Rats!
Today, I decided to look up pet rats in google to see
what they normally eat. Then I got addicted to reading the rat info.,
so I continued to read and I discovered something very interesting:
Muricide is a stereotyped behavior, performed in much the same way each time: the rat chases the mouse around the cage and bites it using its sharp front incisors, usually aiming for the mouse's head, neck, or upper back. The first bite is frequently fatal, but the mouse may delay the rat's attacks by defending itself (by rearing up and boxing with its front paws or laying on its back). Eventually, however, the rat delivers a fatal bite. Mouse-killing behavior is very rapid, lasting only a few seconds
Karli (1956) found that all mouse-killing rats (wild or domestic) consumed part of the mice they killed. Specifically, out of 683 mice killed by rats, after 7 hours 25% of the mice had been entirely eviscerated (brain, thoracic and abdominal viscera), 67% had been partially eviscerated, and only 8% had not been eaten.
Wild rats tended to start eating at the spot where they had bitten the mouse, which is usually the neck. They gradually opened the thorax and consumed the thoracic viscera, then proceeded to the liver. In contrast, domestic rats went right to the brain, opening the skull and consuming all or part of the brain, no matter what killing method had been used (Karli 1956).
Rat Behavior
It's rather disgusting, don't you think? Due to excessive homework, I haven't been able to spend any time with my pets... My rabbits should be okay, since they have each other to keep them company (or to fight with), but my rat, on the other hand...
Well, I took my rat, Cow, out today and let her get on my shoulder, though she preferred to be on my neck, so I let her get on my neck (after putting on a jacket). Then she started to sniff (a lot) and kept licking me. She licked my fingers (I could've sworn it was washed), my neck, and even part of my face. Not sure if it's a sign of affection, or whatnot, but it was really cute. She kept walking from one side of my neck to the other and sniffing. Sometimes I could even hear her sniff.
This might seem conceited, but it's not meant to be. I typed in Fantasy Forest anime in google images, and my whole galleries (Chobits/Full Moon) showed up! They even put the thumbnails there :tongue:.
I entered the Icon Madness icontest I'm currently using one of the avatars I made for that contest. I hope I win. I'm now using a different, faster method for making avatars. Instead of making a different abstract in 400x400, then resizing it everytime I make a new avatar, I'm going to create textures from my previous graphics and paste them on my avatars. It worked pretty well, I think. Here's my other avie:
Rukia's gonna be rescued in the episode that just got released! I'll download it as soon as it gets subbed. I can't wait!
Muricide is a stereotyped behavior, performed in much the same way each time: the rat chases the mouse around the cage and bites it using its sharp front incisors, usually aiming for the mouse's head, neck, or upper back. The first bite is frequently fatal, but the mouse may delay the rat's attacks by defending itself (by rearing up and boxing with its front paws or laying on its back). Eventually, however, the rat delivers a fatal bite. Mouse-killing behavior is very rapid, lasting only a few seconds
Karli (1956) found that all mouse-killing rats (wild or domestic) consumed part of the mice they killed. Specifically, out of 683 mice killed by rats, after 7 hours 25% of the mice had been entirely eviscerated (brain, thoracic and abdominal viscera), 67% had been partially eviscerated, and only 8% had not been eaten.
Wild rats tended to start eating at the spot where they had bitten the mouse, which is usually the neck. They gradually opened the thorax and consumed the thoracic viscera, then proceeded to the liver. In contrast, domestic rats went right to the brain, opening the skull and consuming all or part of the brain, no matter what killing method had been used (Karli 1956).
Rat Behavior
It's rather disgusting, don't you think? Due to excessive homework, I haven't been able to spend any time with my pets... My rabbits should be okay, since they have each other to keep them company (or to fight with), but my rat, on the other hand...
Well, I took my rat, Cow, out today and let her get on my shoulder, though she preferred to be on my neck, so I let her get on my neck (after putting on a jacket). Then she started to sniff (a lot) and kept licking me. She licked my fingers (I could've sworn it was washed), my neck, and even part of my face. Not sure if it's a sign of affection, or whatnot, but it was really cute. She kept walking from one side of my neck to the other and sniffing. Sometimes I could even hear her sniff.
This might seem conceited, but it's not meant to be. I typed in Fantasy Forest anime in google images, and my whole galleries (Chobits/Full Moon) showed up! They even put the thumbnails there :tongue:.
I entered the Icon Madness icontest I'm currently using one of the avatars I made for that contest. I hope I win. I'm now using a different, faster method for making avatars. Instead of making a different abstract in 400x400, then resizing it everytime I make a new avatar, I'm going to create textures from my previous graphics and paste them on my avatars. It worked pretty well, I think. Here's my other avie:
Rukia's gonna be rescued in the episode that just got released! I'll download it as soon as it gets subbed. I can't wait!