I can completely sympathize. I started breeding my own rats about 3 months ago, and I've gone from the original 5 to at least 70 with two females ready to drop litters any day. I enjoy the rats, never thought I would, but they are neat critters. Two things that have helped me keep things in perspective are this: 1) old cowboy saying "never name something you may end up eating" 2) I focus on the process, not the individuals. Meaning I enjoy the process of caring for my rats, not the individual rats. Don't focus on any ONE, look at the whole.

My problem now, ironically, is not the six year old little girl, its her mom! the six year old has no problem with the concept that the rats will eventually end up as food, even though she enjoys playing with the hoppers. Her mom, however, has names for about a dozen of them, and has started asking "you aren't really going to feed Fred to the snakes, are you?". So, I'm in trouble!