I will just start by saying that anyone who thinks this whole thing is a sham or that I am a fraud can kiss my arse. The only reason I am even updating is I feel like I owe it to the tons of people who supported the original thread and gave awesome feedback. To those people, thank you sincerely. You made my sister's Christmas 100x better than it may have been. Anyways, to the update.

So, my sister received her awesome gift from the OT and others (over $300) for Tanden's habitat, not our family's meth fund. It took her no time to figure out what sort of structure she wanted to get for him.

This was in the perfect price range for her, and also has the ability to add attachments like...

...for when he grows. She was also excited because this gave her an option for pet chicken, Maybelle, as well.
A little side story: she got Maybelle from some family friends of ours who have chickens. Maybelle was apparently being picked on by the other chickens in the coop. When my sister learned this, she asked our friends if she could adopt Maybelle, to which they obliged.

Moving on. Here's a close up of Tanden hanging out in his habitat.

Tanden also got to take his first road trip to Oklahoma about a week after Christmas. In his travels, he was able to try some new grass and swim in strange waters.

Here's a bonus pic of him destroying a large bowl of strawberries and kiwi. My sister told me all he does is eat and sleep

Only the finest dining for this nutria rat. And Im sure some of you are thinking about how delicious he would over a bowl of rice. Never had nutria myself, but i would probably try it to be honest.

Now, on to the next, and final, part of this awesome story.
Last Friday, the 13th, I get a text from my stepmom just before 7am. Tanden had died.
Evidently, my sister had gone outside to see him before heading to school, and ran back inside saying he was frozen. Considering it wasnt freezing and they are made to survive cold regardless, my stepmom knew that couldnt be right. But she said when she went to check on him, he sure enough was not moving, could not move. She said she picked him up and he was warm so she took him inside. When she looked closer she could see him taking short like gasps for air. She opened his mouth and it was stuffed with bits of magazine paper. He had literally eaten the bedding of magazine papers my stepmom put in his cage for him, until he was so stuffed that he suffocated himself.

I know there will be some who do not believe me, but I wish I was making it up. I cannot even describe to you how devastated my sister was/still is. But she is warrior and I know she will be alright, just terrible that it had to happen to the little guy.

As of now, Tanden is "in the freezer awaiting a proper burial at the pet cemetery in Oklahoma" according to my stepmom. The pet cemetery is my sister's cemetary of her pets that are no longer with us. It's located on her grandmother's land in OK. At only 12, she has buried two dogs, a pet chicken, three fish, two box turtles, and now Tanden will join them soon. It is pretty ironic that she wants to be a vet, but her pets seem to have a plague of death looming over them. And none of them are ever from old age or natural causes, it is always something strange that takes them out. Tanden was no different. I will get pictures of the funeral services and the cemetery when they go back to OK.

Thank all of you again for supporting my sister and Tanden. His death was tragic no doubt, but the legend of that 8 week old nutria rat will last much longer that.

RIP little guy!

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