Are you afraid of rodents?

ilovecats

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I love them. I told someone in TX, while I was there, that I had rats, and they nearly had a mental breakdown. "What? Ewwww! OMG....Jenny, don't say that word. Don't even spell it. That is discusting!"


I think all animals should be loved and respected equally. What do you think about this?
 
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ilovecats

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This was supposed to have a poll, but maybe you can put your opinion anyway?
 

mrsd

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I don't like rats. Or mice. Or snakes. They make my skin crawl. I can handle other creepy insects/animals such as spiders and worms.
 

cirque

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I love rodents. Although they can carry disease.. I still love em. I used to raise mice, rats and other small critters for awhile. I even used to go catch wild mice by hand (I dont recommend it) and bring them home with me and tried to raise them too. It is NOT easy to catch them if they get loose in your room let me tell you. Any mouse that looks like a "deer mouse" or similar.. can jump like the dickens. Gosh they were so adorable with their huge black eyes though. Now the fields I grew up with are houses so that is kind of depressing.. I still long for a rat or some mice once in awhile though.

Oh and if you have never seen a Spiny mouse... go look them up, they are cool but CHEW through just about anything! They were always a little scary cause they liked to chew so much..I wouldn't want to get bitten after my bad hampster experience as a little child. *shudder*
 

jcat

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I love rodents, and rats are my favorite by far, because they're so intelligent and clean (e.g., in contrast to guinea pigs). I used to keep rats as pets, but got rather discouraged because of their short life spans and propensity to develop cancer. I think they make wonderful pets, though.
 

talon

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Nope, not afraid. Hubby still doesn't want me to see a mouse - he is afraid I will bring it home and set it up in a new mousie condo.
 

fwan

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While i was on my holiday in Australia i fell in love with a female rat from the pet store. I just wanted to take her with me. It was love at first sight.
I havent seen any rats in pet stores here though.
I love hamsters but rodents do have a short life span so its sad

Arent Rabbits rodents too?
I love my bunny! i get so fascinated looking at them in the wild
 

jennyr

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I'm fine with rodents or snakes, but I can't deal with a spider in the bath! I always call a cat. The only thing with wild rodents is they spread disease so I make sure they can't get in the house. If a cat brings one in I am OK to take it from her if I can, otherwise they all go out on the balcony till it is disposed of.
 

grapegal45

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It depends. I wouldn't care to have rodents from the outdoors coming into my house. That would highly bug me. Glad I've got my kitties for that although weve never had a problem. We had a lot spiders and some centipedes....I have have not noticed them as of late. Kitties must be eating them. As far as pet rodents, I'm not a gerbil or hamster fan, although I've had them for pets in years past. I like guinea pigs and I love rats. In fact, we've had many pet rets over the years but it got to the point where we just couldn't have them anymore. The kids got older so weren't interested. And yes, I noticed their life spans are quite short, I think they all died of cancer eventually. I am also highly allergic to rats. It got so bad I couldn't even be in the same room hardly and then several years ago, we decided no more rats. For those who aren't allegic though, rats do make wonderful pets as they are smart, curious and actually quite affectionate. When my dog was a pup we had 2 baby rats and he learned to be quite gentle with them and to this day, he knows what the word gentle means.
 

maverick_kitten

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i love rodents, they just have to be the tame ones not the disease carrying wild ones! i used to set of the mouse traps my dad lay out with a stick so he couldnt harm the poor baby mice when i was a kid.
 

myrage

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I love all animals. I can't handle bugs though, spiders etc...

I will love up and hold a rodent. My fave baby was an albino baby rat named Bino
I still miss her, and she passed ... um... 12 years ago. I've had a few rats, LuciferSuicide, Nisa, Brianne, Bino, Domine. My mice were, Stone, and Mouser. Some of my babies were Soda, Greyhood, Bratty, Ittybitty, um... I don't remember the other two.

Rodents coming in from outside.... not really. I don't have any rodents now because of my cats. I didn't while I had Frits(Ferrets) either.
 

maverick_kitten

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Originally Posted by GrayKittenLove

I'm fine with just about any animal as long as it's a pet. Although I still get the creepies when I see some the bugs people keep as pets.
that just made me shiver. i dont really understand pets you cant pet. can you cuddle a spider?
 

joanne511

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I like rodents - domestic ones that is.
Can't say I'd like to be surprised by a wild one. I had a pet rat in high school/college, Nicodemus, who was wonderful. He lived 3 years and finally died due to cancer. I was sad to lose him. He was smart and really fun to interact with. Even my mom, notoriously afraid of rodents, fell in love with him. I'll never forget the day I caught her in my room talking to him and giving him treats!
 

rugbykid

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I love rats. I rescued two of them from my Zoology class my Sophmore year. We had a Caiman Crocodile, three snakes and a pirahna, the teacher raised rats for food. One day she put a little baby rat in with the crocodile, poor thing was trying to swim and Snap showed no interest in him so she took him out. I took the baby rat and dried him off and took him home that day, imagine how my mom felt when I brought home a RAT. I told her the story and she let me keep him, I named him Caiman. My dad didn't notice for weeks that I had a rat cage in my room. I also brought home a little white rat, Al E. Gator, so Caiman would have a friend. They lived to be 4, I was pretty suprised that they lived that long, they never developed cancer either, I'm not sure what exactly they died from.
 

malakai711

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Im not afraid of them... I dont particularly like them very much but I'm not afraid... Now, insects, I'm petrified... Yuck!
 

mom of franz

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http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...936508-3424762


My biggest fear, my biggest phobia, are rats and mice. I've often said I would rather have a burglar in my house than a mouse...well I guess that's why phobias are unrealistic fears. Recently however, I have gained some respect for rats. A couple of weeks ago in my Writer's Forum class we had author Robert Sullivan in for a reading of his latest book "RATS!" We are very lucky to get well known and well received authors visit our class weekly. Sullivan has written quite a few NY Times Notable Books of the Year, and I believe "Rats" has also been given this honor. What a wonderful reading, he was hysterically funny, yet on a serious and well researched subject. He ended the class, by having us join him, in song, with a song about rats. The song was done in a Sea Shanty style, and we sang it with gusto! I got a chance to talk with him at length and he was great and very supportive of new writers. I told him about my phobia (I sure he hears my story at every reading) and told him I can't wait to read his book, though I will have to have a bottle of Xanax by my side. Those of you who love rats, especially Trica would love the book. He made a great point, he believes (paraphrased) that one of the reasons most people loath the rat, is that the rat reflects the negative side of human nature. In other words, if humans weren't such big slobs, the rat would have little reason to exist.
 
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