Breakups·
RATS WITHOUT THE PARTNER
An unnamed narrator reveals that their pet rats existed only because of a former partner, and the breakup forces a blunt reckoning with what the animals really meant.
Keep pets tied to an ex, or let them go?
Be one of the first to vote.
Rats were the pet the poster would never own again, and the reason was as blunt as it gets: they only had them because of a then-partner.
That detail comes with no elaborate backstory, no dramatic rat escape, no chewed-up sofa reveal. Just a simple admission: "Rats mostly because I only had them because of my then partner, we are no longer together."
So the answer to the question is not about the animals themselves, but about the relationship that brought them into the house in the first place. The rats were part of a shared life, a decision tied to someone the poster was with at the time. Now that relationship is over, the pets are part of that chapter too.
The poster doesn't add anything else, no names, no breed, no rat anecdotes, no list of disasters. The entire story lands in one sentence, and it lands cleanly: rats are off the table, because the reason for having them is gone.
For anyone asking what kind of pet they would never own again, the answer is straightforward. Not because of a bad experience with the animals, but because they were never really a solo choice. They came attached to a then-partner, and that partner is no longer in the picture.