Rats!

When I was growing up I liked animals as much as the next kid, and I had my share of pets, too. I'd catch lizards and horned-toads in the fields around our house and take them home to keep until they escaped. One year we had a lot of fun with a wading pool full of tadpoles--several of them even made it to frogdom. We had ducks and rabbits, which weren't exactly pets, but were fun anyway. We had cats and dogs; Melanie had a couple of gerbils--that had lots of babies; we had finches. I had a fish tank with lots of fish and a really cool fiddler crab. Although I got mad at my fish because they ate the crab when it was moulting. (Is that what you call it when crabs get bigger?) Well, anyway, we had lots of pets and I loved them all.

Then I got married and had lots of kids; I just didn't really feel the need for a pet any more. We did get a cat a few years ago because I thought the kids should have a pet. I like Abbi well enough--she's a really good cat. But it's just not the same as when I was a kid. You know, I just don't love little critters like I did then. So the last thing I ever thought I'd have in the house was a couple of rats.

My first experience with a pet rat was when my brother Peter moved from home, I think for the first time, to California with a friend. We all went to "visit Peter" (really Mom was just going to check things out) and he showed us their rat. First of all, in my mind rats were "rodents" (translate to "vermin" in grown-up language). And I just thought it was ugly! I thought they must have caught it wild and caged it up; it was BIG and it looked bald and had a really pointy nose. It was a male, and all it did was lie around on its back, letting all its maleness hang out. This rat would make you think of the stereotypical unkempt, beer-bellied guy hanging out in front of the TV all day--the kind that would answer the door in his boxer shorts. I was 10 at the time so the whole thing was slightly shocking--it made a big, negative impression! Fortunately our two little rats aren't like that.

Still, I would never have chosen rats as pets, so why did I get a couple of them? Well Becky, my sister-in-law, keeps rats. This did not inspire me to run out and get some. No, one of her rats had babies and my kids really wanted some. So on May 3rd or 4th Ryan called Becky up and told her he could have a rat, and asked when he could get it. She immediately asked to talk to me or Bruce for verification of the facts. I felt surprisingly neutral about the whole thing. I was a little worried about Abbi (it turns out she couldn't care less); but overall, I figured it would be OK. But I told them they had to clean their room and keep it clean until the rats were big enough to leave their mommy (I did not know that was only two days into the future). WOW! They cleaned their room in about 20 minutes! And they did a good job, too; they made the beds, cleaned out the closet, the tops of the dressers... They even cleaned under the beds--because "if there was old food under there, with germs on it the rats might get sick" (never mind the people). One week later the room was still clean and we became the owners of a couple of little female rats.

I have to admit they are kind of cute. Do I want to play with them? No. Do I want to touch them? No. Do I want them running all over the house? No. I have progressed so far that I can talk nicely to them when they are in their cage. But the kids love them; it's really fun to hear them giggling with their new little critters. And I guess that's what pets are really all about.