10 



HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 



RODENTIA. 



A RAT FARM AMONGST THE HILLS OF 

 MASSACHUSETTS. 



Here in the U.S.A. the word "Rats" has a 

 rather slangy association, a sort of political de- 

 generacy reserved for active use against a too 

 wordy or unpopular campaigner, who seeks to 

 over-present his candidate or over-express his 

 "planks" or his policies. It was, however, this 

 expression which most readily gave utterance to 

 our surpise one recent Saturday afternoon when, 

 after motoring for some hours amidst the pleasant 

 hill slopes of Massachusetts, just then shoeing 

 the earliest transition of the coming spr'.ng-time, 

 we halted and entered the main building of the 

 famous Rat Farm at Granby. 



The expression was spontaneous, but the 

 diagnosis was a trifle faulty, as a closer examina- 

 tion of the several thousand cages revealed the 

 fact that not the rat, but the humbler rodent, the 

 mouse, was in the majority. On that particular 

 Saturday there were only about 4,000 "in stock." 

 However, just prior to the signing of the Armis- 

 tice and during the epidemic of the "flu," the 

 average number more nearly approached 16,000 

 inmates. 



The industry, while reaching its highest out- 

 put during war times, was not directly a war 

 product. The original owner and founder of the 

 farm (recently dead) began some years ago as a 

 fancier, her hobby running into cavies, white 

 rats and mice. The intelligent care, the environ- 

 ment, and general welfare bestowed upon her 

 stock developed such healthy and high grade 

 specimens, that the demand soon far exceeded 

 the supply. This persistent demand did not seem 

 justified by a call for "merely pets," but suggested 

 a market of wider purpose and necessity. The 

 conclusion arrived at became confirmed and re- 

 sulted in the erection of the present farm, a 

 special building of two stories, vermin proof, 

 elevated from the ground, combined concrete and 

 wood, large, well-ventilated rooms, w r ith a com- 

 plete heating system to meet the exigencies of 

 the climate. In short, a scientific plant, admira- 

 bly adapted for its unique purpose. The enter- 

 prise was a success financially and rodentically. 

 The output found its way broadcast, not alone over 

 the American continent, but into foreign areas,, 

 into zoos, into the "menageries" of the childre.i, 

 and the laboratories of the universities and scien- 

 tists. The inmates of " Rodentia," as we had the 

 honour to christen the farm, consisted, as al- 

 ready stated, of Mice, Rats and Cavies; the mice 

 being the white or coloured varieties — of the latter 

 there were ■> literally all colours of the rainbow, 

 whole-coloured, and mixed; the rats, white and 



piebald; of the cavies, all varieties, rather too 

 much, we thought, intermixed, our preference 

 even for laboratory purposes, running to "solid" 

 colours. Few specimens of the common, wild 

 varieties of rats or m ; ce, house or field, were 

 raised, and then only by request of some special 

 patron. 



Sanitation on the farm was not simply an un- 

 written law, but a constant and ever-insisted-upon 

 axiom, hence the general health of the inmates 

 was excellent. Great care was taken in the in- 

 troduction of any new specimens, these being 

 rigidly quarantined until their health condition 

 was fully proven. The hutches used were made of 

 hard wood, solid on all siles, save the lid, or top, 

 whic was movable and formed a fine mesh zinc 

 web. The bedding wasi a composite of sanatized 

 cat hay and pine wood shavings or bark. Dupli- 

 cates were provided for all hutches, which when 

 not in use, were steamed in antiseptic bath, ^hen 

 exposed to the elements outs'de for ten or more 

 days. This latter custom explained the great 

 number of brick mould-like structures which had 

 attracted our attention as we entered the farm 

 yard. As it happened, that particular Saturday 

 afternoon, that the thermometer registered 88°, 

 we were fully convinced that any alien refugees 

 in the hutches that might perchance have es- 

 caped the steaming, were certainly having such a 

 "hot time" that they would be forced to uncon- 

 ditional surrender and final destruction. 



The diet supplied the inmates was based, with 

 some green food variations, upon rolled oats and 

 buckwheat. Watering the stock received special 

 attention and was accomplished by means of a 

 capillary bottle of original design. One of these 

 was placed upon a small, sloping wooden frame 

 on the top of each hutch, an ail-glass nozzle pene- 

 trated the wire lid, from this nozzle hung a pen- 

 dant water drop, which reformed as the "little 

 beasties" licked it off — and by which they drank 

 to satisfaction. And yet the water never over- 

 flowed. The keepin gclean and refilling these 

 fountains was by no means the least of what was 

 admitted by the lady attendants as "persistent 

 attention" demanded by the care-free tenants. 



A card index was attached to each hutch, 

 which constituted a complete record of pedigrees, 

 in some instances away back several generations, 

 all domestic matters, such as matings, births, 

 deaths, sales, and the final disposition and des- 

 tination (mundane) of each passing occupant. 

 Occosionally "freaks" would appear amongst the 

 litters, mice with a leg missing, "kinks" in their 

 tails, or a red-head or a blonde amongst a group 

 where ancestry gave only "nigrants"; a strange 

 intrusion, but as Burns has said "the best laid 

 schemes o' mice and men gang aft agley. " In 

 acknowledging this common frailty of both, it is 

 kindlier to pursue no further the irregularities, 



