From an email exchange between me and The Smit:
monster: Also, if you look at what he's signing in the other pictures...they're mostly food, aside from "good" and "bite finger", which might as well be about food. He's cute.
Smit: And knows all the most important lingo.
monster: Check out the last picture on this page...
http://www.koko.org/world/pics_g4.htmlTotal beefcake!
Smit: Make a way better cover of Fab than any they've ever run to date, I'm sure.
***
Also, I had the rats on my shoulder and they were being all cute and nestling against my neck. Rats do this thing that's kinda like purring...like, you can feel their bodies vibrating. I don't know if it's really purring, but I think of it that way. They were doing that.
Then, suddenly, they both decided to burrow under my shirt and they were so scratchy! I decided to clip their nails, and bundled them, one at a time, into a winter hat (or toque, if you will) and that worked better. They didn't like it, but I managed to clip 'em a bit. Then I gave them cookies to make up for wrapping them in a hat and clipping their nails. Spooky is definitely much harder to contain than Skooshy. She was NOT into staying in the hat, and I had to use both elbows to keep her from getting away.
I hope that this will result in me being less scratched for a little while. My arms make me look like I'm a rose gardener or some such.