Rats From Infested House Offered Up For Adoption As Pets

[Miranda]

April 25, 2008

ROCHESTER, Wash. - Rats from a heavily infested house here are being trapped to be offered for adoption as pets.

After being alerted by neighbors, Thurston County animal control officials served a search warrant on April 9 at the residence of Michele Diller, 64. They found that pet rats had ruined the house, chewing through walls, cupboards, drawers and wires, soaking carpets with urine and covering floors with feces. The officials removed a cat, four severely malnourished snakes, five mice and two rats.

Since then, county health officials have said the house will be condemned and Diller has moved to an apartment in neighboring Lewis County to await assisted-living housing.

Poisoned traps were set for a time to eliminate the rats, apparently the offspring of a few Diller purchased as food for the snakes, and more than 100 dead rats have been removed, said Hilary Price of RatsPacNW in Seattle.

Poison was used before her volunteer group got involved, and the rest of the rats are being trapped live to be offered for adoption, said Price, the sister of former Seattle Mariners pitching coach Bryan Price.

Rodent enthusiasts around the state constitute "a huge rat community," Price said.

As of Thursday the group had captured 29 live rats, including 10 babies.

"They're very smart, they're very clean, they can do tricks," Price said. "They're like little miniature dogs."

Before agreeing to move, Diller was saying, `You can't hurt them, they're my friends,'" said Susanne Beauregard, director of Animal Services.

The rats could not survive in the wild because Diller fed them cat food, so they have no scavenging skills, and poor eyesight would also make them easy prey, Price said.

Diller has been promised her cat, Cheyenne, will be returned once she has long-term accommodations, which could happen as early as May 1, Beauregard said. Two snakes have been adopted by new owners and two red-tailed boa constrictors are recovering under veterinary care.

Information from: The Olympian, http://www.theolympian.com

[Destroit]

"They're very smart, they're very clean, they can do tricks," Price said. "They're like little miniature dogs."

Quoted for truth

I have one rat-baby right now, his name is Mugen.

Basically, my best friend Lisa has an older brother that has always been extremely self-centered and irresponsible. His girlfriend got him the rat when the rat was a baby, then she broke up with him.

Rats are VERY social animals, they're pack animals and actually need to live in a structured environment like dogs do (but seem to be slightly more intelligent than most dogs AND way cuter). So what did he do? Locked the rat in a small aquarium and left him in his basement for the first four months of his life. THEN called me saying, "hey, you're good with rats, they're like your specialty. Well, if you don't get this rat I'm putting him outside."

It was winter at the time, I couldn't live with myself knowing he was going to do this because domesticated rats are MUCH different then wild rats, as this article points out. He simply would have been scared, hungry, and alone, most likely would have either froze to death or been eaten.

I got him in December, had to clean out my deceased rats' cage (my poor little Schmoogle and Kaboogle...I almost had to go through grief counseling when my little boys went because I was so attatched I still think about them all the time). I didn't want the rat, I was going to make sure he got a good home. I couldn't handle the thought of having another rat getting attached and having him die on me.

BUT...I got attached :blush:

So I got him and he's a FEISTY FUCKER. He was wary of ANYTHING that moved originally, nipped at finger when he got nervous, never wanted to be held (is slighly emotionally disturbed from being isolated the first four critical months of his life), and hates the cats (which is good).

Here I am, he's gotta be 8 months old by now, and he's almost to the point where he's shoulder-trained (usually that happens around 4 months) and he has free reign of the house. Literally, he has the ENTIRE first floor to just run around on, usually he takes really long naps behind the piano, recycling bin, or entertainment center. I always just have to make sure that there's no potentially poisonous substances laying about. I also have to tell guests to constantly watch where they walk if they're on the middle floor.

We have two cats and he LOVES to chase them around. They're scared out of their minds of him and he knows it! It's so fun to watch the two cats try to chase him around all day and having the rat win EVERY time. It's pathetic really, I almost want to tape it and sent it in to America's Funniest Animals or something.

I named him Mugen after the main character in the anime series, Samurai Champloo. In the first episode of the series, the character Mugen is to be put to death, and a girl named Fuu comes by and saves him. I named him Mugen because not only is he a CRAZY and unpredictable little fucker...he got a second chance at life .

Oh...where was I going with all this? Man...I ramble so much, at least I make paragraph breaks now instead of huge walls of text, right? That's good at least.

I know where I was going...I'm glad that instead of thinking "Ewww...rats, they're pests" and having them all exterminated, that they realize there's rat fans like me (my two favorite animals are rats and possums, I wanna own a possum someday, they're totally awesome too) and that they're trying to house the little rat babies instead of ending their lives.

They're VERY smart animals, you would be astonished at what they can figure out. I love to sit there all day in my livingroom and watch little Mugen run around and try to figure out little plans on how to get up on top of things.

They're like sassy little fur-people who love to vogue for cameras and eat all of your leftovers, especially pizza.