Snowball and Tabatha

So the day finally came. I had promised Olivia that she could get a small pet this school year, since she has proven over the past couple of years to be a dedicated student, one who does not quit dance class even when it gets tough, and one who is overall a responsible little girl. She has plenty of money in her savings account, we just moved into a place that (after some discussion with our landlords - Susan and Ben) accommodates pets. I had no more excuses left, and so I got online of course. To research what might be the easiest, cleanest pets. And guess what I discovered, website after website? RATS! are pretty much hands-down the best small pets to get. If you want a pet that is cuddly, doesn't require a complicated diet (food that requires it's own diet and could possibly escape, for example), can be litter trained, is intelligent and willing to learn, and spends 1/3 of its day cleaning itself, then you should consider a rat. As a note, bunnies, hamsters, and gerbils didn't rate so high on the sweet and cuddly scale. Reptiles and fish are cool, but score "0" on the cuddly scale. Olivia, being the intelligent little person she is, didn't need much convincing when she saw the pictures and read the accounts written by various rat owners, many who belong to Fancy Rat Clubs and treat their little rodents like royalty. Anyhow, we set out to the pet store to make our selection. Snowball was adopted first, and boy is she a mover. She is quick, white with red eyes, and pretty much came litter trained. We would have bought her a companion immediately, but she was the last one of the pack. So I called Petco way too many times anticipating the arrival of the new shipment of female rats. They were supposed to come on Monday, but the truck broke down in Texas. I imagined rats and other small pet store bound animals drowning in the wake of Ike, stranded on a tiny island of asphalt, somewhere in the middle of Texas. But alas, they finally made it by Thursday, and Tabatha was adopted. She makes a little purring noise and likes to be held. She was terrified the first day, but Snowball made her feel at home by sleeping next to her and playing with her. Now, we have Liz, the director of Olivia and Isaac's Youth City after school program, to thank for Tabatha's name. Otherwise, Olivia was leaning towards "Snowflake". I didn't want to crush her, but one "snow" themed name for a pet is quite enough.

So far, our two little white "sweeties" (Olivia prefers that we don't call them rats because people associate "rats" with dirty places like sewers) have proved to be very sweet, smart, clean, and loads of fun. We'll see how we feel in a few months, but I'm even attached to them already and I didn't want anything to do with a pet at this stage in my life.

Enjoy the photos!


The proud owner. Aren't those lovely whiskers?

Isaac and Tabatha


Hide and Seek

The exercise ball



Tabatha's first day with Snowball

The hospital