Ratablog

Rufus' story

The web site is behaving for the moment, so I'll try to get this typed up.

A few months ago I did my ex-husband's taxes. (He's got a phobia about the IRS and I have the soul of an accountant, so I still help him out with this every year.) In conversation he said "My brother has a rat."

Often when people say things like that to me, they follow up with a horrible story about traps and exterminators, so I said "I don't want to hear how he's getting rid of it."

My ex quickly clarified that it was a pet rat that the kids had found in their yard last fall...but the kids were no longer as impressed by the novelty of the rat, and my ex-BIL wouldn't mind finding the rat a nice new home. Of course I said sure, we'd take him.

They warned me that Rufus squeals every time you pick him up, but other than that, he was reported to be healthy and friendly. When they found him back in October he was about half his current size, so I'm estimating he's probably about 10 months old. He's missing the tip of his tail (it was still scabbed over when they found him) and he does indeed squeal when you pick him up, but he's very mellow, socialized to people, and curious about the other rats.

I'd guessed that he was a snake food escapee, although my ex-BIL did take him to a vet who suggested he might have been a lab rat liberated from a school. Either way, he found himself a good home with my ex's family, and hopefully now he'll be even happier here in the company of other spoiled rats.

Posted by Abita at May 2, 2006 05:09 PM