'Nature vs nurture' is an old debate as to why humans act and react the way they do.  Some things are primordial; instinctive; innate; intuitive; the 'nature' side of the debate.  Other things are taught or learned or 'nurtured'.  What confuses things is that when people are taught a certain thing from birth (like 'rats are evil' via the medium of cartoons), it feels like they're primordial or instinctive to the person, so it's hard to differentiate between the two.

On the other hand, sometimes it's real obvious.

I used to live a few hundred miles away from my parents, so I'd stay the night there when I was in town.  At one point, I was bringing along a 6-week-old female for a friend, but he was busy that evening so we made arrangements for me to drop her off the next day.

Knowing that my mom was the typical "EEK, a mouse!" type, and had more than once expressed her disapproval in my choice of pets, I knew I'd have to smuggle the precious thing into the room and hide her for the evening.

Unfortunately, by terrible happenstance, my mother caught me bringing in the travel cage and pointedly asked, "Did you bring one of your rats with you?"

I admitted to my crime, but then, to her eternal credit, she hesitantly asked, "Can I look at it?"

I explained that she was an adorable 6-week-old female, with beautiful markings and big brown eyes, hoping to ease the shock and horror that was soon to follow.  I think I actually expected my mother to faint at the sight.

She looked in the cage for a minute, and then said something that a whole pissload of rat-hating people have said over the years, once they actually look at one objectively:

"Why, that's not so bad.  She's kind of cute!"

And there's your 'nurture' side of the argument.  My mom had simply been told from day one that rats were hideous and evil (not to mention venomous), but at that moment it was all stripped away and all she saw was a cute, small furry animal, no different than a gerbil, hamster or guinea pig.

The next morning, my brother and his daughters had arrived, so we're all sitting around the breakfast table yakking.  I'm telling the kids about some of my rats' escapades and exploits, and a good time is being had by all.

At one point I glanced at my father.

He was actually green with nausea.  You hear the expression "turning green from seasickness", and there it was.  It remains the only time in my life I've actually seen someone turn green.  Until then, I just thought it was an expression the novelists used.

So here's this tough ex-army guy, a captain in World War II fighting in Germany, and here he was quailing over a tiny harmless animal.  And not even the actual animal, mind you, just stories of the animal.  And cute, well-told stories at that!

So there's your 'nature' part of the argument.  It was just like someone being fearful of snakes or tarantulas, a primordial fear that goes right down to the bone.  But the fact that I was just telling stories about them really brought it to light.

The point to all of this is that you, yourself, probably have some friends and relatives who disapprove of your wild, crazy, bizarre elegant choice in pets, but don't be too hard on them for being so.  Give them a chance, as my mom had, and if it's merely cultural conditioning, they might suddenly see the light and come around.

But if they don't, then, like my dad, it might be something that goes way beyond what they were taught in a high chair at the age of two, at which point — just to show the person a modicum of respect — you should never mention the subject again.  Not even the cute stories — however well told.