On rodent names and their attached stigma
Turns out my rats are not rats but mice. I thought they were suspiciously small when compared to the pictures in rat webpages...
You see, in Spanish, we call domestic mice "ratitas de laboratorio", which would translate to something like "little lab rats", because of the frequency with which they are used for experiments in laboratories. I just thought they were a smaller variety of rats, because that's what they tell you in pet shops, but it turns out they're just mice. Not that there's anything wrong with that... if anything, this will probably mean that it will be easier to find the babies a home, as "ratón" (mouse) carries less of a social stigma than "rata" (rat).
Yes, even if it is the same animal, people react worse if they hear "rat" rather than "mouse". As a lover of all things furry, I'll never understand why...
Anyway, this doesn't change much. Rats and mice eat pretty much the same things and require pretty much the same care, only, in a smaller scale. It also means that my mum is less likely to flip out when I finally tell her I have new members in my small family... She grew up in a rural area, so she is understandably mistrustful of rats (who would kill the chickens and eat the eggs, on top of devouring the crops).
You see, in Spanish, we call domestic mice "ratitas de laboratorio", which would translate to something like "little lab rats", because of the frequency with which they are used for experiments in laboratories. I just thought they were a smaller variety of rats, because that's what they tell you in pet shops, but it turns out they're just mice. Not that there's anything wrong with that... if anything, this will probably mean that it will be easier to find the babies a home, as "ratón" (mouse) carries less of a social stigma than "rata" (rat).
Yes, even if it is the same animal, people react worse if they hear "rat" rather than "mouse". As a lover of all things furry, I'll never understand why...
Anyway, this doesn't change much. Rats and mice eat pretty much the same things and require pretty much the same care, only, in a smaller scale. It also means that my mum is less likely to flip out when I finally tell her I have new members in my small family... She grew up in a rural area, so she is understandably mistrustful of rats (who would kill the chickens and eat the eggs, on top of devouring the crops).