Rats & Children

Question
Hi Sandra, I am writing this from the UK. We have two pet rats and my daughters were, this morning, fighting over who can feed them. One daughter grabbed the bowl and it hit the other in the mouth. She went "yuk!" and licked her lips.
Now I'm thinking that there was something (sawdust? rat wee? food?) on the bowl and she's licked it off, then ingested it. I do worry about everything to do with my rats and my children!
I washed her mouth out straight away with water and gave her a drink. She said nothing went in her mouth, it was just the lip of the bowl. Do you think I should be worried?

Answer
Nope, dont worry a bit.  I shudder to think of what I have possibly gotten in my mouth and that may sound gross, but its true!!  There are very few things that rats can give us. I do have to say this though and its very true:  The germs your kids have on their hands just from a day at school without proper washing of their hands is far far worse then the germs found even in your rats stool.  I am not kidding.

That should make you rest a little easy, at least about rats and their germs, but I bet you make sure your kids carry around a little container of hand sanitizer more now than before. :)