Delftsman

Two New Additions

Well.....I wish someone could tell me just WHY an otherwise sensible woman should have a sudden fascination with rats? And I don't mean the invading Norway's sneaking into the basement, I mean held in a cage,being fed specially formulated mixtures of nuts,seeds,and alfalfa pellets, and requireing just the right kind of bedding for the bottom of said cage?

Two weeks ago, we went to the local Petsmart to get some dog food; the Pricess has been going on for about the last 6 months wanting to get a ferret as a pet, despite all our explainations on just why that wasn't a good idea with two cats already sharing our domicile. So what does Mama do? She buys two Hooded rats, of course! Notwithstanding my protestations that I preferred not to willingly invite vermin into my home.

I was almost resigned to the fact that we would have these critters for the next couple of years, when suddenly Mama developed a sudden creative urge to make a larger cage for our erstwhile pets, saying she thought she could make a larger one for not a great deal of money, and Dumpling and Cecily would like more room to move around in.

Now Mama definately has great talent in fabricating whatever she desires, and indeed, she built a three story domicile for about $10 worth of hardware cloth,plastic zip strips and a storage bin. I was proud of her for her ability....I SHOULD have realized that something was up when she didn't immediately transfer the aformentioned vermin with the cutesy names into their new enclosure.

Well, as it happened, we had to go to Petsmart tonight to get some dog food (damn those dogs can pack it away!) I went directly to the dog food aisle, not noticing that Mama WASN'T right behind me....Yeah, you guessed it. We now have FOUR vermin esconced in our home, living the life of Riley. The two new ones are male, though, so never shall the two pairs meet!

I don't know WHEN I lost control of the Citidel...now I wonder if I ever HAD control, but it's become obvious that I am just another fixture of the household, feeding the new aquisitions and cleaning up the resulting excrement laden litter.

I do have to admit that it's kind of intriguing to see my wife's long hair seem to be moving independently in a strange manner and then seeing a rodent face peering out from under it, but I still can't change my feeling that rats are vermin, only to be used as food for snakes. They may be tame and do seem to enjoy being petted and fussed over, but still,....I wonder when I can get my nephew to bring over his pet Boa for a huge feed.

UPDATE: Mama just asked me just how large I wanted MY cage to be... It's nice to know that she does read my blog on occasion!

Posted by Delftsman3 at January 30, 2005 03:48 AM