The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-04-24
TAME RATS.
RODENTS THAT HAVE BECOME
QUITE DOMESTICATED.
They Are Sly in the Presence O.
strangers. Clean i'm Their Hab-,
its, and Intelligent and
Affectionate.

A chance visitor at the house of En-
gineer Henry Morehouse, of Newark, n.
j., might be surprised and shocked to see
half-growh rats running about the floor
of the dining room; and perhaps crawl
ing over the lounge or climbing the slim
trunks of the oleanders in the window.
A man of unsteady habits, if he was to
see four rats wrestling catch-as- -catch-cau
in the corner of this tidy dining room,
might imagine for moment that it was
time for him to take little better care OF
himself, but he would be relieved when
gentle Mrs. Morehouse called to the rats,
and they came scampsring toward her and
climbed on her shoulders: ,..
tits not generally believed that common
gray house rats can lie tanned thoroughly;
but twice in her life Mrs. Morehouse has
succeeded in raising litters Of young rats
by taking them before their eyes were
open and tenderly caring for them and
feeding them by hand until they were
able to take care OF themselves. The
first litter she got several years ago, and
she kept four rats until they wers tNo
wears old, when Mr.: Morehouse took
them to No. Q Engine House, where wild
rats got at them and killed three Of them
and inflicted wound on the neck Of the
fourth, which developed into wer, and
caused the animals death year later.
It was eight weeks ago that man
digging a drain in Vine street, Newark,
killed an old she rat and found six or
seven little ones IN a nest of sawdu:t aud
rags. He had killed several Of the little
rats when Thomas A. Morehouse inter-
posed and said he would like to have
them. He took them home to his moth
er, who at once accepted the challenge to
raise them. They were apparently a day
old, for it was nine days later before they
could open their eyes. She fed them by
soaking bread in milk and allowing them
TO suckle it from her fingers. They
th-ove on it, and are now eight weeks
old and more than half grown. They are
slightly shy in the presence of strangers,
but are wonderfully tame, and are fond
of Mrs. Morehouse and her son. They
do not particularly like Engineer More
house, but will tolerate his presence.
One little she rat has taken strong lik-
ing to Thomas Morehouse, and sticks to
him all the time that he is in the room,
crawling up his sleeves, in bis coat pock-
cts, under his coat, or on his shoulders.
The others are extremely jealous of this
little favorite, and manifest their dislike
by biting her after she has been petted.
Young Mr.. Morehouse has fine English
setter which will kill any rat but these
tame ones. He points them constantly
when they are in the room, and the rats
take kindly to him and at times perch on
his back. He will locate them ct any
time when they arc in hiding away under
the furniture or on the flower stand, but
he does not care much for their friend
ship.
Th. rats are extremely cleanly. and,
when they get water, will dip their paws
in it and wash their faces. They are
sleek and fat, and, having plenty of
liberty, they keep in good health. Their
eyes protrude and shine like new shoe
buttons and no movement in the room
escapes them. When not roaming about
the house they inhabit large cage in
which is a box of soil, which they delight
to burrow in. Mrs. Morehouse has ten
year-old gray squirrel, which is savage
and doesn like the rats. 1t grows and
chatters whenever they are in sight. She
says the rats are intelligent and affection
ate and that rats never had any terror
for her. She does not believe that rat
can be tanned unless it is taken in hand
before its eyes are open. If the eyes are
open the young rats will bite anybody
and they can never be broken of the
habit. The tame rats she has now never
think of biting even when roughly
handled, and at times they become
nuisances through their affectionate habit
of clinging to her. They are mischievous,
and must be watched when at large or
they will gnaw the plants and the carpet
or dig the dirt out Of the flower pots and
scatter it over the floor.
One day recently Mis-. Moorehouse laid
a lot of potatoes in the middle Of the
floor to see what the rats would do.
They soon discovered them and a; once
set about the task OF transferring them
to corner of an adjoining room. They
rolled, carried and pushed the heavy
potatoes along the floor, helping each
other with the large ones, and within a
few minutes had tranferred fully half a
peck of potatoes from one room to the
other.
1t has been disputed by no less In au-
thority than Richard Toner Oick the
Rat) of this city that the common gray
rat ever curls its tail around anything to
assist it in climbing, as an opossuu. or q
monkey does. These rats of Mrs. More
houses do use their tails in climbing
the plants and in clinging to their
owners hands A Sun reporter who
visited the house saw one of the rats
momentarily suspended from twig OF
an oleauder by his fail, and it clung by
the tail until it got another foochold.
At one time all four Of the rats were
wrestling in corner, and one of them
had its tail around the neck of one of
its fellows. During the wrestling match
Vic, the setter, was steadfastly pointing
the rats, and he looked as if he would
like to improve the opportunity and
crunch them all at once.-Neso York
Sun.