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Where do I begin...? I just got Mel the last week of February, 2003. I went to a HORRIBLE pet store. If you are ever in Maryland, avoid ALL PET STORES AT ALL COSTS!! They're the absolute worst! Anyway, a week earlier from then, I saw a beautiful beige rex self girl, and I wanted her. I couldn't stop thinking about her, so I went back to look at her and be sure she was ok. Well, there was a teenage girl there who was looking at the rats, and wanted the black hooded "if it was female". Her reason? She had a PEW male she bought a week earlier, and wanted hundreds of babies. I kid you not. She told me of how she used to have mice breed, but she had about 1000 mice and had to get rid of them all (WTF?!!??). I hate people like this.. I tried telling her and trying with all my might to convince her to get a same-sex rat as a companion, and that most of the rats here were sick (true). She would have none of it... |
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I noticed a beautiful himalayan rat mixed in with all the PEWs was wheezing really bad, and they were all on cedar. I started complaining. THEN the employee goes to get the black hooded rat to show the girl, and is holding him in front of her by his TAIL!!!! I made a grab for the rat and started screaming at how you NEVER pick them up by their tails! The employee got really pissy, told me if I didn't like it to take it up with the manager, and swung the rat back away from me, once again, by his tail. So I did. I went to the manager. His response? "they'll be dead in another week, anyway. We kill any that don't sell and freeze them for prekilled snake food." Great.... I go back to the rats, and guess what? The little beige rex girl I wanted was sold to this woman!!! I couldn't believe it! The rat I said I was interested in, she bought, to have "hundreds of babies"... now I know of her fate, and now I wish I didn't know.
Guess what else? I looked in at the poor discarded black hooded boy, only to discover 1-2 inches of his tail had been DEGLOVED! Meaning, almost 2 inches of his tail bone was exposed, and the skin was missing! The wound was FRESH, too! Sadly, you can tell who went home with me that day.... The black hooded boy.
The next day I took him to the vets in Baltimore, and he made an appointment for the following day to have that section of his tail amputated off, and sewn up. On that day, little Mel (as he's now called) had chewed up most of the tail bone, leaving only a little bit left. I took him to the vet's anyway, and he had his surgery. They cut the bone down a bit, used a suture to shut the wound which he promptly removed, and later sealed it shut with surgical adhesive (glue). He's now all healed up and the sweetest thing I've ever had!
I was honestly amazed at how fast this rat has warmed up to me. Day one, he was skittish and wanted nothing to do but hide. Day two, he was coming around and letting me pet and hold him. By day three? He was bruxing and sitting on my shoulder, grooming my neck, arm, and fingers! He's still skittish around sudden movement and loud noises, but boy this rat has certainly come around! I honestly believe he knows what I did for him, and he's grateful for me getting him out of there. |
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