Grotesque | Chelsea Trump

A few years back, someone at my brother's school was giving away pet rats. Not large, scary sewer related rats, but the cute (and actually quite smart) kind that you find at pet stores. My mom has always been a major animal lover and she felt sorry for the poor thing living in a box and so she allowed it to be brought home. My brother named her Ratigan and set up a nice house for her.

It wasn't long before the little white rat starting showing signs that she was pregnant. We made her as comfortable as possible and waited for the day of birth to arrive. When it did, however, it was really bittersweet. She had eaten most of her babies. Reading in a book about rats, we actually found that this is rather common. The mothers will eat their babies if they feel threatened. Apparently, we hadn't had her long enough to where she felt safe.

At first, this act seemed awful and cruel. But then you have to stop and think about what was going through this little creature's mind. Before coming to us, she had gone through so much that she felt killing her babies was better than bringing them into the world.

However, she left two boys who ended up being two of the sweetest pets ever. And over time, Ratigan learned to trust us, even to the point where she would jump on my brother's shoulder to take a nap.