RatPalace.com - Pet Rat Care and Discussion

Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:52 am

Chance, the orphaned wild mouse, is doing well. She is now in a group with 5 friends and weighs 20 grams. I think that is about as big as she will get, she is tiny, about the size of an eight week old mouse. She has settled down alot and is easy to handle now.

Tinker, her brother, has become a bit of a problem. He is very bold and totally fearless. He started jumping onto my hand when I put it in with him, from about 6 inches away, which I didn't like. If I put food or water in he would jump onto my hand and run up my arm. Then one day when I wanted him off my arm again he bit - really hard. The next day he did the same thing again, a break the skin lots of bleeding bite. Now I am very wary of Tinker and haven't let him go onto my hand again. He stands on his hind legs when he sees me with that "pick me up" look, but I just can't keep getting bitten, so instead quickly give him a seed. I feel like a bad mother not letting him run on my arm like he wants to....

Rupert, the old mouse who's friend died - he was looking really, really old and not interested in anything much. He would come out and sit on my lap while I watched TV and I would rub his back but he was lethargic. Then one of the other old boys in a pair died which left one male alone so I put him in with Rupert. Well, you should see Rupert, he is a new mouse! He has a new lease on life now that he has someone to boss around! He looks six months younger.

Finally, the three girls that were left to die at the child care centre, none of them were pregnant, thank goodness. You can be lucky some times.

Sorry this is such a long post, lots happens around here!

Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:58 am

So good to hear that Chance has a new group of friends to hang around with, and that Rupert has gained a new lease of life - anyone who ever says rodents have no feelings should just see how unhappy they can get on their own or when a cagemate dies! Also, great news that the 3 girls weren't pregnant and are doing ok.

Sorry to hear that Tinker is being a bit troublesome. Sad

I kind of hoped, with that name, he'd be more the mischievous type. Confused

Do you think it's something that he'll outgrow (kind of the hormonal teenager attitude) or is this more down to the fact that, even though he came to you young, he's still a bit "wild at heart"?

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Andy & The Rats

~ Darwin ~ Maisie ~ Ella ~ Zak ~

~ Finn ~ Malachi ~ Azrael ~ Newton ~ Charlie ~

Sun Jul 24, 2005 6:29 am

I can't recall, is it that Tinker's too large or too much of a brat to be with the other boys? Maybe having cagemates would calm him down some? I'm so glad Chance is doing well, and Rupert, too!

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Kate & the M.O.U.S.
If you saw a man drowning and you could either save him or photograph the event ... what kind of film would you use?
~ Anonymous

Tue Jul 26, 2005 8:28 am

Tinker is a very small mouse, house mice are smaller than domestic mice here. I haven't tried Tinker in with any other males because I think he may hurt them. He is ten times faster than a domestic mouse, can leap onto or over just about anything and is fearless.

I am hoping this is a "teenage" stage he is going through and he will calm down in time. I feel guilty because he wants to run up my arm but he is unpredictable, like the time I tried letting him play on the play table and within a few seconds he had jumped off the table. No other mouse has ever done that.

Anyway, hopefully he may grow out of this. He get seed treats all day long, everytime he sees me - drives me crazy! He has done an excellent job of training this human, that's for sure.

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The world would be a happier place if there were no mirrors.