Cheezit
Cheezit and her buddy Ritz are two very lucky rats! They were originally donated to the World Bird Sanctuary to be used as bird food, but our vet thought they were just too cute to be on the menu, and convinced our Director of Education that they would be more useful as education animals. This proved to be a good decision, as these two little rodents are very popular members of several of the programs presented by our Education Department. Contrary to popular opinion, rats are not the vicious creatures portrayed in popular fairy tales and in movies. Cheezit is very affectionate, clever, and easily handled. She helps us to demonstrate the difference between birds, mammals and reptiles to the younger children, and she is one of our “petable” animals. The youngsters love her. In our “Creatures of Halloween” show, she helps to dispel some of the misinformation about the “creepy” creatures associated with Halloween, and in our “Creatures of Myth and Legend” show she helps to explain how some of the scarey stories about rats came to be. Cheezit has traveled far and wide with our Education Department staff, and has appeared before thousands of fascinated audience members who’s initial reaction was “Eew, a rat”. By the end of the show everyone is wanting to pet her. You adoption donation will help to feed and care for Cheezit during the coming year.
Adoption Fee $25
Brown Rat
Rattus norvegicus
| Description | medium-sized, long-tailed rodents; domesticated rats kept as pets are of the species R. norvegicus commonly called the Brown Rat (even though in domesticated rats there are many color variations) and are descended from those bred for research; pet rats tend to be more docile and more disease prone than their wild cousins |
| Sex | male rats called bucks; unmated females called does; pregnant or parent females called dams; infants called kittens or pups; group of rats called a pack or a mischief |
| Age | normal lifespan ranges from 2-5 years, and is typically 3 years |
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| Weight | seldom weigh over 500 grams (l lb) in the wild |
| Habitat | pet rats are more docile than wild rats and are generally friendly and can be taught selected behaviors; they pose no more health risks than pets such as cats and dogs; |
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| Other Information | often used as model organisms for scientific research; much of the genome of Rattus norvegicus has been sequenced; their psychology, in many ways, seems to be similar to humans; in many countries they are considered a food item; in western culture rats have been vilified and are seen as unclean, parasitic animals that steal food and spread disease (possibly from the association of rats with the 14th century medieval plague called the Black Death, which was, in fact, caused by the fleas that infested the rat population at that time; people in western cultures who keep rats as pets find them to be tame, clean, intelligent and playful |