Cocoa and Trey came into our lives in October of 2002-2007. A woman in our ward (church group) had a pair of rats, but had some health problems and had developed an allergy to them. She loved them dearly and needed a good home for them. Another woman, who knew us both, knew that I loved animals and named me as a suggestion. Not only do I love animals, but I had a rat previously, so knew a bit about having them as pets. We agreed to take them and had two new family members.

Both rats had been owned previously before the woman we got them from, and she'd had them longer than a year, so we didn't expect to have them long. Sure enough, it wasn't long before Cocoa began having recurrent respiratory distress, and in January 2003, just a few days after getting Salem, we decided it was time to put him to sleep.

Much as I don't like to play favorites, Trey has always been my preferred rat of the two. Cocoa's passing was sad, but with Trey still alive and kicking, it was easy to move on without undue distress. Trey is very friendly and curious. He loves to come see people and have his head scratched through his cage. Even better, he loves to lick fingers and will groom people for quite some time. He comes when I make a clicking sound with my tongue, always very excited and expecting a treat.

He is, as previously mentioned, very curious, too much so at times. Ever since we've had Salem, he's been fascinated with the cat, possibly even more so than the cat has been with him. For quite a while, we were concerned for his safety, since he gets right up to the edge of the cage and tries to touch noses with either cat that might have snuck up close to him. Salem is pretty obedient, though, and leaves him alone now, and Freya just thinks of him as another playmate, so with the cage and his teeth, he seems to be pretty safe now.

Our understanding was that he is about a year younger than Cocoa was, and that turned out to probably be right. Trey's physical condition gradually deteriorated, to the point where he was having a very difficult time even eating, and we decided it was time. Late December 2003, we put him to sleep and bid farewell once again to rats.