My daughter was living in Albuquerque when her roomie's dog killed her Guinea Pig, so she froze him, wrapped him in a towel for insulation and shipped him to us in Florida for internment at the family home! He was still pretty solid and had no odor when he got there...

One animal I can't let the rats near are small terrier dogs -- Their reaction is instinctive, unlike larger dogs (I have photo of three Rat-ladies on a friend's dog's back) -- Even cats don't react because the rats, being very tame and unschooled in behavior, don't act like prey -- If a rat placed on floor in front of cat advances, the cat doesn't know what to do and usually departs...

I am going to have some rats in my life again if I can get local pet store to keep me on their rat-baby list -- They are really fun when young.

Pete,

My son & his family had a hairless rat. As adorable as they thought he was, I'm afraid I just couldn't see it, and I love almost all animals.

Lani

Ratharriet (so named because she wasn't Harry!) was so ugly she was almost cute -- Rat temps run about 104*, so she always felt very warm when you'd pick her up -- She actually had very fine hair, but not fur -- Poor thing was maybe inbred because her whiskers, normally long and straight and used for stuf like running along walls, were curled and useless -- Stupid naked rat would always try to attack spiky hedgehog I had in my little trailer.

I had a rat named Ratbertha and decided that since I was her adoptive parent, I should provide role models -- I cut little photos of Hillary out of the paper and glued them to small magnets to hang in her cage -- She would pull them down and put them in the p** corner of her cage -- Clearly a Conservative Rat!

Later on, I wanted to get a cage mate for her and wanted to have some political balance in the cage so I decided to get a Liberal Rat. But how would I find one? Walk into the pet stores and ask to see their selection of Liberal Rats? Tried that and got strange looks -- Finally one day, I walked in, looked down and realized there was a whole tank full of clearly Liberal Rats -- That's when I got Ratharriet, clearly Liberal because she refused to wear animal fur!!!

That's a true story!

Typical rats below:

[img:left]http://z.about.com/d/exoticpets/1/0/z/Y/dustyfuzzyP1010006.jpg[/img]

OK Pete, you got me. They are kinda cute.

I actually felt bad for the pretty little one that my 45 lb husky mix left dead on my deck for me the other day. There will be no rodents safe in my home or yard as long as he's living here. In the last couple of weeks we've had to pick up 7 possums, 4 moles, 3 snakes, and one rat. And this is in a yard surrounded by a 6' high fence. Thank goodness the gators can't get in here or he would probably go after them, too.

And all the while my 120 lb shepherd just says "HUH?".

Lani

Pete:

I am NOT a rodent lover, but gotta admit they are kinda cute.

I love your stories, very funny.

My rottweiler is a mouse killer. Darn two cats couldnt get the wild one that snuck in. In fact my older cat looked at it while it ran right in front and didnt even attempt to help me. The dog rears up like a horse and trampled the poor little thing. The rottweiler thankfully doesnt go after the other wild game thats outside. I love FL but not all those outdoor 'pets'.

My grandfather's pet parrot, Alla, who use to chase my brother and I around when we were small, died and my grandfather put him in the refrig until he took him to be stuffed. My grandmother wasn't too pleased but then Alla greeted everyone at the front door until they both died and we sold their home.

My neighbor has two talking parrots. I have to admit they are pretty cool. They sound like juvenile delinquents. When I would look at the one he would say, "Oh boy, we're in trouble now" it's pretty funny. They say things like; oh boy, hey you, look at me, oh oh, that's funny, trouble and some other stuff. My neighbors had them for years.

A client of mine had Patrick the parrot in the lobby of their hotel for years. A friend of theirs had a parrot who wouldn't talk, so they borrowed Patrick for a couple of weeks to see if he could get theirs talking some.

At the end of Patrick's visit, it was apparent that the friends were not living in quiet, peaceful bliss, but also obvious that they "made up" quite often. Between Patrick's new foul vocabulary and the making-up sound effects, it was no longer prudent to let him live in the lobby. He was promptly moved to my clients home.

Big difference between wild rats and pet/lab rats -- Friends and I used to shoot rats with .22 rifles at open dumps -- Don't feel bad about that at all, but I have cried (just a little, guys...) at the deaths of pet rats.

Kinda like the human race, some are to be loved and some are to be shot...

I was going to write an article about Ratbertha for the Rat and Mouse Gazette, but, sadly, it isn't published any more.

I have a lot of Sea Stories -- BTW, the difference between Fairytales and Sea Stories is that one begins "Once upon a time..." and the other begins "This is no sh**!"

Okay: Rat, python, rottweiller, guinea pig, and parrot therapy. Are they all better than a Mexican clinic? In the immortal words of one VP candidate: "You betcha".
Now that I know links are not always perused, here is a cut and paste about llama therapy:
Amazing success stories using llamas for Therapy.
We take our llamas to several venues to be used as therapy. One company has as many as 60 autistic and special needs clients take our llamas through our obstacle course twice a month. The progress of the clients toward social skills is amazing.
The full link to the complete webpage of West Wind Farm is
West Wind Farm The excerpt was from the button: What to do with llamas. Walking a 6 foot llama down to the river and then having him perform on the obstacle course was such a nice contrast to a year ago when I could barely stagger from the car to the radiation table.
LOVE all the pet stories. I know it got a little off topic, but they perhaps OCF posting should be listed as an adjunctive therapy.