A Very Special Rat Called Delaney
by Cheryl Mehler 

Cheryl runs KCJ Ratpack Rattery and may be reached by the email at the bottom of this Rat Tale.

This is a story about Delaney.

I, having a passion for animals, wanted my daughters to be able to have pets of their own. Pets they didn’t have to beg for as I always did. We tried fish, underwater frogs, a bird (still have), a bunny (had for 5 yrs), a Bearded Dragon lizard (still have), hamsters and a couple Guinea Pigs.

Finally, I have learned 2 things. It is best to wait until a child is 8ish before you get yourself (I mean them) a pet of their own. Secondly – always get them a pair of rats!!!

In the spring of 2002, we contacted Rouge’s Rattery. They agreed to breed a litter for us. They also agreed to sell me a, hopefully, pregnant female. Well, she was not pregnant. We had kept two boys from the litter that was breed for us. They are both awesome! I could breed one of them to Stella! I choose Toby, the dumbo, to be, hopefully, the daddy.

Well, to my delight, we were successful!! Ten healthy, beautiful babies!!

In this, our only litter – ever - there where 2 that were smaller than the rest. As time passed, these two didn’t seem to be thriving. Then, Stella, their mom, began pushing them away from the rest. I had no idea what to do; I just kept putting them back with the others to feed.

To no avail, I called my husband (a Veterinarian) and asked him to bring a shot to put my baby girl down.

While I awaited his return home, I decided to try one more thing. I took the two little ones (I called them preemies because they reminded me of my son who was over 10 weeks premature) and two of the normal sized ones, and put only those 4 in with Stella.

Low and behold, she took care of them. They grew and thrived. I continued to put them with their mom on shifts.

As time went on, the male caught up. But the little girl never did. She only grew to about 1/3 the size of the others. I guess Stella knew what she was doing. It turns out that Delaney has one totally blind eye and one that has very diminished capacity. Since rats don’t see well anyway, that’s not saying much.

Some people thought I should breed her because she is some type of merle. I just couldn’t do that. First of all, she isn’t perfect. Second, I don’t feel it would be fair to her.

She is unsure of people other than family members. As a matter of fact, my oldest daughter doesn’t hold her much. She is more into her Toby. Therefore, most of the time, Delaney won’t let her pick her up. But when she knows you, she knows you. She stays close and is very comfortable. I suppose she doesn’t miss a sense she never had. She depends very much on smell. I always need help when cleaning her cage because I use latex gloves and she won’t let me pick her up once I’m done. She can’t recognize my sent.

She is almost two as I write this. She is healthy and very happy. I see a lot of differences between her and her normal sister. But let me tell you, she has totally captured my heart. She is sweet and smart. She is a fighter. I’m glad I didn’t let Stella decide whether she should live or die. I have learned a lot from Delaney. Like you don’t have to be perfect to be amazing.

One night my younger daughter was playing with Delaney and Tess. She didn’t close the cage door completely and little as she was, she could work her way out. In the middle of the night, while I was sleeping, I could feel someone watching me. We had just seen the second Harry Potter movie. I got this overwhelming feeling that it was Dowby (the house elf) from the movie. I opened my eyes and turned my head, only to be looking right at Delaney (who looks quite a bit like Dowby if I’m being totally honest). Oh, if most people only knew how bonded rats can be to their human. She didn’t see her escape as a chance for freedom (all my rats love their cage, it’s home!). She saw it as a chance to come hang out with me!

As I conclude this story – several months later, Delaney has passed on. She lived for two and a half years, which truly surprised me. She was, to this point, the rattie love of my life. She will be missed and thought of often.

I hope her little life, now shared with you, will have the same lesson of what Amazing might be.

Delaney’s mom

Copyright © 2005 Cheryl Mehler  mehlerfam@comcast.net This story may not be reproduced in part or in its entirety without written permission from the author. Special thanks go to Cheryl for allowing Delaney's story to be posted here.