As some of you may know, I live out in a rural area and we frequently have a variety of critters around the house including deer, skunks, raccoons, field mice... and wood rats.

I keep my breeder rats in the garage on a rolling shelf unit. Anyway, I went to check on them a few days ago and as soon as I entered the garage I saw something that made me freeze in my steps. There was blood EVERYWHERE. Smeared all over the rat cages, dripping from the rack, spread all over boxes and the floor. It was like a scene out of Saw... or maybe Saw II. I immediately thought something had managed to get in and made a feast out of all of my breeder rats. Fortunately, that wasn't the case.

Although the cages were covered with blood and even some of the rats had blood on them, not one of them was injured. Apparently a wood rat managed to squeeze under the door and discovered a veritable cornucopia of food for the taking. However, I think he may have underestimated the irritability and fortitude of a captive rat. From what I gather, the wild rat managed to abscond with a significant amount of lab blocks before my breeders had enough. They must have bit him on some pretty vulnerable areas, because I couldn't believe the amount of blood that was spread around. We followed the trail to a corner of the garage where the lab blocks were stashed, but then he must have given up that plan because we found another trail that led outside. He hasn't been seen from since, so I have no idea whether or not he survived. If so, I hope he told his rat friends about his encounter and maybe they'll decide the free food isn't worth it.

P.S. I know this thread is worthless without pictures. I was focused on making sure my rats were okay that I didn't think to take any until after I cleaned everything up.