Part 2. a roommate.

Well, now that is has been over a month since I first wrote about our Rats, I should probably tell you how we ended up with two Rats and what happened to the most adorable rat you have even seen. I can't even believe I wrote that. Once we realized that Harley was a depressed little rat, we decided it would be best to get her a roommate. You can't have a depressed rat now can you. Elliott was out of town visiting my mom, so we took Owen to the pet store to pick out a second rat. They of course had a couple males left and we knew that we needed a female- I do not want to be a rat breeder. They told us that they were waiting for their shippment of rats to arrive and come back in a few hours. When we came back there was in fact 40 little rats to pick from. Most looking like Harley, until we found this cute, tiny, all grey little rat. She was a Dumbo rat. Meaning she has bigger ears set a little lower on her head. It adds a cute factor for sure. We picked her and brought her home. With in minutes, the two were best friends and Owen was a happy camper. He loved her and named her Daisy.

It was a perfect friendship. She was much nicer than Miss Harley and incredibly social. She loved to be held. Owen carried her everywhere and started to teach her little games. She rode around on his shoulder. It was sweet.

Of course Raichlen was very intrigued by these little furry creatures and was dying to get his hands on them. While Owen had Daisy out he was letting her climb on a bookshelf that I had just cleaned off and was moving out. While I had my back turned, the toddler, out of pure excitement grabbed the little rat, and squeezed. He had no idea what he was doing and when we shouted to put her down, he did. She was shaken up and ended up falling down off the shelf. I think she may have had a seizure. Owen snatched her up and cuddled her trying to see if she was ok, but with in a few minutes she had passed away. It was so awful. Owen was a mess, Rai was confused and I was a bit shaken up.

Owen was brave and helped bury sweet Daisy in the garden. I hated seeing my little guy so heartbroken. After she was burried, Owen bounced back. He talked to Raichlen sweetly and of course, asked if he could get a new rat. Obviously we said yes. Daisy #2 two came home a few hours later and has managed to stay alive. We all raised our level of caution when Rai is around the rats. Now that they are bigger, I think they are safe from the toddlers grip, but you can not be to careful we learned.