Over the years, the choice and treatment of pets has changed in Nagpur. There was once a time when dogs were in vogue, and for many
people, they still are. For some in the city, the choice for a may be considered queer. Welcome to the world of people who have no qualms about domesticating white rats! Abhijit Jugare is one of the few people in the city who sells white rats and he began only about five months ago.
Despite this, in such a short span of time, he claims to have sold nearly 60 of them and says that he cannot keep up the supply to the demand! “In the film ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’, the female protagonist’s brother was shown having a white rat as a pet, and that seems to have started off a veritable boom of people wanting white rats as their companions,” says Jugare, who himself has kept a white rat at his shop on Hill Road in Gokulpeth.
The rat, which seems to have made friends with many of his regular customers, can often be seen riding on their shoulders. What’s more, the rat has now grown so accustomed to people that it is almost trained, and never bites! It has also gotten out of its innate habit of nibbling at anything and everything. Additionally, Jugare has managed to train it in a way that if he taps on a specific part of the table, the rat comes scurrying to that place, expecting some small item of food. What it cannot finish eating, it takes and stores behind a table calendar which it has made its home.
In fact, one of Jugare’s first patrons to buy a pair of rats was Mamta Ajagia, a fashion designer by profession. She bought a pair at the standard rate of Rs 300 for both, and is now a proud owner. Her pets have already mated twice, and on one of these instances, the female rat suffered form some complications, and it is only a testimony of Mamta’s dedication and attachment towards her pets that she took it directly to a vet and spent several hundreds of rupees on testing!
people, they still are. For some in the city, the choice for a may be considered queer. Welcome to the world of people who have no qualms about domesticating white rats! Abhijit Jugare is one of the few people in the city who sells white rats and he began only about five months ago.
Despite this, in such a short span of time, he claims to have sold nearly 60 of them and says that he cannot keep up the supply to the demand! “In the film ‘Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na’, the female protagonist’s brother was shown having a white rat as a pet, and that seems to have started off a veritable boom of people wanting white rats as their companions,” says Jugare, who himself has kept a white rat at his shop on Hill Road in Gokulpeth.
The rat, which seems to have made friends with many of his regular customers, can often be seen riding on their shoulders. What’s more, the rat has now grown so accustomed to people that it is almost trained, and never bites! It has also gotten out of its innate habit of nibbling at anything and everything. Additionally, Jugare has managed to train it in a way that if he taps on a specific part of the table, the rat comes scurrying to that place, expecting some small item of food. What it cannot finish eating, it takes and stores behind a table calendar which it has made its home.
In fact, one of Jugare’s first patrons to buy a pair of rats was Mamta Ajagia, a fashion designer by profession. She bought a pair at the standard rate of Rs 300 for both, and is now a proud owner. Her pets have already mated twice, and on one of these instances, the female rat suffered form some complications, and it is only a testimony of Mamta’s dedication and attachment towards her pets that she took it directly to a vet and spent several hundreds of rupees on testing!