Oh rats! Manhattan woman's pets are rodents that the whole city hates - Polidicks

[url=http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2010/10/10/2010-10-10_oh_rats_manhattan_womans_pets_are_rodents_that_the_whole_city_hates_.html]Source[/url] [url=http://thedailywh.at/post/1299090410/of-rats-and-men-of-the-day-forget-crazy-cat-lady]Another source[/url] [release][quote][img]http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2010/10/10/alg_rochenski_pet_rats.jpg[/img] Dianne Rochenski holds her pet rats Remalina and Christiana. The Manhattan mom is not alone in her unusual choice of pet.[/quote] Manhattan mom Dianne Rochenski loves rats. She keeps rat figurines in her living room. A 2-foot stuffed rat is propped against her bedroom window. Her favorite movie is "Ratatouille." And every night, when Rochenski goes to sleep, she curls up in her bed next to Remalina and Christiana, her beloved pet rats. "They just make me so happy, like no other animal can," said Rochenski, 49. "People ask me, 'Why not a dog or a cat?' I just love rats." Rochenski's choice of bed partners may be unique, but her fondness for rats isn't. She's among a little-known segment of New Yorkers who keep the city's most notorious pests as pets. Rat owners rave about their unlikely companions, describing them as playful, clean and more affectionate than dogs. While there are no official statistics on the number of rat owners in the city, experts estimate they easily number in the hundreds. "They're not your common companion animal, but they're more common than we realize," said Sandra DeFeo, executive director of the Humane Society of New York. DeFeo noted that several members of her staff have kept rats as pets, and over the years, numerous New Yorkers have sought advice on how to care for them. "They're really smart, loving, and they make great pets," DeFeo said. Domestic rats are typically rescued from labs or taken from breeders who sell them to pet shops as reptile food. They can be white, brown or gray, and their lifespans are short, averaging about two years. Like their counterparts in the subways, they eat almost anything and can grow to up to a foot. But it's the domestic rats' sweet nature that melts their owners' hearts. Just ask Tia Foster. Foster, 27, lets her two rats, Archimedes and Apollo, run freely throughout her Harlem apartment, which she also shares with her four dogs - two pit bulls, a rat terrier mix and a chihuahua. "My chihuahua is in love with them," said Foster, an animal activist. "She'll bat them with her paw. She runs around in a circle and lets them chase her." [B]Foster's rats, vegeterians like she is, dine on kale, grapes, tofu and cereals, among other things.[/B] A rat owner for more than 10 years, Lisa Anselmo thinks the much-vilified rodents make for ideal city pets. "They don't make any noise. They don't bother your neighbor. They're very unobtrusive pets," said Anselmo, 44, a Manhattan house cleaner who has owned more than 40 rats. "You don't have to walk them, but they're as socially interactive as dogs." Like many other rat owners, Anselmo doesn't broadcast the rodents' presence to her neighbors. "People are not educated about what rats are like," Anselmo said. "There's a fear that they'll get loose. ... It's an irrational concern." For her part, Rochenski, a widow with a 25-year-old daughter, has become used to fending off her friends' playful teasing. "People joke with me. They say, 'What if you meet someone?' Well, they're going to have to accept this," said Rochenski, pausing as she pointed to the rats on her bed. "Except I'd get a bigger bed." [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJEOM0P21bM[/media][/release] I understand people having rats as pets, but :wtc:... I don't care whatever excuse they come up to live with a bizillion rats and turn them into extensions of yourself (because nothing says "Fuck you, meat eaters!" than making your pet rats eat nothing but vegetables :rolleyes:), these people are crazy.

Her chances of getting married are pretty slim right now

[QUOTE=Glitch360;25361287]Her chances of getting married are pretty slim right now[/QUOTE] You bet... have you seen that bed?! THE RAT POOP?! THE HORROR!! Again, I'm totally cool with [I]those[/I] kind of rats, but that's WAY too much

Those rats in the picture look cool. :buddy: Never thought I would hear of a woman who likes them though.

Reminds me of that one quest in TES IV: Oblivion.

And to think I keep getting quests to kill these fuckers.

cool i love rat and other rodents watch THIS guys! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2jEM5aHHJc[/media]

I shot a rat with an air rifle its head imploded it was cool.

[QUOTE=evilweazel;25366750]I shot a rat with an air rifle its head imploded it was cool.[/QUOTE] That is not cool. Why did you do that ? :(

My aunt used to keep like 5 or 6 rats at her house, and she's married. :colbert:

Rats and mice are cute unless they're the scraggly kind that eats your food and leaves shit all over the place.

[img]http://imgkk.com/i/f2n8.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=dragon1972;25367897]*Rat lady from Oblivion* [/QUOTE] Totally saw this coming.

I have 2 pet rats too but I keep them in a cage where they fucking belong. They're not much different than hamsters or gerbils and they're really fun to play with but goddamn don't let them run around your house. Oh and they only cost like $9.

I had to stop the video at the part where she started rubbing her dead rat that had died 4 weeks ago, it was getting a little too weird to watch.

[QUOTE=PlazmaBurst;25361750]Reminds me of that one quest in TES IV: Oblivion.[/QUOTE] First thing I thought of when I clicked the thread.

[QUOTE=Clark21;25366889]That is not cool. Why did you do that ? :([/QUOTE] They're a huge annoyance around my Grandmas house, so we went around shooting them all day, we tried trapping them and releasing them somewhere 2 miles away but there were always more, so we just went the quicker route and shot them, not too many left around there nowadays.

I love rats. I have two, although they're very old, the last of six. I've had at least two or more rats at any given time for the past 8 years.