R.I.P. Ennis Levi

The last of my Three Muskateers died today.

Mr. Ennis Levi was such a good rat. He had the sweetest temperment of any rat I've owned. I named Ennis after Heath Ledgers character in Brokeback Mountain. I don't really know why. I just really loved that movie. I called Ennis my little cowboy.

He was such an explorer when he was a wee rattie. At my old apartment, I would close all the doors to the bedroom and bathroom and let the ratties roam around during playtime. Ennis somehow managed to open my bedroom door on his own. One day I decided to stand on the other side of the door and see how he was doing it. That little bugger was using his teeth to grab the underside of the door and pushed it open. He looked rather shocked to see my standing on the other side. In his rattie brain I'm pretty sure he was thinking "Oh shiiiit!" He was also the first rattie to make it to the top of my bookself.

His two cage mates , Wheeza and Benecio passed away a few months ago and poor Ennis was all alone in his cage. I got some new baby rats and tried to get them to "bond" but that turned out to be a disaster, so Ennis had to lead a life of solitude until his dying day.

Everynight I tried to spend at least 2 hours with him because rats are very social creatures and I didnt want him to get depressed. In the morning he was always ready for his breakfast before I left for work (usually a banana with a little peanutbutter, he really liked that alot). He was a really good groomer, always trying to clean my fingers and under my nails. I think he thought I was a really big hairless rat.

When I got home all I had to do was call his name and he would come shooting out of his little igloo home, ready for some playtime, holding on to the cage door bars with his little paws.

To my Little man: I will miss you so much, it hurts. You didnt age well with all your crazy gray hair and blind eye, but you were always beautiful to me. You really were a bubba. And you know what I mean by that. I love you and hope this is how you made your entrance into rattie heaven: