(Which is not to say that I am calling reviewers rats… these are just two separate thoughts tucked together in one post. And they both started with R, so there you go.)
First the review part... Fuse #8 is asking people to vote on which 2009 book should be her last review of the year, and THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. is on her maybe-list. I’ve long enjoyed the thoughtful reviews on this blog and would love to hear her take on Gianna Z, so I’d love it if you’d click here and vote if you haven’t already!
Now the rats… We’re headed to Montreal tomorrow to pick up two baby Dumbo rats, a belated Christmas present for my daughter. I thought we’d have her unwrap the cage on Christmas and then drop by the pet store the next day to pick up the rats. But Dumbo rats are apparently not that easy to find, or so I discovered after calling every pet store in Northern NY and Vermont and some in New Hampshire. Finally today, I found a breeder in Montreal, and after several hours of emailing back and forth in French (those four years of high school French helped…some…), we are headed north tomorrow to pick up two residents for the cage in the basement. Here’s one of them.
I think his big ears are cute. I also think after all this, the rats should probably have French Canadian names, but we’ll see… Any suggestions?
I’m so glad you posted the rat. After reading about your hunt on Twitter, I kept thinking about them, then on the way home from work I asked my husband if he knew what Dumbo rats looked like. He stared at me like I was nuts. Now, I can show him I’m not 🙂
Okay, maybe, just maybe they’re cute. I do like the ears. Can’t wait to meet them. My question is how are you going to get them across the border?!
Do you have to do anything special to transport animals across the border? I’m smiling, imagining the conversation. “Do you buy anything. . . .?”
“Rats.”
Mssr. and Mdme. Fromage!
Of course, that’s assuming they’re both of different genders or that one is a very cunning cross-dresser.
They’re a variety of rats with big ears on the sides of their heads and come in different colors. Ours, we think, are going to be black/gray like this guy and probably brown.
I looked up customs regulations, and while there are specific rules for dogs, cats, birds, and monkeys, you are apparently allowed to go wherever you’d like with rodents.
I’ve imagined that conversation, too! :^) According to the U.S. customs website, though, rats and other rodents don’t require any special paperwork, so I guess it’s no different than bringing home new shoes or something. I’ll report back later on!
They’re actually both male rats, so it would be Mr. and Mr. Fromage!
Pierre and Gaston?
Oohh, I like those! I’m going to share all these with E, as they’re officially going to be her rats.
very cute. I vote for Francois, or Gigi (depending if it is a boy or a girl)
I had lab rats when I was a kid. They had babies and I gave them names like Mischief, but the last two, who were basically identical, I named Johnny-I-think and Charlie-I-think. They have great personalities.
The musketeers had nice French names, but I can’t remember them… Old age
Hope yours are as much fun.
I never thought I’d say a rat was cute, but…that rat is very cute!
How about Jacques or Marcel or Tristan?