In my head, getting pet rats is a long overdue idea. For the following reasons:

• They’re cute.
• They’re smart. Not calculus smart, more dog smart. Like will hang out with you, come when called, and can be taught tricks. They also use litterboxes.
• They live on average 2 years.
• Can be fed without killing other animals.

In reality, I haven’t any because:

• They’re hard to come by. Because they only live 2 years, I can imagine most don’t get adopted away. They die before the owner gets the chance to change their mind. So then the alternative is to go to a rattery, because pet store rats probably came from the metro, behind some restaurant dumpster, or worse, a factory breeding farm. I’m hoping someone at work has some rats that got mis-gendered and they get pinkies by mistake and one day I’ll see it on the bulletin board in our office kitchenette, baby rats need a home.
• They pee everywhere they go – small scent marking dribbles. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. I plan to have a pee blanket to lay out when I play with them.
• Litter. I remember having to clean litter and it’s a chore. Not onerous, but just another chore.
• Space. I don’t know where to put them at the moment. The place their cage could ideally go is currently ocupado – aquarium.