Attack of the cute fuzzy kind....

[GartenSpinnen]

So, my girlfriend has been talking a lot lately about getting a cute little fuzzy animal for our apartment because she needs a change from all the spiders and scorpions and millipedes and lizards we are currently hiding in our apartment. So friday night we are at the mall and decide to take a pass through the pet store in there, and then we see it... a cute little fuzzy hamster. It seemed like the greatest thing in the world while we were in the pet store, we held it and petted it and played with it and it just seemed so sweet and innocent and an investment we could not pass up so we bought it. From the petstore we took it home and played with it, and thats when things all of a sudden turned sour. The first thing the hamster did was run up the front of me and latch on to my neck. Screaming like a little girl i grabbed the thing and yanked it down on my lap, where it then proceeded to take a big <edit> on me and take off running. So while im bleeding from my neck i and with <edit> balls all over my new pair of jeans im chasing this little horrible devil. Well i ended up catching it and me and my girl both agreed we should take it back. So for the night we decided to put it in a shoe box. The next morning we wake up and it ate the shoe box and escaped, so i had to run around chasing it until i caught it and then i threw it in the tubberware container. After catching it, we went to turn the tv on and realized that our tv remote in the living rooms buttons were all chewed off. Then we checked the vcr remote.... also chewed to hell. Then we proceeded to check the bedroom tv remote... also chewed to hell. To make an end to a long story we ended up taking the nasty evil hamster back and getting a rat and it has been such a sweet pet. So DONT BUY HAMSTERS.... buy rats ;P

 

[OldHag]

LMAO!!!!!!! OMH Thats a great story!!!!
Ive said for years that Gerbils and hamsters are little pieces of Hell sent to earth to reak havok and leave carnage and mayhem in their wakes.

You were lucky to escape with only your neck flayed and your remotes destroyed! You have redeemed yourself by getting a rat. They are we pieces of heaven on earth.

 

[Skypainter]

I would have fed that little varmint to my L. parahybana!!!

 

[RVS]

Ha ha, what an evil little creature!
And they seem so harmless...

 

[AneesasMuse]

Hamsters are the worst!! Very cute, but little demons nonetheless.

Ratties, on the other hand, are little angels. I started with one little guy that was orphaned and destined for snake snack. Poodah is a little over 4 months old now. Then I went in one of those "chain" pet stores to pick up some odds 'n ends for my Wild Kingdom... only to find a little lonesome girl rattie baby being discriminated against for her "different" ears. Tiffany was rescued and named for the little girl that helped me with her. Now, I have 3 rattie kids cuz they shouldn't live alone... they are very social and can get depressed when left alone. Taffy came to our house a week or so ago, and she keeps Tiff company. Poodah is still looking for the right little brother to come along, but he thinks I am Momma Rattie and hangs out with me most of the day.

Poodah at day 11

Poodah during typing lessons

Poodah checking out the fake lei

Tiffany, her first day home

Cheerio hunting

Tiffany and Taffy playing with a dinosaur

Sorry for hijacking... but Ratties Rule!!

 

[Varden]

Get Poodah neutered and not only will he live slightly longer, but you can then put him in with the girls.

 

[bugmankeith]

Didnt anyone tell you hamsters bite before? Oh and putting it in a shoe box, they have massive teeth, bad mistake, (like the hole you discovered) Well at least you learned from all of this.

Hamsters may be cute and fuzzy, but they are best left alone to play in their cages with all those tunnels and chew toys, digging burrows, they get nervous easily and their defence it to bite and pee, not to mention they are great at escaping.

As long as you know what your in for they are ok to have, too bad you both didnt know what you had gotten into before this all happened.

 

[Mr.Scorpion]

Rats are awesome little guys, however I advise you get it a friend, they are very social.

 

[Barbedwirecat]

Well at least you learned your lesson. Rats are great!! However you do have to remember they have relativly short lifespans. They are VERY social and never be kept alone. No amount of human interaction will make up for another rattie buddy.

If you do get another, make sure to follow strict quarentine procedures (apart in a seperate house preferably, or a completly different level of the house for at least 3 weeks) before slowley introducing them. This is important as most pet stores carry rat diseases (most always start out with sniffling and sneezing), lice, mites, fleas, and other nasties.


I am part of a rat borad that has wonderful begginer rattie fans info for you!!
http://www.goosemoose.com
Good luck to you and feel free to PM me if you have any questions

 

[Aunt Ant]

Too bad rats get a bad rap sometimes. Is it the tail? My sister says people at her school go "ew, rats, ew mice" but when it comes to hamsters, they think they're the cutest and therefore, better pets. Perfect example of how one should not judge by appearances. Pet rats are different from the ones on the street too, folks gotta understand!

Good story shammer!

 

[Tleilaxu]

I have had good luck with the siberian dwarf hambsters being friendly. But mine killed him self my jumping off his wheel into the glass.

 

[GartenSpinnen]

sweeeeeeet lets see some more rat pictures

 

[becca81]

*sigh*

Stinky, smelly rats. Cute, but I wasn't sad to see them go....

 

[rattler_mt]

ive had a half dozen pet rats over the years but i developed an allergy to them. great fun to play with. i had one that would wait for my moms dog to come over and sniff his cage and he would jump at the bars as soon as the dogs nose hit the bars. send the mutt running every time. the rat never actually tried to grab the dog but seemed to really enjoy the fact it could send something almost 60 times its size running. mine loved scrambled eggs, always saved some from breakfast for them

 

[Bill S]

Somehow I didn't think there'd be a thread in this forum praising rats - but I'll jump in and offer my own rat story.

Last year there was a family of packrats living in my garage. One's that had gotten tame enough to beg food from me. Pack rats have only one or two babies at a time, and the mother rat in this story had two offspring, a male from her first cycle of the season, and a female that still had it's eyes closed when the mother met an untimely end. She got eaten by a skunk. But I adopted the babies, and even eyedropper-fed the female until she could take solid food. The female unfortunately caught a disease from some mice (which I raise as snake food), and died. But I still have the male. And he's as gentle as a baby, and an incurable beggar. Typical of packrats, when he begs it's usually not with the intent of eating the food he begs for (although sometimes the treat is too special not to sit back and enjoy it). If I have a handful of nuts or crackers, he'll take one, bound back to his nest box to stash it, and come running for the next treat. This continues until I stop giving him treats.

As a kid I used to keep white rats - and they do make great pets. But packrats are now my favorites.

 

[Mr.Scorpion]

MY RATTIES!:

 

[bugmankeith]

Their cute, and I like the cage setup, the hammock is funny.

 

[fiveohatch]

i hate hamsters. i had several when i was a little kid and they were all mean.

i'd like to get rats again, but they just don't live long enough. i've got a real problem with getting pets that i get attached to.

 

[Arachnophilist]

rodents are food.. Im sorry rats are cute.. but they are still incontinent rodents. you want a good fuzzy pet get a ferret! they smell but they are awesome.. and smarter than any cat or dog! but not necessarily in a good way :0)

 

[pinkzebra]

Rats are as smart as ferrets. And they don't stink anywhere near as bad.