jake

Jake was our first rat - an agouti hooded. We got him as a 4 week old baby in August 1997. At the time we knew nothing about rats, and foolishly separated him from his brothers. We didn't realise that keeping two rats is just as easy as one. He was really my husband's rat, but by the time he'd sat on my shoulder all the way home, I was already in love!

Jake lived his whole life on pine and cedar shavings. He is the only rat we have owned who never sneezed. EVER. Go figure..... Of course we know better now. Sorry Jake!

Jake quickly made our whole house his own. He would spend hours free-ranging (often because we forgot he was out and about) and as a result got into all sorts of mischief. Fairly quickly he ate holes in the sofa cushions, the bed clothes, several shirts, a pair of jeans..... But his biggest and favourite chewing item was an old sofa in our upstairs room. It was the kind of sofa that we would have thrown out if we weren't actually storing it for someone. Of course Jake had no respect for other people's property. When we finally put it out for the inorganic collection, he'd ripped all the foam rubber out from underneath. He spent many happy hours under that sofa. We always knew where to find him if he was lost.

Chewing was not limited to these items however. Jake had a couple of brushes with death. I discovered he'd chewed right through to the wire on the fish tank pump -WHILE IT WAS ON! To this day I am not sure how he didn't get electrocuted. One night while I was cleaning his cage, he was roaming around on the aforementioned sofa. I looked up to see him rushing backwards and forwards with his nose pressed to the cushions. For a few moments I was bewildered.... then I found what he had dredged up from the gap between the seats - a tube of superglue! With a big bite mark in it and glue welling out of the hole. I was in hysterics. Jake had glued his top lip to his teeth. Thank God he hadn't actually swallowed any. After a munch on some crunchy french fries the lip was suitably detatched, and the glue moustache wore off over the next few days.

Jake also was a mountaineer. We have a CD rack which is 7ft tall and holds 550 CD's. It has always been full, from "A" at the top, to "Z" at the bottom. One day I looked over to find Jake at "M", going boldly up the front, pulling CD cases half-out as he went. I grabbed him down pretty fast! And one Christmas I heard a small tinkling of bells, and found Jake at the top of the Christmas tree, trying to depose the angel.

Eventually Jake's back legs became paralysed, and his exploring and chewing days were over. He loved to sleep on our laps in front of the TV, when he wasn't galloping around the floor dragging his back end behind him. One day we came home to find him writhing in agony, and rushed him to the vet. He'd had some bladder problems, and I think perhaps it had become blocked. He was too old for surgery. He passed away peacefully (drugged out on morphine) that night. His ashes now reside in our living room, beside his photo and some candles. Which no doubt, if he were alive today, he would have chewed to pieces!