Knights Becoming and a Lady in Waiting

Ah, Rats!

Two of them, to be precise.

We have been the proud owner of a lovely (no, really; she's quite lovely) black and white rat the boys named Sally.  (I call her Mustang Sally).  Today, while I was out runnin' about, I saw a beautiful rat, almost tortoise-shell colored, that was just begging to come meet Sally.  So, on impulse (low blood sugar does that to me!), I brought her home.

Sally hasn't decided if she likes the as-yet-unnamed interloper.  Poor tortoise-shell hasn't decided if she likes Sally, who is definitely larger than she is.  In fact, she's hiding in Sally's box, trying to pretend that the rest of us don't exist, I think.  What a shock for her tomorrow when the boys discover her.  Heh.

Why do we have rats?  Well, we had a dog, but with four children under 6 (and parents who are currently *ahem* a bit more couch-potato than we'd like), we found him a home with another dog and an owner who had lots of time to give him.  Both my dear m-i-l and my DH are allergic to cats (although we have had cats in the past).  The pet store firmly didn't recommend reptiles or amphibians for children under five because of the risk of salmonella poisoning.  We've done fish (Nemo died just last year).   Insects don't live long.  That left rodents.

Hamsters and gerbils are nice enough, but rather dumb.  Mice are a bit smarter, but if you're not careful, you get a mouse than happens to be a mommy-to-be and you have lots of little pink naked creatures dying on you.  Guinea pigs are practically like having a small cat and ferrets are expensive.

Rats are rather pretty if you ignore the tail and don't get the plain white ones (personal prejudice here).  They are easy to care for, don't cost a lot, and don't smell unless you neglect their cage.  They are actually friendly, very inquisitive (nosy as a rat), and far more intelligent than I would've believed.

So, we had a rat.  Said rat seemed lonely, so we now have two rats.  Hubby didn't even protest this modest start to my future menagerie.

Wait until I mention that baby chicks are currently in season down at the Farm & Fleet store.

I LOVED LOVED LOVED My Rat!

10:35 AM, Mar. 31, 2006 .. Posted by queserasera

We had a rat for a couple years...you do know they don't usually live past 2, don't you? His name was Shen and he was the best pet ever! I carried a picture of him on my keychain for years. I did find, however, that I was allergic to him as well as cats...your dh and mil might want to be careful around them. I let him out on the computer desk one day to make some pictures of a "mouse" and a rat, and he chewed the speaker wires...gotta watch them! I miss him very much sometimes, but with three cats, a ferrett, 4 roaches, two dogs, and something like 16 rabbits I can't afford another pet! I hope you enjoy yours as much as I did mine!