Thursday, August 24, 2006
Death of a Trash Rat
I found a baby rat yesterday. Or rather, my dog found it. It can be difficult to tell a baby rat from a mouse, but I'm fairly certain this was a rat. It was a bit too large, and the ears too small in proportion, to be a mouse. +
It was dead. Small, defenseless, blank eyes staring, laying on its side in the middle of the courtyard. I don't know how it died. Maybe an animal got it. Maybe it was poisoned. It looked unharmed. So tiny. So still. I felt a wave of sadness.
What to do with a dead wild rat? I've never been fond of burying animals in the backyard. (I saw Pet Semetary one too many times as a child). Whenever a pet dies, I always have them cremated. I couldn't exactly take a random wild animal to the vet to be cremated. At a loss, but unwilling to just leave the rat there, I scooped him up in a piece of newspaper, folded it over, and placed him in the trash can. Trash Rat in life, Trash Rat in death.
I went inside.
A bit later, I was leaving my apartment and happened to glance out the window toward the courtyard. The trash nook was quite visible. Two beady black eyes stared at me, a tiny nose twitched. It was the baby rat, alive as day, gazing at me with cheeky impudence. Then he ducked down into the trash can.
Could it be? Had the little rat been playing possum? Was he really alive? I rushed out to the trash nook and fetched the newspaper out of the trash. To my dissapointment, the little rat was there, dead as ever.
The wave of sadness hit me again, but then it lifted as I realized, not only do I have one Trash Rat-- I have a family. And the little guys are cute as a button. Granted, most people would see that as a very bad thing. Myself, I find it exciting.
+Can you tell rats and mice apart? Take the quiz: http://www.ratbehavior.org/QuizRatOrMouse.htm
Comments:Hello. Followed your link from the CafePress blog.
"...not only do I have one Trash Rat-- I have a family. And the little guys are cute as a button. Granted, most people would see that as a very bad thing. Myself, I find it exciting."
I so know what you mean. Of course, my thing was mice, not rats when I was a kid. I lived on a boat in Long Beach when I was about 9...and boy who also lived in the same marina gave me two mice that had been his (he bought them for a "birthday present" for his dad but his dad did not agree...so he gave them to me). They had babies and soon we had a 3 story homemade cage and a LOT of mice that we would carry around with us on our adventures and make little mazes and mousehouse out for with toilet-paper rolls and other odd stuff.
But there were also rats in our marina. Our boat was right next to the pilings (rock pier) and there were lots of rats that lived among the rocks. HUGE rats...some cat size! They both scared and facinated me (mostly I was a bit intimidated by their size, and that they were wild and might bite). But I loved to watch them and would even try to talk to them like I talked to my mice in little clicks. (They always did these little clicking noises in my ear when they rode on my sholder. Is that the same with rats? Mice only really squeek when they are hurt or mad or scared, but they "talk" in these little clicks that sound like "tik-tik-chu-chu" and such, and you could only hear them do it if they were close.
So, your site has brought back a ton of memories! Makes me want to go out and get another mouse--but I can't afford the $300 deposit our apartment requires. Ug. I'm feeling mouse-sick.
"(They always did these little clicking noises in my ear when they rode on my sholder. Is that the same with rats? Mice only really squeek when they are hurt or mad or scared, but they "talk" in these little clicks that sound like "tik-tik-chu-chu" and such, and you could only hear them do it if they were close."Post a Comment
Oh yeah, rats are talkers. They do the clicking, chattering noise-- in fact, it's called bruxing, and it's usually regarded as a sign that they're content.
Here is a wonderful article on rat vocalization that even includes sound clips:
http://www.ratbehavior.org/norway_rat_vocalizations.htm
And I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. Maybe it can serve as your rodent substitute.
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