I was first introduced to rats as pets by my aunt, who had rescued a class pet from being tortured by students. When my roommate in college decided we needed a pet, it didn't seem very strange to get a pair of rats. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to keep them in the dorm, and we also found out that the pet store had given us a boy and a girl (it's a wonder she didn't get pregnant!) My family took the boy, named Eddie, and my Aunt Dianna (same as above) took Ebony. Eddie was a great pet. He loved to cuddle; in fact, you could sit with him in your lap while you watched TV and he would just sleep. He was also a kisser…he would lick your hand all day if you let him.
After Jay and I got married, it felt wrong for me to be in vet school and have no pets. I was also needing something small to take care of. Jay had never had a pet in his life (well, he admitted to keeping one box turtle for a week or so to earn a badge for Scouts). So when I mentioned rats, Jay was a little skeptical. He had met Eddie, but wasn't that interested in him at the time. But after doing a little research on the internet (what else would he do?), he came to the conclusion that maybe rats wouldn't be so bad.
We bought Gracie at a pet store in Little Rock while visiting my family (we were living in Mississippi). She was light gray, and small and cute, and we thought she was a boy (wrong!) After doing some more research, we found out that rats need a friend to really be happy, so we brought home a boy rat from the local pet shop in Starkville, and noticed they were very different. Thankfully, they let us bring it back and exchange it for a girl. Rosie was black, and bigger and much more timid than Gracie, but they were happy together. Gracie was fearless; she ran through the house when I let them out to play, climbing the curtains and jumping from the back of the couch to the coat rack. Two weeks after we got her, she was playing in our room while Jay was changing clothes. Jay lifted his foot to put on his pants, then set it down in the same place, unaware that Gracie had run up under him at that moment. She squealed as Jay put nearly all of his weight on her, and she lay lifeless for a few moments. We quickly took her to the vet school's emergency room (it was a Sunday afternoon), asking them to consider putting her to sleep because we were sure she was not going to recover. They took her back while we waited for them to examine her. They brought her to us a few minutes later, saying, "Are you sure you want to put her to sleep?" She was looking around, licking their hands, and acting like nothing had happened. We took her home, thankful that she seemed to have escaped unharmed. We did have her x-rayed a few days later just to make sure nothing was broken…she had some bruising in her lungs, but that was it.
Gracie was too good to be true. She would usually come when I called her, and she loved being picked up and played with. She gave lots of kisses; one of her favorite things to do was sit on Jay's shoulder and lick his nose. Rosie finally got to where she would come hide behind me if I sat in the floor, but she still seemed terrified of every noise or movement. We called Gracie "our rat", and Rosie became "Gracie's rat". They really did enjoy each other's company.
Clockwise from top left: baby Gracie; Rosie eating an m&m; young Gracie and Rosie; older Gracie dressed up for Christmas
One bad thing about rats is their short life span. They only live around 2 years, which is just not enough time to enjoy them. Gracie died while I was pregnant with James, and Rosie passed away soon after he was born. We couldn't get more rats at the time; we had just moved to Little Rock for Jay's new job (a month after James was born) and were living with my family while we looked for a house. Through the years we have talked about getting some more rats, but we just now feel like life has slowed down enough that we have time to devote to these incredible animals! We are aware that there will probably never be another rat as good as sweet Gracie, but we are content to have a few that enjoy our company as we enjoy theirs. On Saturday, we drove to Dallas to pick up three cute baby girls, and we look forward to sharing their stories with you!
