I Saw A Mouse...

[Wordbender]

Great. I post a bit of info on rats, and somehow manage to fire-up the founder member of Rat Peace.

 

Right, seeing as it's early, it's raining, and I'm waiting for a weather-window so's I can set up for a day session without getting soaked - I'll address your points as they occur;

 

*Worldblender?*

 

Nope. That's 'Wordbender', as in 'bending' words to fit. It's what I do for a living. Small point, move on.

 

*I have a couple of black rats that I feed regularly. Biggish brutes, but very tame. They cause no trouble at all to me.*

 

For the record, black rats (rattus rattus), also known as the 'ship rat' due to its suspected habit of stowing away aboard ships by running up mooring ropes, are a protected species.

 

It's the brown rat (rattus norvegicus), also known as the 'plague rat', due to its confirmed habit of being a major player in that teensy matter of applied bubonics which gave the brown rat its a.k.a. Obviously, you'd find such a trifle entirely forgivable and would campaign for rodent-counselling, rather than anything involving anti-rat prejudice.

 

Don't take my word for it - here's a snippet for you.

 

'Rattus norvegicus

Originating in Asia and arriving in North America about 1775, the brown rat is humanity’s worst animal pest. Fierce and aggressive, no serious inroads have been made in their population by either human or other predators.

Averaging about 40 cm in length, these animals live in organized social colonies, usually dominated by the larger males. Active at all times of the day, they do enormous damage each year not only in food destroyed or polluted, but in the destruction of electric and telephone cables, water pipes, furniture and so on. They are known carriers of several deadly diseases, among them the bubonic plague.

The first step in controlling these creatures is good sanitation and proper disposal of garbage, together with the rat-proofing of food storage areas.'

 

Apart from that, they're fine, obviously.

 

 

*As for the diseases that rats carry? You`re more likely to contact a fatal disease from another human being in the street!!*

 

Sir, your personal degree of contact with 'people in the street' is entirely your own affair. I, on the other hand, choose not to expose myself to the by-products of strangers, nor do I invite such folk to spread their pathogens around my property. The same applies to rats. Call me weird, but it's just my way.

 

*Weil`s disease? Well if people insist on paddling in rats urine. What can be said for them?

We do not, and have never lived in a clinicaly safe environment. If ignorant folk expect to walk barefooted and paddle where-ever they want without fear of infection. Then maybe it`s about time they were brought into the real world?*

 

This 'real world' of cuddly rats, you mean? I'm afraid you've qualified for another of these, Sir ----> And as for 'paddling in rats' urine', go tell that to those that have been infected by Weil's Disease through contact with running and still waters, where the rats' urine content was measured in parts-per-million, and not many 'parts', either.

 

When deposited in water, or even on damp grass, Weil's remains active and able to infect for up to three days. Now, if it's your garden we're talking about, can you REALLY be certain that no contact will be made? Never chewed a blade of grass? Never had a cut on your finger and touched the water from a lake or river? No 'paddling' required in the REAL real world of rat-borne infection.

 

*Most of our pets carry much more serious diseases than rats!! Cats,dogs,budgies are more than capable of causing humans much more suffering than the odd contact with a rat!!*

 

Oh dear. Tell me, when was the last time you had your rats, and the ones you never see, innoculated? Yes, pets can carry disease - I didn't say they couldn't - but in the real world, rats are FAR more likely to pass on what they carry, due to their (entirely justifiable ) habit of tainting our foodstuffs with their urine and faeces.

 

*I think that all townies should be given a sound grounding on nature at a very early school age? It`s not enough to tell kids not to play with matches! Tell their fecklous parents that they don`t walk along the beach in bare feet!!*

 

Happy ol' world, your 'real' one, ay? For the record, I'm a country-boy, born, bred and still doing it, but even I've grasped sufficient book-learning to know that rats pose a serious health problem if allowed to invade our living spaces.

 

No amount of 'grounding' will stop kids being kids, and surely that glorious stage of our lives DOES include unspeakable acts such as WALKING BAREFOOT ON THE S0DDIN' BEACH!

 

* :mad: :mad: Paul. :mad: :mad: *

 

The text-input required when creating the above emoticons, is the word 'mad'. You have confirmed your self-diagnosis four times. No arguments, there, M'lud.

 

Now, having swatted this virtual gnat with an embarrassingly large mallet, I must be off. The blessed dawn is awaiting my departure from this keyboard, and I have a pressing appointment with a carp the size of a 6-metre skip. I trust our business is concluded, Sir?

 

I'll bid you farewell, and may you enjoy your rat encounters - as I certainly do mine.

 

Terry

 

P.S. 'Ere, Paul - were you pi55ed when you wrote that post? If so, no hard feelings, mate. Sorted.

 

[ 14. November 2002, 06:15 AM: Message edited by: Wordbender ]

[Gaffer]

 

As a former keeper of domestic rats I'd like to add a little something to this thread, dunno if it's relevant, but I'm gonna all the same.

 

The domestic rats that we had, had full run of the house until they reached the age of three. Their lifespan was usually around 4 years (5 years tops), but at around the age of 3 they start to loose their bladder control, thus 'dribbling' where ever they go. (They were very, very good with their number two's and would rush back to the same corner of their cage to do the buisness, most impressive.)

 

Domestic rats are very clean, they are always cleaning themselves and are to a point obsesive about their cleanliness. However, they'll still dribble where ever they go when over over the age of 3. (Our older rats were cage bound after 3 years)

 

Now I can't imagine that our domestic rats were any different with their bladder control over say the Brown rat. So people, don't imagine a rat going up to a specific Dandylion stalk to cock it's leg 'cos it just don't happen that way.

 

When they spread weils desease they spread it all right!

 

Gaffer.

KIR, Gecko.

[Wordbender]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Gaffer:

[QB]

at around the age of 3 they start to loose their bladder control, thus 'dribbling' where ever they go.

---

What a superb forum this is. I mean, where else could you read a considered, polite and entirely valid post about incontinence in domestic rats?

 

And from a moderator, too!

 

Methinks, being a moderator has aligned our Gaffer with that other persecuted life-form, the rat. Seeing as Gaffer is certainly over 3 years of age, the next time we meet - I'll be on full alert for those widdle-trails.

 

Priceless!

 

Terry

[Elton]

Wordbender:

Methinks, being a moderator has aligned our Gaffer with that other persecuted life-form, the rat. Seeing as Gaffer is certainly over 3 years of age, the next time we meet - I'll be on full alert for those widdle-trails.

I'm staying round Gaffer's house this weekend.....hope he doesn't 'dribble' on me

 

Elton

[Gaffer]

LOL

 

Don't worry Elton, all the 'dribbles' occured in my old house!

 

Wordbender, why don't you devise a 'dribble' seeking pellet or sommert, that'll improve your kill rate no end.

 

[ 14. November 2002, 05:11 PM: Message edited by: Gaffer ]

[Wordbender]

Gaffer:

 

Wordbender, why don't you devise a 'dribble' seeking pellet or sommert, that'll improve your kill rate no end.

What - to back-up the heavily-silenced, recoilless rifle, nightvision sight, infra-red illuminator and laser rangefinder I'm using at the moment, like? Nah - I'm a purist, me. No time for gadgets, mate.

 

Terry

Keep It Rodenticide