Bo the Schitzoprenic Wonder Rat

Bo the Schitzophrenic Wonder Rat

Introduction

You may wonder at first why you are reading a story about a schizophrenic rat but I personally know why, it’s probably a combination of curiosity and wonder. I know you’ll probably think I am crazy but Bo the wonder rat was one of my favorite pets!

It was Febuary of 1999 when a friend’s mother came to the house to hand me a newspaper clipping. I had been known for a few years as “rat-girl” simply because I have owned so many and have become quite knowledgeable on the addictive little critters!

There in the paper was a picture of a tiny hooded rat being held up with a small article beside it. The story was that of horror, apparently an irresponsible snake owner had boarded up over 90 rats and who knows how many mice with little or no food in his house when he left town- forever. These poor creatures were not separated by gender thus many had babies and the local humane society was having a real tough time finding good quality pet homes for these little guys. I went to sleep that night with nothing but those poor creatures on my mind. I called up the next day and set up an appointment to go see them that week end.

I had a dream the night before I got them that I was to adopt two males- a black one and the one I saw in the newspaper. This was not my intention however, I had two female rats at home and I was going to bring home 1 or 2 females. RIGHT!

How I got Bo

I got there and there was an entire cage full of male baby rats, most with black hoods, one with an agouti (wild brown rat color) cap and an albino. And then there was one totally black rat with white paws and a white belly hanging out of a hammock made from an old pair of jeans. OH! He was such a gorgeous rat!! He was bigger than the others were and he was one of only two rats whom had a name- it was Larry. No offense to any one named Larry but I personally didn’t like that name at all! The woman there admitted these rats hadn’t been handled much and exclaimed Magic (the black rat’s brother) beat up the black rat when he was in the cage with him. That’s why he was in the young rat cage. Totally awestruck and in love I tried my hardest to adopt a girl from the other cage.

Unlike the males the humane society only had three albino females left. The rest of the rats had been sent to other shelters or adopted. I stuck my hand in the females’ cage and they were TINY! I wondered if they were even weaned yet. Then they nibbled on my hand, then they nibbled a little harder. This kept going on until I got the point and withdrew my hand. I wasn’t about to bring home a nippy rat so I went back to the boys’ cage, this time reaching in and petting them.

The black rat sat there totally still and fell asleep while I petted him! That’s it, he’s coming home with me!! No question about it! Now I had to find a roommate for him as rats are incredibly social creatures and need interaction with their own kind. The black hoodeds were skittish and jumpy, and I had to pick between the albino and the agouti capped. After 20 minutes I picked the agouti capped. Low and behold the woman told us he was the one in the newspaper! There was no way I could have known!!

I brought “Larry” and the agouti capped home and set them up in a nice cage. I took my time naming them. I wanted something that matched, but nothing too cute. My friend said to name the black one Mittens. No way! How un-masculine! Then I thought maybe Midnight and LoverBoy? How about Bobby and McGee? Then I heard the song the Story of Bo Diddley. Of course! How come I hadn’t thought of it before! Those names fit PERFECTLY! I named the Black one Bo and his buddy Diddley.

Bo & Diddley have Problems

Diddley although quite a bit smaller than Bo picked on him constantly, he was a ruthless bully toward poor Bo who was too meek! Off to the vet Diddley went and got fixed!! Every one thought I was nuts to spent $40 neutering a rat but you know what? It worked! He was gentle as a kitten, Bo on the other hand was still terrified of Diddley so Diddley went off to live with the girls and Bo got left alone.

Bo’s mental problems start…
Poor Bo was so inbred and so neglected in his earlier life that he had many mental problems, which I’d only find out later in life. I went out and got him a cage mate from a local rattery. That’s right there are people out there that breed pet rats and call themselves a rattery!

I named the new agouti dumbo (larger ears) Jangles after the song Mr. Bo Jangles. I tried to introduce Bo to Jangles very slowly. I couldn’t exactly let them meet on “neutral territory” as the experts suggest because Bo was one of those animals if you let him loose he’d be bouncing off the walls. He really reminded me of one of those people that drink 4 pots of coffee a day. So I put Jangles’ cage next to Bo’s and let them get used to each other’s smell.

Then one night I put Jangles in Bo’s cage and Bo ROCKETED 3 feet in the air straight up out of his cage!! I took this as a rather strong message- I DON’T want a cage mate!

Bo just got weirder as he got older. He eventually wouldn’t let you take him out of his cage (which I had to do for cage cleanings.) He’d squeal like a greased pig and squirm as if a dog had just caught him. And he’d go totally insane when I put him in the carrier for 5 minutes to clean out the cage. He’d pace back and forth and try to claw his way out. Then when it was time to go back into his cage he wouldn’t let you get a hold of him! He’d jump squeal and squirm so loudly you’d think we were trying to kill him!!

Bo would cling to the side of his cage like Velcro, he was always there with his nose sticking out and his paranoid eyes gleaming up at you. He’d sit there and literally huff and puff at Jangles in the next cage over who’d huff and puff right back!!

Bo was also afraid of thunderstorms. He’d predict them hours before they ever came by just standing there as perfectly still as a stone statue with his eyes looking up in terror. Eventually if you were to touch him during this time he’d spring three feet into the air, ricochet off his cage and dash into his hide out.

I asked every one what could I do to calm him down?! It was said to use some good old-fashioned Rescue Remedy. For those of you who don’t know, Rescue Remedy is an herbal flower liquid that you put in your drink to relieve stress. I learned it works great on rats! I put 5 drops in his water bottle, the rat experts suggested more but I didn’t want to overdose and kill him so I put 5 drops and not 12!

5 drops worked great! Bo calmed down immensely, hid during thunderstorms but didn’t throw a fit and didn’t mind going away from his cage! Of course Rescue Remedy pretty much lacquered him up and he acted pretty dopey but at least he wasn’t biting off his toes any more. He had bitten off 4 or 5 toes right to the very foot when a thunderstorm came last time around!

In memory of Bo

Bo was the best little rat. Although crazy he gave me challenges, made me laugh and eventually made me cry. He died of a stroke at the age of 1 year and approximately 6 months. He had made so much progress and was doing so well… why now?

Jangles followed a few months later, he had become paralyzed completely in his lower extremities and eventually died a few weeks later. Diddley is still doing well, living with a gorgeous muscular PEW (Pink-eyed White) girl.

And that about concludes the Story of Bo the Schizophrenic Wonder Rat. We miss you Bo!