Name: Mouse Sex: Doe Variety: Chocolate agouti Date of birth: 5 September 2004 Date of birth: 20 July 2007 (general old age) Weight: 489g (27 September 2006)

Mouse was bred here, and then went to live with a friend to keep her last remaining doe, Clover, company. They both came back for several months when their owner bacame ill, and then became a permanent resident when she died in January 2007. Mouse also shared a cage with Maisie for a while, and then Flash and Fizzle, who kept her young.

Mouse was a very funny doe. She never quite grew up and continued to play chase with my hand until her back legs became too weak to let her move quickly enough. She would huff at the cage bars, yet was never, ever actually aggressive - she was a perfect friend to humans and cagemates alike. Intros were never a problem, she would just accept any new rats to the group. She never had even a day of illness in her life, and although I knew she was getting weaker, I'd hoped she'd make it to her third birthday - but she was just 7 weeks short.