Mariel
(June 1998 - June 2000)

Mariel was the friendliest, cutest, most adorable ambassador that ratdom has ever had. She won over many converts to the "rats are not nasty" side. Mariel loved to sample any nearby human's drink, and would perform amazing acrobatics to get to a cup of coffee. She was continually frustrated by anything other than her that occupied the humans' attention, and would steal pens and scraps of paper right out of your hand if she wanted to be petted.

Hyper and totally loveable, Mariel was one of the best pets I have ever had. Her charisma tended to overshadow Raven, her quieter cagemate, but the two were an inseperable pair.

Mariel's health gradually declined after school let out in summer 2000. A series of strokes, as well as overgrown teeth, rendered her unable to feed herself or move around the cage, and she suffered from frequent seizures. After much tearful deliberation (most of it conducted in the middle of the night as we checked on her during that last week, expecting her to die at any time) we decided that her quality of life was not acceptable and not going to get any better, so she made her last trip to the vet one June morning, too weak to do anything but grind her teeth one last time before I handed her to the veterinarian's aide. Deciding to make that vet trip was quite possibly the hardest thing that I have ever done, despite how certain I was that it was the right thing.

This picture of Mariel, demonstrating how she treats humans who get between her and her food, is probably my favorite of her... she lunged across Sharon's face, and I was lucky enough to be holding the digital camera... :)