Favorite memories of Clover

We initially got Lexus and Clover because Kate had passed on and we didn't want Emma to be alone. We walked into the store and I knew Clover was going to be a cuddler from the start. Lexus was jumpy and hyperactive, climbing all over me, but Clover just settled into my hand and decided that was her spot. She was so calm I was almost worried there was something wrong with her, but that was just her personality--she liked to cuddle her whole life.

She was always the calm rat. When Lexus was making suicidal leaps of faith out the cage door, Clover would hang back and give her disapproving looks from inside the cage. She discovered at a young age that she could grind her teeth on the bars of her cage and create a noise loud enough to attract attention from anywhere in the house. She would grind her teeth to get food and cuddles, and interrupted many a good movie to get out of the cage for a while. We would let her run around on the couches, an activity she loved, and I think she thought she was a human. When she was done running around, she would like to come over and sit next to me or Mr. B like there was no size difference--just a rat sitting on the couch, usually cleaning her face or hands or something. She liked to curl up under the blankets or pillows and nap, and she liked to hord Cherrios in her corner of the love seat (that corner will always be hers in my mind) and eat them like tiny little donuts.

When she would cuddle in your lap, she liked to have this one spot on the back of her neck rubbed. She would chatter her teeth like crazy when you hit just the right spot, something akin to a cat's purring, and her eyes would go all googly and bobble in and out of her head like she was a cartoon character. When Lexus was still with us, Clover always had a little bald spot right there on her neck. I worried that she was getting aggressively barbered, but when Lexus passed I figured out that it was something Clover enjoyed. She was probably as much to blame for letting Lexus groom that one spot so much. She would groom people's finger nails and hands for them in return. And for a rat that was usually so timid, she was a grabby little thing where treats were concerned--you had to watch your fingers giving food to her, though she never once, not even in the pain of her final ailment, bit anyone unless she mistook them for food.

Rest in peace, my little friend!

Alula