Oh, Rats!

I've just read this story from Masslive about sewer rats overrunning a local town, and it actually brought up fond memories of a pet rat I used to own about ten or so years ago. You know, not all rats are bad rats. Some can even be kind of cute. Domestic rats are often called "fancy rats", and they come in a variety of colors and color combinations. I had bought my rat, Homer, at a pet store in Enfield, CT. Pet stores sell rats fairly cheap - about five bucks or so - because folks use them for snake food. Truth be told, rats are actually quite tame as pets, very clean, and very intelligent. They are said to be smarter than the over-rated hamster. I've owned both a hamster and a rat, and I can honestly say I preferred Homer, my rat. The only downside to having a rat (or a hamster, for that matter) as a pet is that rats don't live very long (about 2 years, on average).

So the next time you hear about how bad rats are, try to keep in mind that there's some good rats out there, too.