In the ongoing Great Rat Roundup, about ten days ago, on two consecutive nights, I caught two identical, juvenile female rats (I have two live traps), obviously littermates.
These were toooooo cute and too fragile to release into the elements at this time of year, so I resolved to keep them. We named them Muffin and Pumpkin.
I made them as comfortable as possible using the traps as temporary cages, and found them to be inquisitive and unafraid, happy to take apple pieces from my fingers through the sides of the cages.
To accomodate them, I had to buy another cage for Lucky and Jack, who had been living separately until Lucky got over his sniffles. Lucky being well and no longer in need of quarantine, and the new cage having arrived, all the movings out and movings in were accomplished yesterday.
That’s a child’s fingertip, btw. Although Muffin has grown some since her arrival, she’s disarmingly little.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Sounds like a pretty good gig for a couple of little girlies. I hope the cage-free population remains static until such time as outdoors becomes compatible.
Can my cats come over to play? They’re very gentle. 
Not likely.
However, we’ve got the house set up so the freelance rats aren’t a problem. There’s no food in containers they can access, and as long as I leave a few nuggets of Antoine’s food in the usual place at night, they’re invisible except the nuggets are gone in the morning. When it warms some, I’ll reconvene the roundup.
Best wishes,
Jerry
He just does this to annoy and gross me out, ya know…
EWWWWWWWW, RATS!
We had rats once. It didn’t play out the same way as at Jerry’s house.
One of the few pleasures I have left in life.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Jerry, you’re way too soft on trespassing mice and relatives . . . you need to get a CAT!
Yeah. A cat named VICTOR!
Thanks, folks.
I appreciate your willingness to hold back on the wisecracks about killing my pets.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Duplicate message deleted.
Awwww…you know, I’ve always been a bit afraid of rats. Mice don’t bother me at all (unless they’re in my cupboards), but rats have always been a different story. This one is so darn cute, though. And TINY! What a sweet picture, Jerry 
I may be able to even look at that one with out jumping onto a chair! 
All in good fun. Hints taken.
The really cool thing about these little girls is, they’re completely tame. You can open the cage, put your hand near them, and they’ll come over and sniff your fingers.
Of course, they’re much faster, wigglier and far better jumpers than domestic rats. One has to approach them differently, or they’ll be gone. It remains to be seen if they’ll ever accept being picked up and handled. But their wildness has no aggressive component, no fear of people, no inclination to bite, as would be the case with an older wild rat.
Best wishes,
Jerry
Thanks, Weeks.
I’ll go back and edit some of my comments.
Best wishes,
Jerry
“Muffin”, eh? I see that you have exemplary good taste, Jerry. We could all learn from you, I think.