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How did you get hooked on rodents?

6K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  KaidenOZ 
#1 ·
How did you get interested in rodents (or your rodent of choice) was it an impulse decision ( love at first sight) or have you always been fond of all things small and fuzzy?

I had a guinea pig growing up and then birds. I loved both but really enjoyed the personality of the guinea pig and the train-ability of the birds.

I think I've got the best of both worlds with my degus!
 
#2 ·
When I was in kindergarten I got my first hamster. It died after about 2 weeks from wet-tail and we kept getting new ones to be happy. As I got older I actually knew how to take care of them, and got a bit more educated on them. Now i'm hooked!! :)
 
#3 ·
At my middle school, my science teacher wanted to get a pet snake and then I remember the day she brought in a little ruby-eyed albino baby mouse. My friend showed me her and we fell in love at first sight! We named her Marshmallow :) Then I did a lot of research on them and my teacher let me take care and breed the mice there, I played with them all during lunch and in between classes and during science class too.

Then we had a cage with 4 girls and I brought them home over a long break and it was the BEST! I got some of my own and I absolutely LOVE mice! Then hearing about rats and seeing some at the pet store inspired me to get them and now I am just addicted to rodents of all kinds!
 
#4 ·
Ive grown up around small (and not so small) animals all my life. I have had my own hamsters since I was seven and I guess I got addicted lol. I have had birds since I was about five (I had two cockatiels) but now we have budgies and I dont really care for them much. I would love cockatiels again though. I am officially a rodent nerd! I even research them in my spare time...
 
#5 ·
Started with the first two guinea pigs me and my siblings shared, they were so gorgeous. We quickly ended up with 17 in total. I miss them all so much :(

Then there were the school gerbils (before seeing these two I'd never seen gerbils before lol) and a friends rats, hamster and mouse. All of these guys were so wonderful to spend time with it made me realise that rodents were definitely the way to go.

Rodents, to me, are just more affectionate than bigger animals in their own special way. Won't be getting any more until I move out and have more space and then there are going to loads of them lols
 
#6 ·
as a kid, I mean a 9yr old kid! I was into the Goth scene. I loved black, Marilyn Manson, etc.
So, I went out and got me a snake, because it was evil and tough LOL

It was a big guy who ate rats. I started breeding rats to feed it and I quickly realized that the rats were a much better pet than the snake. So I ended up giving away my snake, and keeping the rats! I had rats for 7 yrs until a couple of years ago. I woke up one morning and became allergic and had to re home my last two. :(
 
#7 ·
Growing up,we always had hamsters.But as I got older,I wanted something different and started asking for guinea pigs.Mom didn't want guinea pigs in the house because they smell.So I told my nanny I wanted GP's and she gave me the money for everything they needed and them.But mom still said no.So she took me to the pet store anyway and said I could get something else besides GP's.

I looked at the mice and immediately wanted them.I was 12 when I got my first mice and of course didn't research.I assumed they were like hamsters,except cuter.I got a pair of girls and one was pregnant.I knew NOTHING about mice and had to start researching then.But I fell in love with mice and had them since.

I got into rats at an early age,my old friend had some and I loved them.Mom said no though.She likes rats,but didn't want to get them in case I stopped caring for them.One day I went out and there was a lady selling rats at a festival.I got two and brought them home without telling mom.I assumed they were just big mice.BOY was I wrong!? The rats had no cage and ended up living in a spare room.That room was THEIRS.Unfortunatly they were very nippy and not friendly at all and nothing like the rats my friend had and so I gave them to another friend with a snake.I didn't think I would ever get rats again.But then met my cousin's big male rat,Nibbler and was hooked.He was a great rat and so I went out and got another rat and have not been without rats since! :D

I got a gerbil and another hamster since owning rats and mice and even got my guinea pigs after all these years of mom saying no,since I am an adult now...and I have to say RATS and mice are my true loves! Rats more though.
 
#8 ·
Wow vanilliarat you've gone through the whole spectrum of rodents huh?

BethV you had 17 guinea pigs?!?! At once! That's a lot of guinea pigs, you must have had a whole room for them huh?
 
#11 ·
Two separate sets of hutches in two sheds, 'twas hard work looking after that many I won't be going over ten at one time ever again lol.
 
#12 ·
When I was a kid, the only pets I was allowed to have were hamsters. So I definitely got attached to them! :D

I first fell in love with degus when I saw a couple for sale in a pet store. I went home and did tons of research. A year later they got in more and I bought my first pair :).
 
#13 ·
aw this is a nice thread! love all your stories :)
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We always had cats and dogs and fish in the house since I was born, but with my older brother we wanted pets of our own when we were smaller and my parents got us each a female hamster, they had to be housed in different cages. They were very nippy, and I got bit a lot but wasn't scared. My hamster was orange and my brother's black. I don't remember their names... They didn't live very long and both died almost at the same time:( I remember they had to be put on top of the kitchen cabinets to keep the cats from getting to them!
After that, I got a baby lionhead bunny when I was about 8, his name was Jeannot and I loved him to pieces! we had a room in the garage where I could go with him and let him run around. I moved to the US and gave him to a good friend who let him live a very happy bun life in his garden.
I moved back to france and my mom got me a black and white bunny from friends who were moving away, his name was Otto! so beautiful! I ADORED that bunny, he was soooo sweet! :) but I moved to the US AGAIN and gave otto to the friend I had given jeannot, and he was so happy! got to live outside :) (they had a super nice fenced garden and a little hut in the garden where he could hide and nap and be all warm and they grew loads of veggies and fruit trees. bunny heaven)
In the US, my little brother had 4 hamsters, they were so cute! And then we got Sammy sam the guinea pig with a missing foot because no one wanted him!
When I moved to montreal for my studies, I felt very animal lonely, it was the first time I lived in a home with no pets at all! And I REALLY wanted a rat because i'd heard they made real good pets. But my landlord wouldn't allow it and I had no money to afford the costs.
Last year, I went to a friend's house and she had a baby rat, I fell in love! So when I worked at a pet shop last year, I just had to adopt a beautiful blazed girl that was in the feeder bin! :) :)
 
#14 ·
When I was about 8 or 9 (14-15 years ago) I saw this TV program about different pets.
This one guy came on the program, and had 7 chinchillas.
I've been hooked ever since.

When I was about 11 some of my parents friends daughter had a chin who got to kits, and they asked if I wanted one.
My mom told me to get a book, and read trough the whole thing (a lot to do for a kid that didn't like reading that much at the time), and so I did. I got the only book available, and got trough the whole thing.

Then there was no way back for my mom.
We went to their friends, and I got to pick out one chin of the two kits.
There was a black one with a white belly, and what I thought was a grey one... I picked the grey one.
Later on I found out that my male was a Brown Velvet, the brother must have been a Black Velvet and the mom was a Pink White.

So I've been hooked ever since. Now I'm just totally crazy about chinchillas. Would love to write my masters on the wild chinchilla :heart:

Because of my addiction to chinchillas I prefer animals that have quite a long lifespan. I'm not all that happy about animals only living to about 2 or 3 years of age.
 
#15 ·
-I have a soft spot for anything soft and cuddly, we always had cats growing up so mum wouldn't let me get gerbils or hamsters.

-I went to an interactive farm when I was about 21 with my niece and we went to the baby animal holding centre, where they had baby rabbits, ducks, mice and guinea pigs. I fell in love with the scamperings of mice. I had wanted a mouse ever since but was still at uni and training to be a teacher. I waited until I had qualified and now have my own place. The boyfriend who is scared of animals was an obstacle to my dream but little by little he has come to care about Little Winston and now he is a big part of our lives (although he still won't hold him)

I am totally hooked on mice now and want more when we move to a bigger place. If all goes well with the mice, I hope to learn to look after some ratties too and when I'm really confident move on to sugar gliders as well as rodents.
 
#16 ·
I started when I was a baby. We had pets of all kinds. My mom before I was born had mice and hamsters which she loved but quickly became while prego with me allergic to them. They tryed after words but it was the same. Although Rabbits. G-pigs and she was opk with but rats were touch and go she can be around my hairlessly ones more so and have no prblems then my haired ones which in an hour she starts to have breathing prblems mice and hamsters with in 10 mins. But out in the open like outside she can hold them and be around them longer.
We always had rabbits mom and dad raised them at one time for food for them and they were the butcher rabbits not that they like doing that but it was cheeper at the time for them plus deer hunting. Although there were the pets rabbits we had and after a while dad got more sick then anything having to do rabbits as food so we got into rasin them floppys, and regualer all patched rabbits. then we got some Flemish Giaints the huge rabbits from a breeder I think in Ohio or some were around there and then we got into rexes and siames from some were in Texas. which were shipped in. That was a blast the rabbit were 5 each that were the mixed as in no telling what they were. the rexs were 10 w/o papers 15 with same with the Giants. Then i breed my big male giant who was a runt small with my female floopy rex and got a wild looking baby who I called wild breed her with a curly coated albino rablit half floppy from my mixed line (thins is all when I got older and the older rabbits did as well and we only had the mixes left and were getting out of breeding.) But my last one died in 2002 and he was 10 or a little older. HE was my last full siames that we had.
But inbetween then I had gotten a G-pigs that lasted 3 months from a pet shop and she keep getting sick she was not bigger then a large male rat and we were told she was 3 months old but then we didnt know. Now I know she was proably just weened or not old enogh. we finnially had to put her down. She was cream and chocolet and her name was Lisa.
After that which I was about 10 around 12 or 14 I say I was 14 my mom said it was when I was 12 I got sandy my 1st cream rat. She was from our bait lady my parents ordered bait from she riased them for pet, food and bait. They were all kept out side like rabbits. But they were all frinedly and nice. the ones she keep as pets were in a back room nastly looking but at lest it had some heat. BUt after being in the house just in my room 1 rat mom was having trouble breathing again so during the summer she was out in the gradge and that winter we tryed her in the bacement becuase its more ventilated but that didnt work so dad would always be out in the gradge and have the heat on and propain leave a little prpain heater turned on for her to take the chill off. although she didnt really live that long I had her the late part of the summer and insted of winter i should say fall weather is when she devloped cancer and passed quickly before we could take her to the vet. with in what seemed over night her tumor grew to the size of a gold ball. Then the next summer we went to the pet shop and got another rat a little albino who made it 3 weeks and started sounding bad. his nose ran his eyes almost like a little kids nose runs think with snot when they have a bad cold. that rat we took in to our vet and before we got there he passed his name was snow fire. he was an adult though acording to the petshop that at the time was in st marys but they went out long ago. He started to show symtops right before he passed. mom and dad gotten me an air filter thing for my room so I could keep the rat inside and the only time I was to have it out of my room was to go outside with him. She didnt have a problem whith snow fire when we got the air filter purifier thingy.
Then we got a huge Black Rat named Ben. He was all black except of a dot on his chest it was a perfect roung dot. I know now he was a very unique English Irish but he came to us at 2 years of age and lived about another 2 years.It was my brother rat but was not. When he was in the sirvouse, his roomie had a pet rat and had it for a year they were not in the same unit so when he went on manervers and stuff or on vacation but could not take it with him my brother would care for it. Plus there were a couple people in the staff that looked after Ben if they were both not there. well on one of the manevers his buddy didnt come back. there had been an asodent and he inherited the rat. Almost a year later my Brother went to Koria and we got the rat when he came home before they moved out he was based in N Car. and drove home for vacation before they moved out also this was aroound the time my aunt had brest cancer and she was given so long to live so he was permited 2 week pass visit. becauase when they get called out they have to go.
He lived like I said about 2 more years with us maybe close to 3 and to this day I dont have a pic of him. my mom might but I dont it my photos. he just passed when we were all sleeping but he was the only rat that i could have around my mom and she didnt have to much a problem with. Like the ones i have know not to much a problem with after while she dose but not like the mice and hammies still do. This rat was huge like a cockerspanial puppy ready to leave huge. he is the only rat I still have ever seem besides sewer rats that were big. After that I didnt want any more rats till 2008 when I meet my beloved Garth who is now passed. Then I got addicted to rats. this year I got back in to G-pigs becuase my other half loves them and it was a while before I had them sice Lisa and we had magee who I dont know who old he was and then got 2 more a long haired male as a cage mate for magee and gave the other to some friends who recently lost theres becuase him and magee fought. then I contacted a breeder and got some girls who are plumped up and due end of december/ 1 of january they look like they will be depends when they did the nasty. never see them breed thought. Mice my other half loves and dwarf hammies so he wanted to get back into them and I never had them before. but they are so presouse I love them. Then we took in a gerbil that no one wanted a little agouti names sam who was old and looked blind his eyes were glossy and lives for about a month and we decited that eventually we'ed get some more some time. So this year We got ahold of a breeder and my friends got some and we tryed breeding but she finailly after almost a year sends me the papers which no wonder i had a hard time they were supose to be mated breeding pares and come to find out half were brother and sister and so related that no wonder the babies keep dieing. A few were cousints and 2 were old so I think that had a facter in there the cousint did fine and I know there is line breeidng but I think they were to line breed. Then word of mouth got somo more form an older lady who could not care for all the young ones she had left but wanted to keep the old bitties like her who were a little slower and she sold all the rest but only had a few left so I got them and their papers. And 2 from a pet store.
Then comes the Ferrets I got my 1st 2 in 2001 the year I graduated as a chirstmas gift and I have wanted them since I 1st got sandy my rat. 2 marshall Ferrets from NY State We names them Podoe and Kodoe after hte beast masters 2. They were girld, then in Phillibsberge we bough a sick male that was the only one that seemed healthyest becuase the pet shop got in sick ferrets from a marshall breeder and they were all in the back room being treated he was the only one that was attually doing well. the store owner was carring him when I saw him. We called him Darr. My dad talked to him and we took him and the meds and I was shown how to give them. 2 weeks later full recovery. He lived till 2007 and he was 7 and Podoe lived to 2008 she was 8. Kodoe her sister made to 5. Then this summer the neighbor next to my moms didnt have time for his 2 that is sister use to have which i knew and had ferret play dates with gave them to me. The one had a bump on its tale and did since she had him. one day we came home about 3 weeks after we got him and he was gone. but he never acted funny was bouncey that morrning before we left and was playing with all the rest and us. They get mornign and eveaning run time. which after words looks a tornat hit my house. one is 3 hes a cinnimon I think with dark ruby eyes, he has 2 patches over his eyes not a mask. the other is 4 hes all white a DEW the other looks like the cinnimon but yet a siames with I think also dark Ruby eyes the siames and cinns pic along with them mathed up look close to both. He is about 5 or 6 But there little stinkers. The next time I see his mom I'll have to ask her fro shure. I know the one that did pass was 7 going on 8 that one i know becuase she got her 2nd one shortly before she moved in to this area from New Jerssy and he was still small.
SO I guess its just these little rodents or critters poped into my life with a look of take me home or inherited, rescued and droped off and I studyed up on the ones i didnt know furthered my self on the ones i did and I'm know as the Rat lady in my area or the Rodent Lady. I have growing up took in stray, rescues or we got droped off dogs cats and other things that were unwanted to like I said drop offs. So I guess you could say I am into them some more so then others as in after they are gone I dont want no more. But I supose its we came acost one anothers path and they chose me as their pet rodent insted. lol they all have me trained just the way they want. LOL
Diamond
 
#19 ·
i took in 4 boys because s friend had a litter and couldnt keep them, the other 4 ended up needing a home as well when the initial person who wanted them backed out so i took them in as well. love at first ratty kiss. got 5 boys and 3 girls that i have had for a month and a half now. love them to bits.
 
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