Charles (a.k.a. The Royal Cuddlebug, Carebear, The Party Bug)

Charles was named after Emperor Charles V/I, Queen Joanna's son. His other nickname is "Carebear" because he has a heart-shaped white patch on his tummy.

Charles was the biggest rat in the litter from the start. He started stealing solid food almost as soon as he got his eyes open. A gentle giant, Charles is the sweetest rat that I have ever had.

Charles shared a cage with only his brother Jason for company until a trip to the vet during Spring Break 2002. Although they may be less macho, our neutered boys were happy to join their sisters in the big cage.

Charles has the SOFTEST fur of any rat ever petted. He is always in demand as a pillow, and can be found at the bottom of any pile of rats!

Charles has had one brush with death, when he pulled out a toenail and lost a lot of blood before anyone noticed that he was hurt. He was after a treat, and when he grabbed it, he ran into the cage to eat it before either of us noticed that blood was about to start gushing from the gaping hole in his toe. Once Charles noticed that he was hurt, he decided that the best action would be a panic run* . Of course, running through the cage was the worst thing that he could possibly do with a bleeding foot!

*Panic runs - Charles does these periodically... they can be triggered by loud noises, danger to rodents on television programs, thunderstorms... The most impressive one that I have ever witnessed covered two chairs and an end table and was triggered by danger to Mrs. Frisby while watching an animated movie involving mice and rats... you know the one. I swear that Charles identified with the animated characters --- he had been watching the screen intently from my lap and when they started running from the cat, so did he! ...but I digress.

When I came in a half hour later, I found blood spattered EVERYWHERE and Charles curled up on his side under a ramp, foot clutched to his side, prepared to die. I saw the blood, called all of the rats, and grabbed Charles when I saw that he wasn't moving... his mother and sister were both hovering over him like battlefield nurses, jumping up and down to get my attention. I stopped the bleeding, gave him as many fluids as he would drink, and put him back in the cage. His mother and sisters continued to provide excellent nursing care by sitting on him --- since Charles is so soft, this might just be opportunistic behavior, but since it also raised the low temperature of the rat without much blood left in him let's give them the benefit of the doubt.

When Mom was checking on him later that evening, she looked at his foot and saw that the nail was still attached by a corner. "I wish I could take that toenail off," she said, cautious about doing anything that would start the toe bleeding again. Charles looked at her very carefully as if trying to understand her words, then resumed the grooming that he was doing by plucking off the toenail himself and laying it carefully on her shirt. Coincidence? Keep in mind that these are animals with a wide enough vocabulary that we can verbally distinguish kinds of treats, and most of them will follow basic commands. I am convinced that through words and tones they understand most of what I want them to do, even if they don't do it. (I do not think that "toenail" had been in the vocabulary before that night, but Charles obviously learned the word quickly!)

Charles continued to improve with each treat and drink that we gave him, and he decided that we were all heroes for saving him. For several days he remained obviously impressed with us. He is still terrified whenever I try to trim his nails... he thinks that any cut of his claws represents an attempt on his life.