Lolita and Lux

Lolita and Lux in one of my old holey socks.

Lolita's full name, I should point out, is Lady Lolita Algernon Lyra Claudia. Lolita comes from the erotica book by Vladimir Nabokov, Algernon comes from the book Flowers for Algernon, Lyra comes from the character from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, and Claudia comes from the female character in Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. Lux's name is likewise as long, being Lady Lux Seraphim Dorothy Alice. Lux comes from the character from Jeffrey Eugenides' book The Virgin Suicides, Seraphim is from a character from the webcomic MegaTokyo by Fred Gallagher, Dorothy is of course from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Alice is from Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I got Lolita and Lux on December 26, 2009 in the hopes that I'd be able to forget about Rowan(my rat)'s death. I still had Sicily with me then, and I introduced them to each other briefly, but Sicily was sick and I didn't want the mice to bother her so I didn't exactly put them together ever.

The mice turned out to be very much different from mice. They did not like attention, and would rather be left alone, as well as didn't like being held-- they always bit me and it hurt.

I used to have them in the blue cage where I kept Rowan while she was sick, but they were able to get their heads through the bars, which enabled them to escape. The time both of them disappeared was pretty much hell-- I couldn't find them anywhere!

At last, one night, I saw my cat Tama disappear quickly to the bathroom. I realized he had something in his mouth, and got up and followed him quickly. It was indeed Lolita, and I quickly snatched her away from him. She had a puncture wound on her belly, and she was scared when I held her-- but when she realized it was me, she immediately calmed down and just shivered in my palm. That was my first realization that I was actually glad to have her with me. I hadn't had much fun with the mice and found them a bit of a nuisance, but that sense of relief was my first realization that I actually cared for them.

Lux was found a few days later by my mom. She had been about to throw something in the garbage when she saw her next to the can. Quickly she grabbed her and called for me, and I took her with me, glad that I'd found her. Together, I'd put them in the travel cage, which was small, but the bars were the right length apart.

Lux died on May nineteenth. She'd escaped the night before (the story is in the previous post), and I'd gone to check on Taro when I found the lower half of her body. I was horrified but picked up the body with a tissue and put it in the trash-- I just couldn't keep that around for a proper burial. The head I looked in the cage for, but I never found it.

Soon after, my sister's friend had a mouse cage she didn't need anymore so my mother brought it home for me. Happily, Lolita still resides there, spinning round and round in her purple wheel all night.

I'm thinking of getting Lolita another cage mate, but I'm unsure about it. Partially she seems happy alone, and partially I think she feels slightly lonely. I guess I'll see how things go, but if we head to Petco soon, I might just get another girl.