Benjamin and Sparky (our new pet rats!)

THERE ARE THREE NEW BLOGS, BE SURE TO CHECK ALL OF THEM OUT!!!

This is Sparky...
This is Benjamin...
So, about two weeks ago, a very sad experience came into our home. Our pet hamster, Andrew, of a year and a half passed away. Surprisingly, this did not affect the kids much, but I was saddened for about two days. Well, once the mourning was over, I started to research out which type of small animal makes the best pet for kids. Believe it or not, the best small animal for kids (especially those of the ages of Ethan and Eli) is a rat! (for reasons why, simply ask me or do a google search) So, I started to do a lot of reading on rats and now I know quite a bit. As part of my research, I came across a page where the owners of rats make quite a mansion for them. I was inspired. I purchased a bookcase at a garage sale ($1.50) and began the project. The boys helped me on almost every step. We painted the shelf, added an additional shelf, cut out pieces of the shelf so that one could tranverse from one to the next, built two ladders, made two houses, created a litter box, made two hammocks, made another ladder out of PVC pipe and much more (as you can see in the photos). After a lot of work, our bookcase has turned into the Hilton of rat cages. Today was the day to add rats. We allowed the boys to pick out which ones they liked. They also chose the names for the rats.

This is a close up of the bottom two shelfs...
Here are the top two shelfs...

The whole cage latches together with two doors. The kids can operate these doors and get the rats out as they please.Introducing the rats to our kids and our kids to the rats...

I know mom, don't freak out . . . but I think I already like these little critters.

So, that is what we are now doing with our free time. I'll keep you updated on the rats. Apparently, you can teach them to do tricks. We we finally get that figured out, we will record it and post.