Jaron's Journal
| August 14, 2009, 11:53 PM A small tribute to Krycek |
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Hey all, my 2 1/2 year old friend, Krycek, died peacefully today after a long and full life. He is survived by his surrogate brother, Ziggy Stardust, and will be missed dearly. He was the best rat I've ever known (even though I've only truly known 2), and according to Rachel and I, he was "Dad's rat." This wasn't how we originally intended it. When we went to Petco back in March of 2007, we each intended to pick a rat. Rachel wanted the most vibrant and healthy of the bunch, so she chose Krycek, the one that was running laps in the cage. He was supremely hard to catch (we almost had to choose another rat because of it), but when we finally got him, we thought he was going to be "Mom's rat." Then I picked a more effeminate, pale rat, who I thought would fit the pre-picked name and persona of Ziggy Stardust. That's how we picked "Dad's rat." He was, after all, named after the famous alter ego of one of my favorite musicians of all time... When we got them home together, Krycek quickly became the dominate rat, and he ran a tight cage. When we would let them out, Krycek would run wild, and Ziggy would tend to want to stay close to us where he felt safe. We naturally liked Ziggy because of this. But often when we would try to put Krycek back into his cage, he would squeak and run away from us. We called him "our feral rat" because of this. Over time I felt compelled to train him out of this, so I singled him out, and started to discipline him when he behaved like this. At first he hated it, but then, he grew to respect and love me because of it; and he became a much more social rat. And while I was away training Krycek, Ziggy was craving attention from the parent he chose to get along with, and their personalities seemed to mesh much better. The rest is history. We basically switched rats :) Anyways, we eventually got these guys to beg for treats, jump a foot or more between chairs, affectionately "groom" us, recognize their names, "chicka-chicka" (the little teeth grinding noise they make when they're content) and so on and so forth. They've been great companions over the years, especially Krycek. Anyways, I just thought I'd let everyone know how much I loved the little guy, and I recommend rats to anyone who wants an awesome pet! If you want to know more about how cool he was, don't be afraid to ask questions. |
Comment by Silver Autumn on August 15, 2009, 2:24 AM Sadness He will be deeply missed. But we have our fond memories. |
