As anyone who has shared living quarters with any animal
knows, each pet usually has his or her own personality. With the sharp eyed
assistance of my wife (and the odd banana chip bribe!), we have attempted to
capture the essence of the little guys and gals.
As our list of pets has grown, I've found it necessary to split some of my personal rat pictures
from other rat-related pages. For no other apparent reason, here's our rodent roster, most
of whom you will see in the following pages:
Robin "Ratnick":
Our first rat, and the only female we've had. She was a rescue from the school where
Marilyn teaches, and she was a rather fun, though expensive, rat. Four tumor surgeries
kept her going to almost the age of three, but, finally one morning, she looked at us and
said it was time for her to move on to the land of eternal peanut butter.
Shadow "the Rat Boy"
and Blackjack: Two littermates, also retired school pets. Blackjack came to us
with some serious respiratory problems that he was never able to overcome. Shortly after
he came home, we had to euthanize him, as the vet felt that his respiratory problems
(probably mycoplasmosis, as we now know about) had gotten almost to the point of
pneumonia. Shadow also had some breathing problems, but he responded well to the
medication, and was grew to a rather ripe old rattie age. I think the aerobic exercise he
got climbing the stairs of our condo helped!
Rosie and Houdini: These
were the two hamster brothers we retired from school (see a pattern here?) Houdini loved
to escape his school cage, hence the name. As hamsters go, I guess they were okay.
However, we had to keep them in the kitchen so the squeaking of the wheels wouldn't keep
us up all night!
Ricky "Ratbone":
We picked out Ricky at a rat show, or should I say that he picked US out. He was an
English Blue Satin, and I wanted to name him "Basil Ratbone." (See my "Rats
on TV" page for the part of the reason). Marilyn liked Ricky, and I gave in, more or
less. I always called him by his nickname "Ratbone". Ricky was, by far, the
lickiest, most affectionate rat we've had to date. He developed some intestinal problems
at about 15 months, and died at the youngest age (18 months) of all our brood. Ah, the
good die young, I guess.
Joey "Da Rat":
Formally, his name was Joe Cool. He was named for the way that he curled up in my jacket at
a BARMCA meeting one night and slept there for about 90 minutes while I walked around the
meeting, yakking, etc. Didn't bother him. Joey passed on in July, 1999 at 2 years and 7 months.
Reese and Zin: More
formally, "Grey Reisling" (a blue Berkshire) and "White Zinfandel"
(very light beige, almost pinkish in color). Our newest additions, two littermates we got
at the local pet shop. Zinny is probably the most aggressive rat we've had, and
consistently tried to pick fights with Joey ever since he was a pup. Reese left us in
September, 1999, and Zinny almost made it to 2000, but not quite.
Remy and Jack: In keeping with the boozy theme, we present our newest members, "Remy Martin" and "Jack Daniel". Again, two littermates we got at a pet shop nearby, they were Marilyn's "surprise" gift about a week after Zinny died. Based on information from the pet shop, we guessed that they were born sometime in early October, 1999. Unfortunately, Remy headed for the land of eternal peanut butter on May 20, 2001. Jack passed on in December, 2001.
Mack, Ari and Lambchop: In October, 2001, we attended a rat party in Davis. Two things came from that party. First, the party was the subject of a segment on "Evening" magazine, which showed locally in SF. I was interviewed at the show, and managed to gross out Malu Nubla (the show's hostess) with my description of how Robin used to clean my teeth for me.
Secondly, we adopted two littermates and a third non-related rat. Lambchop's name came almost immediately. As a juvenile, his fur was as kinky as anyone had ever remembered, and looked like a little lamb. Mack, the unrelated rat, got his name from his habit of bowling over his cagemates (and a geriatric Jack) like he was a Mack truck.
Ari's name is a story in itself. Usually, an animal will show personality or physical traits that lead you to a name. Or, in the case of Remy & Jack, a pre-defined sequence comes to the forefront. However, with Lambchop's brother, nothing struck us. He was a good little guy, all snuggly and happy, but nothing stuck out. Finally, I got to calling him "RWAN", which stood for "Rat Without A Name". My wife decided that the name was silly, but "Ari" for short seemed to work. Hence, Ari it was!
Mack was the first of this crew to go. One night, I noticed that he was moving quite strangely, and had clamped onto his blanket and wouldn't (or couldn't) let go. After a day or two of this, it was off to the vet, where she immediately concluded that it was most likely a brain tumor. As much of a stinker as Mack was, I think his illness and euthanizing hit my wife as hard as any lost rat ever had.
Lambchop was always kinda thin and wheezy, but he managed to hang on for a couple years before he died late one night in late 2003. Ari, however, managed to be our longest-lived rat. He was going strong as he hit the three-year mark, much to our surprise. However, within the next three or four months, he began the downhill slide of old age, and he passed away in March, 2005, at what we believed to be the ripe old age of 3 1/2 years old.
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