I
was working over at the shop Monday. Rocky and Gunnar had finally
got over there a couple of weeks ago and done whatever they needed to
do to stabilize the framing so I spent the day doing the final
cleaning of the last of the torn out rooms in order to start moving
all the boxes off the big work table since, apparently, we aren't
completely retired after all. We have two jobs waiting for after the
first of the year. I had put them off with my very appropriate
excuse of still recovering from the flood and both were willing to
wait til then.
I
had been back in the storeroom part of the shop at least once or
twice earlier but when I was getting ready to close it up I
walked over there to turn off the light and saw this very small furry
little creature in front of the opening to the storeroom that I am
certain hadn't been there the other times I was back there. It was
laying very still but on a closer look was alive.
An
infant rat I surmise. This poor little thing, barely 2” excluding
it's tail, was on the cold concrete, much too young, young enough to
still be nursing though it's eyes were open. I looked around for a
nest which I found no evidence of. It was hungry and cold and lost.
I put on some gloves and picked it up, cleaned the dust and cobweb
off it's little face and it started nosing for a nipple. Broke my
heart which is crazy since if it had been a full grown rat I'd have
wanted to kill it. What to do? I finally got a shallow box and put
an old t-shirt rag in it and put it in there so at least it wouldn't be
on the cold concrete and maybe the mother would come looking for it
though I imagine the mother is the one that carried it out of the
nest and left it to die for whatever reason wild things do that.
Went
over to check on it yesterday morning and it was not in the box, had
climbed out and was once again covered in dust and cobwebs.
So I cleaned it off again and put it back in the box. Went back about mid afternoon and it was nowhere to be found.
Awww poor sweet little thing. It almost has a puppy face. Thank you for giving it comfort. <3
ReplyDeleteIt still had enough animal instinct to keep looking. Let's hope it found a good place to fade back into the universe.
ReplyDeleteWell, I have to say that you handled the situation really well. I know that some people probably would have tried to give it food and so forth but...well.
ReplyDeleteA conundrum as yes, it is a rat. And a baby too. We are so hardwired to protect babies of all sorts, aren't we? That is just who we are.
yes, hardwired to love babies. otherwise we would kill them!
DeleteEvery baby is beautiful, even a rat.
ReplyDeleteIt's a baby squirrel! I have seen them many times. Mom squirrel probably came and go him they carry them by the scruff just like dogs do...Hope that is the case for him.
ReplyDeletea commenter on face book suggested the same thing. but I did an image search for baby squirrels and while the head looks right, all the images of baby squirrels with fur had fur on their tails and their tails are fatter at the body. I hope that you are right and the mom did come fetch it if it was actually a squirrel but why and how would it have been left that far in my shop. it was a nice day, not cold or wet.
Deleteplus, I think baby squirrels that little are hairless, barely 2" without the tail.
DeleteDo you have a cat...it may have been brought in there by a cat or the mom may have been trying to move it and got caught it is a mystery sure looks like a baby squirrel...you may find this interesting:
Deletehttp://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/local/john-a-torres/2016/09/30/torres-saving-baby-squirrels-yes-you-read-right/91121090/
I've never seen a rat that young. It looks cute in a way that most rats don't.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure it's a squirrel. I raised one from that stage. But you're right about the tail. Our little one started out with very, very fine fur, but on the tail, too. It may be that this one had been injured, or was diseased, or was born somehow "not right" and had been abandoned by the mother.
ReplyDeletethat's what I thought too. abandoned. the head was more squirrel like but it seemed too small to be covered with so much fur to be a squirrel. and are squirrels giving birth now? seems kind of early.
Deleteyoungster is a rat
ReplyDeleteOK, I'm having the same experience on this post that you had on my "Wagon Ho!" post. I could have SWORN I left a comment here. But maybe it was on Facebook? In any case -- poor rat. Heartbreaking, even if it IS a rat. (And maybe it's a squirrel...? That's a good possibility. My dad raised a squirrel from infancy and it lived with him in his house -- in a big cage with branches in it -- for something like 12 years!)
ReplyDeleteTough call. Rats can be very invasive and also carry diseases, but again we all have a right to live.
ReplyDeleteBabies are heart-tugging, no matter what species. I would have felt the same. It was a baby possum for me, about 4 years ago in the garden. Still pink, only a little bigger than a match box. You were good to at least try.
ReplyDelete