I’ve never seen a smarter rat than Cool Hand Luke, a hooded male that I own. I always figured he would be the leader of my rats when he grew up because when he was little, he’d always try and wrestle the big guys. But he would wait until they were wrestling each other, then jump in the middle. Now that he’s pretty much grown up, he’s not the leader (Felix is), but he’s certainly the smartest of the bunch.

 He is the only one out of all five that I have, that hangs out on the window sill. The window above their cage is covered with a blue velvet blanket (so the light doesn’t come in when I’m sleeping in). It’s tucked, with the curtain, underneath the closed window.

Luke goes up there regularly and hangs out.

The first time I found this out was when I was getting ready to put everyone back in the cage. I couldn’t find Lukey and looked all over. I was completely baffled as to where he could be. I checked his usual hiding places, but he was nowhere to be found. Then I heard a shuffling and looked up. I could see movement behind the curtains. He was by the window.

I reached in and there he was, resting comfortably, as if to say "can’t I just stay here?"

After that, he would always go up there. Sometimes, I’d just place him there myself while the others were running around so that I’d at least know where he was. I find all kinds of treats he’s left there and the blanket I’ve used to cover the window has all kind of chew marks from Luke (meaning that blanket will never have any other use now, than to cover my window).

Luke is the only one who has tried to get onto my other windows. The other windows are not as comfortable as the one with the tucked curtains, as he’s found out, but he’ll still try and hang out on the one by my desk.

In my room I have an old chest of drawers that I’ve had since I was a kid. On top of it sits my TV and a couple other things that I try to keep away from the rats, since they can’t get up there. But of course, I under estimated the Lukester.

One day I walked into my room and there was Luke, sitting on the top of the drawers, just looking at me. I started laughing because I couldn’t believe he was up there, but then realized I was messing with Professor Luke, the rat who can do anything.

I looked all around the drawers and just couldn’t figure out how he got up there. A couple other times I found him up there again. It was bizarre.

Then finally I figured out how he was doing it. I walked in my room and heard some noise behind the chest of drawers. I looked behind it and there was Luke. Like Robert Conrad in "Wild, Wild West," he was using the wall behind the drawers as a base, his back against it, and pushing himself up the back of the drawers. It was a slow and hard process, but he was making up to the top. This is similar to an exercise from my days wrestling in high school. It’s not easy at all and only a smart rat could have figured it out and have the determination to do it.

I watched him and let him get to the top. I want him to know that the top of the chest of drawers is off-limits, but I let him hang up there for a couple minutes simply as a reward for all his effort getting there.

Luke learned his name pretty quickly too. He would always come when I call him. But being the smart rodent he is, he always seems to know when it’s time to go back in his cage for the night. I can’t let him run around the house during the latter part of the evening, because he’ll hide. He hides behind the refrigerator or behind my desk in places I can’t reach. He’ll find a box that I’ll have stuff in and get inside. He is the one who destroyed my old box springs. He burrowed a hole in one corner, just big enough for him to fit inside. When I’d call him for bed, he’d be so deep in the hole, I couldn’t reach him. The guy is ingenious!

Lukey is the one who likes to wrestle with my hand the most too. When he was smaller, I used to always wrestle with him. Now, when he wants to play, I’ll be sitting there and he come up to my hand and start wrestling it himself. He’s got me trained. I’ll start playing with him and he’ll run off, then come back when I’m not expecting him.

When Luke was little, I used to keep Oscar and Felix with him on the couch, because none of them could get off, thus I could keep an eye on them pretty easily. Even though Luke was a couple months younger than Oscar and Felix, he was the one who figured out how to get off the couch first. I remember I had him for two days. I had put the three on the couch to play. About five minutes later, I couldn’t find Luke.

He had gotten off!

He was running around on the ground and at that time, hadn’t learned his name or who I was, so it was hard to get him back. He did this a few times.

As Luke gets older, I’m looking forward to seeing what else he’s going to be able to figure out. I won’t be surprised if I come home one day and find Luke sitting on my bed watching TV, the remote in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. That IS Cool Hand Luke.