“Hope you and the family had a terrific holiday weekend,” Susan O’Byrne emailed me Sunday along with her column to run in today’s paper.
“We became the new home of three pet rats and a rather large rat cage,” I responded. “Not sure that qualifies as terrific!”
Susan was much more enthusiastic about the pet rats than I was, although I have to say they are growing on me.
Ainsley brought the rats home July 3 after she and a friend got them for free from a lady outside a pet store (which meant there was no returning them).
Dan and I deliberated what to do. We eventually decided she could keep the rats — and lose her phone and iPad for a couple of days for bringing them home when I told her not to. (Please, no email lectures on bad parenting. We have her reasons for letting her keep them. And allegedly they will spend some time each month at the friend’s house.)
I can say I’ve learned a lot about rats in the past week. They are amazing escape artists — able to jump higher than you’d think — and they can chew their way through things like a wire screen.
We knew after they escaped the first night from their temporary home that we’d have to order a large cage (which Ainsley agreed will be an early Christmas present) and picked one out on Amazon. The earliest delivery date was Tuesday.
The rats — now named Petunia, Rosalie and Squeakers — escaped the second night as well.
“It’s going to be a long four days until Tuesday,” my husband said.
And then, miraculously, the cage arrived on Saturday. Hurray!
As you might imagine, you can buy a number of accessories for a rat cage — everything from exercise wheels to hammocks to climbing ladders. But the rats seem to like cardboard boxes as much as anything, so that’s what we’re using for the moment.
Cardboard boxes also can be used to make a great DIY rat playpen, I learned on Ratforum.com. Who knew such a site existed?
Unfortunately the rats cannot be left unattended in the playpen. Even though it’s 2 feet tall and has no ridges or ledges for the rats to climb on, they can jump to the top and walk around the edge. At least Rosalie can.
Rats really do not like cheese, but they love Cheerios. They will grab one from you with their little feet and then munch on it loudly. They can eat a lot of people food — veggies, fruits (non-citrus), bread, pasta, hard-boiled eggs — which is very convenient.
I had no idea rats could recognize people — at least Petunia, Rosalie and Squeakers recognize Ainsley.
They are much more comfortable with her than they are with me and do not pee on her when she puts them on her shoulder. (You can guess what happened when she put one on my shoulder.)
Rats can get along with dogs. This is good, because their ability to co-exist with our dog Lizzy is one of the conditions for keeping them.
Ainsley and I ran into Steve and Margaret Arens on July Fourth and they said they wondered what my next column about her would be about.
“I’m pretty sure it will be about the rats I brought home last night,” she responded.
It’s good to have a sense of humor. Especially about rats.
— Pamela Lannom is editor of The Hinsdalean. Readers can email her at [email protected].
