Pet Forum / Mammals / Rats / July 2004

About ten days ago, after researching pet mice and rats, I adopted two
rats from a woman who rescues rats.  They were both bucks, 3 months
old, from the same litter.  They were incredibly cute (of course!),
and I loved holding them, letting them crawl over me, and just
watching them.

I timed my adoption to occur when my wife and four children (ranging
in age from 6 to 12) were out of town.  My wife had had mice as a
child and didn't like them--didn't even think they were cute.  Also,
in turns out (and I learned this later) that in one of here high
school (?) biology classes, they had rats for six months or so.  She
insists that she's totally disgusted by their long tails.  (Of course,
anyone who's spent a little time with rats comes to appreciate the
tale as one of the distinctive parts of the rat anatonomy.)

My plan, then, was for my wife to come home, discover the rats, see
how much the children liked them, and to keep them.

Alas, it didn't work out that way.

When my wife noticed the rat habitat, she quickly left the room.  In
fact, she wouldn't even be in the same room with them!  My children,
by contrast, were terribly excited about the rats, and they were
thrilled to pet them and even hold them.

Needless to say, my wife won with nary a shot over the bow, so to
speak.  That evening, I returned the rats to the woman from whom I had
adopted them.

Right now, I'm feeling mildly bereaved.  I still miss my ratties!  I'm
not sure if I can ever persuade my wife to give rats a second chance.
Her view of rats seems to accord with George Orwell's nasty caricature
of the animals in _1984_.

Any suggestions?

straussGuy