Ever since my first rat, I've loved them. I got Bailey when he was 3 weeks old. His mother had died, and he needed someone to take care of him. We bonded, and he became almost human. I miss the little guy. He survived surgery for a tumor (turned out to be benign) at age 1.5, and died of pnemonia less than a year later (I don't remember now exactly how old he was, it's been so long). At the time I didn't drive, so to get to the vets office, I had to ride the train about 10 minutes and then walk 20 min to the vets office. He died in my arms while I was walking from the train to the vet. I tried to get him there as fast as I could, but we jut couldn't make it.
I miss having rats. Right now I've got enough cages to clean with the degus and the chin, but I'd like to have rats again someday.