Start Investing In Hanta Virus Vaccine Now
October 29th, 2007 at 9:19 pm by BrianWalt Disney may be rolling in his cryogenic chamber but at least he’s safe from the trends his studio keeps turning out:
Cause: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End global box office $960,998,993.00.
Effect: Pirate attacks worldwide jumped 14 percent in the first nine months of 2007.
Cause: Ratatouille global box office to date $515,410,872.00
Newspapers said Britain faced a rodent population explosion; the wet weather meant we would be inundated by the creatures.
That was before Ratatouille. Thanks to the latest Disney/Pixar’s digital animation studio box office hit, featuring a lovable French rodent, the reputation of the rat is undergoing a PR renaissance. Children are now desperate to get their hands on a pet rat.
Mickey Mouse was unavailable for comment. Coincidence? I think not.
October 30th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
Dude, a deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) isn’t the same as a pet domestic rat Rattus norvegicus). You can’t even get rabies from pet rats. (I speak as someone who has had upwards of 30+ pet rats in my life, including eleven right now.)
October 30th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
So for anyone who may have mice, rats, or other rodents in or around their home/yard you would encourage the kids to play with them?
October 31st, 2007 at 8:04 am
Oh, yeah. Definitely.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:48 am
I thought pet rats were Rattus Rattus. Isn’t Norvegicus like a sewer rat?
Anyway, I just had to put an elderly pet rat to sleep, all by myself. He was a sweet little guy. I don’t think I’ll get anymore, they get old and miserable pretty quick. I had another, but the Chinese killed him.
And my daughter plays with yard rodents any chance she gets.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:59 am
Stick with frogs. They won’t let you down.
November 1st, 2007 at 4:11 pm
Rattus rattus are roof rats. I think they’re only in Europe and parts of Canada, but I could well be mistaken. Pet rats and sewer rats are all Rattus norvegicus.
Seriously, though, the difference between a domestic pet rat and a sewer rat is a lot like the difference between a wolf and a German shepard. One has been domesticated throughout the centuries and and countless generations and might well have been bred selectively for certain traits; the other has been domesticated since the Victorian era and countless generations…and are also bred selectively for certain traits.
If rats are good enough for Teddy Roosevelt (or his kids, anyway), John Cleese, Ron Jeremy (he had a hairless rat named Chemo), Kurt Cobain, Pink, and others…rats are good enough for me.
November 1st, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Tell me you wouldn’t kiss this little guy full on the lips.
http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/7934/3033/1600/517635/_MG_2012.jpg
November 1st, 2007 at 7:39 pm
They were good enough for the tens of millions who died of The Plague too. Rattus rattus specifically. And though disease may be weeded out through some domestication, they are still a filthy animal.
Your membership in the Rodent Anti-Defamation League is duly noted.
Next time the dirty Chinese restaurant down the street scores a 48 from the Health Board, I hope you’re first in line.
November 1st, 2007 at 9:58 pm
You’re so mean.
November 1st, 2007 at 10:04 pm
That’s not mean. I just think it’s a bad idea for kids to play with rats they find in a field.
Didn’t anybody ever watch “The Wall”? A minute fifteen in.
November 1st, 2007 at 11:25 pm
When you have a child as inquisitive as my oldest, you keep the hand sanitizer close by. I’ve considered laminating her, but that’s just cruel.
November 2nd, 2007 at 10:29 am
Brian, it’s fleas that carry(ied) the Plague. Rats…and dogs, cats, squirrels, and (yes) people…in the dark ages simply carried the fleas around.
Michele, were you refering to the little fuzzy masked dude, or to the full, ripe lips behind him?
Oh, and no, I don’t encourage kids to play with wild rodents, no more than I’d encourage them to play with a wild wolf. Not unless they’ve got a good life insurance policy, or if they won’t stop farking with the remote while I’m watching the baseball game.
(Yeah, I’m referring to my nephew.)
November 2nd, 2007 at 12:23 pm
Also Brian, it’s bacteria that that carry Tuberculosis…not undocumented aliens coming across our borders.
And it’s a virus that carries AIDS…not the Haitian refugee I was with last night…
November 2nd, 2007 at 5:15 pm
But that’s the thing. Kids don’t know. Especially if you’ve got a kid on a budget.
This is all now far removed from the absurdity of this post as Ratatouille has been linked to a Hanta virus epidemic no more than Johnny Depp has to Somalian pirates seizing freighters full of benzene.
I will be on the lookout for any AIDS infested Haitians carrying pet rats with fleas on them.
And make sure they’re carrying a bottle of Purell.