A RatAgedy

Already... :o(

As I wrote about yesterday... maybe it was the lack of sleep from all those night checks! But yesterday we agreed to purchase, and purchased, two pet rats for the family. I guess learning a new insulin pump was not enough of a challenge for the next few weeks. LOL

Now it's not the rats I mind... not except for their ugly tails, which are just, ugh. But they're not like the icky outdoor spooky scary gross rats. They're little, like hamster sized, and sweet. They're kinda cute, and they're very clean animals. But their BEDDING! I am soooo allergic to this bedding. It's this recycled paper something or other. But I digress...

So as I hinted at yesterday, we bought, from a neighborhood and not altogether reputable (we learned later) pet store, two rats. They had a male and female in their display together and for obvious reasons we didn't want both... but they had female "feeder" rats ready to go to the snakes and they agreed to sell me one in addition to the female on display. The feeder rat was our daughter's rat, Bonnie. And our son named his rat Lionel. (Even though it's a girl)

This morning Bonnie was mysteriously outside the cage, DEAD on the floor.

Our son told us he prayed for her to be alive again but it didn't work...

Tears tears tears, all around.

And then, the gnawing questions. How had Bonnie escaped? And what caused her mysterious death?

Could it be FOUL PLAY?

We think she died from shock at having been put into the nice lovely rat home and being handled after having been neglected as a feeder rat (which should never have been sold to us). Anyway we went to the local Petco where we learned (a) we should never have been sold a feeder rat (b) we did not receive the correct instructions for rat care from the local pet store, against CA law (c) the rat was escaping due to the fact we had been sold a guinea pig cage. uggghhh

Long story short, we now have another new rat from Petco, named Rufus. (Even though it's a girl). These critters kind of grow on you, they're very sweet, and smart, but their FUCKING BEDDING! It's like designed to give you an allergy attack. I closed our daughter's door (she's Rat Marshal for the night) and opened her window. The rats are being left alone as they're being given some time to adjust to their new lifestyle. I didn't know that rats could stress out so easily. That may have been part of what killed Bonnie, for she had no known enemies.

Rats, there are rats in my home. But they're so cute... Why, why? Why did I do this?????

*I* just hope Lionel's not preggers from having lived with that boy rat in the neighborhood pet store...