Hello,
 
Glad you went ahead and got your rat.  I've had six altogether, though none
currently, and they beat the heck out of hamsters, gerbils, and lots of
those other brain damaged small pets.  :) I just wanted to warn you that
heavy books on a rat aquarium might not be a good idea.  We tried that years
ago, and ended up have big pieces of the books gnawed off.  Also, she might
be able to move them herself, without help from cat or ferret.
 
I've found a rat kept in an aquarium loves to jump up and sit on the edge
and watch the world go by.  Remember the basic maxim of rat/ferret
ownership.  Rats go up, ferrets go down.  :) I recommend if you can afford
it to put fish in your aquarium and buy a small cage for the rat.  The
ventilation is good for them.  You can also teach them the trick I taught my
rats years ago.  Whenever I walked into the room, they ran to the bars,
stuck one arm through and waved a greeting at me.  They are a lot easier to
train than ferrets.  *sigh*
 
Good luck with the pets.  I'm sure they'll get along just fine.  Unless your
cat is one tough SOB, he probably won't be able to kill a full-grown rat.
But you don't want him to try, of course.  You seem to be going about it
pretty sensibly.
 
-Catherine Shaffer
[Posted in FML issue 1614]