{"id":3884,"date":"2025-03-24T14:12:17","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T19:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/?p=3884"},"modified":"2025-03-26T09:31:54","modified_gmt":"2025-03-26T14:31:54","slug":"miss-brisby-my-unexpected-packrat-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/miss-brisby-my-unexpected-packrat-rescue\/","title":{"rendered":"Miss Brisby, My Unexpected Packrat Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"drawing
I did this drawing years ago of Brisby to highlight her hoarding of food and packratness. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This month I\u2019d like to share a story about a different kind of rodent. What follows are the true events of a packrat who once lived in my home.<\/p>\n

Please note: Sick, injured, or orphaned wild animals should be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center immediately. Do not attempt to turn them into pets.<\/em><\/p>\n

Background Info<\/h3>\n
\"packrat
Brisby’s size and weight did not change the entire time I had her. Her coloring was exactly like an agouti-colored rat. However, her tail was completely covered in short, soft brown fur on top and gray underneath, with a distinct line separating the colors. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From May 2019 to July 2024, I shared my life with a rescue packrat. Her name was Miss Brisby, or Brisby for short. I named her after the mother field mouse in the movie version of \u201cThe Secret of NIMH,\u201d but I swapped the Mrs. for Miss since I knew she had never been married. Like that field mouse, my Brisby\u2019s entire fate was changed due to human actions, and this homage seemed apropos.<\/p>\n

Brisby was a white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigula<\/em>), or a desert packrat if you will. She was a tiny being \u2014 much smaller than my pet rats \u2014 and looked like a combination of a gerbil and a chinchilla. She had giant eyes and saucer ears. Her fingers and toes were short and chunky, and her tail was covered in brown and gray fur like the rest of her body. She was a wild animal that could not be held but was, and still is, one of the softest things I have ever touched. And I loved her with my whole heart.<\/p>\n

Orphaned And Unwanted<\/h3>\n
\"Miss
Miss Brisby and I took time getting to know each other, but food was my in; and she enjoyed eating Rascally Rat Nutri-Berries. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In September 2018, baby Brisby was supposedly orphaned after her mother and sibling had been poisoned. The people who found her did as many well-intentioned people do, and took her home. They syringe-fed her until she was weaned and gave her the name Missy Splinter (which I changed). She was given a cage and allowed to free-range with a pet kitten. Six months later she was taken to a bird sanctuary because her \u201crescuers\u201d could no longer keep her. After two more months the sanctuary owner, desperate to get rid of this unwanted guest, contacted the rat rescue I volunteered with. They do not take in wild animals, however, and are located in an entirely different city.<\/p>\n

Since I lived much closer, Cynthia L., another volunteer with the rat rescue reached out to me. She had been told by Brisby\u2019s \u201crescuers,\u201d who were still mildly involved at this time, that this packrat was domesticated and friendly. They also said she was rarely in her cage and enjoyed human interaction. At the sanctuary though, she was housed in a small cage, in a small trailer, with some rescued rabbits. She had absolutely no human interaction at all. This tore at my heart!<\/p>\n

Mistakenly thinking she was now a neglected pet, I thought maybe I could foster her while looking for someone with packrat experience to take her.<\/p>\n

Thus began my crazy and often frustrating journey with a most marvelous creature.<\/p>\n

In Over My Head<\/h3>\n
\"collage
I was lucky enough to experience some special bonding moments with Brisby. Every now and then she’d let me pet her when she was distracted with food. She was also less aggressive during her rare free-range outings (rare because it took hours to get her back into the cage) and would sometimes come inspect me if I sat very, very still with food in hand or nearby. She even climbed into my lap once! I think she felt less territorial when she was away from her midden. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The owner of the bird sanctuary was almost hostile about Brisby and claimed she was vicious. She even put a sign on the cage warning volunteers from getting too close. Brisby humorously removed that sign and chewed it into pieces. Her cage was also, by domestic rat standards, a disgusting mess piled up with random bits of food, towel, cardboard, and waste. I was horrified for her. I laugh to myself about this now, because it shows how little I knew about woodrats back then.<\/p>\n

Thinking Brisby was used to humans, I figured it was only a matter of time before she would trust me. For three weeks I patiently worked to earn that trust. But just when she started taking food from my hands, she changed overnight. Instead of a timid creature that moved with caution, she charged forward with conviction and bit me. Thankfully, she didn\u2019t break my skin. She had a different air about her though, like her personality had changed.<\/p>\n

Now, before anyone freaks out about a wild animal bite, know that I had a long discussion with my vet about diseases and parasites before bringing her home. Based on the diseases or parasites that would affect humans or other animals, and the length of time she was in captivity without symptoms, my vet felt confident I was safe. I will admit though, for several days, I was pretty freaked out.<\/p>\n

I was lucky though, Brisby could have absolutely torn into me! That girl was capable of striking like a cobra, with teeth powerful enough to sink right into my bone. Yet, she didn\u2019t. Not then, and not the other two warning bites she gave me over the years. To this day, I still don\u2019t know why she spared me that pain. But I do know that she eventually trusted me over any other humans.<\/p>\n

Regardless, do not come away from this story thinking a tiny wild animal isn\u2019t capable of ripping you apart.<\/p>\n

What Do I Do Now?<\/h3>\n
\"collage
Here are four different examples of Brisby’s middens over the years. The top right one was built in one of her dig boxes, and it attached to tunnels dug in the coconut substrate underneath. The precision and durability of her tunnel and nesting openings never ceased to impress me. In the center is the one and only photo I ever managed to get of Brisby sleeping. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Considerable amounts of research on packrats yielded very little about them in captivity. Most information is either about extermination or general info<\/a> on behavior, diet, and habitat. But all of the info is about packrats in the wild, not in a home. I did find some truly fascinating things about their middens (or nests)<\/a> though, and how these nests help mankind<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I stumbled on this info:<\/p>\n

Packrats are solitary animals. Socialization generally happens during mating, pup rearing, and in food caches underground.<\/p>\n

Female packrats come into sexual maturity around 7 to 8 months old and become aggressive, especially around their midden as they prepare for a litter.<\/p>\n

Bingo! Now I had the answers to:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Did Brisby need friends like pet rats do? Nope.<\/em>
\n\u2022 Was Brisby actually capable of bonding to humans? Not in the way domestic rats are.<\/em>
\n\u2022 Why was Brisby friendly as a baby but had since turned into Mr. Hyde when I got her? At 8 months old, Brisby had gone through a hormonal change. She was also a loner.<\/em><\/p>\n

Even if she had stayed with her \u201crescuers,\u201d it was only a matter of time before she became aggressive with them. It\u2019s simple, packrats are not meant to be pets. I had to remind myself of this whenever I felt jealous after seeing videos on social media of wild rescues that had formed bonds with humans. Years later, I even came across two other people who had also had female packrat rescues. Theirs, too, went from sweet babies to aggressive divas.<\/p>\n

You might be wondering why I kept her or why she wasn\u2019t released. Well, that was my original plan! I even sought out expert advice, as did Cynthia.<\/p>\n

No One\u2019s Coming To Help<\/h3>\n
\"Brisby
I set out to learn all I could about packrats, but Brisby ended up being my best teacher. This was common Brisby behavior when she was begging for food. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apparently, federal wildlife rehabilitation groups are not legally allowed to take in healthy, adult animals. Brisby, no longer a baby, was neither sick nor injured. Because of this, I was repeatedly told \u201cNo\u201d when asking for rehabilitation help. Plus, all the other wildlife organizations in the state also said no, or that they were already full. One had even JUST filled their middens with four other packrats.<\/p>\n

I also learned that I was not legally allowed to keep this poor nomad, nor was I allowed to release her! Releasing her without extensive experience, which I didn\u2019t have, meant instant death since she had been in captivity for too long. She refused to eat any of her native foods like prickly pear cactus (I tried!), which provides the majority of their water intake in the wild. So, if she didn\u2019t die of starvation, she\u2019d die of dehydration. An expert at the Game and Fish Department likened the situation to a human being raised on only pizza and suddenly being expected to like Brussels sprouts.<\/p>\n

To make things even more complicated, once the expert realized I wasn\u2019t licensed, he was forced to cut off all communication with me. Thankfully, he had already confirmed that a suitable option for Brisby was my rats\u2019 homemade diet.<\/p>\n

So, there I was \u2014 not allowed to keep this packrat, but also not allowed to get rid of her.<\/p>\n

I obviously kept her. What else could I do? Besides, I had fallen in love with her, and the idea of some horrible fate befalling her was out of the question.<\/p>\n

So, as I do with my pets, I jumped in hard to take care of this combative, wild orphan. I spent months researching everything I could about woodrats.<\/p>\n

The Fascinating Packrat Habitat<\/h3>\n
\"the
Brisby sightings! Brisby runs to hide food her in pantry box (on top) and comes out of a tunnel from one of her dig boxes (on bottom). Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Knowing she\u2019d be caged for the rest of her life, I continued to upgrade Brisby\u2019s habitat with different cages, until someone kindly donated a Double Critter Nation<\/a> to her. That allowed me to provide large digging boxes full of coconut substrate on the bottom level so she could create her own underground tunnel and den system.<\/p>\n

Remember the unsightly cage I met her in? Well, desert woodrats build their middens above ground (often in cacti), and they are usually comprised of different chambers. They serve as dens or nests and are formed from their waste, plants, and random found objects (some from humans). Essentially, they resemble a trash heap. Attached underground is an extensive tunnel system with more dens and food caches.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Brisby, I got a window into this fascinating world, DIY-style. With a few modest materials like cardboard pieces or boxes, scraps of fleece, a little Carefresh bedding, and paper towels, in a matter of days she would have her own packrat paradise<\/a>. She\u2019d craft tunnels into her mess of a midden that had different entries and exits, allowing her to go in one and pop back out in the most unexpected place. There wasn\u2019t a day she wasn\u2019t working on her home.<\/p>\n

A packrat\u2019s habitat is their entire world! Tearing one apart can have a profoundly negative effect. I learned this the first time I cleaned Brisby\u2019s cage. It was like I had displaced her all over again, and she was depressed for days. She even thumped her feet<\/a>. This is something they do as a mating call or to announce there\u2019s a predator. When Brisby first arrived, she thumped her feet every time I neared her cage. She eventually stopped feeling threatened and quit doing this. Unless something randomly spooked her, or I bulldozed her house of course.<\/p>\n

One major blessing was that Brisby\u2019s cage only needed to be cleaned every six months with some light cleaning in between. I\u2019m not kidding. She had specific pooing areas (she even used a litter box) that could be cleaned without too much disruption. The odor of her urine took months before it was noticeable. When it became too much, that\u2019s when she got a full cleaning. Even then I tried to preserve her middens and tunnels as much as possible.<\/p>\n

Brisby also created a \u201cpantry box,\u201d as I called it. Despite having enough food for an entire year, she was still given fresh stuff daily<\/a>. Storing each and every piece, in very precise locations, was her day job. Her organizational skills put the other rats to shame.<\/p>\n

The Wonders Of Brisby<\/h3>\n
\"clay
I made these memorial clay imprints after Brisby passed away. If you zoom in, you can even see the impression of her tail fur. Her toes and fingers were fatter and shorter than a domestic rat’s, yet her thumb nub was longer. She also had whisker-like hairs under her wrists. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Brisby was INCREDIBLY fast! INCREDIBLY! In a race with my rats, she would have left them in the dust. She regularly zoomed from level to level, flying down ramps and back up them again, ricocheting off every side of the cage, even the ceiling. There was no catching her!<\/p>\n

Brisby was also brilliant. I venture to say she was smarter than my pet rats. Probably because she never took her safety for granted and continually observed everything around her. She was acutely aware of my rats, too, even though they weren\u2019t aware of her. Caged in the same room, she reacted to their moods, especially when they were being fed. She\u2019d race around, throwing herself at the bars and shoving her snout through them, begging for her own snacks. Her absolute favorites were butternut squash, bananas, yogurt, and blueberries.<\/p>\n

She would intently watch my interactions with the rats, and I speculate that she could hear and understand the ultrasonic sounds they made. It\u2019s possible she even made her own back to them.<\/p>\n

When my last two boys were sick and getting close to the end, her mood changed. She was less hyper, and almost sullen. I always wondered if she could smell or sense their illness and pain.<\/p>\n

Our Own Type Of Bond<\/h3>\n
\"Brisby
When it came to her main diet, Brisby rarely stopped to eat before storing each and every piece into her pantry box or down in her dig box (unless it was dried fruit, which she ate immediately). She had a specific grouping system of items that I never quite understood. Despite her having gathered a year’s worth of food in her box, I still fed her twice a day, as it satisfied her instinctual foraging needs, provided exercise, and kept her busy.” Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In time, Brisby and I found our own groove. I learned she wasn\u2019t trying to escape or attack me every time I opened her cage door, even if it did look like she was bounding over in a mad fury. She learned that I was a talking food dispenser, so throwing herself at me only meant she was ecstatic about food arriving.<\/p>\n

To adapt, I brought her main diet in a crock big enough to catch her like a baseball in a mitt. She was back to taking snacks from my hands, and I could even pet her if she was fully distracted with eating. But I could never let my hand linger for too long. If I did, then she\u2019d get suspicious. When I witnessed the subtle change happening around her eyes, then I knew immediately it was time to retreat.<\/p>\n

Sometimes Brisby would accidentally get out of the cage<\/a>, often a surprise to both of us. But I discovered she\u2019d always return to it after getting some time to explore. So when this happened, I\u2019d block all escape routes, grab some favorite Brisby snacks<\/a>, and then plop down on the ground to keep an eye on her, even if this took HOURS. When she was out, she was cautiously curious about me. She even climbed into my lap once and my heart melted into a puddle.<\/p>\n

She also regularly lapped up soft foods from a spoon<\/a> and even enjoyed tearing apart the Christmas treat pi\u00f1ata<\/a> I made her every year. Food was definitely my way in with her.<\/p>\n

We even negotiated cage cleaning. When it was time to do spot cleaning, I\u2019d tell her to go down to her dig boxes so I could tidy the upper levels, and she listened!<\/p>\n

Saying Goodbye<\/h3>\n
\"Brisby
A few days before Brisby died, she stopped feeding herself and was not using the water bottle. Instead, I spoon-fed her wet baby cereal and baby formula like I did with my sick rats. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"memorial
These are some of my favorite photos of this wild and crazy girl. Brandi Saxton<\/a> of It’s A Rat’s World<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the wild, a desert packrat\u2019s life span is 2 to 3 years, but in captivity it\u2019s 5 to 6. Brisby was one month shy of turning 6 when she passed away on July 31, 2024.<\/p>\n

A couple days prior, she showed signs of sickness for the first time ever. Knowing she couldn\u2019t be seen by a vet, I had to take solace in knowing that she\u2019d been gifted extra years. So, I spoon-fed her, stressed about her every second, and let nature take its course. I found her only minutes after she passed. It was the first and last time I ever got to hold and kiss her.<\/p>\n

I loved this girl more than I can possibly explain and my experience with her is something I truly cherish. But I\u2019m also left with guilt and sadness that she never got to know true freedom the way she deserved. She should have been taken to a wildlife rehabilitation center the moment she was found as a baby. Since she wasn\u2019t, I can only hope that I at least provided her the best life possible. And I hope you\u2019ve walked away with a newfound respect for these sincerely incredible animals.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow the story of Miss Brisby, an orphaned packrat who was rescued but then unwanted; Brandi Saxton finally took her in expecting it to be temporary, but she soon found she was Brisby’s only hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":3895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rat","category-rat-fun"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3884"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3921,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3884\/revisions\/3921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lafeber.com\/mammals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}