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

[mme_hardy]

Ferrets are illegal in CA. I hear good things about rabbits, although the necessary appartment-proofing is said to be major.

[oyceter]

Good to know!

Also, hrm, major apartment proofing might be iffy...

[heavenscalyx]

The apartment-proofing can be pretty impressive. I lived for several years with a couple of ferrets who belonged to my roommate. The older female was intelligent and sweet, but nippy (one of her favorite things to do late in life was sneak up behind my ex-roomie's husband, grab a mouthful of his leg hair, and run away with it to get his attention). Her son was a big lunk of stupid who liked to be rolled up and slid back and forth between two people on our wooden floors like a hockey puck. Her daughter could be extremely unpleasant, but primarily to my Evil Ex, which is, in retrospect, a lovely thing to contemplate. (Also, the older female ferret would sneak into Evil Ex's bedroom, steal his socks, and run away and stuff them into some inaccessible crevice of the washing machine. I have no idea what the apartment management thought when, however many years later, they changed out that washing machine and found it full of socks on the OUTSIDE of the equipment.)

One problem with ferrets is that I'm not sure there's a way to spay them safely, and the females need to be bred, or they'll just stay in heat until their immune systems weaken and they develop an infection.