Monday, April 28, 2008

Rats Are Good Pets, But Not Like This

Just taking a short break from work....yesterday was moving day (love the new apartment, its so much better than Aero Flats) and theres still a ton to do before the kitchen here at S'wood closes for remodeling...I get to power-wash again, which I swore I'd never do after my adventures as an intern at SP.

Anyway, I just came across this article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24317073/?GT1=43001

Basically, the lady had purchased rats, intending them for snake food. Maybe she had problems going through with this. Anyway, the rats overran her house, were "rescued" and now are going to be given/sold as pets. The rats would not survive in the wild because the lady fed them cat food.

I love rats. I have had them for over 7 years now and they are really good pets, as is mentioned in the article. However, I'm not sure these rescue rats would be suitable for pets. They've basically been running wild, for their entire lives and are probably not used to human contact or interaction of any kind. They did find 10 babies, which probably have the best chance of being good pets.

My dad had a rat named Violet who was a rescue from the Humane Society. She would run out of her hiding places to try to bite you. These rats, more than likely, will be just like Violet.

I'm afraid that the people who adopt these rats will probably either feed them to snakes or let them go into the wild when it becomes apparent they won't work as pets.

My suggestion, while not cost-effective or efficient, is to spay or neuter each rat and let them live in a colony of sorts. Have the lady who let them breed uncontrollably pay for this, or for them to be humanely euthanized. Don't make one person's negligence a bunch of rat owners problem.

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