Belle the rat

We bought a new pet...

                                            A RAT!!!!

 We went to Petsmart for the sole purpose of buying a hamster.  We picked out the cage, food, and bedding and then went to the helper and asked for them to get our hamster.  They looked at our four kids and warned us about the biting issues with hamsters.  We wanted to make the hamster our Cub Scout Wolf troop's mascot and have him go from boy to boy so they could pass off the elective of taking care of an animal.  We were at the store for two hours debating on buying a rat.  The thought alone freaked us out.  In the end we found Belle, she is a Dumbo rat and is very calm and clean.  She doesn't bite and doesn't try to jump out of the kids hands.  We know people are freaked out by rats so she will not be our Wolf mascot.  I know we have crossed a line into weird territory but it is an experience :)

 The first time we put Belle into the ball Ryan kicked her across the room.  Belle freaks out now if we try to get her in the ball.  Rats are amazingly smart and have great memories.

 She is still a baby so we frequently get peed and pooped on.

 Hayden LOVES Belle.  She has woken up for the last 3 days at 6am asking to hold "my Belle".

 This is the one and only time Ryan held her.  She will pet/slap her and likes to scream in her face.

 Lucky Daddy got to assemble the cage.

 Isn't that tail crazy?  It still gives me the heebie jeebies a bit, but I am trying to get over it.  She is super sweet and was so calm last night she fell asleep in my arms for 20 minutes.

 She freaks out when we hold her too much and has to clean our smell off of her.  She eat nuts and sunflower seeds and fresh fruit.  Weirdly, she is not suppose to eat much cheese.  It is too high in fat and rats need to eat a diet high in fiber with low fat.

Our latest adventure in the DeMille home.  It's always a party over here :)