Saturday, January 08, 2011

New Baby in the House

My son often surprises me.  Recently he decided that he would like a pet rat of his own.

When we bought our three rats earlier this year (see posting of Sam, Jen, and Bear), he was hesitant to hold them, and we didn't force him.  Now that they are nearly full grown, they are a bit intimidating.  So although he feeds them through the bars of the cage, and touches them, he is scared to hold them.  I offered that he could start with a baby rat, which is not scratchy, and he could get used to it.

Today we went to the pet store, so my son could try holding them.  I didn't expect that he would be ready on the first visit, but he found a rat he liked, held it, and decided to bring it home.  So we did.

He doesn't have a name quite yet, but that will come soon.  But he (at least we're hoping it is a boy, but not sure about it) is very cute.


We hope this latest little rattie is a boy, so Bear (who turned out to be a boy, so is in a second cage on his own) will have a companion.  Sam and Jen also have room in their cage, but since they already have each other, don't really need another friend.  But we're okay either way.  We'll find out in another 4 weeks or so.
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8 comments:

  1. DorothyJanuary 8, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    That's a darling little boy! But I don't know about a pet rat! Too much like the mice that I try to catch in a trap. I guess they are not much worse than a Hamster and my son had one of those when he moved out in his own house. Just hope it doesn't decide to bite him!

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  2. Garden LilyJanuary 8, 2011 at 10:12 PM

    Dorothy - The surprising thing we've learned about rats is that they really don't bite. So they make even better pets than hamsters, which commonly do bite. I guess that's one reason why we have grown to adore them as pets, and have bought 4 of them now.

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  3. Garden LilyJanuary 9, 2011 at 7:32 PM

    My son has called him "Archie". If he turns out to be a girl, a renaming may be necessary. But we're still hoping for a boy.

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  4. JenJanuary 12, 2011 at 4:50 PM

    As a baby I guess they are kinda cute.
    How old does it have to be until you can determine it's sex?

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  5. Shady GardenerJanuary 14, 2011 at 5:45 PM

    YOU are a great parent! I'm afraid I'd probably have drawn the line here... but we had toads, snakes, caterpillars, guinea pigs, lizards, and baby bunnies... I think that's all. At any rate, it looks like a rat Might have fit in. ha! :-)

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  6. Garden LilyJanuary 14, 2011 at 8:42 PM

    Jen - The gender becomes clear at about 5 weeks old. So we'll know in a few weeks.

    Shady - Sounds like your kids had a healthy childhood. The rats are actually quite easy to care for - much less demanding than a puppy, which was the conversation before we got the rats.

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  7. AlisonJanuary 17, 2011 at 8:54 AM

    How cool that you have pet rats! My son was obsessed with critters when he was young, his room became quit a menagerie. No rats, but he did have a mouse and a hamster. And a Burmese python, which ate mice and rats!

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  8. Garden LilyJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:30 PM

    Happily, Archie turned out to be a boy, and a friend for Bear.

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