Name: Humbug Sex: Buck Variety: Agouti bareback Date of birth: Unknown Died: 22 June 2003 (tumour) Weight: Approx 490g

Humbug was an RSPCA rescue rat, who we homed on 10 August 2002. We only visited to look - we didn't intend to come home with any more animals!

Humbug was rather a shy and frightened rat at first. He had been living alone at the centre for several months, although possibly not as long as Magpie. It took several months for him to relax and trust us when we handled him, although we never managed to introduce him to a cagemate. In early 2003 Humbug developed what appeared to be an abcess on the left of his jaw. Various courses of antibiotics and lancing it didn't provide a cure, and we drained it every day for several weeks (smelly!) - he remained very patient and happy throughout, and was so well behaved and calm at the vets, nobody could believe how nervous he had been in the past! Sadly we came to the conclusion that it was a tumour when the "abcess" started to produce a strange strange fleshy lumps, and we took him to be put to sleep as soon as he started to look unhappy.