1137: Animal Magic

I could sit and watch animals for hours, and have done on numerous occasions in the past. It can be pretty much any animal, too, so long as it’s not a scary one like a big hairy spider or a snake that could kill you or a shark with frickin’ lasers on its head. The majority of my animal-watching over the years has been taken up by the observation of cats (both live when I was younger — including one memorable occasion when I was hanging out with my friend Woody, we both got absolutely munted and found my family’s cat inexplicably hilarious — and more recently on the Internet courtesy of Maru) but I also often find myself oddly enraptured by a friend’s tortoise any time I go to visit and have an idle moment (seeing him munching nonchalantly on lettuce is oddly hilarious — the tortoise, not my friend, obviously). Most recently, though, I find myself spending an altogether healthy, reasonable and perfectly normal amount of time staring at our pet rats Lara and Lucy and have absolutely never got up in the middle of the night if I can’t sleep purely to go and see them.

It’s been oddly fascinating to watch their behaviour change over time, because both of them have absolutely developed their own personalities. Lara always used to be the dominant one over her original cagemate Willow (who sadly died a few months after we got her) but was always a lot more confident and friendly — Willow, meanwhile, was shy and nervous, and prone to biting if she felt threatened, which was quite often. She got out of the cage on one occasion and it was an absolute nightmare to get her back in, as she was too terrified to realise that we just wanted to help her get back home. (We did, eventually.)

After Willow died, Lara very obviously became very sad. She was much less energetic than she used to be, and spent a lot of time just sitting in her “saucer section” house that hung from the roof of the cage staring out rather pathetically. It was heartbreaking to see, so it wasn’t long before we decided to get her a new playmate. We introduced the two of them to each other on “neutral ground” (the bathtub, where they couldn’t escape and skitter off), they had a good sniff around each other and a bit of a poo, then both cooperated when we put them in their little carry box and subsequently back into the cage.

Lucy, who is a fair bit younger than Lara and consequently much smaller, seemed to have a difficult time adjusting to her new home initially, as Lara spent a lot of time fussing around her and seemingly frightening her. On one terrifying occasion, we found Lucy lying on her back completely motionless and were worried that she had suddenly died. Fortunately, we discovered a couple of minutes later that it was just a “submission” thing — it was her way of accepting Lara as the queen of the cage. She spent a few days cowering in the corner and not wanting to come out, and gradually built up her confidence. On one evening we put her in her carry box but in the cage so that Lara could get used to her scent without harassing her, and Lara got in an absolute panic, frantically scrabbling around and trying to get into the box because she thought she’d lost her new playmate. They were both fine the next day.

Fast forward to today, a number of months later — I forget how many exactly — and the two have settled into a healthy dynamic. Lara, as the older one, is for the most part a little more “careful” about what she does — though not always — while Lucy is clearly the “annoying younger sister”, regularly sniffing around Lara and occasionally… well, all right, fairly regularly giving her a playful nip in an attempt to kick off a play-fight which she’ll inevitably lose in a flurry of rolling around and screeching. (Rats can be very loud if they want to be, surprisingly — though it’s mainly Lucy who makes all the noise, as Lara doesn’t seem to squeak much at all.)

Lucy has also become the adventurous one — if we open up the cage, she’s always the first one to come out, start exploring and want some fuss from us. Lara will come out and demand some attention, too, and will also go off and explore, but it’s always Lucy who comes out first. She won’t stand still. Lara, meanwhile, who is bigger, older and a bit more “world-weary” now — at least, those are the personality traits I attribute to her — is much more receptive to standing still and being petted, and will even sometimes come crawling up me to sit on my shoulder if I sit in a climb-friendly position.

Lara hurt her leg the other day — she was limping around and obviously didn’t like putting weight on it, but didn’t seem to be in too much pain. She certainly wasn’t complaining, anyway, but it was clear that she wasn’t quite as mobile as usual. (It transpires that rats are fairly prone to sprains — given the regularity with which they fall off things in an extremely amusing manner, I’m surprised this is the first time either of them have done it.) She spent a lot of time just resting, occasionally coming out for water or food, but for the most part just snuggling down in a comfy, warm spot and letting herself heal naturally. (Rats heal super-quickly.) Rather than being her usual irritating little sister self, Lucy seemed to know that something was wrong with her “adoptive sister” and left Lara alone for the most part, occasionally popping in to snuggle up and keep warm with her or help her groom herself. The two were obviously communicating somehow, and it was really heartwarming to see. After a couple of days of rest, Lara was back to her old self, and the pair were back to their usual dynamic.

When I think of all that time I spent alone and depressed back in 2010, I find myself wishing that I’d discovered how joyful it is to have your own pets sooner, as it would have probably saved a large degree of my sanity around that period — if not my money, of which I didn’t really have any at the time. I mean, I always knew that having a cat around was awesome from my childhood, when our family pets Penny and Kitty were fixtures in the household, but somehow the thought of owning my own pets had never really crossed my mind. Largely because most rental properties specifically state that you’re not supposed to have pets in them, of course, but seriously, the amount of damage a tiny rat can do is significantly different from the chaos a small dog can wreak!

Anyway. Yeah. Pets are awesome. 9/10. Get one.