Fairy Rat Mothers and Assorted Strange Stuff

Fairy Rat Mothers and Assorted Strange Stuff

The boys finally met their Fairy Rat Mother Beffy this summer. She came back from her mission trip to India and came over to schmooze with the wee fellows. They aren't so wee any more.

Helloooo; I'm your Aunt Beffy!

      One of our friends always refers to our male adoramites as 'Beavers' because of their size. Other male friends become insecure when they note the size and proportion of the tackle carted about by boy ratties. They are mucho macho men for certain.

These macho dudes are now fully grown and their personalities have become more pronounced. Mortimer is shy and likes to sit quietly in the lap while being gently stroked and massaged. He grinds his teeth and boggles his eyes in happiness and his little body almost quivers with pleasure. In spite of being the shy one around people, he is definitely the top dog (sic) in the mousehouse. 

Do I know you?

Kneel before your emperor.

 Raoul, in spite of his larger size is second in command to Mortimer. Raoul is NOT the slightest bit shy and is afraid of nothing to the point that we watch him very carefully. He could take it into his fevered ratty brain to make a flying leap off of the play table and straight into the unknown.

I wonder where this goes?

He is also known as 'the stomach' because he will eat anything and lots of it. Mortimer is more discerning and likes to thoroughly investigate any new food. Of course this means we have to feed them separately otherwise Raoul will snarf his food down then sidle over to sample his brother's meal. Mort will leave and let him have at it. For awhile I worried about Mort and whether or not he was gaining weight until I witnessed the day Mort decided he wanted his dinner and kept hip-checking Raoul out of the way.

Hmmm, tastes like chicken.

Today they got a nice visit from Katie who happens to be a sister of their Aunt Beffy. She wanted to come and give them some love before she leaves for her third year of university. These girls are such a sunny spot in my world. 

Katie and admirer

 They have a gorgeous sister Chrissy too who will be home for one more school year before she enters the big bad world out there.

Chrissy is dancing, or acting, or looking innocent.

In the meantime, I will hold down the adoramite station and keep ratty central open for business!

After all, Fairy Rat Mothers, and Kate-O's, and Crunchies all have to come back some time or another and there must be adoramites.  Oh yes, there must.

The Animals That Live In Our Hearts Part 2

This is Piper, a purebred Scottish Terrier - proper name is Aberdeen Terrier.  You will remember the black dog from Black & White whiskey, or the thick-brogued, fellow from "Lady and the Tramp".  


These dogs have held a long spot in the hearts of my family.  My paternal grandmother had a scotty, and my father spent a great deal of time with his sergeant-major's Jock during the second world war.  My sister now has her second scotty.


Us?  Well, after our beloved Moo died, we were dog-less for over a year and had no wish to look for another.  We would half-halfheartedly discuss another dog, but then let the conversation die.  It seemed that we would just not bother again.


Then, one day out of the blue, our friend Greg called with a woeful story of a little dog that needed a home because her family could no longer care for her.  Mum was a school principal and dad had Alzeimer's.  The care giver had no time to give the dog, a five year old female scotty.  Without missing a beat I agreed to take her, then went to wake up my husband who had just come off of a midnight shift to tell him we were about to become dog people again.


That evening Greg, his wife and daughter, brought Piper to us.  I fell in love instantly as is my wont, and Piper moved into our lives.  She had been bred of champion stock in France, and shipped here to a breeder who showed her and put a lot of championship points on her.  Piper was then bred twice and had two litters of pups who went on to become prize winners and calendar dogs.  After her usefullness as a money-maker was completed, she was sold as a pet to the aforementioned couple.


Now she was ours.  Piper was a great little dog.  She was so quiet we couldn't quite believe it.  She hardly ever made a sound which is grand for apartment folks.  She adjusted to us very quickly and developed a huge crush on Studly as dogs do, although she and I maintained an easy friendship as well.


Piper was not only quiet, she was never in a hurry.  Studly got no exercise whatsoever when walking her as her methods consisted of taking a couple of little steps then sniffing the bejarpurs out of whatever was on the ground.  It could take an hour to go around the block.  I insisted she walk to heel but Studly let her make all the decisions.  His patience with her was endless.


This was an extremely popular dog in our building.  There is a Bingo game each Monday evening and the Bingo players are very serious about it all, but they would call a break to visit with Piper if she walked past the common room.  Ditto for card nights.  Piper would stroll into the lounge as if she owned it and go to each person and say her version of 'hello'.

Watching her walk away was a surefire medicine to make you smile.  Those funny little hairy legs and that foursquare body were guaranteed to make the worst curmudgeon grin and bend over to stroke her head.  Our friend Chuck considered her to be his 'other' dog. Piper could charm the angels themselves I'm sure.


In Pipers sixth year with us she developed lumps under her chin, and when we took her to the vet he found a big mass in her abdomen.  The verdict was grim.  Cancer had invaded and it was aggressive and fast-growing.  She had stopped wanting to eat or walk and that morning she had laid herself down outside, an act so unlike her that it frightened us.


We had to make the hard decision to give her an easy death before the illness robbed her of all quality of life.  We kissed her and thanked her for her love and companionship.  Studly told her not to worry, that  'Daddy will make it all better'.  Then, while we held her in our arms and kissed her head, the vet helped her gently slip away.


We are still in the mourning phase of this goodbye and as of right this minute, our plan is to not have another dog, but to give ourselves some time of freedom from schedules and so forth.  Maybe what we are really doing is giving ourselves some vacation from heartbreak.


Of course, just this week we had our dear friend's precious boy Kagnay with us for a few days while he was away.  It was awfully nice to have this little bundle of affection around and we willingly enslaved ourselves for him.  I think we are basket cases when it comes to animals.  Kagnay and Piper were good pals so it kind of brought her back for a bit too.


Time will tell as it always does.  Never say never is an old chestnut but I have lived long enough to realize its truth.  We will see.

This is Kagnay the miniature pinscher.  How adorable is he?

The New Babies

Raoul and Mortimer, four weeks old

You may have noticed that the photo for this blog is of a pet rat.  He was the loveliest fellow and his name was Horatio.  Big H was a sweet, loving, smart, clean, loyal little guy and we dearly loved him.  His death from cancer was a sad time.


Life however, is pernicious.  It insists on flourishing no matter our devastation.  Today, to prove the point, our daughter purchased two baby boy ratties and we installed them in the rat mansion.  This is a retro-fitted bird cage that had been originally constructed for a parrot or a couple of cockatiels.  It is a hammered pewter beauty that now has four levels, a hammock, nesting boxes, food bins, water bottle, toys, bedding, perches, and a ladder.  There are numerous other activities and toys in the cupboard to rotate throughout the coming months.  They shouldn't find themselves getting bored.


The new lads entered carefully, noses in constant motion, and little bodies poised for action.  After some sniffing about, they found food, and took some to a nest box.  We had put the box they arrived in inside the cage as well so that there would be something familiar for them.

We watched them all evening as they became accustomed to their new digs, and as they began their orientation into our family.  At bed time I put my old socks that had been worn for a few hours in the cage with them so that my scent would accompany their dreams.  This will help with the bonding process and is well worth the sacrifice of some old footwear!


Eventually they will spend a lot of their time on my shoulders or in my lap.  Domestic fancy rats are amazing pets; clean like cats and they bond like dogs.  Their only flaw is their short lifespans.  

Japanese ink drawing of rats

One lad is charcoal grey with a dark tail and white tummy.  His name is Mortimer.  The other is a lovely champagne hooded rat with a pretty white splotch on his head.  His name is Raoul.  Don't ask why the names.  They just seemed to fit.

Chances are that these two will feature in future posts along with some photos once I get them off the camera and onto the computer.


This is going to be a grand adventure.  It is so good to have critters in the home again.

Welcome to our world Raoul and Mortimer.  May your days be long in the land.


Thank you Rachel.  It is so good to feel the joy of pets again.