Heroic deeds

[wolfpuck (imported)]

All hail the Hero known to mere mortals as "Wolfpuck".

As i sat and watched educational programming (southpark) i found the need to urinate building within, holding out as long as i could i finally approached the room. little did i know the destiny of another living soul would soon be in my hands. I entered the bathroom with the intent of emptying my bladder and i approached the cheap white toilet with it's stains around the rim from weeks of build up. glancing inside to see if anybody left a floater, i discovered something moving in the cloudy discolored water. upon closer inspection i realized it was one of my three mice that co-habitate my humble abode. I had no idea how long he had been treading water in that toilet bowl, he seemed to be tiring... thinking quickly i reached in to fish him out. at first he tried to get away from me in a panic, unsure of what was going on, but on the third try i got ahold of him and scooped him out. bravely i drew the mouse from the brown water wich surely would have been his grave. Lifting him out of the bowl he hopped out of my hand and onto some soiled towels to go recover from his ordeal. Then at that point after the heroic deed was done i moved to the sink and proceeded to wash myself vigorously with anti-bacterial soap.

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY HERO THAT IS WOLFPUCK!!

*stands before you all in tights with his underwear on the outside, and a towel hanging down his back for a cape, posing most hero-ish*

[jemagirl (imported)]

I think it is not so much that you were brave enough to stick your hand in the toilette that makes you a hero, but the fact that you were caring enough.

Jema

[wolfpuck (imported)]

I think it is not so much that you were brave enough to stick your hand in the toilette that makes you a hero, but the fact that you were caring enough.

Jema

Thanks sweetie, i'm kind of attached to my mice. they are so adorable.

[madlarkin (imported)]

I a gree with Jemagirl, it is nice to see that there are people out there who care about the welfare of the other life that share this planet we call home with us

[wolfpuck (imported)]

*blushes* well i couldn't let him drown, he's too cute.

[Paolo]

Unless it was a pet mouse, I'd have flushed his ass...

[Uncle Flo (imported)]

Once when I was poorer than broke I shared my humble room with a mouse. I shared my dried bread crusts with him when they were all I had. The mouse was my companion and he gave me hope. --FLO--

[markdf (imported)]

I like mice, they're so full of scurrying and climbing and trouble.

Rats have more personality, but damn if it isn't fun to just watch mice go -- they have the energy of a bear that has the energy of two bears. You can get tired just watching the little critters.

[genderless (imported)]

Paolo don't be so mean. LOL

I myself have a sorta love/hate relationship when it comes to mice. I do marvel somewhat at how clever these little critters can be.

[wolfpuck (imported)]

these lil mice just sort of share my trailer with me, i feed em and occasionally rescue them when they get stuck somewheres. when i first got them, one of em chewed through my bag of flour all the way around the bottom of the bag. when i lifted the bag, the bottom, and all the flour stayed while i pulled the bag free... tricky buggers. havn't done anything like that since i started feeding them. I get rather lonely here and they are good company. one has taken to climbing on my computer desk or tv and watching me while i sit here all evening. even if they aren't my pets, they are good room-mates (flat mates to those of you in the uk) and it's easy to bring something home from McD's (my current job) to feed them, they love those lil sliced almonds that go in the asian salads.

[Paolo]

Well, yeah, I get the occasional wood roach (or water bug as they call 'em) here, and I've also got smoosh marks on the walls and rug, too...damned if I'm gonna feed 'em!

hehe

[JesusA]

Well, yeah, I get the occasional wood roach (or water bug as they call 'em) here, and I've also got smoosh marks on the walls and rug, too...damned if I'm gonna feed 'em!

hehe

Yeah! But should a stray kid show up, you know who's gonna care for it and feed it.

We'll probably be visiting the Mall of America during the Minneapolis MOM. I fully expect to turn around at some time and find a dozen or more kids following Paolo. They all understand....

[jemagirl (imported)]

I really like mice, but I worry our cats would love them

The poor little critters would most likely die of fright before the cats actually get a chance to finish them off.

Once there was a lizard in the house, but all they got was the tail, which they were both afraid of and fascinated by.

Jema

[wolfpuck (imported)]

i remember those lizards that would drop their tail behind and run, leaving the lil tail wriggling around. i don't mind killing those water bugs though. they look too much like oversized roaches.

[markdf (imported)]

I really like mice, but I worry our cats would love them

The poor little critters would most likely die of fright before the cats actually get a chance to finish them off.

Once there was a lizard in the house, but all they got was the tail, which they were both afraid of and fascinated by.

Jema

A zoology student I know once gave a mouse to the class python. They would catch wild mice, right, so that they could stuff them (apparently stuffing a mouse was part of the curriculum). One day they had an extra mouse, so she gave it to the snake.

The next morning, the snake was dead and the mouse was running around in circles, trying to get escape and get away from the dead snake. Turned out it had bitten off the snake's nose (which is fatal for many snakes).

No doubt, mice are much more clever and tough than people give them credit for. Not that I'd bet on a mouse versus your cat -- even the tamest housecats are still phenomenal predators when they feel inclined to try.

[wolfpuck (imported)]

true, cats are might hunters. i had a few cats i raised from kittens. tricky buggers. if i ever locked them outside they'd find a way in. i'll never forget the first time one came in through the air vents... i heard the scuttling in the vent and was thinking that had to be one big rat, then when the vent cover was pushed up i freaked out and jumped atop the bed in a panic, when Willow popped her head through i called her a bitch and petted her, gave her a treat or two.

[wolfpuck (imported)]

A moment of Silence for the dearly departed. i awoke this morning and wandered into the bathroom. to my horror, there sunk to the bottom of the water was one of my three mice in the toilet. I knew from the lack of movement that it was deceased and scooped him out. he was burried today at 1:10 pm behind the trailer and named "krull the destroyer" his partners Whiskers and Snuffles still roam the trailer. I believe it was the same one i pulled out of the water a while back, they seem to stick to their territorial areas in the trailer. whiskers is still here by the computer desk and spare room, and snuffles still wanders the kitchen. Krull... you will be missed, even if you used to wake me up every morning with your chewing in my room and occasionally darting acrossed my back while i slept. the times i rescued you out of the wooden hamper because you couldn't jump that high to get out... i should have woken up early for a morning leek and discovered you treading water but no, i slept in till 11 and you slipped away. may the mouse gods grant you joy in wich ever afterlife mice have.

[jemagirl (imported)]

I'm so sad to hear Krull hased passed away. I hope he is in mouse heaven.

Hugggggs

Jema

[wolfpuck (imported)]

thank you Jema, but now whiskers has passed on. i came home from work and there he was laying by my computer desk dead. i burried him outside under a tree. havn't seen Snuffles for quite a while either. i think i'm alone now, maybe i should get a gerbil or a hamster.

[Paolo]

Looking through some old pics, I once had an obese pet-shoppe rat; a large hooded rat. She was even housebroken. She would go back to her one corner of the cage to potty every time. I used to let her run loose in the bedroom, until she chewed up a good blanket. She died of a heart attack about 5 years ago during a thunderstorm that sent a non-touchdown tornado overhead.

My condolences on your mouse dying, even though I think wild rodents who "come in" aren't good pets.

[wolfpuck (imported)]

thanks, i really should get myself a real pet at some point. the company would be nice.

[sapient (imported)]

On the issue of pets: I have no pets on my own, because partly I don't think I'm responsible enough. But sometimes I get to borrow the pets of friends when they go abroad. (Appearantly THEY think I'm dependeble enough...)

I nursed a chinchilla for a year and a half, for a former girlfriend. They are close to rats and other rodents. I found him to be very social and affectionate, more so then most other rodents i have encountered. But in their very own way. They seem to be to small to completely take in the full size of a human, so they socialize with the part closest to them. If it's the hand, they treat it as they would a companion. (Chinchillas are roughly fist sized, so it probably triggers their instincts. I would scratch him, and he would cuddle up to the hand and sort of purr like a kitten.)

But he often tried to climb up to the level of my face, so he could look into it. When I sat against the wall, he liked to jump up on my shoulder and nibble my ear. That was very nice, although they are rodents with very sharp teeth mind you.

He often "talked" to me, to sort of know I was around when he was in his cage and couldn't see me. And if I said something back, made any kind of noise really, he would go on. That was very cool. We "talked" for hours sometimes.

Despite all warnings about the danger that he would chew through electrical cables he only really did that once. When one was interfering with his favorite "tunnel" behind the bed. He probably thought of it as root and tried to remove it. He couldn't understand what made him hurt. I removed it (and replaced it with a whole one) and made sure it didn't interfere with his running and he never touched them again.

One drawback though, they are impossible to house train (though the feces are small, dry pellets). A vaccum cleaner is necessary. But they are extinct in the wild and are normaly only raised by fur-farmers, so having one as a pet is really an act of animal conservation, kind of.

[wolfpuck (imported)]

a very wonderful story, the chinchilla sounds adorable. everybody loves their pets. what ever happened to the chinchilla?

[twaddler (imported)]

Awwww! That's too cute. I'm going to have to check into those.

[sapient (imported)]

He got very old, for such a small animal. In the end he was 14 years old, if I remember correctly. He was tired, not so active anymore, and lost most of his eyesight. But the last time I saw him, he still lighted up when he could smell my hand and greeted it with joyous talking. He died soon after.