To be fair, there are lab mice, too. And rabbits. And beagles. And baboons.
Plus rabbits, guinea pigs, cynologous monkeys, ferrets, and the list goes on.
I might someday give a pet rat a chance. The only time I've held a rat, (household pet rat) it bit me. They bite like all fuck.
I have handled many a class pet rat from my mother's classes and never had a biting problem. It could be the way the rat was being held, as I'm sure you wouldn't want to be squished in the wrong places. Or it could also be that the animal was startled.
I used to work with mice and rats (LAB mice and rats... ) and I got bitten once by a mouse that had been in a transport box for days because the company fucked up the order, and that's it. Mice that are used to being handled by humans are relatively docile.
After seeing that adorable picture, I believe rats can be cute. I was thinking of yucky black sewer rats with warts. Yuck. x_x
Hamsters can be smart when it comes to escaping, if they aren't too fat. I had a hamster once that got away, and it was so elusive that we gave up trying to catch it. Then one day I noticed that the cat had been particularly fond of watching the coat closet door. I opened it, and there was the hamster, hiding away. In one corner there was a pile of cat food it had stolen. In the other corner was a pile of poop. Why did it designate that corner as a toilet, when it usually pooped all over its cage, including in its food bowl? I don't know. Maybe smartness comes and goes for them.
Speaking as someone who makes a pastime of "count the subway rats," they are not as nasty looking as the media portrays them. Sure, they are pretty grubby, and not exactly the kind of animal you would want to cuddle, but they look similar to regular rats for the most part. Did I ever tell the story of the exploding trash can? I was walking through Washington Square Park on my way home at dusk and that's when I saw a trash can move. It goes rattle-rattle, moving around all by itself. So I goes to investigate. I peer over the edge and suddenly FWOOOM an ENORMOUS rat rockets into the air, barely missing me and runs off into the darkness. I though I was gonna have a heart attack.
smart when it comes to escaping
Alice escaped one night because my sis didn't lock her door. However, she was soon found the next morning, nestled in bed next to my sleeping sister, on her pillow. It was very cute.
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Hamsters can be smart when it comes to escaping, if they aren't too fat. I had a hamster once that got away, and it was so elusive that we gave up trying to catch it. Then one day I noticed that the cat had been particularly fond of watching the coat closet door. I opened it, and there was the hamster, hiding away. In one corner there was a pile of cat food it had stolen. In the other corner was a pile of poop. Why did it designate that corner as a toilet, when it usually pooped all over its cage, including in its food bowl? I don't know. Maybe smartness comes and goes for them.