New Addition to the Zoo...

So Cathy's hamster, Ash, died a little while back.

She thought that maybe she would want to replace him, so I started suggesting that maybe we think about getting some rats.

Well, the other night we headed to Pet Supplies Plus to look at them. We had been to several other stores and they either didn't have any or they wanted quite a bit more for them than we thought they should cost.

So at PSP, they had what appeared to be one little baby boy rat. He was climbing up on the wall of the cage when we came to look at him. We didn't get him then, because we thought that they were supposed to be kept in pairs or more, and they only had one. So we went home and looked up some information and it said that you can introduce young rats from different litters at a young age without many problems. So we decided to go back to PSP and get the one, then we'd get another young one from one of the other stores that we had found them at.

Well, when we got back to the PSP, there were two in the cage!!! The other one must have been hiding when we were there before. So we found a cage and got all the supplies. We then asked one of the workers if we could get some help with the rats so she came and unlocked the cage. She then moved this little hut thing and...

...HOLY COW!!! There were about 20 of them hidden underneath the hut!!! They were all huddled together and when the thing got moved they scattered!!!!

We ended up getting two of them...one of them was the one that we initially saw climbing on the wall of the cage. His name is Archibald. He's just a gray colored rat with GIANT ears!!! That is the one that Cathy picked out. The other one was really active inside the cage. His name is Roswell. He's gray and white, with a little white spot right on the top of his head. He's the one that I picked out.

We got them home and got them set up. They are pretty skittish. They seem to be scared whenever it's really bright in the room. The first night we kept them mostly in the bathroom because we THOUGHT that would be the best place to get them out of their cage and not lose them. Well, after Cathy went to bed I got Roswell out in there and quickly learned that it's NOT the best place to not lose them. He promptly went underneath the vanity in the bathroom and up inside it. I had to take some drawers out to get him out.

They are pretty cool. Even after just a few afternoons they are starting to get a bit more willing to be picked up and held and such. They are still a bit skittish, but they are getting better.

Cathy really likes them. I do too. I hope that they get over being the little bit skittish that they are soon, because I'd like to be able to get them out and actually play with them!!!