The Tale of Meadowlark

by Laigaie Thu Nov 15, 2012 12:03 pm

Well over a year ago, I adopted out a pied agouti tan doe and a pied blue agouti tan doe to a pet home. They were lovely girls who had no use in my breeding program, and they were well-socialized enough to watch a television show with me. The home they went to had a stay at home Mom who breeds dogs and several children. I got photo updates on the regular. At first, we were concerned about Meadowlark (the agouti), as though Wednesday (the blue agouti) was running on the wheel all the time, Meadowlark was getting fat. I was getting worried emails from the Mom, but Meadowlark never did have babies. She was just a chubby little girl.

Fast forward a year after the adoption. I'm cruising Craigslist and see a mouse. In the post, I see MY mouse. The Mom tells the story of how Wednesday had passed on after over a year at their home, and Meadowlark was so lonely that she was chewing through metal mesh cages to get free. I emailed her. Turns out they'd bought a pet shop mouse to be her friend, and the new mouse had died after a month. Seeing the chewed-upon body of the pet shop mouse, Mom was concerned that Meadowlark had killed her. What's more, the mouse had escaped again, this time from a thick plastic travel carrier where she had chewed through the bottom of the cage. She said she'd let me know if she caught her again. Two weeks later, another email. Meadowlark is caught! And escapes after chewing through a wire bar cage, so no luck.

TWO MONTHS LATER, an email! Apparently Meadowlark had been running loose in their house, eating dog food, chilling with their Sphinx cat, and generally not having a care in the world. She slept in their beds. She hung out with them. She was just another pet. But Mom was coming into town the next day, and had seen the mouse run into the heater vent. So she picked her up and kept her overnight in a glass jar. I picked her up this morning, and have introduced her to a few does. She's incredibly calm. She's in fantastic health, very fit and trim with no audible or visual signs of illness. And I'm to report back to the adopter if the mouse escapes again. She wants to write a children's book about Meadowlark.