newsworthy rats

Saturday, August 1, 2009 |
As you may know, I have a pet rat. No, no, stop with the jokes right there. The weirded-out look is fine, ‘cause I get that in person a lot. There are only two real reactions: the ‘oh my gosh, this person seemed normal but just turned really crazy’ one, or the ‘oh yeah! we had a rat when I was a kid. aren’t they great?’ option. I leave you to figure out the majority side.

But in all seriousness, Melli is curious and cute, and I love her. This despite aspersions cast by friends about her cleanliness and ability to spread The Plague. With a cross-country move looming, I started thinking about how to bring her with me. My mother at first told me I should give her up (I fervently disagreed), and then later acquiesced while saying, “Well, she may not live through the journey.” It’s true. WE may not live through the journey, either. But so far the plan is to make Melli a traveling rat. Maybe I should write my road experiences from her perspective…hmm…

These same friends who look askance at my pet often forward articles on rat experiments (weird peace offerings?). The latest of these comes from Wired.com, and tells how blue dye can heal spine injuries. Check out the hilarious photo!

T/F: I should attempt to dye Melli blue.

And to round out the rat news, I’ve just heard that they’re making a new film version of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh. The first version, animated classic The Secret of NIMH, scared the heck out of me. Here’s hoping the new one isn’t a horror flick…

8 comments:

Ryan said...

The Secret of NIMH is one of my favorite movies

Lisa said...

We had guinea pigs and I guess their not that far from rats, but I still can't get used to the idea of rats as pets.

Mandy said...

Melli looks like a sweetie. :)

yiqin; said...

OMG I am really scared of them =x

She said...

Dying your rat blue sounds like a fabulous idea. Perhaps polka dots would work- - a la The Royal Tenenbaums.

Unknown said...

I'm in the "I used to have a pet rat!" category. We used to have several, actually, all squishy, sweet boys named after types of tea who would come when they were called and whose favourite activity was hanging out in their hammocks above our desks. They were awesome, awesome pets. I am terribly allergic to them but I'd totally have them again, I'd just have to wear gloves and a turtleneck when handling. :)

Rebecca, A Clothes Horse said...

Nimh used to be my FAVORITE! Also, totally dye Melli blue. Kool-aid apparently works wonders...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, rats aren't that far from hamsters, which we had. When we moved, each of our cage bound animals, at that time a hamster, which has since died, and a gecko, which is still alive, road in their cages on someone's lap. Granted it was just across town.

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