First Lab!

First off, I was so excited to start this class and get to meet my rat. Like most people, I cannot stand rats if they're in my house, but I couldn't wait to start working with these ones! Its nice to finally have a lab where we get to work with live animals, and keep them alive.. I am definitely tired of all the fetal pigs, turtles, and frogs from biology labs.
 Initially, I was a little nervous to start holding them just because I was afraid I was going to drop my rat, but mine ended up being pretty calm to start off with. She is super curious and is constantly sniffing everything, so I am still a little afraid I might drop her because she likes to crawl up me!

Here she is!

And again.. trying to crawl up me..

As I went into the lab today I found that Devons rats had pulled a lab coat almost all the way into their cage and decided to have a snack. Hopefully it wont hurt them too much, but I definitely learned that even though they are lab bred rats, they are still rats and will chew anything.

I am still super excited to start working with them and I have been trying to think of a name since last week. Here are my options..

Matilda
Boots

Suzie (thanks Alex)

Jubes, short for Jubilee

This last one is an inside joke with my volleyball team. This past weekend we played a girl named Jubilee Haase, and made up the loving nickname of Jubes.. Of course I still can't decide on a name.. HELP!