TERRIFYING.....

So I think I posted before about our little pet rat that we have had for a a couple of months. Our hamster BB died and so I decided to go with a rat because everyone said they made for great pets. BB wouldn't even let us TOUCH him and didn't make for such a great pet. The rat, lovingly named Scabbers, had made for a delightful pet! The girls treat him like a dog practically and take him outside to play with and Maddy literally walks around with him all the time.

So recently he has figured out how to get out of his cage. This has been going on for a few weeks now. He always turns up somewhere and more often than not he will just come to you. But we tried many different things to try and figure out HOW he kept getting out. Most of them involved electrical tape.....maybe not the best idea since he would just chew through it all.

About 90% of the time he gets out he makes a B-line for Joselyn's bed. And he only tried to get out at night. So imagine sleeping soundly in your bed and waking up to a creature crawling in your bed! How TERRIFYING would that be? I think Josey must sneak food in her bed or something because it ONLY climbs into her bed.

The first time it happened I thought she had just had a bad dream. She came rushing into our room saying the rat was in her bed!! When I went to check it out it just came running to me from under her bed and I put him away. A few minutes later she came in again more annoyed than scared this time again complaining that the rat had climbed into her bed. This has now happened on a fairly regular basis.

So last night we heard movement in the hall and I got up to open the door and Josey was there with eyes as big as saucers! The rat had once again climbed into her bed and awakened her but I think this time it really FREAKED her out! We found him and put him back in his cage but about every 5 minutes she had to get up and check on him in the playroom to make sure he hadn't gotten out! She came rushing in about 10 minutes later saying he got out of his cage AGAIN and I asked her if he was in her room and she said no. But the look on her face was pure panic that he was going to climb into her bed again! So we put him in yet AGAIN and closed the door and assured her that she was safe for the night.

I think she is officially traumatized by things crawling in her bed and will probably forever have nightmares about rats in her bed. But I did outfit the rat with a brand new cage that I think is escape proof. Man those suckers are smart though!