Rattie Visitors

Ricky came up to York earlier this week, bringing with him Peaches and a molting Noodle. Peaches is still her squishy self and Noodle looks like a demented baby bird/balding hyena.

Ricky and the Noodle.



Hewwo?


Yep, I look like a demented hyena.


Grooming my skin/fur/fuzz.


How do I get back in?


Time to groom your skin fur, missy.

Later, we drove over to Lancaster to visit That Pet Place, a wonderful, independently-owned store that has the best selection of great pets and supplies I've ever seen. We went over to the small animal section and chatted for the better part of an hour or two with the workers there about everything rattie. Us and the staff there then helped inform a terrified mother and her very enthusiastic daughter about rats as pets, each of us cuddling a big squish of a male, including a russian blue dumbo english irish boy who started to groom the girl as she was holding him. After about a half-hour the mother finally reached out to the blue boy and petted him for a while, deciding that there would probably be rats in her home in the near future and that she should start getting used to them now.

Unfortunately, most of the people that came through the doors were much more excited about the baby guineau pigs (which, because I have friends who've traveled to South America, I view more as something you pick up at market than keep as a pet) who chirped incessantly the whole time we visited. When an inquisitive child went up to the rat cages, their alarmed parents would pull them back and insist that those things were certainly not the pet their child wanted. A nice hamster, instead.

Okay, hamsters are not nice.

I have only ever possessed one nice hamster named Kuzco, who acted more, now that I think about it, like a rat than a hamster, and was probably mixed with something else. There was no way that hamster was what the pet store said he was. I am still the most nervous to pick up a hamster, as, most of the time, they do not want to be picked up. Now, I'm not blaming this entirely on the hamster, as a well-bred and well-handled hamster probably likes people, but, considering that hamsters are thought of almost like a "starter pet," if I was a nice hamster and was suddenly being poked and grabbed at by small children, I would want to knaw off their fingers too.

And guineau pigs, well, they're loud. Loouuud. Chirp chirp chirpity chirp meepmeepmeepmeep. I have met very nice piggies, but I think having one would drive me a little bit crazy.

Anyway, we had a great time snuggling some squishes. What I like about That Pet Place is that, like most of the pet stores I go to, they get their animals from accidental litters and rescue cases. Five of the male rats there had a previous owner who gave them up (why I will never understand), and the other three females in there were all accidentally pregnant. All were in good health and looked like happy squishies/babies. If you would like to adopt a rattie from there, I highly recommend it, as the staff in the small pets section are all small pet (usually rat) owners and have a lot of experience. The woman working there on Tuesday evening owned a neutered male and spayed female rat, along with other small pets and birds, and was great talking to.

And here's a cute picture of the rodent-obsessed pup, Chloe. She tried to befriend the meeces one day by trying to jump up on my dresser, and the meeces tried to bite her face off. Good thing she wasn't (and couldn't) get very close. Here she is sniffing around the backyard.