Introducing Socks

You all know about sad little Twitchy. What a saga that was! I called Shawn on Thursday to tell him about the poor little thing. He agreed that the dogs caused him great stress, which ended his little life. I asked him to please bring another mouse/rat for Timmy's snake.

"And what ever you do please don't let me see it."

He laughs. He arrives on Sunday with a huge bucket. I always wonder what is next when he comes in with a bucket. It is always alive.

I said, "Hey, did you bring a rat for Timmy?"

He says, "Yes I did, and I brought one for you too."

My heart fell. Oh no, not again. Why? He comes to me with his hands cupped and opens them up. And all I could say was awllllllll. I immediately took the little thing from him. He is a special kind of rat. A curly haired rat, Shawn tells me. He has all kinds of waves in his hair. He is a dark charcoal color and has 4 tiny white feet. I immediately named him Socks. But I did not want to keep him. A rat! He was the center of attention most of the day. Jeremy held him for a long time and he is so cute. Never nibbles on you and his little nose twitches all the time.

A rat!

I can't believe this.

I had to go to work on Monday and tell the ladies. They laughed at me again. On the way home I was thinking I would call Jeremy and see if he would like to take him. He has an empty aquarium and he sure liked the little guy. We stopped at the pet store to pick up Timmy that day and Scot asked Shawn if they had any rat cage's he could look at. Ooh no, I know what that means. If I don't say anything now the rat will be mine forever. I kept quiet. The cages on the pet store are really too expensive so I decided we could get one at Wal-Mart for less. We leave and are on our way to Wal-Mart. The whole time I am thinking that I can say never mind. I will call Jeremy and see if he wants it. But the words never came out. I kept thinking about how cute his little fuzzy fur is and about how sweet he is.

A rat!

I am loosing my mind.

We get to Wal-Mart and it is a big family decision to get the right cage. Timmy is going for the biggest and fanciest cage there is. Notice he is not paying. I make the decision and we get the smaller one. It is really a hamster cage with a wheel and a water bottle and a little house. He will out grow it one day but for now it will do. Off we go. When we get home I unload it and put it together. I don't have any cedar chips at this time so I shred up some newspaper and fix him all up. He looked so happy in there and got busy shuffling stuff around. I put him back in my sewing room so the dogs would not have another fight and frighten him. I fell asleep on the couch that night and when Scot woke me up for bed I decided to peek at my new little buddy before I went to bed. My heart literally jumped when I looked in there. There were two of them! Then I remembered Timmy's rat. Guess that stupid snake is still not hungry. His rat is not nearly as cute as mine is though. But he will have to be Boots to match Socks. There they were scurrying around together. I sighed and closed the door again.

Every morning I go and see them before work. Then I visit them after work and say good night to them before bed. They really are cute the way they snuggle together and run around and play. You know the old saying that someone's hair looks like a rat's nest? I know just how that saying came about. When I clean the cage out I take newspaper and tear it in long strips so they can do what they like to do. They build a nest. It is mounded high to the top of the cage and all pushed to one end. It is truly amazing! It must be a lot of work too. Then they live right in the center of it and poke there little heads out when I go to see them. Socks likes me already. If I stick my hand in the cage he just crawls right into it. I think Jeremy really tamed him on Sunday with all the holding he did. Okay, so he is cute. And I know I am crazy when I hold him and pet him. And I know I am crazy when I brush him close to my cheek and let him smell my face. He is so cute and so sweet. What can I say? My mom thinks I have lost it, she may be right but there are two rats in this world that will not be snake food after all.