6/22/00-12/18/02
Kirby was born with his 11 siblings to Samantha (who he looks identical too) on June 22, 2000. Samantha was purchased from a bad Petco (the Westchester store on Sepulveda) to be a roommate for Swirl (who had three remaining pinky babies when I rescued her).
Exactly 21 days
after I got Samantha, she had her babies. All the babies ended up being
placed. Kirby, named because I couldn’t tell he and his brother Harmon
apart, so I named them after two Minnesota Twin players (Kirby Puckett
and Harmon Killebrew), ended up with his brothers Spot and Tbone at a home
in San Diego. The lady couldn’t keep them, so I ended up taking them back
a few months later.
Throughout their time together, the three brothers kept trading off
as the alpha rat. At first, it was Kirby. But by the time they ended up
back with me, Kirby was getting picked on by both brothers. Eventaully,
I had to separate him. It turned out, Kirby was much happier by himself.
Spot and Tbone had the hallway (blocked off from my room and living room
of course) while Kirby had the space under my desk by the living room.
Kirby went through a few different roommates; Posy, Golly, Max and eventually Spot, who after Tbone died, seemed to mellow out a bit and ended up with Kirby in Kirby’s cage. Although there was an occasional nippiness, overall the two got along okay. Soon, Spot died and Kirby was by himself again. In fact, Kirby ended up outliving all his siblings, as reported to me over time by the other owners of Kirby’s brothers and sisters (scattered over California and Arizona).
Kirby was pretty happy in his cage under my desk. I never closed it. He loved lying on top of the cage more than inside it. He never strayed too far from the cage either. Rarely would I actually find him in the living room or kitchen. He mostly stayed within a couple feet of his cage area where he was extremely comfortable. He had a couple little nests he made around his cage and was a happy camper.
Then came my
getting kicked out of my apartment. My new apartment was much smaller and
I could only keep a select few rats (I ended up keeping rats according
to when they came to me). Kirby would have to be by himself where he was
happier and I debated putting his cage back under the same desk he loved
so much before. But that also would have meant mingling with Posy (his
former roommate), Easter and Friday, which I can’t say would have been
too much of a problem, but Kirby is pretty mellow and those three are pretty
hyper, big girls. Before I had moved, all the rats were staying at my friend
Diane’s and she offered to keep Kirby since he is pretty much a no-maintenance
rat. Kirby had his own table with a couple cage and stuff to climb on and
boxes to hide and he liked it just fine. I figured the poor guy had been
moved around so much already, it would be best if he stayed put.
Diane eventually
added three little girls (Kirby is fixed) to the table (hyper ones too)
who Kirby got along with just fine. So the last few 
months
of Kirby’s life was spent on the table with his cages, boxes, little friends
and a never ending supply of treats, which made Kirby very happy.
I saw him all the time Kirby was enjoying life right up to the end. Even
the last few days when his legs are almost useless, he still got around
the table to get his treats and burrow himself in his blankets he loved.
He finally passed on the morning of December 18, 2002, living a solid two and a half years, the longest any rat I’ve ever had has lived. He was one of my all time favorites and he will surely be missed.
