Sugar, spice, everything nice, and CHEMICAL X!

Some of you may remember back in July when I lost Big Dutch, my male Hooded rat. He had health complications (as did all of his sisters who left before him) and I had to let him go. Obviously, that was a big fat bummer, and since I had such troubles with all my ratty babies I wasn’t sure if I could handle any more short lives and dramatic deaths.

And then, last week, I was lonely as fuck. (Read about it here!)

Now, I have always wanted a dog. Always as in ‘since I can remember’. I love hanging out with other people’s dogs and I’ve been called upon to dog-sit a great deal in my adult life, but a short foray into fosterhood proved conclusively that I was really and truly allergic to dander. Cue much pouting. Between a vastly reduced list of breeds due to the allergy and the fact that I’m gone for work close to ten hours a day (I commute), dog ownership is just not a possibility at the moment. I’m still bummed out about it, but it is what it is, and when I finally do get to have a dog (Greyhounds don’t have an undercoat and there’s a local rescue!) I want to be able to be home with it as much as possible. With all of this in mind, while also desperately wanting something to snuggle, the solution was obvious: It was time for another round of ratties.

So off I pottered to North Star Rescue, which is where I adopted Penny and Big Dutch, and I spent an hour or so with Jenn, the director, and some sweet little girls, one of whom I had met in July when I took what was left of Big Dutch’s kibble and cage fluff over as a donation. I had intended to adopt a pair--rats have to have a buddy--because I found it difficult when I had three to bond with all of them equally. Of course, the Universe (in the form of Jenn, the Empress of Rat Adoption Enablement) had other ideas.

Having discovered she was (astonishingly) still available, I knew I would be taking home the Double Rex girl I had met in July. Okay, so that was one decision made, now, who to take with her?

As soon as Jenn opened the cage, a little pink-eyed Marten came right over to say hi. Now, I’m not terribly keen on the whole red eye thing, it kinda creeps me out. I know it’s not fair or rational, but there it is. So I handled her for a minute and then moved on, loving on a few other little critters, but the Marten kept coming back. She really wanted to be close to me, and besides, she was giving me kisses, and if you’ve never experienced ratty kisses you are missing out because they are the best. “All right, Marten girl, you’re selling yourself really well. You get to be my second.”

“Hang on, I have a little Masked girl in there somewhere,” Jenn said.

Oh no. I suddenly got the feeling that my dream of a pair was going to be just that. And when Jenn finally found her, that little Masked girl just made me melt. She’s a runty little thing. It turns out that she was taken away from her mama too early. She’s nervous, but super sweet. And also super speedy, but I’m pretty sure that will subside once she gets used to me.

So I ended up with a trio. They’re strikingly different in coats and markings and colors, and I expect as they grow they’ll be just as different in their personalities, but for now they’re snuggly as can be and just too cute for words!

“Okay, so, three rats. Three girl rats. What do you name three girl rats?”

“Well, let’s see...I could name them after the Bronte sisters?” So I looked up the name of the third Bronte sister which I always forget and said, “Charlotte, Emily, and Anne? Mmm, no, I don’t think so. Next!”

I ended up asking Google to look up some famous female trios for me, and the first result was too perfect--and when things are too perfect, I try to find alternatives, because perfect is, well, perfect, and that’s kind of scary. I considered Kelly, Sabrina, and Jill (Charlie’s Angels,) but since I’m not a devotee of the program I scrapped that idea. It’s almost Halloween, so the thought of naming them Sarah, Mary, and Winnifred after the Sanderson Sisters in Hocus Pocus did cross my mind, but I scrapped that, too. Monica, Rachel, and Phoebe? Nah, didn’t watch Friends either. I started gender-bending other well-known threesomes, like Harriet, Veronica, and Hermione, but that got tedious really quickly. And besides, the first perfect set of names had grown on me by the time I exhausted the other possibilities, so:

Please say “Hello!” (in order) to Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup.