The Naming Contest

First things first. Poor Mouzz passed away Saturday. We're not sure what happened. Most likely it was a tumour. My friend had noticed that Mouzz's gait seemed a bit off on Friday and when Mouzz got up Saturday afternoon he looked as though he'd scratched his eye on something. By 5:00 he'd passed away. Needless to say, we are both devastated since Mouzz was only a year and a half. We take comfort in the thought that Mouzz is probably living on a mountain of Yogis right now and taking long, uninterrupted naps. R.I.P. Mouzz.

Continuing with the rat theme ... The absolute irony (divine intervention?) of this whole situation is that, as Mouzz was crossing the bridge, I was at the Humane Society adopting ANOTHER rat. A call had gone out earlier in the week to all rat people in the Bay Area that the local Humane Society was holding 3 momma rats and their 25 babies. (I really need to get off certain mailing lists.) So Saturday afternoon, there I was, filling out forms to adopt "Miranda." Miranda is 6 weeks old and looks more like a mouse than a rat. I have no pictures of her *yet* because of course, she distrusts all humans. Trust me that she's beautiful and precious and oh soooo tiny.

And finally ...

Here is the reason I need to stay off craigslist. This is No Name. Or JD as his former owners called him. I do not like the name JD; I'm not a big fan of the "initial names." No Name is 10 months old and is an Agouti Black Banded INTACT (seriously intact) male. He came from the same people we got Sadie and Tater from. There is one huge difference though. No Name is MINE. He has serious rat aggression issues and needs to be kept on his own. Yet, he loves people. He's the exact opposite of me. I hate all people (well most) and love rats.

Andy is pretty much beside himself right now which is why No Name is living in the bathtub (in a cage of course) with the sliding doors firmly shut. No Name is allowed out of the bathtub only when Mom is home. I did talk to the breeder about this situation and she was fine with it, No Name spends most of his time sleeping and he comes out to play when Andy is out killing leaves. DeeDee is oblivious. Or else she just doesn't care. ANYWAY. I'm having a contest. To find a new name for No Name. Names we have considered and discarded: Badger, Simon, Sig, Wizard, Lars, Thor, Petey, Butters, Panda, Bear, Seal. No Name is a big boy. He loves corn chips and banana chips. Won't you help think of a name for him? This contest will run until Friday morning and the suggester of the winning name will win a skein of Socks That Rock, lightweight. And maybe something else. Perhaps something in the form of a sturdy, brown tabby ...