MetaChat - R.I.P., rat face.

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04 March 2008

R.I.P., rat face. →[More:]Mr. Exterminator Guy (known around here as the rat man) just came to empty the traps he set last week. He caught a breeding pair, and the mama was pregnant. :(

I'm glad he caught them before the little ones came out, but it still made me sad.

A moment of silence, please, for the departed rat mama. (The daddy I don't care so much about.)

And here's looking forward to prolonged moments of silence during the night, assuming the suckers are gone for good! Yay!

post by: mudpuppie at: 14:12 | 30 comments

Oooh it's a good thing you got rid of that breeding pair. You know rats mate on the day they give birth, right? So they are pregnant while the littleuns are growing up, and give birth a couple of days after weaning them... and mate again, and again, and again.

So, a moment of silence, but you should definitely be happy about it as well.

posted by gaspode 04 March | 14:24

≡ Click to see image ≡

posted by essexjan 04 March | 14:27

I did NOT know that, 'pode.

Damn, I should have saved them for you. You know, for science.

Hey, what's their gestation period, anyway?

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 14:28

/puts nerd hat on

Their gestation period is 21-23 days, depending on strain. Interestingly, when they do get pregnant on the day they give birth, the gestation period is lengthened (implantation is delayed) because generally the pups are weaned at around 25, 26ish days. Cool, huh?

Well, except when they live in your house.

posted by gaspode 04 March | 14:39

Great, now Mrs. Frisby's house won't be moved in time and little Timothy is going to die.

posted by King of Prontopia 04 March | 14:58

I don't see how rats could ever enjoy sex, then.

posted by danf 04 March | 14:58

So, gaspode, will you be following the rats' example and mating again on the day you give birth? Or is it more likely to be "DON'T YOU COME NEAR ME WITH THAT THING EVER AGAIN!!!"

posted by essexjan 04 March | 15:03

essexjan, I'll be mating while I give birth.

Oh, wait...

posted by gaspode 04 March | 15:10

Update on my skritchy skratchy thing in this thread - after listening to it for over a year, we put out poison. Two days later the sounds were gone, and haven't returned. I felt horrible, but I was so creeped out, and not knowing what it was was the scariest thing of all. If I had seen Shane's comment about ammonia I would have tried that first - clever! I know I hate the smell of ammonia, why shouldn't critters?

So this week we started to renovate our upstairs bathroom - we took the walls down to the studs. Tucked into one of the nooks between two studs we found a big cache of the poison, which looks like tiny aquamarine pellets. "It" must have thought the poison was delicious, and squirreled some away for a rainy day.

posted by iconomy 04 March | 15:15

Maybe just the orgasms.

Danf, you obviously haven't seen their scrotums.
i think i understand now, how impeding your ability to walk might be ok.

posted by ethylene 04 March | 15:16

The orgasms were for gaspode, not iconomy's bathroom renovation.
We all know renovations are about just taking it.

posted by ethylene 04 March | 15:18

Alas, poor rat face.

posted by occhiblu 04 March | 16:14

Oh yeah, I wish I'd seen that thing about the ammonia.

But hell, with my luck, if I'd tried it, I would have ended up with a pregnant mama rat giving birth to a bunch of ammonia-mutated freakazoid rat pups.

And that, by any measure, would have been worse.

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 16:29

which looks like tiny aquamarine pellets

And if you found turquoise rodent shit around, you know that it was consumed, and than said rodents are either dead or on the way there.

posted by danf 04 March | 17:12

Danf, you obviously haven't seen their scrotums.

So gaspode sent you some of her rat porn? I've heard rumors about it.

posted by danf 04 March | 17:14

i bet you can see one from there, dan. They are that big, rat scroti.

posted by ethylene 04 March | 17:17

I swear, I read "R.I.P., rat face" and thought "Rosanna Arquette died? But she must be so young!"

I feel bad now. Uh, kinda.

posted by Elsa 04 March | 18:17

That is so mean and so funny.

posted by ethylene 04 March | 18:18

AAAAH! Rosanna Arquette! I have nightmares (not really) that she would play me in the movie of my life. I mean, I'd forgive the casting director from the after-life I don't believe in, but she's just too quirky and too rat faced!

omg I've been on metachat so long I'm reapeating myself. I know I've shared this before.

Isn't it charming?

Good luck with the critter control, mudpuppie. If the face of Roseanna Arquette shows up in your pancakes, you know you have a Real Problem.

posted by rainbaby 04 March | 19:11

That is so mean and so funny.

I deeply wish I were kidding.

posted by Elsa 04 March | 19:13

That's why it's funny.

If i live after you, rb, i will try to stop that movie of the week.
i'll just call the Arquette Manor House and we'll all chat.
i bet their get togethers are fun.

posted by ethylene 04 March | 19:15

Oh great. Now I have that fucking Toto song stuck in my head. Thanks, y'all.

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 19:17

Meet you all the way, Ros-a-nn-a...

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 19:19

you suck, pups.

posted by gaspode 04 March | 19:29

It's the earworm. It's eating my BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINS!!!

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 19:37

mudpuppie: whatever you do--DO NOT CLICK ON THIS!

posted by hadjiboy 04 March | 20:57

Okay, I WON'T!

posted by mudpuppie 04 March | 21:13

Now, you weren't actually supposed to listen to me--who'd do a crazy thing like that;)

posted by hadjiboy 05 March | 00:58

I'm hip to your reverse psychology, hadjiboy. Try another tack next time.

posted by mudpuppie 05 March | 01:43

Well, that's pretty much it for me. There's that, and then there's begging you to see it, but that won't work. Damn, should've just kept my mouth shut and posted the link--that's it.

(here's a bunny though:))

posted by hadjiboy 05 March | 02:47

← This woman is my new inspiration. || I am pretty stupid: →

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