The belly dwelling rat and his dilemma.

[The Din]

In my WIP, my protagonist happens to find himself strolling through an abandoned house, where he runs into a rat trapped inside a skeletal ribcage. Needless to say, it burrowed in there a long time ago and consumed so much that it is now too fat to fit back between the ribs.

So far I have a grand piano fallen on the corpse's midriff to seal up the bottom and stop ratty from simply eating his way out. Just wondering if there's any other 'escape holes' I need to fill, being the sadist that I am. (Or any other reasons for this scenario not to work.)

 

[grahamguitarman]

Sorry but its an Impossible scenario TBH - rats can chew through a brick wall - literally!

I actually lived in a house many years ago where rats did just that, gnawed a hole through a solid brick wall to get into the house.

So there's no way a rat could get trapped in that way - he'd just chew his way out!

of course this is fantasy so you could just ignore reality if you wanted

 

[sashamerideth]

It could be a recent collapse, or just a fat rat wandering through the skeleton on his way to somewhere else. Your MC comes upon the rat before it decides it wants to chew its way through the bones.

 

[InsanityStrickenWriter]

Sorry but its an Impossible scenario TBH - rats can chew through a brick wall - literally!

I actually lived in a house many years ago where rats did just that, gnawed a hole through a solid brick wall to get into the house.

So there's no way a rat could get trapped in that way - he'd just chew his way out!

of course this is fantasy so you could just ignore reality if you wanted

He could just give the rat severe tooth pain. I don't think he'd be too eager to chew a great many walls with that

 

[Devor]

I'm pretty sure even a fat rat would fit through the ribs of a ribcage.

 

[myrddin173]

If I remember correctly rats can fit through any hole they can fit their head through, so the scenario is improbable at best. (not even counting their crazy eating skills, not only can they get through brick walls but metal pipes as well.) You might want to consider changing it from a "prison" to a nest.

 

[SeverinR]

I agree with Graham,
The rat might be trapped for a very short time, but they would chew through bones over a few hours. Rats chew through brick, drywall, cement, if they have time, they can chew or dig through almost anything.
Oh, wait I am assuming normal bone, maybe a fantasy creature with extra hard bones...?
As for openings, the lower aspect is the biggest opening, the shoulder area has a smaller opening.

Another problem, the bones are joined together with ligaments and cartilage, if the rat couldn't chew through bone, it would go for the soft connective tissue. Bones will fall apart from each other eventually. if not disturbed or held together artificially.

 

[The Din]

Thanks everyone who posted. Guess the rat's gotta lose those pretty teeth... Any suggestions on what sort of critter might find himself in such a scenario?

It's only a brief description in my WIP, yet I'm loath to give it up on account of something so trivial as 'being impossible'. Cheers in advance.

 

[Devor]

Thanks everyone who posted. Guess the rat's gotta lose those pretty teeth... Any suggestions on what sort of critter might find himself in such a scenario?

I can't think of one. As the creatures get big enough to be stuck, they also get big enough to push the bones aside. As the teeth get duller, the creatures get less "cool" and less likely to be there to begin with. I'm sorry, I don't see it working.

The thing is, though, a fat rat could still be sitting in the ribcage, nibbling on rotting flesh, giving The Din the horrifying but unreal thought of being trapped forever between someone's ribs. By internalizing this impossible thing that you want to do, you can enhance the impact of it by developing the character along with it.

 

[grahamguitarman]

I can't think of one. As the creatures get big enough to be stuck, they also get big enough to push the bones aside. As the teeth get duller, the creatures get less "cool" and less likely to be there to begin with. I'm sorry, I don't see it working.

The thing is, though, a fat rat could still be sitting in the ribcage, nibbling on rotting flesh, giving The Din the horrifying but unreal thought of being trapped forever between someone's ribs. By internalizing this impossible thing that you want to do, you can enhance the impact of it by developing the character along with it.

that would work

 

[Caged Maiden]

Too bad, I like the rat-in-a-ribcage concept. If you're not attached to the rat, he could have choked and died in there. That would still be able to gross out the character, if that was your goal.