The Girls Are Catching Up With The Guys!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  We have started back homeschooling and I am trying to get on schedule and still find time to play on the computer.  It is always rough to organize my time the first weeks, but I am already starting to feel like I have a handle on stuff.  I have almost finished a new action and preset and hope to post them this week.

So on to the real reason I am writing this post.  It has been rough being the only female in my family, especially growing up with two sisters. But then we adopted Blackberry the dog and it was two girls to three boys and I started feeling the X-Factor (X-chromosome increase).

Then about a month ago we welcomed Domino (on sale for $8) to our family. She is a gorgeous black and white fancy rat and has completely won us over with her sweet and loving nature.

The boys are constantly playing with her and she even goes on some of our afternoon walks.  She likes to ride on their shoulder.

Domino is like a teeny tiny dog.  We are litter-box training her and I will let you know how that goes.  Right now she really doesn't like to poop in her cage (can't blame her for that), so I think she holds it in until we play with her and she can find a convenient location.  Thank goodness she stopped doing it ON us.

She is allowed to run around in tiled-floor rooms like the bathroom and we have a cheap micro fleece blanket that we cover the beds with when we have her out to play.  When I read to the boys at night she loves to snuggle and play with us and I love how much it makes my boys laugh with joy.  They adore her so much.

I worked in a pet store for years and always found rats to be the best pets of all of the rodents.  People really have no idea what amazing friends they make.  Domino comes to us when we call her and she often falls asleep on our laps when we stroke her.  She loves to cuddle and play and she has never bitten us.

Honestly, she is better in many ways than a dog or cat.  Cheap to feed and house, normally no vet bills, and not long-living so no worries what to do when the kids go to college.  My husband even loves her. The boys and I have a huge list of toys we want to make her and we watch amazing rat trick videos and even have a rat training book.

I know we sound a bit crazy, but Domino is one of those pets that loves you back, which is totally cool in my book.

We started with a cheap little cage from Petsmart and I started to really feel sorry for her.  Yes, I really am a crazy rat lover as I spent my birthday money on the huge rat mansion seen in this photo.  It cost me $90 on sale and Domino LOVES it!

So what crazy 40-something woman spends her birthday money on a rat cage?  One who is happy to announce that it is now 3 females to 3 males in our family, and I have to make sure the girls are all happy.  :-)  Now I just need to find a rat breeder in town so we can buy Domino a friend.  I can tell she gets lonely at night when the boys are asleep and now that we have this huge cage…

Rat hoarders, here I come!!!  Just kidding, I plan on getting another female. I love rats but don't want them taking over the house.  :-)  And I don't want Blackberry the dog to feel ignored.  I can tell she is only tolerating Domino.  I think if the two girls were alone in a dark room the bigger one would be the only one to walk out alive…  ;-)

BTW, I am writing this post with Domino on my shoulder and the boys asking me a million questions, so please ignore the mess…

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