who’s your their daddy?
July 3rd, 2007 by Christine
a little over a month ago, I bought a pet rat. being around animals helps my mood, and I wanted to get something that was easy to care for and could be left alone all day (and some nights). I did some research, and it turns out rats are clean, affectionate, and smart. boy rats are usually tamer, but they are also disproportionately endowed. so I went with a girl rat, and named her Rambo. she was a tiny thing, timid but curious, and we were getting along well. but then she got sick. really sick. and died. I never had pets as a kid — it wasn’t until college when I lived with people who owned pets — and have only had a few fish in my life. I didn’t know how to deal with the death of something unflushable… I cried. a lot. I had gotten attached… since I didn’t want to dwell on the death, I decided to get a new rat, but it turns out they do better in pairs, so I went for two. I found some chick on craigslist that had a new litter ready for adoption. I could write an entire post about this rat lady, but I’ll spare you. anyway, I adopted two healthy, gorgeous girl rats and named them Sequel and Raptor. I’ve had them for about 2 weeks.
I was out of town for a few days, and when I came back last night, I noticed Sequel had gotten huge. according to the internet, female rats are prone to growing tumors on or around their mammary glands, and the tumors can grow very quickly. so I figured it was a tumor, and if it kept growing, I’d take her to the vet.
it wasn’t a tumor.
I woke up this morning and went to check on Sequel. imagine my surprise when I saw her hovering over more than a half dozen little rat babies. that’s right, I unknowingly purchased a knocked up rat. I did not want a pregnant rat, nor do I want nine little bastard rats crowding up the cage. I have no idea what to do. my mom, being the pragmatist that she is, suggested I just kill the babies, but I think Sequel would know and hold it against me. plus, I don’t have it in me to off the offspring of my pet. but I think I do have it in me to let another creature, one more relevant in the food chain, kill the babies. I’ll try waiting until they are old enough to separate from mommy, and if nobody wants to adopt them… snake food. am I a horrible person? when Rambo got sick, I spent $86 at the vet. I was willing to fork over the same for Sequel. but I have no interest in owning more than two rats, and as an omnivore who has seen The Lion King, I understand the circle of life.
sigh. what do I do?
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Dude, you live in San Francisco … Craigslist and they’ll be gone in two days!