Autumn in her autumnal years

[marko_the_rat]

nightcoon's charming wife took this photo of their pet rat, Autumn. The set of her paw suggested she was holding a cane, so I gimped one up for her, with respectful apologies to the beautiful Autumn.

Comments

[lupine52.livejournal.com]

Knowing little to nothing about rat biology I was curious as to whether or not rats spread their front paws out in much the same fashion as they do their rear paws. Its front paws seem clinched. Is that just the photoshop or is this a normal behavior?

[marko-the-rat.livejournal.com]

I'm no expert on rats and I don't even own one as a companion animal, so please take everything I say with a grain of salt. I believe they splay the toes on both front and rear paws when they're standing on them. I didn't do anything to the toes; I don't have that much skill in Gimp.

[cricket-fur.livejournal.com]

Yuppah! http://pics.livejournal.com/cricket_fur/pic/00002bpw Ratties' hands and feet are much like human hands. Only.. Their feet are much more mobile, and their hands are missing a thumb.. They just have a nub there.

[lupine52.livejournal.com]

Oh I just noticed that your mood is sick. Well I hope you feel better.

[marko-the-rat.livejournal.com]

Thanks. So do I.

[ristin.livejournal.com]

Very cute. ^_^ I'm wondering the same thing too, about the toe-spreading and other bodylanguage of lovely ratties.

[nightcoon.livejournal.com]

Well, the toes are digging into the glove because (1) she's not accustomed to fake suede and (2) definitely the spreading of the toes and digging in with her claws helped her to keep balance and achieve such a perfect stand.

Her head is lifted in a sniffing-the-air mode.

[schnee.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Perfect. ^_^

[nightcoon.livejournal.com]

Well, Autumn (along with Summer) won't be even one year old until July, so she's still considerably young. *g*