My furry little Quesa Dilla. My Quesa. My Dilla.

This month marks the two year anniversary of Quesa's "gotcha" date. If you buy a pet rat from a breeder, you celebrate their birthday - because obviously the breeder knows when the rat was born. In Quesa's case, you celebrate her "gotcha" date. This is the date I 'got her' from the pet store. In rat-lover's land, people who buy pets from a pet store carry a certain stigma. It's not acceptable in most circles of pet lovers. But, Quesa was my first rat and my first pet, for that matter. I didn't know better. And my ignorance has never paid off more.

In rat years, two years is a lifetime. Literally. They are only expected to live 1-3 years. Max. Quesa is still healthy and strong and happy. She has seen 6 rats come and go. Some have died. Others, I adopted out to fellow ratlovers.

She has been with me to the movies, to the mall, to Petco many a time, and recently to Florida during my hurrication.

And since I have a bad long term memory, and I can't quite remember what date I got her, we'll just celebrate her "gotcha" month. Which I'm 88% sure was in October. Aw, come 'on. I've slept since then. Hey, I'm just kidding. I'm 92% sure.

Today I will be digging up stories about her and some of the other rats I have owned. We'll start, however, with a little list that plays on the saying that pet owners and pets begin to resemble each other after a while.

Ways Me and Quesa are alike:

1. We both purr when you rub our cheeks.

2. We both have big hind feet.

3. We both like cuddling in the nape of another's neck.

4. We both like to sleep with our noses under our bellies.

5. We both use our big booties for evil.

6. We both have soft tummies.

7. We both are way too curious.

8. We both get lonely if left alone for too long.

9. We both get overly excited about cheese.

10. We both sneeze when we're nervous.

11. We both squeak when we're made to do something we don't want to do.

12. We both come when called.