Sunday, March 29, 2009

The Pet Parade: Past pets #1


This post was inspired by my friend Carol. We got to talking about the best pocket pets the other day. She had sent me an email with pictures of the cutest tiny baby hedgehog you have ever seen. Google: baby hedgehog if you want a dose of extra cuteness! We talked about hamsters (been there, done that) ferrets (no thanks) mice (too small) and gerbils (too hyper). I told her the best small pet we ever had (next to my son's garter snake, Carter, who his 3rd grade teacher accidentally cooked by placing his cage too near the heater) (We forgive you Mrs. Small) was dumbo rats. UGhhh, Rats! you say.....Well, YES!! My son picked out a adult dumbo rat at the pet shop. As I was paying for "Daisy", we remarked on how chubby she was. The lady says," She may be expecting...I am not sure". I reply, "And when can we expect babies if she is???". "Oh, not for a couple of weeks". Within 24 hours, my children and I got to experience the miracle of birth. 7 times. One died. We had 6 little red, squirming blobs. Daisy was an amazing mom. She was always wonderful with us and let us handle them as much as we liked. Soon they turned into the sweetest little babies you could imagine. Look at those faces........We ended up letting the elementary school keep Daisy as a pet and we kept two of the babies. Hoodsy and Macy. They were wonderful pets. Rats are not nocturnal like most rodent pets. They sleep at night and WANT you to play with them during the day. They can be potty box trained and are pretty clean. Their tails are not funky....they are covered with the softest peachfuzz ever. They love for you to play games with them and learn to come to their own names. They are really more like dogs!! We would still have rats today except for one thing. They have become so inbred, etc...that they are extremely susceptible to cancer. Both Hoodsy and Macy came down with horrible tumors on their feet. There was nothing we could do for them and ended up putting them to sleep when they were almost 3 years old. Very sad......We decided we could not get any more and see them suffer too. Now we have BUNNIES....but that is another post!
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9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would never had considered rats, but your picture is very convincing...so sorry to hear about the cancer though. You will have to fill us in on the bunnies!

We had three hamsters but they died last year, and we lost our lizard (he was my favorite pet, never barked and was so much fun to watch)just after Thanksgiving. We are down to the cat and dog. So far the kids have not been asking for more pets, but I have to admit, I am really missing the lizard....

Bobbi Jo Nichols said...

I have had all kinds of pets and I am sticking with my dogs. Hugs, Bobbi Jo

Maisy said...

my brother has rats and he just loves them. he always says how he can't believe how smart they are.
thanks for sharing with us.
happy monday!

Betty Jo said...

I'm not much for rats but those are soooo cute. I saw teeny baby bunnies in a cage at the flea market Sunday and I wanted to bring every one of them home with me. ♥

Betty Jo said...

Hi Again Lilly Sue, I thought perhaps you used Rustoleum but wanted to make sure just in case I run across one of those mixers somewhere. Not sure if I would be as brave as you and take it apart. I'm not very mechanical. ♥

tam said...

Awww such a sweet bunch! I can see why you would become so attached to them. At our house we are all big animal lovers! Very fun post-keep us up-dated on the bunnies and pic's please! Hope you are having a wonderful week~Smiles~Tam!

Sheila Rumney said...

I have had many pets from birds, to bunnies to fish, cats and dogs. Never had a rat. Thanks for sharing.

Sonia said...

My mum will never step into my house if I ever had rats as pets. She is petrified, scaryfied of them. I am planning on getting my son a rabbit for his 7th Birthday. He really wants a pet.

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