Of Mice and Men (or rats and boys!)

L2 loves rats. He has four of his very own. He started with two females, but when one passed away, he begged his dad to buy him a boy. So, now he has a mama and a papa rat. In November, they had 8 babies. They are very very cute once they get hair. Anyway, he found homes for 6 of them and he kept 2 boys. I neutered the papa rat so we won't have any more babies. When you neuter a male, you must wait several weeks before they are actually sterile before you can put them with a female. He keeps the baby boys in a separate cage. Unfortunately, the boys keep getting out of their cage and I worry they will get in with their mom, and you know, have retarded innerbred babies. I told him that I would neuter the two boys and then he could connect the cages with tubes so they could freely go from one cage to another. At first, he wanted me to neuter them today so he could connect them tomorrow. Before I even mentioned the waiting period after neutering he says, "Oh yeah, I can't connect them yet because they will still have baby formula for a while." That kid cracks me up sometimes.

This morning he came down and told me that he woke up three times in the night, and all three times he had a rat on his face. That may just freak you out, but he hand raised these babies from birth and they just love him. They have to escape the cage, jump off the dresser, cross his bedroom floor and climb his bed to get to him. Now that is some major rat love there my friends. I have to tell you though, I do have a wee bit of anxiety when I see him with the rats and think of the movie Willard. I'm really glad that none of his rats are named Ben!