Unfortunately, Dixie did do it. For the complete story, see Why I Like Rats.
P.S. The eel, being indestructible, survived handily. It also survived escaping from its water-filled bag when I first brought it home—by the time I found it, it looked like a scrap of black yarn—and, later, survived falling into the kitchen sink when I didn’t know it was hiding under the aquarium filter on cleaning day. It went straight down to the trap, filled with chlorinated tap water and unknown ickinesses. Score one for plastic pipe fittings that can be unscrewed without tools.