Hello Creepy
Welcome to the forums and the fandom! My name is Ventus Fall and I'm your local fur dragon here
What kind of anime do you like to watch, if I may ask?
And what is your favourite type of music, do you have any favourite songs you like to listen to?
As for having a rodent as character, I got a white rat character myself
First off, you do not need a fursuit to be furry. Some want a suit, others don't want or need a suit. And some fursuiters don't 'classify' themselves as furry either. So no worries if you don't have a fursuit
Secondly, you don't need to tell your parents, but if you have relatively accepting people around you, I'm sure they won't think it's weird. Or they would, but not in a bad way. See the furry fandom and community as a way to express yourself. There are many kinds of people, many different types of people, in the furry fandom. They share one common interest: Having an interest in furry art.
In whatever shape or form that may be; art, music, fursuiting, etc.
Furry art is nothing more than anthropomised creatures/animals: From wolves with human emotions on their faces, to full on digitigrade anthro dragons (just to name a few examples
). From The Lion King to Fantastic Mr.Fox, there are many movies, comics, shows and games depicting anthropomorphic characters!
As for possessing skills to draw your fursona:
We have the Art Board with Art For Trade/Sale/Free, so you can look if anyone is open for (free) slots to draw your character
You can also post a request in the Requests board.
Or you can do both, either works
We usually have a few artists on these forums who are busy with drawings, so don't be afraid to drop a message there!
I would say as for tips?
Just be friendly and kind
I see you already are, and you made quite a nice introduction.
If you have any more questions, or just would like to talk, feel free to message me ^-^
Take care