Vermin or Pets?

They started off as pets,
went out to a place in the desert
purchased a pair for $50 each,

two cages to keep them separated,
didn’t want them breeding on the way home,
still needed to get food and water dispensers

the cost for two rats was over $255.
Kids were excited, the pets were so nice, 
easy to hold, their little hands
looked so human, they each needed
a wheel in which to exercise.
The first night they scratched all night

thought they would eventually settle down
but those nocturnal creatures spent
their evening hours searching for a way out
and then one night they found it. By morning
they were gone. Did one release the other?

Now they roam through the rafters
of my home. I see their droppings
and other evidence that they have
enough food and water. The hose
on the washer is chewed, so are the cereal
boxes in the cabinet with trails of debris
leading back to the room with a hole in the wall.

The price to replace the hose is $35, sealing
the hole another $75, more cereal and grain

an outlay of $20 or more. My husband
wants to call an exterminator for $245
he says in the long run it will be cheaper

unless we catch those rats by night fall.