I think I might have somehow possibly agreed to let Zoe get a pet rat. Maybe
She was devastated after Nutmeg (guinea pig number 2 for Zoe) died and swore she could never be replaced… at least not by another guinea pig.
And then she began to bring home books on rats and mice from the school library and to share random facts about rodent care at inappropriate moments. She left a note on my pillow to tell me that rats were smarter than mice and could be toilet trained. Awesome.
I held firm.
“I’m not so sure” I said…
“Maybe” I said…
“We’ll see” I said…
But it was the ghostly visitations at odd hours of night and at school lunch times that really wore me down.
It’s hard to say no a tear streaked face that has just had a lengthy conversation with a dead guinea pig who asked for some broccoli.
I’m still not 100% committed… I keep saying that phrase loved by parents everywhere “Well.. you never know what you’ll get for Christmas.” If a rat cage and accessories doesn’t turn up on Christmas morning it’s all the jolly fat man’s fault, not mine!
Who am I kidding? We all know, especially Zoe, that ‘maybe’ meant ‘yes’ the moment I logged on to ebay and typed in ‘rat cage’.
Save me.
{image by Tambako The Jaguar via flickr}
My brother had a couple of rats. They were fairly clean but still freaked me out!
You are beyond saving my friend! Enjoy x
Noooooooo don’t do it!!!
My cousins had rats. At first they freaked me out, but it turned out they were very sweet, and VERY smart! I would choose rats over mice. I had mice growing up, they had a short life span, and if you wind up with a male and female, you don’t want to know what they do with their babies in captivity…..
good luck!
Rats make wonderful pets, we have had them for the girls for the past 7 years.If you get one you need to get two.They are social creatures and are happier and live longer with company, a rat on his own isnt a good thing. But they will pay you back with love and cuddles and very cute little antics!
One of my boy friends had a rat, it used to sit on his shoulder and he took it everywhere (including dates) and shared his food with it. The relationship (his and mine) was short lived, I believe he and the rat lived happily ever after.
Hate to say it but you could do a lot worse than a pet rat! One of my elementary school classes kept several as pets and it was a wonderful (and impression-making) experience for me! They ARE as smart as you hear – the ones we had would sit on a 10 yo’s shoulder all day and let you know when they needed to go back to their cage to do their “business”. Never aggressive or destructive (they were babies when they were introduced to our class).
You will really need to get a pair of rats, preferably siblings as rodents are such social creatures, they get lonely on their own and it’s quite cruel.
That said, they make great pets for kids and are pretty hardy and easy to look after as long as they have a helping hand from the parents :)
I have had five pet rats and think that you are making a fantastic choice. My first was when I was a child and she was an amazing companion, she’d ride on my shoulder everywhere- really the sweetest animal. The other four I had as classroom (preschool) animals, all have been female and I’ve always been amazed by how patient they are with the children and how durable they are to the occasional drops and squashes. They don’t live long but it’s a life that’s so filled with personality! We call them “shooting stars” with a short but brilliant life. You can absolutely have just one, but you do have to think of it as a very small dog with a lot of social needs. Good luck!