To appreciate why Kendal Crawford couldn’t have been more pleased to get a pair of tiny handmade cars for her birthday, we need to go back to when she and her partner Shaun Stephens-Whale decided to adopt a pet.
  • herrcaptain
    22·
    5 months ago

    This is fucking precious.

    As someone who adores rats, I absolutely hate how short their lives are. I’d love to keep some as pets but I couldn’t emotionally handle having my heart broken every 2 to 3 years when one of them dies.

    • LordGimp@lemm.ee
      4·
      5 months ago

      I keep seeing jumping spiders that look to die for and then the reality check of their lifespans always brings me back down.

      • herrcaptain
        2·
        5 months ago

        I know what you mean there as well. I was always very arachnophobic but over the last few years have mostly gotten over it by treating the spiders in my house as something like hands-off pets and giving them names. Jumping spiders are amazing little creatures but, yeah, the lifespan makes them a non-starter.

        If you like sci-fi, check out the Children of Time series. It’s about a race of uplifted jumping spiders. The author does a great job of building a concept of their society based on their current characteristics as a species.

    • Communist@lemmy.ml
      English
      3·
      5 months ago

      I’ve been hoping someone would start a gambian pouched rat breeding project because of exactly this

      • herrcaptain
        2·
        5 months ago

        Yes! I legitimately looked into this for that very reason. Instead, my wife and I have a rat puppet that we’ve personified to the point that we consider it part of the family.

    • GameGod
      2·
      5 months ago

      having my heart broken every 2 to 3 years when one of them dies in a car accident

  • Einar@lemm.ee
    3·
    5 months ago

    "He looked a little rough,” … “This is a really special little guy,”

    There is a lesson in there somewhere…

  • Arkouda
    41·
    5 months ago

    It will never stop making me laugh that a rat on the BC/Alta border goes one way getting to be “adopted” and taught to drive a tiny car; or goes the other way and every single person would risk their life to swerve into and run over it with a full sized one.

    While cute, we as humans need to stop teaching smart animals how to use our tech. We are basically asking to be replaced at this point. haha

    • Albbi
      2·
      5 months ago

      You think this will be enough to stop Alberta from being rat free?