FETCHER.

You look soo young, what age are you there?

You look so happy there ! And I like the little white one best, thats gettin squashed a wee bit . They're Rats arn't they? It's just I see a tail!

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Guybrush

Yep, they're pet rats derived from plain old Brown Rats, Rattus norvegicus, which is the same species likely to be found in the sewers where you live All these little guys were given to us by previous owners who didn't have the time/knowledge/willingness needed to take care of rats. The white, squashed one which you like is Benjamin (aka Benny) who was in a pretty poor condition (neglected and starved) when we got him. He hadn't been socialized during his 1,5 years or longer life either, but now he's nice and fat and loves to cuddle.

I met my first pet rat 20 years ago and have been around them much of my life since. They are excellent low maintenance pets. I'd argue way better than hamsters, mice, guinea pigs or chinchillas. Warmly recommended!

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FETCHER.

Haha, I've only seen one Rat before, and it was wild, and I was terrified. It was about the size of a Cat. Poor Benny (cool name btw) I would have another pet, but my dog Brooke is more than enough for my house (She's huge) or I'd look into it, I'm a teeny bit scared of the tails though , my friend had some animal that had a tail at one point, and I was reluctant to hold it, 'cause it had a scary tail. Arn't you arfaid of any animals :O?

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Guybrush

There are no birds, mammals or reptiles that I think significantly scare me beyond any rational fear such as a fear that a polar bear might eat me The only group of animals that I have a very real irrational dislike against that I can think of are centipedes like this guy :



I could hold one and let it crawl around on me I guess, but I definetly wouldn't like it. I've had cockroaches crawling on me and that was fine, but .. I dunno, there's just something about those venomous little centipede bastards that I don't like. I don't have a problem with millipedes, though, they're fine.

Rat tails are of course perfectly harmless. They sometimes get pee and poop on them, but if you don't suck on them, it should be alright.

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FETCHER.

At least your uncomfortable with something actually dangerous, I'm scared of petty things. ****roaches being one, and Slugs (Ugh), they just freak me out. I'm not scared of the actual Rat, they have cute little faces. It's just the tail . Haha, I don't think I'll be sucking any rat tails anytime soon anyways.

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Bulldog

My parents used to have a couple of pet giant New Guinea stick insects, like so;



^ I used to be so scared of them. Good job I never had to feed the things.

But huge, grotesque insects aside, I'm not really that scared of nature either. Used to be quite the arachnophobe back in the day though, particularly of those huge, fat, furry, fast ones that come in from outdoors.

Guybrush

Well, you're not alone Although it's not the norm, I think it's pretty common to be scared of these things. Part of it is culture and environment - you were somehow taught that these things were not nice. Rats for example may carry associations to diseases and filth which can help sow seeds for phobia later in life.

If everytime you see a slug, you react with the same disgust and fear, then you further teach yourself to disgust and fear slugs and that response reinforces. The result is that over time, that fear response gets stronger and stronger. The dislike which may have started out as a simply a pre-conditioned attitude derived from society/culture/parents and so on may turn into mild or severe phobias.

The way to get over such fear is really to try and break the behavioural pattern; what you do and think whenever you meet f.ex a slug. I'm sure picking up a slug would be a very uncomfortable experience for you, but regardless of that - if it's something you do because you decided to do it despite the fact you knew you were gonna hate it, you've broken that behavioural pattern. Then you've taken control of yourself and your actions instead of letting fear govern them.

Over time, emotions will follow as well and the disgust and fear will wane.

I'll recommend to anyone who suffers from phobias, severe or mild, to make a habit of challenging themselves and their fears. Some things we fear for good reason and that's fine, but we can still do something about our irrational feelings.

By my own wisdom, I have of course a job to do myself with the centipedes.

edit :

Hehe, me and my GF have also had a few stick insects. A guy at the university were giving them away for free because the ones he had reproduced asexually by cloning themselves so over time, he had far too many. They're fascinating I think even if they're not terribly exciting pets.

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VEGANGELICA

Oh that is a very nice picture of all of you, Tore, similar to one in the picture archives I think I remember seeing. I've always enjoyed rats...so clever and playful and inquisitive. I remember having fun with a friend's rat by holding out my arms (while wearing a loose sweater), and the rat climbed up inside one sleeve, behind my back, and out there other! You gave good advice about behavioral training to reduce phobias, by the way. I also like millipedes and think all their little legs are cute...but centipedes I never want to get close to. Centipedes don't seem very cute to me at all.

I don't think I've ever even imagined anyone sucking on a rat's tail until reading your post, kayleigh! Hmmm...

GAA! That's the one harmless creature whom I fear. I try to hide my feelings of squirmy disgust so my child doesn't inherit my phobia, and so when I see a huge furry fast spider I say things like, "Oh, look at all those nice strong legs, and see how many eyes spiders have?"...but I don't fool myself.

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LoathsomePete

Lets see that was 2001 so I would've been in 8th grade so... 13 I believe.

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Bulldog

Yeah, they're strange enough creatures (even stranger now that I know they can reproduce like that) to be interesting enough as pets, if on looks alone. I think the common Indian stick insects (which the parents also had a few of back in the day) are kinda cute, but those spiny New Guinea ones just freak me out to end.

Funnily enough, I can remember the exact moment I inherited arachnophobia as well. I must've been 4 or 5 years old, and I have the very vague memory of the babysitter screaming at this cute little spider on the ceiling. I wish she'd been that generous about the whole thing - it's true that phobias, the majority of the time, are things you grow out of, particularly after leaving home, but growing up with them can be a royal pain in the arse.