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The Rat Fan Club
Memorials
Skin was my favorite rat. He was said to be about a year old when he
came to live with me and already had his unusual name, although I guess you
can see how he got it!
Although he looks pretty pink in this photo, he actually had darker skin. I
adopted Skin in November 1998 right after my 40th birthday--a wonderful
birthday present indeed! He had already lived in two other homes, and
it’s hard to understand how the other people could give him up. Skin
was a very cuddly rat and loved to nestle in my arms or lay on my lap to be
petted. He was also very playful and enjoyed wrestling with my hand. I gave
him two nicknames, Muscle Man, because he was so muscular, and Mr. Clean,
because he was constantly grooming himself.
I had to have Skin euthanized 4/15/99
after an ear infection developed into a serious abscess. We fought the
infection for more than 2 months before we had to give up. I missed him
deeply. Since Skin's death, I have learned of other similar cases,
including Negis' brother. If your rat develops an external ear infection,
be aware that it can break through the bottom of the ear canal and infect
the muscles of the neck and jaw. If treatment doesn't clear up an ear
infection within 2 weeks be sure to have a culture and sensitivity test
done to determine the best antibiotics to use. In many cases, however, it
has turned out that the underlying cause of the infection is cancer. (See
the Helpful Info page under Tumors for possible treatments.)
From May 1997 to January 1999, I also had an African giant pouched rat
named Buta. At his heaviest, he weighed 3 lb 13 1/2 oz. His body was about
17" long, with his tail about the same length.
I got him at 10 weeks of age, and he hadn't been socialized as well as
he should have been. He didn't fully trust people, but as time went on, he
learned to trust me quite a bit. He only tried to bite me once when he was
a baby, but when he wanted to be left alone, he would lunge at me and
threaten to bite to warn me not to pick him up or come any closer.
African giant pouched rats can make good pets if they are well
socialized as babies. However, not enough is known about them to keep them
healthy in captivity. I have known of 9 of them in captivity, and all but
one has died young. They have been known to live 7 years, but Buta died of
congestive heart failure (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and a tooth
infection at only 2 years of age. However, a breeder in Florida
has had better luck. I think perhaps the diet Buta and the other rats got
was not correct.
Seymour was a platinum
hooded rex Dumbo, and I think he was just about the cutest rat I have ever
seen. I got Seymour in July 1998 along with several other special rats,
including Nimitz and Tigger (below), so they could appear with me on The
Tonight Show. Seymour was only about 3 months old then.
Seymour's favorite activity was exploring. He was definitely not a couch
potato! He was always on the go and was very hard to photograph because he
was rarely still. He generally didn't like to be held or petted, but he was
always happy to meet new people and would allow strangers to hold and pet
him while he wouldn't allow me to do so!
Nimitz was a silver fawn rex rat, and his fur was very soft. When Nimitz
appeared on the Howie Mandel Show with me he was held by Lorenzo
Lamas.
Nimitz was kind of a shy rat and a little bit of a loner. He didn't like
to be held much, although he did occasionally like me to scratch his back.
Nimitz was a pretty good sized boy: his body was 10" long and his tail
was 8 1/2" long. He had to be euthanized in July 1999 because of
congestive heart failure.
Tigger was a manx seal-point Siamese rat who was about 4 months old when
I adopted him.
Tigger was a very bouncy boy, and a very good jumper, hence his name. He
was very playful but tended to nip a bit too hard. He wasn't very cuddly
but occasionally liked his shoulders scratched. He loved to explore and on
one excursion in the back yard traveled all the way around the house to the
front yard before I found him. Tigger had to be euthanized in August 1999
because of congestive heart failure.
Bubba was a fat boy who weighed 1 1/2 pounds! And he was all love. He
was a very cuddly boy who loved to lay on my chest and have his head and
shoulders rubbed.
I got Bubba in March 1998 when I got a call from a local vet saying that
Bubba's owners had brought him in to be euthanized because they were tired of
him. Of course, I offered to take him. Bubba was such a sweetheart, I can't
understand how anybody could get tired of him! When Bubba was on The
Tonight Show with me, he was picked up by Jay Leno and then went over
to visit with Jon Crier. Bubba developed heart disease and for several
months seemed to be doing well on his medications, but I had to euthanize
him early in September 1999. His autopsy showed he had a very enlarged
heart, which wasn't evident from his symptoms. I now recommend that all
rats with heart disease be x-rayed, because if the heart is enlarged, there
are more options for treatment.
I rescued two wild roof rats in May 1997. They were found injured in
someone's driveway. The mother appeared to be full grown and her son was only
half grown. The male was so badly injured he was handicapped and couldn't
stand up on his back legs. He obviously could not be returned to the wild.
His mother's injuries healed but I kept her so her son wouldn't be alone.
They were very wild and could not be picked up. After a while, the female
allowed me to scratch the top of her head when she was sitting in her
little house. This picture is the female coming out of the house. The male
was much more wary, probably because of his handicap. When the mom was
younger, she ran all night on a wheel I made from a slice of a 5-gallon
bucket. I had to euthanize the mom on May 14, 2000 because of a tumor in
her nasal cavity. She must have been at least 3 1/2 years old.
After his mother died, the male roof rat became more trusting of me and
allowed me to pet him on the head and back. I had to euthanize him in
October 2000 because of heart disease. He must have been about 3 1/2 years
old also. Roof rats are a different species than domestic rats. Domestic
rats are Rattus novegicus while roof rats are Rattus rattus. Roof rats are
more aboreal and slender with larger eyes and ears, a longer nose and a
longer and thinner tail with more pronounced rings. They are most common in
tropical areas, and are the most common wild rat in California.
Peaches was a short-haired rex Dumbo who lost a lot of her hair as she
aged. Eventually, her body was almost hairless. I thought she was
beautiful. I got her in October
1999 when a local pet shop wanted to retire her as a breeder. They thought
she was about a year old. I had her spayed to help prevent tumors. Peaches
didn't like to stay on the couch but jumped down on the floor to explore.
She never liked to be held or petted. Shortly after I got her she developed
malocclusion so I had to trim her teeth regularly. She hated it so I
usually had to sedate her to do it. In April 2001 she suddenly developed
symptoms of congestive heart failure, and although she responded well to
treatment for a few weeks, she died on May 1, 2001. She probably also had
some kidney failure.
I bought Jean-Luc from a breeder in June 1999 at a Rat, Mouse &
Hamster Fancier show when he was 3 months old. I named him after Captain
Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. I was in the
market for a hairless rat and decided to get him instead of a little baby
because I felt sorry for him not having a real home of his own at his age.
At first Jean-Luc was very nervous and jumped at any sound or movement,
but he quickly gained his self-confidence and turned out to be a very
playful boy. I think maybe he wasn't taken out of his cage much before I
got him. Once he got his self-confidence, Jean-Luc also became a very macho
little boy, rubbing his hands and sides on everything to mark them as his
territory. So I neutered him and then he was more interested than playing
than marking. When he got older he liked to be petted more than he did when
he was younger. I lost Jean Luc on November 9, 2001 at the age of 2 years 8
months to congestive heart failure.
On March 29 2000 I got a rat in San Jose. I was visiting my friend and
member, Linda, and we went to all the pet shops to promote the club. In one
shop we saw a tiny black rex male in the "feeder bin." Linda
asked for him to be brought out and he was very calm and happy to sit on my
shoulder. We found out he had been bred in the store as a pet, but was put
in the feeder bin because he was a runt, was sick, and they had too many
rats. Well, I couldn't let him go for snake food, so I bought him.
After treatment with antibiotics, the little guy was no longer so calm!
In fact, he was so lively and fast I named him Speedy Gonzales! However he
became a very loving rat who loved to have his back scratched. Speedy was a
special rat, very playful and responsive, and very good at doing tricks! He
was a rat I felt lucky to have and I miss him. I lost him on 3/10/02 due to cancer
in his abdomen.
On September 23, 2000 I adopted 3 rats who
had been found abandoned in a house in San Jose by the San Jose humane
society. Linda then brought them to me. She presented them to me saying,
"Here they are, 2 hairless girls and their pillow!" Their
"pillow" was a very fat neutered boy. I named one of the girls
Ilia (after a bald woman in Star Trek: The Motion Picture) and so I
named the boy V'ger (also from the movie). I named the other girl Iris. In
the picture, Ilia is on the left. I'm not sure how old they were, but they
were at least 8 months old when I got them. To start, the girls were very
dominant and constantly pushed V'ger around. Then I had the girls spayed,
and then V'ger pushed them around sometimes too! Iris was a shy girl, V'ger
was a little more cuddly, and Ilia was a very outgoing rat who loved to
meet new people. When the 3 of them appeared with me on the the TV show To
Tell the Truth, Ilia loved coming out to see the host John O'Hurley,
and after he put her back in her cage, she wanted to come back out! Iris
died on 7-25-01 because of skin cancer on her jaw, V'ger died suddenly on
11-11-01 from a pituitary tumor, and Ilia died 12-20-01, also from cancer
on her jaw.
On December 20, 2000 I adopted 5 male rats
from the Chico humane society. They had been found abandoned at a gas
station stuffed into a make-shift container made of chicken wire. I decided
to name them after famous bears. From left to right (as far as I can tell)
they are Paddy (Paddington Bear), Yogi, Pooh, Boo-Boo and Pookey. Yogi is
the most outgoing and Pookey was the most shy. They had not been well
socialized when I got them, but soon learned to trust me. It took them 3
days to learn to use their hammock! Pooh and Paddy were very sick when I
got them, wheezing badly and very thin, but they improved a lot with
treatment. Pooh was a blue-beige, which is a beige rat with blue guard
hairs, an unusual color I had not seen in Chico before. He also had only
one eye, and maybe he was born without his right eye. Boo Boo died suddenly
on 10-3-01, most likely from pulmonary hypertension. Paddy died 11-4-01 and
Pookey died 11-16-01, both from congestive heart failure. Yogi died 1/26/02
from a pituitary tumor. I
treated Pooh for congestive heart failure for 6 months and he lived until
7/25/02 and died from cancer in his abdomen.
In August 2001 I also adopted 4 older rats
from member Barbara Henderson in Sacramento when she was threatened with
eviction if she didn’t reduce the number of her rats (she had 16.) Of
these rats, Seska, was the most amazing. She was named after a bad character
on Star Trek: Voyager because she was very aggressive when younger.
When she turned 3 years old she mellowed, but was still a character. She
had cataracts in both eyes (as you can see in her picture), her back legs
were partially paralyzed and she had malocclusion of her teeth, but she
still went everywhere she wanted to!
In fact she was still climbing her ramp up to the day she died on
May 27, 2002 at the age of 42 months.
She was an inspiration.
In April 2000 I made a trip to San Jose and stayed with member Linda
Bradley. We visited some pet
stores and I adopted 2 hairless guinea pigs! Linda had had one for a year,
Piglet, who is a very sweet and affectionate guy, so when I saw these 2 in
a pet shop, I was intrigued. As soon as we picked them up, they gave us
kisses and nibbles! Then, when I found out they had been in the store for
over a year, I couldn’t leave them there! Their back legs were
positioned abnormally, turned out, either because of poor nutrition or
being in tiny cages for so long. 
We thought the one with the orange hair on his face (left) looked Scottish,
so I named him Scotty, as in “Beam me up, Scotty!” And I named
the other one Bones, as in Dr. Leonard McCoy. Scotty was the more outgoing
and affectionate, but also more skittish. He was also more macho and
sometimes picked fights with Bones. Before long his legs returned to almost
normal. Bones legs improved but were still abnormal, as you can see in the
picture. These were my first guinea pigs and I found they are a lot of fun
and very loving. They make the most amusing noises! Being herbivores, they
eat a lot and it’s amazing to watch them eat hay like spaghetti.
Unfortunately, Bones developed severe infections in his feet and after a
few months of treatment, ended up dying of kidney failure Dec. 14,
2000. Scotty lived with one and
then another hairy guinea pig
until he died on Dec. 25, 2002, also of kidney failure, at nearly 4 years
of age. I miss them both
tremendously.
On May 12, 2001, my friend Linda Bradley gave me a gift of a 6-week-old
hairless rat boy. I named him Merlin, hoping he would be good at doing
tricks, and he was! Merlin was a very outgoing and friendly rat, and very
playful. He was the dominant rat of his group.
Because of his personality, Merlin was a perfect rat to teach tricks and
take traveling. He loved doing the tightrope walk, and was also very good
at pulling up a basket on a string. Unfortunately, Merlin died too young on
Dec. 20, 2002 at only 21 months of kidney failure. Here is Merlin doing some tricks at
America’s Family Pet Expo in Sacramento in Sept. 2001 during my
seminar on teaching tricks to rats.
Over Memorial Day weekend (May,
28 2001) member Ed Luckin of Oakland
came up to visit and attend Chico’s
annual fair. We also visited 2 pet shops in town, and at Petco Ed saw a
black rex Dumbo male in the “feeder” cage. This Petco keeps
most of their feeder rats in the top row of their display aquariums, which
is too high for me to easily see into (I’m only 5' tall.) The cage
was marked “jumbo” which just means he was an adult rat. I hate
to see any rats sold as feeders, but I especially hate to see fancy rats
like this sold for that purpose. The rat seemed friendly, so I bought him.
When I got him home, I found out he was quite aggressive, probably the
reason he was in the “feeder” cage. But I just neutered him and
within a few weeks he was a very sweet boy. I named him Mr. T (tough on the
outside but sweet inside) and he became so trusting that he would lay on
his back in your hands, as you can see in this picture.
Mr. T died on Nov. 1, 2002 from a large lymphoma tumor in his
chest. I estimated that he was
probably 2 years old. I miss
him a lot.
On February 6, 2000, I got Schmullis from Barbara, a friend and member
who lives in Sacramento. She found him in a pet shop, very sick with a
respiratory infection, and she knew I would want to save him. She was
right! Schmullis was a partial hairless Dumbo and a real sweetie. His name
is from a Star Trek Voyager character. Schmullis was only about 5 weeks old
when I got him. After some antibiotic treatment, he recovered from his respiratory
infection and turned out to be a special rat. Isn’t he adorable? He was extremely photogenic! Here is the driver’s license I
had made for him. He developed
an enlarged heart and cataracts, but lived until March 3, 2003, a ripe old
age of 38 months.
On June 7, 2001 I bought a 5-week-old rat from a local pet shop who was
supposed to be a patchwork hairless. It turned out he was just a rex, but
he was a great rat anyway. When I picked him out in the store, he and his
brothers would leap from the cage into your hand! When I got him, a friend
who was an exchange student from Japan in my senior year of high school was
staying with us. His name is Miki and he suggested I name my newest rat
after him. Then he changed his mind and said he didn’t like to think
about a rat with his name dying after just a few years, so I compromised
and named the rat Mickey.
Mickey was a very outgoing and friendly rat. He kept his love of jumping,
and performed this trick very well. He performed it for several TV appearances.
In the picture, he has just jumped from one stool to the other. He was also
good at the tightrope walk. He also learned how to jump down off the
couch! I had to neuter Mickey
at 8 months when he became aggressive to his cagemates, but after that he
got along with everyone.
I lost Mickey on August 27, 2003 at the age of 28 months from a
pituitary tumor. I miss him
very much.
On June 4, 2002 I adopted a 2-week-old wild roof rat baby who had been
brought in by someone’s cat, and bottle-fed him. I tried to keep him wild so I could
release him but being an only rat, he bonded to me strongly and I had to
keep him. I named him Flicker,
because he is so fast and flighty.
Here is Flicker at 4 weeks of age. As he got older he got wilder, so I
should have released him after all.
But when he was in the right mood he could still be very friendly
with me, and the older he got the more cuddly he got. Flicker died on July 25, 2005 at the
age of 3 years.
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