Frederick Rose, "Need an Electrician? Here's One Who Works Both
Fast and Cheap" The Wall Street Journal, May 6, 1997, B1

TRAINED RAT USED TO STRING COMPUTER CABLES
Rattie, Judy Reavis's trained rat, is being used to string computer cables in hard-to-reach places in California school buildings. The rat clenches string in its teeth, and then follows the path of least resistance inside the walls, along ceiling panels and under floors. The rat goes to an exit point identified by tapping sounds and is rewarded with cat food. Computer cable is attached to the string and pulled through the path used by the rat. Dr. Reavis, a biophysicist and physician, was volunteering for NetDay 2000, the school computer project, when a co-worker mentioned a failed effort to train a rat in wiring. Dr. Reavis thought of her adopted laboratory rat and built a maze of plastic pipe in her Benecia, California, home to train the rat. It took about 20 minutes a day for three months to train Rattie to negotiate the maze, avoid dead ends, and travel toward tapping sounds.