Little Road Rat

Mona, about a year ago.

Mona’s been with us now for one whole year, officially, as of the end of March. It’s 6am and right now she’s chewing on a lab block in her new cage, which I’m renovating one piece at a time. I can’t believe we still have her. She’s a true survivor, given all the crap she’s taken over the last year.

First, she had to get over the baby lice and sinus infection she picked up from her life as a feeder rat. Then, at this show last year, she got caught in the car door and was paralized from the waist down for about a week (that is a fantastic story if I ever make the time to tell it). Since then she’s survived dampness, cold, erratic diets, nearly lost the end of her tail, tried to hang herself once, ate an entire bottle of antibiotic ointment, several times guzzles transmission fluid, mashed her paws, nose, and/or tail dozens of times trying to get into or out of places she wasn’t supposed to, poked her nose into a candle flame and burned off half the whiskers on the left side of her face, and whenever she thinks she can get away with it, voluntarily falls several feet to the ground.

Recently, we took Mona to the vet. I had a dream some weeks ago in Sherwood that a big orange cat seized Mona about the neck on the left side of her. In the dream, I jumped up and stabbed the cat in the ribs, leaving Mona twitching, still alive, but I woke up before I determined whether or not she survived. Well, here about a week ago we checked on her, and noticed build-up in her left ear, which indicates an ear infection. So when we made it to Dallas, we took her to the vet who gave us a topical antibiotic to put in that ear. One drop every day for ten days, the standard procedure. Within a few days her ear cleared up, but it’ll still be a few days before we stop her treatment, just in case.

Mona is doing marvelously now. We’ve moved her cage from the wall of the van to a big clear plastic storage tub that I can more easily clean. Gradually I’m fixing it up for her to live comfortably. She doesn’t care for the cage much yet, but she’ll like it plenty when I’m done with it. It’ll have portholes and chew toys and hammocks galore, and I can easily clean and sanitize it. That’s a plus, because there are a couple of adorable, healthy, loving boy rats here that she met last year and I would like to breed her to them. We’re looking to raise a few pups, and hopefully keep one of the females to be a companion to Mona when she gets older (it’ll be a pup she’s fond of, of course). Finding good homes for the pups won’t be a problem out here – rats are super easy to take care of, adapt to their changing environment admirably, and everyone who’s met her absolutely loves Mona.

Mona is magic. She’s taught people how to love rats, she’s comforted people in distress, been a great companion to tripping hippies, and once even made a grown Texas man cry. Mona endears herself to everyone she meets. Our baby girl really is magical, as much as an animal can be. We’re convinced Mona will live forever… so long as she doesn’t kill herself first!

Peace!

 

Related articles

• Ask Dr. Mona: Salmonella (myfoxchicago.com)

Texas is Burning Down

Picture Taken 9/6/2011

While we’re over here on the east coast putting up with days on end of rain, Texas is slowly burning down. Recent arrivals from the state reported 115 degree weather and little fires everywhere on the road. Part of Scarborough Faire burnt down – The Junk (where we hung out on site and ordered food, drank beer, and listened to local musicians) is no more, along with severl booths that happened to be near it. One person died in that fire – Will, “The Pickle Guy.” I have yet to hear the details of his death.

Parts of “Toon Town” – a well-known part of the TRF (Texas Rennaisance Faire) campground – are gone, including several semi-permanent houses there. Ryan has a house in Toon Town and he’s been checking regularly on the status of the fires there. So far as I know, his house is fine, along with his home forge.

I heard that already, over one thousand homes have burnt to the ground, leaving one thousand families without a place to return to. Thousands more have evacuated, waiting in angst for the fire to burn out without anymore damages done. I have yet to get ahold of the family we stayed with in Scarborough, to see how they and their ranch are faring. Perhaps they’ve evacuated, too???

And while Texas is burning down, parts of New York are flooding due to the hurricane down south. The hurricane is pushing a huge storm system right up against the side of the Appalachian Mountains, the worst of it headed straight for New York. The Tuxedo Ren Faire shut down and evacuated about a week ago (this being Sept. 9th when this post was actually written), and I’m concerned about my friends who were trying to start a booth up there. Did they actually make it? Did they have to evacuate? Where are they now?

Until I learn more, or all of this crazy weather blows over, I keep my friends and fellow transients in my thoughts and prayers. Stay safe, you guys.

Peace.