Meet Scittles and Scabbers. They are rescue rats I adopted from the Seattle Humane Society.
Their original owners got them for their kids, and the kids either could no longer care for them, or lost interest in them.
At the time the kids got them, Scittles & Scabbers were just 6 weeks old. They were given to the Humane Society on December 28 2001 and have been waiting for
a loving home. As of early February 2002, they now have that home, and they are 5 months old. That's a teenager in rat years. Nothing like adopting teens. :)
These rats were adopted with their original names given by their previous family.
Scabbers was named after the character Ron's pet rat in the Harry Potter movie, and I'm pretty sure Scittles was named after the candy Scittles because when he
pooes all over the couch (protected by a rat blanky, of course), it looks like he's leaving little brown Scittles behind. :)
Although it's aways terrible to see a pet go to the animal shelter right after Christmas when the kids lose interest, at least their parents had the decency to bring them to the shelter instead
of throwing them in the woods or flushing them down the toilet, two common fates for so many small pets when they are no longer wanted.
And this is Veemon. He's also a rescue. A neighbor got him a in the summer of 2001
and then figured out he couldn't stand the noise it made
at night, so it was almost bye-bye rat!
But this neighbor knew I had rats before the big earthquake from earlier the same year, and was thoughtful enough to
offer me the rat instead of disposing of the critter in some less than desirable manner.
Veemon was 8-10 weeks old when I adopted him.
Better make that ZERO furry fuzzbombs...
All of the original rats this website was based upon have since died. The website is kept running in their memory, and to share new memories from the lives of three loveable rats I adopted in 2001.
The Pet Rat Info & Memorial Site: Starring
Veemon and the Five Rainbow Bridge Souls
FURRY FEMALE FUZZBOMB MAKES NATIONAL TELEVISION APPEARANCE
(November 1998)
Missy the Rat appeared on the ABC show "America's Funniest Home Videos" during November of last year.
She appeared shortly after the first commercial break, in a segment called "The AFV Video Dictionary".
In this segment, video clips are "defined" and given a funny and appropriate caption; along with
an announcer saying that caption as each clip ends. My little girl was seen on the back of the couch,
stealing cigarettes out of a purse. The clip showed her stealing & running away with two cigarettes; one
at a time; after which the caption "RAT PACK" was displayed, and the announcer said the phrase himself.
When I filmed this in June of 1998, she had stolen three or four cigarettes in this manner on the tape.
Although Missy has never done this before, a rat I had before was quite good at it; and would even fish
cigarettes out of my pocket & run away with them. But this time, I had a camera handy, and taped the
larceny in progress; then sent the tape to ABC.
For the "unbeliever" in you, I do have video of the actual episode of AFV in which she appeared in;
perhaps someday I can get part of it converted into a Realplayer file and put it up on this page.
Otherwise, go someplace you can find video archives and find the AFV episode that played around
the 20th of November 1998. Perhaps a library, your local ABC station, or some other source
may have archives of this nature.
OTHER MEMBERS OF THIS HOUSEHOLD...
I've been raising pet rats for at least the last ten years - they're the perfect pet!
They're playful, loving, fairly quiet (noise-wise), they're not very stinky, and can be left unattended
for more than an hour or two if need be. And they're easy to care for, even if you're less than mobile
yourself (ie. use a wheelchair or electric scooter).
I have four additional non-TV star rats infesting my home - but please don't call the exterminator, because
he is not wanted here.
There's 2 of 4, the Borg-inspired little terror. She was an abused rescue-rat, who's long journey towards
socialisation is hardly complete. She's a very small animal for her age, but still full of P&V;
and until just a few months ago, still regularly bit the hand that feeds her. She now lets herself be picked
up, and will take food out of my hands. Big difference from the day I brought her home!
There's Saraswati (Sara for short), who was given to me by a friend after he "rescued" her from a school
laboratory. Although the experiments done on her were in no way harmful or inhumane - they were all
simple learning tasks - she was alone in a tiny stinky cage for her first four or five months, and only a bare
minimum of contact with her Student human was allowed until the class was finished; so as not to taint
the final results. She apparently failed miserably at her task - learning the difference between a smooth
floor and a rough floor because somebody sabotaged the feeding program - and now she lives
happily with two others of similar age and of the same sex. She's still a little jittery around people, but
is slowly but surely coming around. She hasn't ever bitten, but does potty on occasion. :)
Missy, the little TV star, was given to me by a friend after my beloved Molly passed on to Rat Heaven.
May Molly have lots of coffee (with cream and sugar) and as much TP as she wants up there.
Missy arrived here at 5 weeks of age, fully socialised. She is the most playful and carefree of the whole lot.
She roams about the house, hoping to find something that wasn't there the previous day.
Missy's favorite activity is going into the kitchen and knocking the garbage over. Gives me something
to clean up every day, if nothing else. She's also a ham whenever a camera is around.
She's toilet trained - never had an accident while outside her tank... and has never chewed up the
Christmas lights like Molly used to do time and time again.
Missy in particular, comes to the top of the cage if she hears my wheelchair coming, or sees me in the room.
She's developed a peculiar, funny little way to say hello lately - she'll poke her nose through the
wire top of her tank, and just hang there by her teeth until I rub the top of her nose that's sticking out
through the wire. And she'll sit there and let me do that, her knowing full well that she could very
easily get hurt if I were not such a nice person. (Now that's trust!).
She'll also hang that way if I say "Give me that nose" to her, and wait for me to pet the top of her nose
that way once it's sticking through the wire grid. Of course, what she knows is going to happen, is
that I'll open the tank top and let her out, or stuff a yogurt drop in her mouth. :)
The boys of the family are Scooter and Ozzy.
Scooter, a beige rex, was bought as a youngster at Scooter's Pets (hence his name), and Ozzy was
bought at the same store a few months later, after my big dumbo Big Boy passed on.
Both of the boys share the same kind of laid back, lazy-assed bum kind of attittude.
Neither of them stays on my shoulder for long, but will stay on the couch when turned loose there.
Ozzy took a wild ride from the pet store to home about two miles away, when he got out of his pet store
transport box while I was driving home on my scooter. And that's about the wildest he's ever gotten.
Scooter is a LITTLE more laid back, but all five of them will come up for yogurt drops or garbage food.
O o, I just found that squeaky little mouse Guilmon (the pet rat that got away in February 2003) - let's just say he's not very squeaky anymore. :(
Looks like he bit into an AC cord and got zapped. :(
(Update 03-08-07): At my new home in Sacramento CA. USA, there is no pet store anywhere within proximity, and I do not own or have access to a motor vehicle, so I am not able to get litter & food - or even a rat himself or herself, so my days of having rats as pets are very probably over. However, I'll keep this website online as a reference and as a memorial for as long as I can pay the hosting or until I kick the bucket, whichever comes first.
September 11, 2001.
A day that will be forever remembered.
Never forget the victims of the World Trade Center,
the Pentagon, and the passengers on the four lost flights.
Site last updated 03-30-08
THIS IS A FRAME OUT OF A WEBSITE. GO HERE TO VIEW THE SITE IN ITS ENTIRETY.
Look at it through rat's eyes
