Hi there! This is Maddie, on the blog for the first time to introduce the newest members of the family, Peanut and Jasmine (or Jazzy for short). While it may sound like these two twins are dogs or maybe even cats, they are actually two super sweet rats! Yep! You heard me! Rats! I had been wanting a rat forever, ever since I saw one at the Catalyst for Change fair in the spring of fifth grade. Luke had been wanting hamsters, but at the time, it didn’t seem like it matter which pets we wanted, because Dad did not want any more pets. After six months of convincing, researching, and asking, Dad finally agreed to let us get rats. Luke wasn’t to hard to convince. All I had to say was “Rats can climb like monkeys,” and he was sold. After that followed another six months of doing pet-related chores to prove I was responsible enough to take care of not one, but two rats. (Rats are social and need to be kept in pairs.) In addition to that, we had to wait on an 80 person long waiting list (apparently rats are a popular pet here in Arizona) to get our rats. They were born on April 10th. Finally on May 21st, the day had arrived to pick them up! After taking the rats home, we began the bonding process… in the bathtub to ensure the sneaky little babies didn’t escape. But enough of my boring dialogue. Time for me to show you some adorable pictures of our little rats!
 |
| Peanut crawls on me. I look a little uncomfortable holding a rat, don’t I? |
 |
Another photo of me with a rat. I think this one is Peanut, Luke’s rat. He wasn’t in the bathtub on the first night, we didn’t want to overwhelm the rats.
|
 |
| Two sleepy rats do not want to get up the following Monday. We all feel your pain little rats. We all feel your pain. |
 |
| A slightly blurry photo of Luke and the rat I put on his head |
 |
| Jasmine giving me the stink eye. |
 |
| Me with Jasmine and Peanut on my shoulder. |
 |
| Luke spending some quality time with Peanut. |
 |
| We found out the hard way that rats chew everything, and these two especially love to chew fabric. This is a picture of them peeking out of the giant hole they chewed between two layers of fabric in their favorite hammock. Yes, they sleep in hammocks. |
