believe I'll never hear his rude little bark again.
< Whitey
Whitey was a very sweet and calm rat. It's so hard to believe we only had her for just about 4 months. She was never an alpha, even when she was pregnant, and she was still being bossed around by her best friend and cagemate, Macaroni, up until we seperated them so Whitey could have privacy for the birth. Sadly, Whitey never had her babies. Complications rose, and she gave birth to two stillborns before dying herself sometime between 2am and 3am of April 26th, 2005. It was very peaceful. We miss you, Whitey! Have fun with your brand new babies at the Bridge!
< Jeckyl
Jeckyl was the brother of Mr. Pickles. We got them both in early 2003, and sadly, Mr. Pickles left us in early 2004. Jeckyl lived to be 4 years old. Due to a problem he had with biting other rats, he had to live alone. Dear old Jeckyl was more of a people's rat than a rat's rat, though, and he was just fine by himself. When Jeckyl got older he developed back leg paralysis, common in old male rats, and he also went blind. However, he never lost his amazing appetite, like a lot of rats do in old age. Dear old Jeckyl had excellent health up until about three days before his death on July 26, 2005 (At 7:15pm), when he started breathing rapidly. It wasn't a bad death, and I'm so glad my sweet old man was able to live such a long life and died so peacefully.
< Eddievedder
Eddievedder and his brother, Stone, came to us in September of 2004. Eddievedder was a very large, gentle rat. He fathered two litters of children. He died on January 24, 2006, when his children were only 25 days old. He looked like he went peacefully. Rest in peace, Ed, otherwise known as the 'Gentle Giant'.
< Macaroni
Macaroni came to us on January 1, 2005. She was an amazing rat. She ate like crazy and took naps on my pillow. She was very much like Ramona, but a little more laid back. In her lifetime, she knew two litters of babies (As a nanny, not a mother), and never showed any interest in either of them, aside from stepping on them on the way to the food bowl. She was loved by everyone, humans and rats alike. Macaroni and her sister/friend, Snow, became quite the old spinsters. She loved to be held all the way to the last day of her life, on January 30, 2006. She had been ill for a long time, and she died peacefully.
< Snow
Snow and her friend Pixie were adopted from Dawn on May 7th, 2005. Snow was from the same litter as Whitey, and looked a great deal like her dearly departed sister (They were both PEWs, but I swear, they weren't identical). Snow always seemed to be looking for something. She'd stick her little nose in the air and sniff like crazy, then look around with this worried look on her face. Sometimes I wondered if she saw something I didn't, but then it also could have just been her straining to see (She had especially bad eyesight due to her eyes being pink). She died in late April 2006.
< Feather Dumpling
Feather Dumpling was born December 31st, 2005 and died July 1, 2006 on her six month birthday. She was Pixie's daughter and shared many of her traits; the black patch of fur that looked like a bellybutton, the trademark "I'm adorable" look, the love of stashing food. Feather Dumpling was sweeter and less hyper than Pixie though, most likely due to the fact that she also had Eddievedder's genes. She had only recently stopped looking like a very young rat, and it is a true tragedy that she lost her life so young.
< Heavenly Tuvalu
Heavenly Tuvalu was born 12-31-05 and died 7-4-06. At two days old, we could tell she was very unique. She was the only hooded baby in a litter of black rats. Her mother noticed, too. I'd often find baby Tuvalu in a corner of the cage by herself while the six others were happily nursing away. I guess Pixie thought the stork left that one on mistake. She did love her daughter very much though, and it certainly shows in how heavily she is mourning. Anyway, Tuvalu was the fattest in the litter until they were weaned, when her brothers shot up like crazy. She could often be found attempting to feed on her mom's no-longer-in-service teats, even until just a few days before her death. She shared Pixie's trademark "I'm adorable" look. She loved to stash food. She constantly picked on the younger rats, especially Flower. She displayed an amazing love for her sisters and mother, a love that didn't seem to be as strong for the adopted siblings. She plotted the murder of the household hamster (which she never pulled off, by the way). She aspired to be a fetus (Long story short, I think a couple of my pet store rats came to me pregnant, and I believe in reincarnation.) She loved hammocks. She hated lab blocks. She had two songs, one of which is a real childrens' song and the lyrics almost sound like "I make monkey motions TUVALU." She was a good rat until the end, and we will miss her. Goodbye, cow-spotted beauty.
< Spotty Longtail Senior
Spotty came to us in January 2006. He lived with his life partner, Fancy Melvin Smellbot, for a few months until he became physically abusive. After seperating them, there wasn't a single mean bone in his body. He didn't like to be held, but he loved being talked to and petted. He wasn't your average hooded rat. He was very pretty. His black fur was very black and his eyes were kind. He was a very special rat, because he had a voice. Every now and then a rat will come along that has so much personality that you get a sense of what their voice might be if they had one. Spotty's was high pitched, loud, and always friendly. He had a short fame on a certain voting website with his "Spotty LOVES Xena! She's a warrior princess!" He died on July 28, 2006. Your voice lives on, Spotty.
< Little Memsaab
Little Memsaab was purchased on June 16, 2006 with five other rats. She was extremely small, still had puffy soft fur like a very, very young rat. I was concerned that she shouldn't even have been away from her mother yet. I purchased every rat in the cage, and I suppose I was thinking I'd be a hero and magically save them all if they were in fact too young to be away from their mother. Little Memsaab was jumpy for most of her life. She was friendly, but she had very sharp claws and didn't really like to be held. She was famous for standing in a corner and just looking at me like I was a murderer or something. Her huge eyes had this distrustful look. She stopped doing that as much over time, but it was always amusing when she did it. She was just starting to enjoy being held when she died suddenly on November 27, 2006, the day before my birthday.
< Stone
Stone came to us in September 2004 with his relative, Eddievedder. I didn't realize Stone existed when I was interested in buying Eddievedder, but I couldn't leave him when I saw him. In his early days, his main activities were pouncing and humping Eddievedder. After Eddie died, Stone became an old curmudgeon, living in his fine retirement home. He liked climbing the bars of his cage and grabbing anything that walked by (hair being a favorite). He was polite to other rats, but he didn't have any interest in spending time with them. He was a loner. However, he did take comfort in the company of Flower in the last hours of his life. She mainly just ate his food, but he seemed to appreciate her presence. Stone died around 10:00pm on December 30th, 2006.
< Flower
Flower, along with her five sisters, was adopted from a local Petco on June 16, 2006. The group appeared very young (too young to be away from their mother), and I, for unknown reasons, felt it was my place to take them home. I had recently purchased a large cage, much too large for the four rats living in it, so it all worked out well. Flower started out very skittish. She would screech whenever anyone (person or rat) touched her. We even joked about naming her Pansy. She grew out of this scaredy-rat phase after only three weeks. She became a very friendly, social rat. She loved all of her cagemates, but she had a special friendship with Ratna, who was also very outgoing. Flower and Ratna were the first of their group who were allowed to roam the top of the cage and the hanging basket above it. Flower learned very quickly that she could climb into the basket and easily find treats and fun things to play with. She spent a lot of time in the basket; exploring, climbing, carrying things back and forth, and eating the hamster's food (even though she wasn't allowed to). From then on, the basket was called "Flower's Apartment". Flower aided me in teaching three of her cagemates how to climb into her apartment, and her memory will live on as future generations of rats learn about it. The Butterscotch Beauty died, far before her time, at 5:47pm on February 27, 2007.
< Margarine
When Margarine came to us on June 16, 2006, she was a little bit nippy. She didn't like to be held, and she spent most of her time hiding behind boxes. In the nine months that I had her, she slowly became more social. By the time of her death, she enjoyed being petted and occasionally picked up (but not much.) She preferred the company of less outgoing rats, like Pixie and Beverly. She spent a lot of time lounging in the hammock, and was an excellent model (I don't have one single picture where she looks bad.) She was delighted to spend time with her "cousins", Barbara and Deborah, in the last month of her life. Marge was in charge (inside joke alert) up until March 18, 2007, when she died after a short illness.
< Cheesy
Cheesy was born on December 31, 2005, to Pixie and Eddievedder. He was short and squat. He was always my favorite baby to photograph and play with, because he was very calm and sweet. When he was a toddler, he preferred the company of his mother and the older ladies to that of his siblings, which is why it was surprising when he was the first to stop breastfeeding. As he got older, he became more of a shy, eccentric rat. He was on my mother's shoulder one day when he JUMPED off and into a window. He was found uninjured next to the sill. Needless to say, he was not a shoulder rat. Cheesy, like his mother, disliked carrots. He enjoyed chocolate every once in a while. He had beautiful inky black fur that didn't rust at all. He had a tiny speck of white on his stomach. He had stunning whiskers. Cheesy was always very jealous of his brother's amazing talent for spelling. Some would say that Cheesy had a distinct evil genius feel. On March 19, 2007, I greeted Cheesy at 3pm. He was unusually wild. He was generally a rat who'd rather stay inside the cage, but on this day he climbed on my arm, jumped to my lap, then inched his way up my sleeve. I thought he was predicting some sort of natural disaster, but apparently poor Cheesy was simply predicting his own disaster. He died that same day at about 8:10pm. His brothers were hovering over his body in a heartbreaking display of mourning.
< Pidge
Pidge was born on December 31, 2005, to Pixie and Eddievedder. The little rex rat was the first baby I bonded with. When he was only 4 days old, I looked at him and said "Your name is Pidge." It was a name that was not on my list of hundreds of possibles, and it fit him perfectly. He was a very social rat. When you looked over at his cage, he was almost always on the second level doing his trademark sideways head stare. He loved being held and watching movies. It was a joke in our household that Pidge was a champion speller and the only word he just couldn't handle was "tickles" (his brother's name.) He had the curliest whiskers I'd ever seen. So curly, in fact, that I had to trim some of them so they wouldn't poke him in the eye. Pidge was an amazing rat with an enormous personality. He died on March 19, 2007, just minutes after his brother, Cheesy.
< Mr. Tickles
Mr. Tickles, named after Mr. Pickles, was born on December 31, 2005, to Pixie and Eddievedder. He was a rex rat and looked just like his brother, Pidge. The only difference was that Mr. Tickles had a small white dot on his stomach. He was extremely close to his brothers and enjoyed life in his three story condo. He was very quiet and friendly. He often had small bald patches in his fur due to his rex genes. He died at 9:58pm on March 21, 2007. Preceding him in death were two sisters, Feather Dumpling and Heavenly Tuvalu, and two brothers, Cheesy and Pidge.
< Fancy Melvin Smellbot
Fancy Melvin Smellbot was purchased in January 2006, along with his friend Spotty Longtail Senior. They lived together for a little while, but Spotty was quite agressive, so they had to move into seperate cages. Fancy seemed to like being a lone rat. He enjoyed being talked to, but if you tried to pick him up you'd likely have a chunk taken out of your hand. He was a very large boy, and one of his favorite activities was sitting on top of his anchored running wheel. Despite being a PEW, I always imagined he'd be Isaac Hayes if he'd been a human. Fancy died of a stroke around 3:35pm on May 23, 2007. He was a loyal friend, and he will be missed.
< Pixie
Additional pictures:
Pixie pea fishing
Pixie free roaming
We adopted Pixie, a former feeder bin occupant, from Dawn on May 7th, 2005. She got along great with her new housemates, Snow and Macaroni, also adopted from the lovely Dawn. Pixie was a tiny black rex girl when we got her, but after rusting she became more of a gray with brown (the brown often referred to as "natural red highlights"). She was a very active, outgoing rat. She had a litter of seven babies on December 31st, 2005. No stillborns or later deaths. She was an excellent mother, aside from a pesky little habit she had of dropping the sole hooded baby in a corner and leaving her for dead! I'd place little Heavenly Tuvalu back in the pile, where she'd stay for another few hours before she'd be tossed away again. Pixie had a tail degloving accident less than a month after her babies were born. Part of the tail was amputated, and she was lovingly known as The Stubby Tail from then on. In June of 2007, I noticed an odd little scab near her ear. We had it checked out, and the vet told us it was an inoperable sarcoma. Sadly, it grew quite large quite fast. Pixie died in her sleep in the early hours of August 12th, 2007. She outlived all but two of her children.
< Ratna
Ratna came to us with her five sisters on June 16, 2006. She was one of the first to warm up to me. She was full of spunk, but also very sweet. Of all her cagemates, she was especially close to Flower. They'd climb on top of the cage together, exploring the hanging basket above it. Ratna took a little more time to learn how to hoist herself up there, probably because she was such a large girl :-). When she was just under a year old, she had surgery to remove a large tumor (she was spayed at the same time). She handled it all quite well and recovered swiftly. She lived another five joyous months, dying on the morning of November 13, 2007.
< Ms. Cuddles the Curlytail
Ms. Cuddles the Curlytail was adopted (along with their brother, Master Splinter, and her sister, Sweety) on July 18, 2004. A woman had found a litter of wild rattus rattus in a mulch pile, then taken them on as orphans when she found out a neighbor had killed their mother. The babies were just a few days old, so this must have required an impressive amount of work. As wild rattus rattus, the Curlytail (her most common nickname) was very different from domesticated Norway rats. Not only did she look quite different (shorter and rounder, large mouselike ears and eyes, etc.), she acted rather odd as well. She moved in short, jittery motions. She made an unusual barking sound when she felt threatened. She also had a rather unique tail, which was her namesake. I would assume her tail decided to curl up when she was young because of her love for the wheel, but her siblings ran on wheels as well and none of them had curly tails. Ms. Cuddles the Curlytail lived life like a very young rat up until just a few months before her death, when she finally slowed down a bit. She died on January 20, 2008 at 8:45pm. She is survived by her sister and closest companion, Sweety.
< Minty Bean
Minty Bean was born to Pixie and Eddievedder on December 31st, 2005. There were seven in the litter. Minty was very laid back and gentle, much like his father, Eddievedder. I often credit Eddievedder for having a "gentle giant" gene. At the proper age, Minty moved out of the ladies' cage and into a bachelor pad with his three brothers, Mr. Tickles, Pidge, and Cheesy. They enjoyed good food, quality play time with us humans, and sleeping. They celebrated with treats and crinkly green tissue paper on their 1st birthday. They were a very happy group of rats. Sadly, Minty went through a very traumatic ordeal in March 2007. Within three days, he had lost all three of his brothers. I even thought we were going to lose him, but he pulled through triumphantly. He got healthy and settled into life as a lone rat. It must have been difficult for him, but he seemed like the same old Minty Bean. In December of 2007, after nine months of living alone, Minty got six new roommates. Young boys adopted (claimed, not purchased. These boys were free to a good home) from Petco. He seemed overjoyed to have rat friends again. He even made nests for them. After a short illness (one that I honestly thought he was almost through; much like when his brothers died), Minty died peacefully on January 27, 2007, just a few days short of his 25-month birthday. He is survived by his six new roommates and his sister, Violet-Amelia Cornelia.
< Sweety
Sweety was adopted on July 18th, 2004 (along with her brother and sister). She was a wild rattus rattus, orphaned by a man with a shovel, raised by a woman who found her in a mulch pile. She was a very unique rat. She was practically attached to Ms. Cuddles the Curlytail's (her sister) hip. They spent all their time together. It almost felt like they were a two-member clique and no one else was invited. Sweety was normal when we first got her, but she soon turned into a non-social rat. That's not the right word, actually. She liked being talked to very much, but you didn't try to pet her or hold her if you wanted to keep your hand. Sweety experienced many things in her lifetime, including a cross country move in a U-Haul. She enjoyed cherry tomatoes, cheese, and yogurt drops. Sweety's sister died on January 20th, 2008, and she followed suit soon after, as was expected. She died on January 27th, 2008. Her cage sits empty to my right, and it seems very wrong.
< Louise Brooks
We got Louise Brooks and her five sisters on June 16th, 2006. She was the neurotic one. For the first few weeks we had her, she hid behind sleeping boxes and never looked at anyone. She grew up and became a very sweet rat. She absolutely loved pea fishing. She was extremely photogenic, didn't make any sudden movements that would mess up a picture. She was a lovely rat. She had jet black fur (which rusted to brown in her old age) and huge bugging eyes. She was always petite. She had a heart shaped white spot on her stomach. She had a thing about humping Pixie, her older cagemate, when she was young. When Pixie died, she started humping Pixie's daughter, Violet-Amelia Cornelia. It was only that family line she was interested in, oddly enough. She was mostly known as Lou, Lulu, Loony, or Louis. Rarely was she called by her full name. In the last few months of her life, she was really showing her age. Some rats can live to be 3 and you'd think they were the same age as their 6-month-old cagemate. Lou wasn't one of those rats. In the end, she spent most of her time sleeping in a rat pile. Lou died sometime on June 5th, 2008. It happened on the same day as her much younger friend, Barb. Despite Lou's old age, it was very unexpected. She looked quite peaceful.
< Barb
We got Barb (and her sister, Deb) on March 3, 2007. She was small and cheeky. She liked wrestling (with other rats or my hand) and stashing food. She disliked pea fishing. The cold water scared her. Barb had an unusually small head, but didn't display any problems that could have been associated with it. She loved my cat, Orange. She had a stroke and then died a few days later, on June 5th, 2008. Her cagemate, Louise Brooks, died on the same day.
