Mörkö the not-so-dangerous rat. He's a bit troubled below, seeing the outside world (my backyard) for the first time.
I got him on December 22th, 1999. They mistook him as a female in the petshop. Oh well, I'm not taking him back... He was only four weeks old then, really just a rat baby. He was very clumsy, and slept most of the time.
Many rat and mice guides tell that rats can't live with other rodents. I wanted to test that; when Mörkö was younger, it slept and played quite peacefully with the mice. Sometimes Mörkö ran in the wheel together with #3. But friendship with rats and mice doesn't seem to last very long. I think the problems started soon after a time when they were sitting in the wheel side by side, looking around carefully. Then Mörkö noticed #3's tail in front of him, took it into his paws, and started chewing on it. The mouse didn't even notice.
On 26.2.2000 Mörkö finally ate the last mouse, #3, after I had forgotten the cage door open...
(I cremated #3)
The mice came in my home in fall 1999. I relocated them from my kitchen to a terrarium in my bathroom. #1 (male) and #4 (male) have died in accidents. #2 (female) and #3 (female) are still alive in Dec 1999.Here is their terrarium. They live in the pile of egg boxes I've put there.
They seem to prefer sunflower seeds over all other foods.
The #3 likes to run quite a lot in the wheel. It quite often trips in the spokes, grasps them with all four feet, and then goes around a few times with the momentum of the wheel. Then it just continues running. The current record that I have seen is five revolutions.
Well, I removed the wheel after #4 probably died in it, and put it upside down, hanging from the roof (see the pictures earlier).Some infrared shots.
All images are Copyright © Marko Grönroos 2000. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying prohibited.