First Impressions

 

 

“Darlin’, your hair is a rat’s nest today,” and this time I meant it literally.  My daughter has a big mop of thick brown hair that her pet rats, Constance and Zoe, love to nest in.  Now WAIT a minute.  At the mention of rats you might have gotten the shivers and were tempted to stop reading.  First impressions aren’t’ always what they seem, so please read on.

     Admit it, you are picturing nasty, brown sewer rats that invade your basement, shred your insulation and spread diseases.  Put that picture in your pocket right now and clear your mind.

Constance and Zoe were born at the local Feed & Seed.  Full grown, they barely cover my daughter’s petite hand.  They are mostly a pristine white with elegant hoods of light grey and dark grey.  These girls are friendly, loyal and love to snuggle.  They are members of our family.

Domestic rats get a bad rap for sure, and their wild cousins are probably to blame.  But if you research rats you might be surprised.  They are quite smart and very clean.  Our rodent-girls have designated one small corner of their multi-leveled home as their bathroom.  Every time my daughter cleans their cage, they clear the soft litter from the corner that is as far from their sleeping quarters and food supply as possible, and use it exclusively for their “business”.  My daughter will carry them around the house in her sweater and they can “hold it” for a couple of hours.  As soon as she opens their cage door, they run from her hands to the corner to relieve themselves and then run back for some more snuggle time.

Pet rats are much more social than the hyper-active gerbils and the skitter-ish hamsters.  They come when called and can learn many tricks!  Their loyalty is clear, as they prefer my daughter to anyone else in the house (much to my chagrin – I love these little balls of fur).

 

Hopefully after reading this you have a better impression of pet rats (and the hair on your neck no longer stands on end at the thought).  Now think about other first impressions.  How many times have you based your opinion on somebody (human) on a first impression that turned out to be completely wrong?  Maybe the guy you had written off as an arrogant jerk turned out to be actually quite kind and fun to be around?  Or the person who you couldn’t wait to get to know better turned out to be a narcissistic bore.

I think we could all learn to be less judgmental upon first impressions and give people (and rats) a chance to shine.  We may be surprised at what we learn!

(PS – If I had put the picture of Ella’s cute rats in her hair at the beginning of this instead of the Mickey Mouse picture, would you have read this far?  Feel free to disagree...but I think I have a point!)