Braver by the minute

I have always had an enormous phobia of rats - so, of course, the oldest child had pet rats as a teen (hidden in her room, bribing her brother top dollar not to tell). So when she "rescued" these from a feeding tank at a lizard show (don't even ask why...or I will have to tell you the rescued chicken story) I was horrified. And so, of course, I ended up days later, feeding them while she was at work, kitten formula in an eye dropper, baby rats crawling all over me, one even fell asleep in my shirt pocket. Much deep breathing. I am still scared of rats - but not phobic. They have beautifully delicate feet by the way. She kept one, his name is Caden. He's actually very sweet even though I still get the willies sometimes just looking at him (he's big now).