"My rats have taught so much about life to my children," she says.
When people think of rats they often imagine big, brown, sewer rats, infested with disease. But there are domesticated rats, the black and white hooded rats.
"I like black and white hooded rats for my young children," Josée explains. "Chocolate, our male, and Caramel, our female, are not as nervous as gerbils. They don't bite or snap like hamsters might. They are about half pound in weight when they reach maturity, therefore the children can manipulate them much better than they would little white mice. They won't make a mess and go on you either. Their demands for feeding and cleaning are just right for teaching responsibility and care to young children."
The rats live in the family room. Three aquariums sit on two coffee tables put together in the corner. One holds fish, one for the male rats and the other is for the female rats. Above the table is a calendar, scattered with the names of the children and drawings of rats and fish which determine the cleaning and feeding schedules.
"We put them in these empty aquariums," Josée's six-year-old son Simon says. "It's better than a metal cage. My dad put roofs on made of wood and a screen." Simon shows a pile of newspapers and a bag of wood cuttings underneath the table.
"You shouldn't use cedar wood chips, as they cause respiratory problems in these animals. I read this in my little bible of rats called RATS! by Susan Fox (T.F.H. Publications Inc. USA 1983). We refer to it all the time." Josée continues, "I usually bathe the rats 2-3 times a year. They don't mind the water and are cute in the soapy suds."
Rats are omnivorous animals, therefore they eat just about anything. The children feed them their special mixture of grain food and they add vegetables, fruit, seeds, meat, cheese and dried pieces of bread.
"It's a good idea for them to use a water bottle. If you use a water bowl, they'll fill it up with anything and everything from the bottom of their cage. Then you'll be spending your time changing the water," Simon advises.
