Lucky: October 1, 2009-April 27, 2012
My love for rats began with Lucky. He was an albino dumbo male who actually lived to be almost three. We got him on Thanksgiving '09 thanks to my uncle who knew I wanted a pet rat but my mom wasn't very game for it. He brought baby Lucky over and said he "was going to give him to our chickens" knowing my mom wouldn't allow that and indeed my mom was not having that. She wound up letting me keep him and bless his little heart, he wouldn't eat rat food at all. So we gave him a little bit of pumpkin pie and that's all he would eat for a week.
He never did eat rat food, honestly. Always ate what I ate and I always shared. When I would give him rat food he would turn his nose up and refuse to eat until I finally gave in and shared my food with him. He was spoiled a little too rotten.
Anyway, April 27, 2012 was the day I lost my baby. I had stayed home that day because I was recovering from an upper respiratory infection, and Lucky was trying to recover from one his self (I can't remember the name of the disease rats get that messes with their lungs and they get red crusty stuff on their noses, but he had that 2 other times and pulled through) and we were watching My Little Pony episodes together while I petted him and loved on him. After about an hour I decided he needed to get some rest so I put him back in his little nest, unknowingly for the last time, and I watched him fall asleep, snoring like he always did.
When I came back an hour later to check up on him he had passed in his sleep. At first I handled it really well. I found an old T shirt of mine, wrapped him up and dug a hole (which ended with me tearing something in my wrist when I hit a huge rock) and buried him. It didn't hit me until that night at dinner when I saved a little for him then realized there wasn't a rat to feed anymore..
I go out to his grave everyday to maintain the weeds and fix his grave marker when it starts to lean. Then I sit there and think about all the times we had, all the Thanksgivings and Christmas' and Easters and the last Halloween we spent together when I dressed him up as Princess Bubblegum's pet rat, Science (from the show Adventure Time) and all the meals and snacks we shared.
Before I got Poppy and Pumpkin my mom had suggested I get another albino and honestly I don't think I could. I would feel like I was replacing Lucky, even though I would never do that. There is no replacing a loved one like that..ever. But it took a lot for me to think about getting a new baby, let alone two. But I'm glad I did. And I'm glad I had Lucky because without him I would have never known the pleasure of having a pet rat.
Sorry I wrote a novel, when I get emotional and cry a little, I tend to do that.
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