oops

[quietann]

Every once in a while, I forget to close a cage and a rat goes for a walk. Usually they don't go far, and if they are in the main rat room, the rats in the other cages let me know something is wrong because the "stranger" walking around makes them mad, and they fight with their cagemates. Or a particularly active/clever female rat manages to not get counted when I shut her cage door, and I find her minutes or hours later sitting on top of the boys' cage being a tease. (Some people say that rats can mate through the cage bars, but I don't believe it.)

So tonight, Esther went for a walk. Except she went into the kitchen, and under the heating vents, and eventually I found her, whiskers besmirched with grime, by the newspapers. Silly rat! She is one I really wish I had babies from, because she is gorgeous and friendly and healthy, but she never stayed pregnant :(

Comments

[daynavon.livejournal.com]

I don't buy the through the bars thing either. I've had an accidental pregnancy from an escaped female once, but it was because some boys lived in a cage with wide bar spacing that she squeezed into.

[rabbitorf.livejournal.com]

silly rat :)

simultaneous wandering rodents was how we ended up with the last litters (how they *both* managed to get out on the same day for the first time ever i have no idea). we had an escape artist a few years ago that managed to make his way up a flight of stairs, down the hall, into the bedroom, and onto the bed to wake up a napping person.