Juggling Snake, Dog, Rat

[jyl]

Friday was a difficult day.

The problems actually started on Wednesday when Ardy wouldn’t eat.

We are house-sitting for friends in Berkeley - for the pedants, our friends are in France, their house is in Berkeley - and Ardy is temporarily staying here as well.

We didn’t expect to have anything to do with Ardy during our stay. We have met him before and are on nodding, good-morning-to-you terms, but nothing more, and expected him to just camp out in the living room and not trouble us. Until Ardy’s owner texted us from France and said omg I forgot to feed Ardy before I left he hasn’t eaten in four weeks can you plz here is how. Followed by instructions on defrosting the last frozen rat in the freezer, warming it in boiled water, patting it dry, and appropriately presenting it at 7 pm when Ardy is most active .

So on Wednesday evening we presented Ardy with the brown-and-white rat which we found in the freezer, snuggled up to our our ice cream, and which Ardy would not eat. Nor would he eat it Wednesday night. On Thursday morning I put the rat in the green compost bin, went to the vivarium, purchased a frozen white rat, which on Thursday evening Ardy would not eat.

On Friday morning I got up early to watch the Tour de France while I worked. July 14th, Bastille Day, is a special stage of the Tour, as French riders throw themselves up the road in petillant attacks for the glory of France before being figuratively trampled by literally every other country.

First, to see if Ardy ate the white rat during the night. No, the rat is still in Ardy’s tank. Ardy is not.

I immediately carried out the General Emergency Protocol:
1. Stabilize. I closed all the windows.
2. Investigate. Figure how he escaped.
3. Call France.

Ardy’s owner, by Facetime from France, and I searched under, in, and through everywhere a snake might be. Which is, anywhere. Her last snake got lost in the house for four months.

Luckily, Ardy’s owner’s parental units told me, also by Facetime from France, the surefire way to lure a hiding snake. They’d learned this in month five. You parade around the house with a live rat in a small cage, put the rat in the snake’s tank, and the snake “smells the rat and comes running. 10 minutes, tops.”

My biggest fear was that Ardy had found an open window. I posted not-quite-truthful Lost Snake signs on the block, then returned to the vivarium for the third feeder rat. This one was alive, dark gray with white paws and a white tail tip, a little smaller than the frozen rats, but not a mouse or a baby rat. The tattoo’ed staff informed me that “my” snake was used to eating rats so a mouse wouldn’t smell right, and a baby rat might not live long enough even with a water dish and rat food in the tank. Luring the snake out of hiding would take a week. He would come at night. It might take weeks. No, definitely not ten minutes. Where did you hear that?

A week was bad, because France had asked me to keep their little dog Bastien close at all times while Ardy was on the loose. There seemed to be a range of opinion in that family. From a four or five foot python definitely won’t strangle and eat a small, elderly, sleeping dog to he definitely can and will. Nothing about sleeping people.

Friday midday, my daughter met the rat and immediately named it, before tearfully parading the rat around the house. With the rat in the tank, provisioned with water, Acme baguette, and sliced peaches, we sat down to wait for ten minutes. Three hours later, the rat was still enjoying lunch and we were hungry. I left Bastien protectively locked in the bathroom, so that I could worry for the next three hours if I’d checked in the bathtub, and left the rat in the snake’s tank, so my daughter could worry for the next three hours if Algernon was being eaten.

When we returned, a tiny bit of python was peeking out from under a cabinet. A great victory on Bastille day. A Polish rider won the stage, but France rejoiced.

After re-assembling the cabinet, we had, and currently have, another problem. What to do with the unmolested rat?

Choices
1. Place rat back in snake’s tank.
2. Return rat to vivarium’s tub of feeder rats.
3. Other.

[jyl]

Update on Sunday.

The internet says that rats are social creatures and lone rats get depressed. When we brought Ardy to the vivarium for a feedstay - a spa vacation where they feed you rats - my daughter decided to get a second rat to keep Algernon company.

The vivarium employee set a tub on the counter. Rats immediately made a break for it. One rat got to the floor and scurried toward the corner. The employees started moving racks, pushing brooms under cabinets, and hunting for the escaped rat. The store walkie talkies crackled “someone let a rat loose!”.

We left with a small gray-white rat with “Dumbo ears”. That’s what those are called in the rat literature. He, or she, we didn’t have a chance to check, will be introduced to Algernon’s cage tonight. I was thinking they will recognize each other from the “Rats, feeder, small” tub. “Omg, you too! did anyone else make it?”

Sure enough, the two rats immediately huddled together. Algernon was comforting Simone - that’s the second rat’s name.

[jyl]

Update on Monday.

It’s been decided that Algernon and Simone will survive and be pet rats. We’ll take them back to Portland and my son will probably take them to his college house.

We’ve had pet rats before, they are intelligent and affectionate creatures when well socialized. These guys (? some neutering may be required) are still rather terrified, but will eventually realize that they might not be fed to snakes after all.

I like Ardy fine, he’s a handsome snake and quite friendly as snakes go, but personally I’d rather have pet rats than a pet snake.

I’d also happily shoot a wild rat - funny but I view them very differently depending on the circumstances.

[herr_oberst]

This American Life with Ira Glass, #801, "Must Be Rats on the Brain"

From WBEZ in Chicago.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/801/transcript

[unclebilly]

But how was the snake retrieved from under the cupboard?

[wdfifteen]

Great story! Algernon and Simone LOL!!
Glad things worked out.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by unclebilly

But how was the snake retrieved from under the cupboard?

Pulled out drawer, remove it from runners, then Ardy was exposed and just picked up and put into his tank. He is a placid snake, used to handling.

[herr_oberst]

Did I miss the resolution of the original issue? Did Aard ever eat a pinky?

[Superman]

You are one good story-teller, John.

[LWJ]

This is great. You are a fine storyteller.

Also, my eldest has 4 pet rats currently. And, we have had rats prior. Great pets.

Fun story. Good ending.

[Rick Lee]

I've had snakes and two of them got out. One was a Reticulated Python, which can be testy and grow quite large. It was when I lived in DC and it was pretty cold in the apt. Snake got out and coiled around my leg for warmth. He was about 4-5' long then. I must have looked like a huge mass of heat to him in that cold room.

My old Redtail Boa was a ferocious eater, great entertainment. He knew the second I walked into the house with live prey in a box. He could barely move for weeks, but walk in the house with a live rat, and he went into a frenzy almost immediately. BTW, they go up to a year without eating, so a few weeks is nothing to worry about.

[jyl]

Ardy is presumably being fed during his feedstay at the vivarium.

The score at the house is rats 4, snake 0, if you ignore that two of the rats were frozen so didn’t fully experience victory.

[jyl]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Great story! Algernon and Simone LOL!!
Glad things worked out.

Full names are George Algernon and Nina Simone. To their familiars, Al and Simo.

[gacook]

Quite an adventure, for sure.

I have very little experience with "pet" snakes and would never keep a rodent as a pet; however, when I was a kid, my sister had a pet snake. She fed it live rodents (don't recall if mice or rats). She fed it once and the snake apparently wasn't hungry, so the rodent stayed in the cage with the snake for a period of time (I think about a week), and eventually bit the snake. From that point forward, the snake was no longer docile enough to handle. Always tried to attack my sister. We ended up tossing it out into the desert to live out his life in the wild.

[masraum]

Wow!

You are...

Victory Rats!

[jyl]

Al and Nina are in our house in Portland, in a much larger cage, happily exploring. Our cat is enjoying her new “Rat TV”.

[Tobra]

This thread title gives me the greatest mental image.

In my head, you are the cartoon character of Johnny Quest as you do it