I've always grown up with pets around the house. When I went off to college, I missed having one but never got one. I guess it was a good thing because Meredith has allergies to cat dander and other unknown things in the environment. If I had had a cat, it would have been a little fluffy, and Meredith probably could not have handled that.

So when we became a family, it was natural to want to have a pet. Our first one was Swordbeak the checkered garter snake. We found Swordbeak in a nearby park as we were building a campfire just for fun. We spotted her in the water and caught her. When we brought her home, we placed her in a cage, and we feed her worms and fish. We almost got a pit bull, but we realized that it would have been too much for our family.

Then I got a fish tank and filled it with fish -- Pristella Tetras, Colombian Tetras, Cherry Barbs, a Bristlenose Plecostamus, and a Synodontis ("upside-down") Catfish. The Synodontis Catfish has gotten the biggest due to the amount of food that ends up the floor. These fish have various names -- Blacky, Mr. Grumply, Romeo, Juliet, and Tybalt come to mind.

Sadly, none of these pets were particularly glad to be a part of the Roberts family. Or at least, none has expressed joy in interacting with us. Swordbeak the snake just tries to get away. The fish look at us and freak out when we get close. Despite the number of pets we have so far, there has always been something missing. So we've often thought about what to get next. Specifically, we had hoped for something mammalian -- warm-blooded, furry, and glad to be around. But Meredith's allergies were always a concern.

When we were passing out cookies to our neighbors before Christmas, we met Mary down the street. She has pet rats and introduced us to one hers. She said that rats make great pets. (See this page for more information.) Her furry friend was very friendly and crawled onto my shoulders. It would sit in our arms and just enjoy being around us. Later on that day, we had some friends over who told us that they also had pet rats. What are the odds? I've lived for over 31 years without hearing about keeping rats as pets, but in one day we talked with two people who did just that!

So it was just a matter of time before we would look into getting one for our own. Meredith called me last Saturday while I was leaving a practice. She and Ethan were getting to know the newest addition to our family: Patty Snowflake Roberts. Patty (the ratty) was the name I came up with. Ethan wanted to name her Snowflake.

Patty is a hairless hooded fancy rat. "Fancy" is another way of saying "pet". She was bred in captivity from what is probably a long line of domesticated rats. She is very friendly. When Meredith and Ethan first met her at the pet store, she stood up to meet them. When I first met her later that day, she sat on my shoulder, where she likes to hang out. We knew we wanted to buy her that day, but first we had to get a cage for her. We did that yesterday and brought her home.

She considers her cage to be a safe place. The one we bought has four levels plus a hammock and a wheel. You can see her climbing on the side of the cage in this picture. We turned a used tissue box into her home. When we went to bed last night, I left a halfway used roll of toilet paper in her cage. During the night, she tugged on it and teepeed her home, wrapping her little home with it and pulling some of it into the hole. The toilet paper was still attached to the roll below.

Patty does love to be around kids. When we first brought her home yesterday, Ethan's cousin Savannah was on her way soon after to play with Ethan. Savannah liked to pet Patty, and Ethan likes to hold her too. Patty scurries around on me while I lay or sit down on the floor. She has even cleaned herself on me, a sign that she is comfortable.

Since rats are sociable animals, we plan to get more, and soon. Patty is 4-5 months old, and we will get another one that is young too. We were told that hairless rats get picked on by their hairy friends, so we want Patty to be the oldest and most established in her home before bringing any more home. It seems like we could easily have 3 more of these and not crowd the cage.

-Brent