Hey and welcome. Yeah before I had gotten my first rats, It took quit a bit of convincing to my mom. We had TONS of animals and my mom didn't care for rats much. I did alot of info searching and told my mom how they where very clean, easy to take care of, and loving. My mom is a sucker for any animal so it wasnt too long before she said yes to the idea. lol, she fell in love with them a week or two after we got them! I think it depends on the person your trying to convince. If you do end up getting a rat (hopefully you get two! hehe) adopt or get from a breeder. I have always gotten my babies from petstores, but I was willing to take them the vets to make sure they were healthy once I got them. When you get any rodent from a petstore you pretty much asking for a health problem.