AWWW, RATS! RODENTS BECOMING FAVORED PETS.

Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Siamese, Russian blues, hairless, tailless, Dumbo ears - all various breeds of cats, right? Guess again.

Pet store owners are familiar with these varieties of rats, quickly becoming one of America's favorite pets.

Mark Rose, owner of Pet Adventure in Canyon Country, said his first pet was a run-of-the-mill rat named Panther. In his current line of work, he finds the tail-free variety easier to sell to parents of potential owners.

``Panther actually survived the torments of a 5-year-old bathing him in the toilet,'' said Rose. ``They tolerate a lot and make great companions if you can get away from what they look like. We have kids come in who want rats, and all their moms see is some snaggle-tooth rodent with a gross tail. But they're about as safe and lovable as any other animal.

``Rats really rock.''

Nikki Berra's rat Sneezy was destined for a different level of the food chain before her baby sitter intervened and liberated two baby rats bred for snake food. The gray rodent seems to be a little more appreciative after his reprieve and has proven the perfect pet for the busy Valencia 12-year-old.

``He's a feeder rat and wants attention, so he's all sweet and stuff,'' said Berra. She makes sure he has water and food every other day and, every weekend, makes sure to clean Sneezy's cage.

``It can be a mess, unless you have a trash bag,'' she said of the shredded bedding that has to be changed. ``You just have to make sure the stuff doesn't get everywhere.''

Cindy Lesinski's daughters, 8-year-old Tia and 10-year-old Rachel, have learned some life lessons from their long-tailed pets.

``Peek-A-Boo, the father rat, was our first,'' Lesinski said. ``We had hamsters, but they bit. The pet store guy said we really needed to get a rat because they don't bite. I was a little creeped out at first, but now I hold them and put them on my shoulder.'' The family adopted Oreo, a fancy female rat, about six months later.

The rats settled into a happy co-existence: Peek-A-Boo, a shy Stuart Little look-alike, and Oreo, a white fancy rat with a distinctive dark stripe down its back, that loves attention.

Occasionally, the rats run around their Castaic garage for exercise, but after the romantic rodents became parents of 14 little rats, there was some explaining to do.

``We told the kids that they eloped into the garage and got married,'' Lesinski said. ``And then they had their babies.''

The whole rat family went to school for show-and-tell, and the teacher mentioned that she liked to have classroom pets. The Lesinskis found an extra cage and supplies and delivered two of the baby males to the class. Another couple went to neighbors, and a large group back to the pet store where their parents were purchased.

Ironically, the rats were a test to see if the girls could handle the responsibility of a dog. Now, the family's new golden retriever, Sunshine, is learning her own lessons, tolerating the rats when they come out to play and snuggle up to her.

For all the pet owners who love rats, there are scores more who curse their intrusion into yards and homes. That's when exterminators like Dave Krauss, service center manager for Western Exterminators in the San Fernando Valley, comes in.

Rodent control makes up about 15 or 20 percent of Western's business in the Santa Clarita Valley, with calls spiking twice a year.

``We see an increase when it starts getting cold; they are looking to nest before the rainy season in November or December,'' Krauss said. ``Then they come out in mating season at the end of spring. That's when the young ones have been weaned and they leave the nest.''

Krauss said that two species of rats cause problems in the valley: fruit rats that nest high and Norwegian dock rats, stout rats that live in the ground.

Disgusting as they might be to some, Rose said, there's a good reason for people to adopt rats as their companions.

``They're very docile, and they don't just tolerate you; they actually like people,'' he said. ``I think you could equate their intelligence with that of cats. Cats are snobby, but rats will come running to you because they love attention. In their natural state, they live in colonies. You could have a couple, and they'd accept you into the group.''

Carol Rock, [phone]

carol.rock(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Tianna Lesinski, 8, watches her dog Sunshine and rats Peek-A-Boo, Oreo and Peanut play at Tianna's home in Castaic.

(2 -- color) Cindy Lesinski and daughters Rachel, 10, and Tianna play with Sunshine and the three rats.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer