So last week it appeared we had a rat moved in to the space under the kitchen sink.

Que the existential angst...we're all gonna die of hantavirus or the plague....

So, traps were set. Rat was caught.

Mistake #1 : live trap

Unfortunate circumstance: juvenile male

Mistake #2: placed in a bird cage until final disposition was determined.


Current predicament:

Rat = disease ridden threat to civil order when living under the sink.

But...


Rat = darling potential new addition to the family when living above the sink.

Gee, and I was thinking it was the next meal for birds.....

If'n that was living anywhere with in a 100 feet or so of our house wifey would call in an artillery strike.

In fairness, rats do make really good pets (they almost never bite) and the twins did have a rat apiece for 4 years.


But.....I did try to make a case for hawk food. I also tried to make a case for feeding the mice to the kestrel and using the mouse cage for the rat.

Nixed x 2. We might be stuck with both the mice and the rat.....

Before we were married my wife and her daughter had a pet rat. Once you get past the skinny naked tail it was actually a very intelligent and friendly little beast and liked to curl up in her open hands or tucked behind her on the couch.

Once in a while she'd take it out with her, perched up on her shoulder, hidden by her hair. It would freak folks out to be talking to her when suddenly a little rat snout would peak out from under her hair and start sniffing around.

That one succumbed to old age so a few years later they got a new one, but by this time Christine (the daughter) had outgrown the novelty of a small animal so the little thing sat in the laundry room in a sterile cage. Left alone in a quiet room 24 hours per day and stuck in a plastic box with nothing to do drove it crazy. It started scratching itself under its chin, leaving it bloody.

One day I came home and its forepaws were bloody to the elbows and it looked like someone had cut its throat with blood all down the front. I took it outside and the last thing it saw was the muzzle of a Kimber Model 82 as it raised its head to examine this new and interesting object in its otherwise completely sterile environment.

I've snuffed a lot of small animals without remorse but that one got to me.

lol, you got some good problems to deal with Matt!


thought sure you were gonna tell us the falcons invited the rat to a game of hide and seek, with dinner to follow

if it stays, Kathryn will be the one looking after it.

there are worse fates in the world for a rat, I suppose...

Aint nothing darling about them sob's. I remember when I was a little kid, mom saw a mouse run behind the toilet. She screamed, grabbed my louisville slugger and proceeded to make the biggest blood spot ive ever seen from such a small animal. Unfortunately, I inherited her traits, would take all of 2 seconds to turn him into a pancake.

Live trap plus bucket of water equals problem solved.

Rats are smart. You can train them with chocolate chips.

I would euthanize it most likely though.

I am sitting here laughing. Been there. Raised three girls. You are outnumbered with just one.

i probably had a half dozen as a kid, they are smart, alot like a little dog but have a pretty short life span....told alot of people over the years when looking at a small pet for kids that they are much better than a hamster as they are actually social animals and love attention where half the hamsters me and my siblings had were antisocial.....had most mine trained to come at a whistle and would turn them loose in the livingroom when i had them out and they would explore the chair i was on out through the entire room.....

Just name it BEN and let it listen to Michael Jackson. I will live happily ever after.

A college class had rats for lab experiment. They turned all the rats loose with the students fearing they would "lose" their rat and not get the same one back? The instructor walked up to the front of the class and "slammed" a book on the desk......Boom echoed in the room. The rats quickly found their "owners" climbing right up on their shoulder ect. Pretty cool.

I cannot abide a rat..

Exactly what I was thinking. Truth be known I've grown so tender-hearted in my old age I'd make a pet out of it.

If it's a Norway Rat (hairless tail), I would put it down. If it's a native wood rat (aka pack rat), it might make an interesting pet. Have you had any confirmed cases of hantavirus in your county? If so, you might want to forget the pet deal...

not up here. most cases in mice in southern (four corners) area

someone just sent this to me via FB, quite possibly one of my kids playing sockpuppet :

You need a cat.

You only made one mistake... live trap!

Yep.

It looks like UtahLefty has been taken out of the decision matrix. I'd say this thread is just for academic purposes because the die is cast.

I'd throw the live trap away however. You don't want it used again.

Hell, a pet rat is WAAAAYYY betterer than having a liberal within 100 miles. Lefty's Ladies have the ability to melt an icebergs' resolve. Whutdahell, ya have a new pet.

So, what you gonna name it?

Gruber?