The Great Rat Rebellion

Today was the last day of maternal separations - and in keeping with Murphey's Law, nothing went smoothly. Both moms fought me as I snatched their babies. I almost forgot to inject two of the rats. Then, after I had completed the task at hand, all that remained was leaving them alone for four hours. I scurried off to begin some other projects for the day. Half an hour later, I returned to the "rat room" to organize some other cages. Just then, I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye. Something was not right. A white flash moved across my periphery. I looked closer - it was one of the baby rats. On the counter. Little Houdini had apparently escaped the incubator. I snatched him up and detained him back to his designated cup, only to realize that it was occupied by two other pups. Minor panic ensued. I nabbed the runaways and sorted them back into their cups, but the damage was done. Within five minutes, even the smaller ones were following suit and clamoring up the walls to freedom. While I could appreciate the humor of the situation, there was no way 16-day-old rats were going to keep me from successful completion of my mission. With some help from Boss, the problem was solved by covering the cups with weighted-down wire mesh. So I quelled the rebellion... for now.