My Uncle has just started a business raising fancy mice as pets. He breeds them to be docile and in all sorts of colors and varieties. And so I was contemplating his selection of mice and remembering the hamsters we used to keep in childhood. This started me down a whole weird path about what I did and didn't like about keeping hamsters as a kid.
It occurred to me that I don't actually mind mice or hamsters, but I really mind their cages. Our hamster cage was a gaudy pile of interconnected and strangely shaped plastics in a variety of uncomplimentary colours. So, it occurred to me that what I don't like is how very bold and ugly the cages are while at the same time remaining in largely boring shapes. As an historian I've bemoaned the fact that we no longer make beautiful Victorian bird cages, but I've never heard of fancy looking cages for pet mice. Well, I've never heard of or seen fancy cages for any animal these days.
And why is that? They are made of plastic. You could just as quickly mold them into any shape you wanted, complicated shapes being just as fast as boring shapes in the modern world of molds and factory production. So, why don't we make them more interesting looking? It's not like you can shove a giant cage away in an attic and not look at it. So, why are we content with them looking the way they do?
I suppose all of this comes back to my longing for the world to be more beautiful, more interesting and more strange than it currently is. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way about large cages. Even for fish tanks there are little columns and shipwreck things you can put at the bottom to make it look more interesting and piratey. Why can't we do the same for mice?
I want my world to be filled with beautiful architectural shapes. If I were designing a mouse cage I'd make it into a Greek temple, or a Moorish Palace. I remember that cleaning out corners was particularly unpleasant, maybe I'd make a Roman Colosseum for my mice to live in. Then I could name them all suitably impressive names and watch them manically run around in their wheels and pretend they were training for the gladiatorial Games.
Maximus would train ceaselessly while Claudius napped after a hard fight in the arena. Arena just means sand in Latin by the way, not that sand is in any way recommended for mouse cages. I simply got excited about the Latin. Truly though, how can you get a fancy pet mouse and stick him in a boring square cage? I think it would be much more fun to name your rex pet mouse Maximus and house him in something you don't hate looking at. If I couldn't find a cool mouse cage I'd probably build him a Colosseum. But then, I'm mad. We all know this.
Anyway, if you happen to be looking for fancy pet mice and live anywhere near Rhode Island you should look no further. And if you happen to find a cage that's actually interesting looking, do let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment