August 31, 2003
Introducing...our rat family
RIZZO
Rizzo was the rat the Humane Society volunteer thrust into my hands at adoption day. She was an adventuresome girl, exploring where ever she could. She loved her straw nesting ball and tormenting Krycek, and was active despite mammary tumors until the last days of her life. She passed away in January 2003.
KRYCEK
Krycek was Rizzo's sister. She was much less outgoing and a bit aggressive...the two ended up in separate cages when their fighting resulted in bloodshed...but with enough yogies and peanuts she came around. She built spectacular nests and kept a beautiful cage, which she guarded from Rizzo. Numerous tumors caught up to her and she passed away in December 2002.
PINKY
The first on the next rat generation, Pinky is a double rex with no fear of anything. As a baby she frequently crawled along the underside of the cage top like Spiderman, and outside the cage she made dramatic leaps across the room. Her sheer mass has made her give up some stunts, but she is still the most outgoing and curious of the rats.
LEATHER
Leather is more lady-like. Nesting is her specialty...she will quickly reduce any paper or cloth in the cage to shreds to hide the food dish or line the platforms of the cage. As a baby she suffered from seizures, a condition she mercifully outgrew.
CINNAMON SCHWARTZ
Cinnamon Schwartz is a beautiful berkshire with a massive appetite. Her cagemates will stash food, play with food, forget food if distracted, but Schwartz is motivated primarily by eating and sleeping. Unless you have a treat to tempt her, she is the shyest of the girls.
CURLY
Curly was part of the third rat wave. He and Bob were research rats from the behavioral studies classes at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Curly is Pinky's soulmate; he is an active old man with no fear of anything except Bob. He lives with the three girls, a situation that seems to agree with him very much.
BOB
Bob is my grumpy old man. When he lived with Curly, he'd hiss and bare his teeth at his rambunctious roommate. When age started catching up, Bob got his own one-level cage so it would be easier for him to move around without losing his balance on ramps or having to drag his failing back legs. Now he has a stuffed pig to cuddle and a fleece hat where he eats his Toasties in peace.
ME
Not a rat, but here I am being used as a rat jungle gym. I go by the screen name "Abita" on Rat Palace, although Abita is actually the dog's name. The girls, Bob, and Curly, are "my" rats in the sense that their vet bills are in my name.
ABITA
The real Abita, our old beagle. She is rather jealous of the rats (or of the attention that they get when by rights all attention should be paid to her), but has shown only curiosity toward them. That earned her a bloody nose once when she decided to sniff too close to the boys' cage.
KONO
It's my turn to introduce my boys, the Rink Rats: Kono is the Alpha of the cage. Fitting, since he was named for Steve Konowalchuck, captain of the Washington Capitals. As Alpha, his job is to get first choice at most food offered in the cage, and to beat up the other boys when they challenge his Alpha-ness. As a youngster, his favorite game was "Stash the Same Lab Block Over and Over." Kono is Leather and Metro's brother.
METRO
This is Metro, and you can see how much he and Kono look alike. Truth be told, I'm not 100% sure this isn't Kono. I'm lucky in that there's an easy way to tell the difference between the two of them: Metro has a small black patch right on his rump, while Kono doesn't (you can't see his rump in this pic, but Metro's white blaze is also narrower then Kono's, which you can see in the picture). I know of other people who have to flip their rats upside down to tell the difference.
OLIE
Olie is Calle and Cinammon Schwartz's brother. He is the biggest of the rats; while all of the boys are overweight, Olie, at least, looks big, rather than fat. It's the difference between the Fat Man at the circus, and an NFL offensive lineman. When he and Metro were about three months old, constant fighting between the two of them forced me to neuter all of the boys so they could live together.
CALLE
Calle is The Rat Who Would be Alpha, Kono's constant threat to his Alpha-ness. He was actually the smallest of my boys; his appetite, however, has now made him my fattest. Combine his girth with his constant smile, and he seems to be a jolly little rat.
WITTER
Witter is an alone rat, and was adopted in May when he was abandoned at the vet's office. He was diagnosed with mites (at the same time we were treating our rats for lice); his previous owners didn't want the expense and hassle of treating for mites and told Dr. G to put him to sleep! Dr. G instead called us, explained the situation, and asked if we would like him. After not discussing it for about a half-second, I said "Yes!" and we flew over to the office. Witter is a very sweet, very loving rat, who greets me with hand licks when I open his cage door. However, he does not get along with the other boys, and is caged by himself.
THE OTHER ME
Here I am, with Pinky the Rat crawling down my arm. I go by the screen name "Publius" on Rat Palace and the RFC Forums. I also have two guinea pigs, Harley and Teddy (and I should note I adopted Harley the same day Abita adopted Rizzo & Krycek). The Rink Rats are mine in that I pay their vet bills.