DW knows all: pet edition

[oyceter]

So. I have had pet rats for the past 7 years, and although I love them to pieces, I think their short lifespans (2-3 years) are really wearing on me emotionally. (Poor Ed-rat. I think he is getting lonely too... he is getting kind of neurotic when I play with him.)

I think I am currently looking for a pet that isn't too high maintenance or expensive. I'm not interested in getting a dog, and I'm slightly allergic to cats. I'd prefer something that can't mess furniture up. I also tend to like the older guy rats because they're lazy and squishy and cuddly, as opposed to the more energetic girl rats. I'd also like something that lives for at least 5 years.

So far, I have been thinking of either ferrets or guinea pigs, but I have no idea outside of random things I've read on the Internet. I would also not be opposed to getting a litter-trained non-kitten cat or so, but have no idea how much work cats are. I'd also prefer adopting from a rescue agency over getting a pet from a breeder or pet store.

Also, I went to a local rat adoption fair and nearly succumbed. There was a pair of one-year-old boy rats, all fat and squishy, and one of them was a black berkshire like Fitz-rat, and one of them was a black rex like Ren. SO CUTE! Especially the black rex! He was even kind of balding like Ren! I so wanted to take them home! I always get so sad seeing the adult rats in adoption fairs, because their chances of being adopted are so low, thanks to the lifespan thing. I was trying to tell myself that if I got the two boys, maybe I wouldn't get as attached to them when they died in a year or so? Ha.

Comments

[coraa]

I am tremendously fond of guinea pigs, and I'd have them now if I didn't have cats.

Guinea pigs are pretty low maintenance and, if you get them young, do live for a while. We got ours when I was in fourth grade, and they survived until I was in high school—about five years, I think, total. They require almost nothing except for food, water, something to chew on, and a home with a place they can hide (we put a cardboard shoebox in the cage with them, which served both for hiding and chewing). They don't try to escape, really.

The down side is that they are less interactive than either rats or ferrets. Ours liked us, and would come over and squeak to say hello, and would purr (well, it's techically called burbling, but it sounds like a purr), and we could hold them... but they didn't really play. They were more like, uh, warm fuzzy potatoes with little legs. So if you want a lot of playfulness and interactivity, piggies are probably not the way to go.

That said, they are one of my favorite little animals.

[coraa]

(I also have to share that when my brother was about eight, he had the brilliant idea of training them to run a maze for a science fair project. They loved fresh lettuce, so he built a maze out of blocks and put lettuce at the end. The guinea pigs, showing surprising intelligence for a creature that acts like a furry potato most of the time, took one look at the maze, and then trundled straight through to the lettuce, knocking down every block in the process.)

[oyceter]

Awwww! Furry potato actually doesn't sound that bad, since I feel like that is basically what boy rats turn into when they get older. Although they do like cuddles a lot and Ren used to poke me for scritches...