One day I decided to go check out a pet store for more snails.  I drove down, and took a look, and they were all sick or dying, so I obviously didn't want any of them.  But, of course I had to look at the rats.  The first store I went to had five rats, all in horrible health, some were even deformed or maimed.  I couldn't take it, I had to leave.  The second store was slightly better.  They had two tanks of rats, one of a few older rats about 8 weeks old, and one with countless babies that couldn't have been more than 5 weeks old.  It was there that I found Sadie, a capped Agouti.  She was as unsocialized and unhealthy as the rest of them, but everything about her seemed to be crying out for help.  I held her for almost 45 minutes, trying to convince myself to buy her.  It was only when a customer came in and rudely grabbed a handful of babies from Sadie's tank (literally, he reached into a corner and closed his fingers) for snake food that I decided that was enough of that and I bought her.  She was so little and thin, and she wheezed constantly.  She slept in my shirt for hours every day, and I grew fond of her trusting, cuddly personality, but her condition continued to worsen despite my best efforts.  She died in my hands exactly a week after I bought her.  I'm sorry I couldn't save her, but at least she didn't have to suffer the same fate as her brothers and sisters as feeders.

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