Raisin the pet rat

The other day, my aunt and two cousins came over and brought their rats with them. This week they brought Raisin and Daisy, because Carly and Sam came last week. (Yes, they brought their pet rats...you read that correctly!) Bringing pets to my family's house is a very common thing!! (in fact, their new pet bunny, Benny also came with them today!)



Shaylah has two rats also--Mickey and Minnie, whom Tarryn and Lynna's rats like to play with, which is why my cousins bring theirs. (Yes you also read that correctly: we plan and host Rat play dates.)



Anywhoo...as I stated above, today Raisin and Daisy came. Now Daisy is a really cute and pretty rat. She's a dumbo rat--so her ears are really big! But she's all white with little brown eyes.



Raisin on the other hand...well Raisin, poor dear, got slapped around a bit with the big ol' ugly stick.



Meet Raisin:



Yup, she's a hairless rat. That little rat was the ugliest thing I've ever seen!! She had little rolls of bunched up skin all over her body! Her face looked like it was 'trying' to grow some hair and her little whiskers were all curly. (By the way, something was majorly wrong with her face...it was all oddly shapen!!)



Don't make fun of Raisin though, because her mommies: Aunt Dee Dee, Tarryn and Lynna take it very personally. By the end of the afternoon, even Auntie Marni was defending poor little Raisin's looks.



At first, I refused to even admit Raisin is my cousin--I disowned her once I met her. And I refused to touch her!! But after watching Poppet let it climb all over her shoulders and my mom stroke it like a kitten and exclaim (over and over and over again) "She's so soft and smooth!!" I finally decided to give it a try.



I came to find out, that Little Raisin isn't as nasty to touch as she is to look at. In fact, Auntie Marni's description of her being "soft and smooth" was a good explanation. Raisin was very very smooth and soft. Not to mention, incredibly sweet. Which I suppose if I was as ugly as her, I'd be super sweet also...?



Anyways, long story short. I now claim little Raisin as my own cousin. And I decided: If I ever get a pet rat, I'll probably get a hairless one also.

Poppet holding Raisin and Daisy