Hey Popcornbird, picture this:

Tons of baby mice....white with pink eyes...crawling up your arms and in your hands. Not only are they mice, but they are WET mice! lol. I had to dry off a bunch of baby mice in the back of the grooming one day. They had to be washed because they came in with mites. I thought they were so cute!! I just kept picturing my family (they do not like rodents AT ALL like your family) freaking out at this!

The only rodent type we've had was a hampster. Actually, it was my sister's hampster. I thought it was cute, but man, I swear I've never seen a critter POOP so much! Geez! There was one of those loose in Petco on friday and it was a mean little bugger. Was hissing and biting at me when I tried to catch it!

I'd have to say, if I ever had a rodent pet (which will not be any time soon, as I mentioned, my family hates them) it'd be a rat! I think they are so cute! I guess it's just me, but the tail and the feet don't bother me. I'll have to admit, I don't think I'd go for a hairless one though...I like the furry critters!

Actually, the number one pet I'd get in the "small animals" catagory would be a ferret! I love ferrets! I love the big Macaw there is at Petco too, but he's waaaay out of my price range!

As far as wild rats and mice....no thanks. There's too big of a risk of hauntaviris (sp?) around here to even get NEAR them. Some girl my age just died from that recently.....in the same city I live in. Freaky! I think she was just in her garage and somehow was around the fumes from their waste...might have been sweeping.