Portrait of young Slugo rat as an older rat

It is very, very hard for me to think of Slugo rat as not the little boy rat I found hidden away in a cage, who climbed up my shoulder and chatter at me and who I lamented not getting right away so went back to get him the next day... But Slugo rat is no longer a little boy rat and is showing the signs of being an older boy rat.

Another mouse parade

Ethel mouse and Abigail mouse are not too sure about taking pictures.


"We would rather snuggle..."


"It's climb over the watch time!"


Abigail mouse settles in for a snuggle.


Ricky mouse is not too sure about picture time...

Kudos for Caring

RATS may not be everyone's favourite animal, but firefighters thought highly enough of one to save it from a house fire in Pocatello, Idaho this week.

Firefighters trying to put out a huge fire at an apartment in the southeastern Idaho town were amazed to see a live rat huddled in a charred cage, the AHN website reported.

After being rescued, Halo the rat received oxygen with a special cone-shaped animal resuscitation mask.

Firefighter Kirby Jonas, who rescued Halo, said he was pretty sure anything in the cage could not have survived the flames.

"If I were betting money, I would have put down $10,000 that anything in that cage was dead," Mr Jonas told the Idaho State Journal.

Halo was not the only lucky one rescued from blaze. Firefighters also rescued four of five cats in the apartment.

No one was home at the time of the fire, which officials blamed on an electrical fault.

Rat Life: A Documentary

Thanks to a post on the Ratties Livejournal community, I discovered a fascinating documentary that is available for viewing online. You can also buy the documentary on DVD at the same site. Some question why the scientists did what they did, and the morality of it, as well as what good did it do, i.e., what did they learn. I am not sure myself what their goals were, but what I've seen so far is absolutely fascinating - that is, to see what a domestic rat does when faced with a more natural environment.

Please note that the rats were not entirely in the wild, but rather in a controlled (to a certain extent) enclosure...

Chaucer rat gets no respect...

Chaucer rat caught in a private moment...


Chaucer rat giving me the eye after interrupting his private moment...

Rat Life

Rat Life

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Mouseman

"...the famous mouse symbol, found on every item crafted by Robert Thompson has an uncertain history. The story told by Robert Thompson himself is that one of his craftsmen remarked that they “We all as poor as church mice” Whereupon Robert carved a mouse on the church screen he was working on. That particular mouse has never been found but it has continued as a trade mark of quality and dedication to craftsman ever since."

Duck Crossing

It was a mother and her brood of ducklings, much like those in the photo at the left, that we came across enroute to my medical appointment two days ago. We were driving down a long, tree-lined one way, talking and listening to the radio, when our eyes realized what we were bearing down upon; we slammed on the brakes in the nick of time as the group skittered the last of their way across a busy three-lane! Fate was kind to the ducks as well as us - no rear-end collision! As we passed in what felt like slow-motion, we both took a quick glance to make sure they were alright, and we swear the mother looked around with a concerned expression as if to check if everyone was there. This was in the middle of a city - I'm still not sure what the allure of the area would be for a mother duck, but who knows?!

Chernobyl Area Becomes Wildlife Haven

"In the Journal of Mammology in 1996, Baker and his colleagues reported that the disaster had not reduced either the diversity or abundance of a dozen species of rodents - including mice, shrews, rats and weasels - near the Chernobyl plant."

Celebration of a Life

After reading this, you'll feel like you knew him...