Meet the ratties!

As many of you know, Carlin and I live in a kind of small townhouse, with kind of busy schedules, and not much money. We did, however, both miss pets an incredible amount. After some deliberating, taking into account my prior experience with them, we decided to pick up a pair of rats. Rats are the most intelligent of rodents, smarter even than rabbits. They're low cost; the most expensive part is their litter, which we ration out well, and any medical expensive if (god forbid) something happen to the little buggers. They also provide you with affection that rivals that of a dog, sometimes even rolling over so you can scratch their bellies.
Carlin was hesitant about them at first, going along with the idea, I think, to humor me. We stopped into Petsmart to look at them, and the guy took us into the rodent pen to meet the candidates. The first one out was a little female hooded fancy rat, what they call "faun" colored, or blonde. The attendant handed her to me, and we looked at each other. Her little pink nose was moving a mile a minute, her little ruby eyes curious, a little freaked out. Then, in one swift movement, she was up my arm and on my shoulder, perched safely in my hair, giving my ear little rat kisses that said "I think if I go with you, I'd be pretty happy!"
I loved her the moment I held her. I reached up and grabbed her around her little rat belly, and handed her to Carlin, who very bravely took her. She immediately took to Carlin, dashing up his shoulder, kissing his cheek, and chittering happily. "They're not so bad..." Carlin says, "Let's get them."
"Don't you want to meet the other one?" The attendant asked, and out of the little aquarium that was their home he procured another little girl, also hooded, but with a black hood this time. In a subtle way she looked very differently from girl one. Her eyes were not ruby, but little onyx jewels, and she had a big black spot on her tail. I took her from the attendant (Carlin was preoccupied with our little blonde ratty, who loved then, and loves still, her dad most of all) and she buried her little rat face in the crick of my arm, shyer than her sister, but equally as eager to go home with us. I felt as though she said, "If you take her I'll be all alone here. I know I'm just a plain black rat, but could I come with?"
They were the last two little girls, and they were equally different, but equally lovable. Together, we picked them out a cage, a little water bottle, food dish, little blue igloo, wheel, and Carlin got them a pink-and-green polka-dot rat hammock as a special gift.
Now, today, they live happily in our home as our sweet little pets. Whenever I get home from school or the grocery store, they are hanging on the wires of their cage, little pink feet wrapped around the bars, twitching their pink noses at me excitedly, asking if they can come out, please, and run around free! I get to make them little meals, like little bits of liver and broccoli or scrambled eggs and peanuts. They like to run free for about an hour, then take a nap for about two hours, then run around for another hour. Their cage gets cleaned and sprayed with white vinegar every three days, their hammock gets washed every two weeks. And if you want to meet them, then keep reading!
CALIFORNIA

Likes: People, petties, soybeans and peas, running in the wheel, licking fingers, sleeping in wet hair, when people chitter back to her, when her dad flips her upside down, wrestling with her dad, rubs between the shoulders and behind the ears, her rat hammock, sleeping on the bed, her sister, Virginia.
Dislikes:Her sister Virginia, being locked up in the cage, not being allowed to run on Trevor, blueberries, sleep, linoleum, the outdoors, Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Virginia

Likes:Peanuts, sleeping, burrowing under blankets, chewing, stealing from her sister, stuffed animals, paper towels, curling up at her humans feet underneath a blanket, her rat hammock, sitting on her dads leg and watching him play Call of Duty: Black Ops, scratching down the bridge of her nose, ratty shoulder massages.
Dislikes:Water, being picked up or held, being discovered under a blanket, surprises, clean cages, corn, being told she can't chew on something.
Rats usually freak a lot of people out. But these two are some of my favorite pets I've ever owned. They know their names, they love being social, they're curious about everything, and best of all, they actually LIKE to be around you. They enjoy smelling humans, and especially enjoy sitting around and listening to people talk. Pet stores tend to sell 20-90% of their pet rats to snake breeders (according to Rats: Complete Care Made Easy, by Debbie Durcommun) as food. I'm glad my two girls were not fed to snakes, but instead are sitting (California) on my shoulder and (Virginia) beside me in a pile of stuffed animals. They're my little babies and I'm happy to have 'em!