I HATE my pets (well sometimes)

So I lost track of my rat Ben for like ten minutes. In the time it took me to find him again he had managed to get behind some comics inside a shelf which I had thought I had sufficiently blocked with some sturdy carton, and once I found him it turns out he chewed on a rather rare hardcover comic edition, long since out of print, that cost a lot more than that frelling rat. Argh. At least I refrained from strangling the furry destroyer or reacting otherwise inappropriately towards my pet. Obviously I couldn't berate him once he came out of there, back to me and of course had already stopped chewing. Actually I think part of the furious teeth action was because he managed to somehow get behind the comics, but couldn't properly maneuver/jump to get on top of the comics and squeeze out again through the small gap, which is why he didn't come when I called (which he usually does), and he couldn't push the comics out either, because the carton was still mostly blocking the shelf. I finally heard him, removed the carton and a bunch of comics he tried to push, and he came back to me, at which point it would have been of course totally counterproductive and sending the wrong signal to be angry, but -- my comics! My precious comicses. *sob*

Obviously I shouldn't read fanfic while my rats are out pursuing their idea of adventure, which always, always is bad news for my stuff. And really, I know this, I just trusted that nothing that would bother me if they destroyed it was within their reach, but clearly I underestimated them once again.